When God made the earth, a new realm was created with new inhabitants. The heavenly realm, where he rules and where his will is done, already existed. We describe one realm as “natural” because it is the one in which we live. We describe the other as “supernatural” because it existed first, it is greater or something more than our world.
Imagine the drama in heaven when God started saying “Let” a bunch of times in Genesis 1:3-24. I imagine there were cheers every step of the way.
- “Let there be light,” and there was light.
- “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”
- “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.
- “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit…” And it was so.
- “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years,”
- “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”
- “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.
And God saw that it was good (Gen. 1:25) and all the sons of God shouted for joy (Job 38:7). But then, God created something altogether different.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:26–27 (ESV)
Let Us Make Man
The first thing we should observe is that instead of creating by saying “let there be” or “let” something do something (at least ten times in the previous verses), God says, “Let us….” This raises a couple of important questions. First, why this change to include someone else? We will address this question next week. Second, who is the “us?”
Some scholars refer to this as the “divine plural” or “plural of majesty.” Other explanations include the idea that God was deliberating as he set out to create man. Another is that God was talking to the other members of the trinity. But the concept of a trinitarian God was unknown to the authors of the Old Testament. These views are usually an attempt to preserve or protect the idea of monotheism in the Bible by modern scholars. Heiser says that all of these are unnecessary and the concept of the divine council explains this “Let us” phrase.
It is interesting to me that there is no attempt to explain to whom God was talking. Perhaps the author had no need to explain this to his audience. Ancient Mesopotamian cultures assumed the divine realm was full of divine beings. And if we accept scriptures such as Job 1:6–7 and 38:4-7, then we accept that God was already surrounded by other elohim. He wasn’t alone.
So God Created Man
Notice the shift from the plural in verse 26 (let us make) to the singular in verse 27 (so God created). We have seen this contrast between plural nouns and singular nouns already in Psalm 82:1-7 and Psalm 89:5-7 when we introduced the concept of the divine council. Here, this shows that God is actually the one who creates. Creation is still attributed to the supreme, creator God and not a bunch of elohim.
Notice also the choice of verbs used. Most translations reflect this difference. In verse 26 a verb translated “make” is used. In verse 27 a verb translated “create” is used. The first is a more general term. It is used when something is made out of something else. The second is very specific and only used of God when something is brought into existence.
Adam
In verse 26 we read “Let us make man….” The word translated man is actually adam in Hebrew. You could read, “Let us make adam in our image.” That familiar word, adam, is as much of a classification as it is a name. The first man is never given a proper name in scripture so he is simply known as Adam. But there is an indefinite, generic use of the term to mean mankind, or humanity in general. This is the sense in which it is used in verse 26. You could translate the phrase “Let us make humans.”
In verse 27 we read that God created adam in his image. The last part of the verse explains who exactly was created, “male and female he created them.” What do you think is the significance of this phrase? Comment below.
So what was God’s purpose in creating humanity?” In simple terms, God already had a divine family. But now he wanted a human family.
Questions
- If clothing designer makes clothing and a home builder builds homes, what does a creator do?
- Who do you think is the “us” in verse 26?
- If the spiritual realm (heaven) is populated with divine beings, what do they do?
- What is the significance of verse 27 where it says “male and female He created them?”
- Why do you think God wanted a human family?
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