S. L. Jacob
No. 6 — The Fifth and Sixth Days
19. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
25. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Fifth and Sixth Days
Here we come to the filling of the earth with life; the waters, the air and the earth were to be filled with living souls; for the same words are used in the 21st and 24th verses which are used for man in Genesis 2:77And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7), though the animal is not the subject of God’s counsel as man is in chapter 1:26, nor did God breathe into the nostrils of the animals the breath of life, as He did to man. Still the whole created sphere of this world is filled with living souls. It is remarkable how God blessed them (verse 22) and reiterated the command that they should multiply and bring forth abundantly. This is specially the case with reference to the waters, for the 20th verse should read, “And God said, let the water swarm with swarms.”
It is assumed by many that there was no death of any sort or description on the earth, at all events subsequent to verse 3 of this chapter, until Adam fell, and that until that event the world was a deathless world. Is there any scriptural ground for this belief? Will then the reader kindly judge dispassionately what is here said as to this.
We read, “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Now the word “men” is emphatic, and this is most important. The natural way in the Greek language would have been to say, “death passed upon all,” and to have left us then to supply either the word “men” or the word “things,” as is usually done in English translations, but here Scripture seemed to go out of the way to definitely say death passed upon all men.
Just to quote at random, there is no noun in the original after “all,” or “every,” in the following passages, John 3:26; 11:48, 12:3226And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him. (John 3:26); Acts 2:45;17:3045And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. (Acts 2:45)
30And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: (Acts 17:30); Romans 3:2323For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23); Hebrews 2:99But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. (Hebrews 2:9); where, therefore, a noun occurs, it is emphatic. And why say, “So death passed on all men for that all have sinned,” if it included the animal world which has not sinned? No, it is passed upon men, mankind: not man in contrast with woman, but men in contrast with animals. Scripture, therefore, is not against the idea of death in the animal world, but the inference is all the other way.
Moreover we have overlooked the plainest inferences of Genesis 1 That death was in the vegetable kingdom is clearly involved (verses 11:29-30; cf. John 12:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. (John 12:24)); and the creation of living creatures is stated in the same way as the production of the grass, thus, “Let the earth bring forth grass”; “Let the waters bring forth abundantly”; “Let the earth bring forth the living creature.” The inference is that the animal world follows the vegetable.
We may also consider what the result would have been (miracle apart) were it otherwise. Multiplication is spoken of in the case of all, and especially of the denizens of the sea, and fish are accordingly extremely prolific. Now if it were possible for fish to multiply their offspring indefinitely without check, it is probable that the progeny of one single fish (a small fish, say, like the mackerel or herring) would fill up all the seas solid in an incredibly short space of time. Even a single flesh fly will breed so quickly that, were there no check, the offspring of one such fly in six months would probably be greater than the mass of the whole world, and so on; and in a few days life would be impossible on the earth by the very fact of there being no death. It is only through death that life is possible. This has been the parable lesson all through. Oh that we all saw this! The language of the heavens and the earth, of the rocks and of the field, and of the beasts of the earth is, “Oh may the Deliverer come!” There can be no lasting paradise without Christ.
Where we have erred is in thinking that we are in an altogether different world to that mentioned in Genesis 1; whereas, as we have seen time after time, what is portrayed is this very world of good and evil, with God at work overcoming the evil with the good, until the ultimate triumph of good shall be complete. But in the meantime we see here the good and there the evil gains an immediate victory; now light breaks in, then again darkness succeeds; now there is life, and again there is death; an unceasing struggle, an implacable warfare, which must go on day and night until complete victory is attained. The lovers of truth and goodness ever seeming to be worsted, but even in death more than conquerors through Him who hath loved us.
In the great sheet of Acts 10:11There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, (Acts 10:1)1 There were the four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. Here in strange medley are all men portrayed, for we have our links with the animal world through the dust of earth, as well as with heaven by the breath of God; all our passions, our lusts and propensities are pictured in the animal world. We may be like the fierce tiger or venomous snake, the timid sheep or harmless dove. So also as to that which is good: the remains of what God has implanted, that is, natural affection, the mother’s love, the love of wife and children, kindness, gentleness, all is pictured in and stamped upon the original creation from the first, that man may have this wondrous object lesson spread before him, and that he may understand that till the God-Man comes and takes all things into His own hands even God’s creation will not (cannot) be at all what God means it to be.
If it is not this, then we must imagine another creation of the present animal world since the fall, either by an absolutely new creation, or else by the complete remodeling of the structure of almost all beasts, birds, fishes and creeping things. For neither of these suppositions have we the slightest proof, either direct or indirect, whereas what we have herein stated is in perfect accord with the teaching of the whole chapter, and brings into prominence God’s original great object lesson: that all things wait for their great Deliverer, and have waited for Him since their original creation, and nothing can be right until He comes. God has never had any other thought, and from the beginning all things and all creation have (unconsciously it may be) cried out for Christ. Do not let us miss this lesson. The proof will yet become more and more plain as we proceed. It is so important that we venture to reiterate it often.
Editors’ Note — These papers are intended to be suggestive rather than dogmatic, to be stimulative of study rather than to present its final and completed results as to the detail of a subject at once so great and so seldom considered.