As the opening book in the Jewish and Christian Bible, the Book of Genesis sets the tone and sounds the themes to be developed in the books that follow. No wonder that Christians and Jews revere the book and have always looked to it for answers. But sometimes answers differ from expectations, especially when we take into consideration the context of the verses.
The Bible is not a collection of independent verses, but it fits those pieces into a story that involves us. Consider each verse, yes, but be conscious of the story that is being told. This approach to Genesis is needed in order to appreciate God’s love and generosity in creating a beautiful planet and endowing it with fascinating creatures.
It is true, of course, that the just God sends a universal flood on the wicked first generation of humans, but then goes on to create the world anew, not altering in any way the dignity and freedom given in the original creation. It is easy, however, to miss the goodness and worth of the creatures God created.
Unfortunately, history has shown how quickly humans decided on their own that some people were less than God created and were to be shunned. Think of the history of slavery and of discrimination based on skin color or other superficial differences, and in our own day of prejudice against LGBTQ people. How different was the intent of the Genesis God who created all humans as equals and endowed them with inalienable dignity and responsibility toward the planet and its creatures.
How different was the intent of the Genesis God who created all humans as equals and endowed them with inalienable dignity and responsibility toward the planet and its creatures.
It is worthwhile, therefore, to look again at the Genesis portrayal of the worth of human beings. A good place to begin is God’s decision to create humans, “Let us make man” (in Hebrew, hā’ādām). Though “man” has often been interpreted narrowly as “an adult male,” the context makes clear that the word should be translated “human beings,” the less common meaning of “man” in English.
We know this is correct because the very next verse (Gen. 1:27) refers to hā’ādām as “male and female he created them.” Females were not created as an afterthought, but men and women were created together and are equal in God’s sight.
There are other relevant passages in the opening chapters of Genesis that similarly enlighten and encourage us today. Two passages are particularly relevant when their context is considered: the triple charge that God gave to humans after creating them (Gen. 1:26), and the phrase, image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26-27) applied to them.
After creating men and women (Gen. 1:28), God gave them three commands that defined them, assigning them their responsibilities and goals. “Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and subdue it,” and “rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
Females were not created as an afterthought, but men and women were created together and are equal in God’s sight.
The three commands are linked. The first command endorses sexuality as a means for begetting the next generation, enabling the human species to continue in existence. The second command builds on the first, for human life, especially at that time, would have been impossible without adequate land to supply families with food and clothing (from locally grown flax, wool, and cotton).
Trade at the time was limited to luxury goods, and so did not include ordinary foodstuffs or clothing. Note also that the divine charge has in view humans as grouped, that is, families with plots of land, and nations with territories.
The third divine command goes beyond self-centered or nation-centered interests: “rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth.” The verb rendered here “rule”—in Hebrew, rādāh—is forceful, “have dominion, dominate.” Humans are not meant to be passive toward nature. In the context “rule” means that humans accept responsibility for the three domains of sea, sky and earth, and see to the flourishing of the creatures in each domain.
Given the importance today of human care for the environment, this third command deserves illustration. Originally according to Genesis 1, humans were vegetarians (Gen. 1:29-30) and only later, in view of their frequent recourse to violence, did God allow them to take living creatures for food (9:2-6).
One example of humans’ nurturing non-human life will suffice. In Gen. 6:20-21, Noah is told what creatures to bring into the ark and save from the flood to re-populate the earth:
Of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal, and of every kind of thing that crawls on the ground, two of each will come to you, that you may keep them alive. Moreover, you are to provide yourself with all the food that is to be eaten, and store it away, that it may serve as provisions for you and for them.
Another version of the Flood story (Gen. 7:2) puts the command differently: “Of every clean animal, take with you seven.” The divine command in either version is clear: humans are responsible for preserving their natural environment and seeing to the continuation of the creatures in each domain. Humans may take what is necessary for themselves, but even when they do, they must further the divinely-intended flourishing.
Though not strictly speaking a defining imperative, the phrase in Gen. 1:26-27, “in our image, according to our likeness” is exceptionally important for understanding humans. It reads “Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, according to our likeness.’” What do image and likeness mean in this context?
“Image” and “likeness” in the Bible sometimes refers to a statue in the round; among Israel’s neighbors it commonly referred to a king or a deity whose authority was represented by the statue. The biblical meaning of the image and likeness of God is best explained by the purpose clause that immediately follows, “and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea …”
It is important that all human beings today, especially those in the LGBTQ community sidelined by misunderstanding, embrace the dignity and responsibility granted them by the Creator.
In Egyptian (and especially Mesopotamian) thought, and in this biblical instance, “image” can, in the words of the biblical scholar Phyllis Bird, “designate one who is understood to be a special representation of the god or gods, possessing a divine mandate to rule, hence divine power, but who is himself neither deity nor divine.” Genesis’s use of “image” and “likeness” to describe humans’ task of dominion over other creatures seems a deliberate critique of the creation accounts of its neighbors, in which human are portrayed as powerless slaves of the gods.
Genesis totally differs: God entrusts to humans rule over the earth. Psalm 8:5-8 even compares humans’ rule over earth to heavenly beings’ (angels) rule over heaven:
Yet you have made them a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
The image of God became an important theme of subsequent Christian theology. In the history of Christian thought, interpretation of the phrase can be classed either as “substantialist,” in which “image” refers to the human soul mirroring its divine archetype, and “functionalist,” which refers to the human task of ruling in accord with the ancient biblical and Near Eastern meaning of “image.”
The substantialist view owes much to the Platonic philosophy that influenced patristic theology. The functionalist meaning is more common today. Humans are indeed an image and likeness of God, which expresses not only their dignity and thoughtfulness, but also their authority over and responsibility for the world in which they live.
It is important that all human beings today, especially those in the LGBTQ community sidelined by misunderstanding, embrace the dignity and responsibility granted them by the Creator, and reject human judgments that exclude and diminish them.
What a blessing this article has been for me and hopefully for every person who reads it.
Grateful thanks Richard for your series on Intro to OT in NYKM as well as your books and internet writing and lectures. Appreciation from Kiwiland where I have taught Scripture. Studied at St John’s Minnesota and have taught for 46 years and still doing much on Zoom. Love this article.