Genesis 1:17-31

Ge 1:17

And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

God set the sun and the moon in the firmament for the purpose of giving light to the earth along with the sun’s capabilities to aid in the growth of plant life and trees, plus giving warmth to the earth because man would be a warm blooded creation.  The sun also adds beauty by some amazing sunrises and sunsets.

Ge 1:18

And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

God created the sun to rule over the day which would give sustenance to the earth by aiding in the growth of plants and herbs which would sustain the life of man.  The moon would rule over the night but by reflected light because the moon itself has no way of producing light.  They were created to divide the light from the darkness so man would be able to rest at night and work during the day.  God saw that the creation of the sun and moon were good.  The moon is just like the true Christian.  The sun represents the Lord Jesus Christ who gives the light of salvation to the believer.  This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)  The moon is the true Christian, before salvation they are a dark, dead mass but when the light of the gospel shines on them and they become saved, then while in the world they reflect the light of Christ.  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. (Matthew 5:14) 

Ge 1:19

And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

The sun and moon and stars were created on the fourth day which was a twenty four hour cycle.

Ge 1:20

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.

Then God created the different kinds of fish in the waters.  This is the first mention of something having life.  He then created all the birds which fly in the open firmament.  The term “moving creature” may also refer to the creation of the land animals in the next verse.

Ge 1:21

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.

Then within the ocean, which at this time was one mass of water on the earth, God created the great whales.  Then he created every living creature which was the animal and insect kingdoms.  This would have also included the dinosaurs which met their extinction at the flood of Noah.  God looked at the creation of the whales and the animals and insects and saw that it was good.

Ge 1:22

And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

Then God blessed them and commanded them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the

ocean with life and the same command was given to the fowls to multiply and fill the earth.  This command would have also extended to the land animals and insects.  He gave all of them the power to procreate and the obedience to that command continues today.

Ge 1:23

And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

All the creations which had the breath of life in them were created on the fifth day which was the fish, land animals, insects, and birds.

Ge 1:24

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.

Then God commands that the earth should bring forth all the living creatures after its kind, such as cattle would produce cattle, and insects would produce insects, and all the other beasts of the earth would produce after their kind.  The command was set that each species would procreate itself and it was so.  In other words, a cow would not give birth to a bird and so forth. 

Ge 1:25

And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

God then made all the beasts of the earth, cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing after their kind.  At this point he probably did not create all the variations within certain animal families such as dogs of which there are hundreds of breeds today.  There was probably only a very few and that is why Noah was able to take pairs of all the animals on board the ark because of their limited variations within the species.  God looked at his creation and saw that it was good.

Ge 1:26

And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

God now completes the sixth day of creation by creating the human race beginning with Adam.  Notice the term “Let us” is showing that there is a minimum of two people speaking to each other.  The Hebrew word for “God” is “Elohim” which denotes three or more.  So with every one of the 2606 usages in 2249 passages in the Hebrew text it reveals that there is one God in three persons.  So the conversation in this verse is among the Trinity because looking at the prior creations of the sun, animals, firmament, the stage was now set for the highest creation of God which would be man who was made in the image and likeness of God.  Man would be fashioned after God in the manner not of being deity but the highest order of creation.  Man would have intelligence, wisdom, understanding, and the ability to rule the creation.  Man was to have total dominion over all fish in the seas, the birds of the air, over the cattle and all the other land animals even the dinosaurs because they were not yet carnivorous since it was before the fall, and they would have authority over the creeping things like insects.

Ge 1:27

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

So God then created man in his own image which was his representative figure or his alikeness.  God had created them male and female because he was now giving man the same procreative ability he gave to the animals.  Then in chapter two we are given the details of the creation of man.  The term “man” is a generic term encompassing both males and females.  Chapter one is a general overview of the creation.

Ge 1:28

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Then God blessed both the male and the female and commanded them to be fruitful and multiply over all the earth building the earth’s population.  They were to subdue the earth, that is, to rule over it as an orderly creation of God who committed its keeping into their hands.  They were to rule over all the other animals, insects, birds, and every living thing which is upon the earth.

Ge 1:29

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

Since the world had not fallen into sin yet, man, like the animals, was to live off the herbs and the fruit trees for their sustenance.  The killing of animals for the purpose of meat for food would not happen till after the fall when sin and death will enter the world.  They were also to plant the seeds from the trees and the herbs to grow more trees so there would be more food as they and the animals would multiply on the face of the earth.

Ge 1:30

And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

Then all the beasts, the birds, and everything that creepeth or crawls on the earth would have the same diet of herbs and the fruit trees that man would have as their sustenance.  There were no animals being ripped apart by other animals such as a lion going after a wildebeest or an alligator after a chicken.

Ge 1:31

And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.