1:31 - God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
[T - OL ]
So we come nearly to the end of the Sixth Day. As usual God looked at what He had done, and Hinneh! Tov me'od!"
Hinneh is a Hebrew interjection that draws attention to the situation at hand. Unfortunately, it is often left out in the NIV. NRS & NKJ has "and indeed," which is not quite it. KJV has "behold." Ok, but somewhat antiquated. "Voila" would work but is too restrained (and French!). I would settle for less elegant but truly exuberant "Wow." "Wow, very good!" One can almost see God clapping his hands in joy and hear His sigh of utter satisfaction.
We cannot, of course, build anything that can possibly give God such satisfaction. The least we can do, however, is to live a life of which we can say, "It is good." Better still, we can live a life of which He can say, "It is good."
We cannot build anything that can possibly give God such satisfaction.
The least we can do, however,
is to live a life of which
we can say, "It is good."
Better still,
we can live a life of which
He can say, "It is good."
Two additional points warrant some attention about the goodness of creation.
1. We need to be clear what exactly it is that we load on this adjective. There is a popular idea among many Christians that because creation was originally created good there was, therefore, no pain and no death before the Fall. Such an idea is natural, but it also rather naive and has no support in Scriptures. Such an idea necessarily implies that leaves, e.g., never fall in the original creation, since for a leaf to fall death is implied. Death occurs when a fruit is plucked and eatan. It would imply that all the animals in the original creation could and would have lived forever. It is also ridiculous to think that "good" must also mean that there was no pain before the Fall. If Adam, e.g., felt no pain, he would quickly hurt himself beyond healing. If he felt no pain, e.g., he would keep bumping his head against an overhanging branches and never learn to avoid them. If he held his hand over a fire and felt no pain, his hand would be roasted before he knew what was happening. Or step on a sharp stone and not know he was bleeding. To assume that, e.g., there was no pain in the original creation requires us to make a great many other 'assumes' to hold the picture together. We point these out not because we necessarily have a better proposal to the many questions that such thought raise but because knowing what does not make sense is just as important as knowing what does if we are to get things right.
2) If God had made creation "very good," good enough to clap His hands in rejoicing, no one looking at the state of our globe today can say the same about it. Indeed, the only thing any thinking person can say is "How in the world did we come to this?" The answer to this question is ethically simple but historically complex. From a Christian point of view it boils down simply to the fact that the Christian Church has failed patently to live a life of which He can say, "It is good." We have neglected our responsibility to care well God's "very good creation." Preachers hardly ever preach on creation care, and Christians continue to participate in the despoliation of creation as part of our trade, sports, and everyday living. If we are to live a life of which He can say, "It is good," we need to repent and begin to do something about creation care. The COVID-19 pandemic that has taken hold since January 2020, taking away already a million precious human lives, makes our responsibility to review our care of creation even more needed and urgent.
You may wish to read the following commentaries-expositions:
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, 2016