1:26a - Then God said, "Let us make man . . ."
[T - OL ]
We now reach the climax of the creation account. Instead of an impersonal "Let there be" that we see in the previous acts of creation, now we hear a personal note of deliberation/ resolution, "Let us . . . " And whereas other animals were made "according to their kind," here humans are made "in our image."
Creation has progressed from divine soliloquy (God spoke and things were in v3) to divine monologue (God speaking to monsters and creatures of the sea and air in v22). Now we hear for the first time God in conference, "Let us make humankind in our image." There is almost a ring of excitement in the divine pronouncement, as if God has been waiting for this moment to arrive (like the husband who has been secretly saving up to take his wife for the holiday she had always dreamed about, and now he has saved enough and he can at last break the good news to her). However we may understand the meaning of the plural "us," the fact remains that humans alone of all creatures merited God's open deliberation and resolution before their creation. This his highlighted in the structure that frames this account:
A. "And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the cattle according to their kinds, and everything that creeps upon the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good" 1:25.
B. "Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground" 1:26.
C. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" 1:27.
B'. "God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground" 1:28.
A'. "Then God said, 'I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.' And it was so. And God saw all that he had made, and it was very good" 1:29-31.
This deliberation shows the very high view Scriptures has of humans. There is no attempt here to idealize humans, for the author of Genesis knows (and he will soon write about it) what rebels humans can be. We might even see a deliberate undertone here. Knowing everything that we now know of how humans typically behave, should God not have deliberated a great deal more before He created humans? It is a measure of the grace of God that, having deliberated and knowing in His all-seeing might the terrible pain we humans will cause Him, He yet proceeded to create us.
You may wish to read the following commentaries-expositions:
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, 2016