Genesis 1:20-23

‘And God said, “Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that has life, and let birds fly above the earth on the face of the expanse of the heaven”. And God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning a fifth day.'

We note here a remarkable fact. Firstly that God commanded the creatures to be ‘bought forth' by the waters, and secondly that He ‘created' them. Thus there would appear to be a twofold process. The first, adaptation from what was in the waters, the second, creation of something from nothing. The creatures are to be seen as a part of that from which they come, and yet also to be seen as being distinctive. Thus the life of living creatures is distinguished from plant life. It is new and unique. They receive their life from God. As with the vegetation God determines that there will be many ‘kinds' so as to provide diversity. These ‘kinds' are the result of God's activity.

“Living creatures” - nephesh chayah. The word nephesh comes from Akkadian ‘napishtu' where it meant throat. That is where the breath was seen as coming from and thus it developed to mean the life within and ‘alive', thus ‘living things' The whole phrase therefore means ‘living things that have life'.

“The great sea monsters”. The writer was aware, as all men were, of huge creatures in the sea. To many they must have seemed terrifying. But he knew that they were creatures of God. Many ancient myths spoke of semi-divine sea monsters (tannin) who caused distress and chaos, (and the Psalmists use the ideas pictorially to demonstrate God's control over creation), but the writer wants it to be clear that they are no such thing. They are made by God and they are under His control and will.

“Brought forth abundantly” from the root ‘to swarm', thus things which appear in swarms. The waters were filled with swarming things.

“And every winged bird.” First the fish and then the birds. These filled the waters and the area under the firmament (Genesis 1:7).

“And God saw that it was good.” This brings out God's personal interest in what He has produced. He is, as it were, making sure that the world into which man will come is a good place for him to be. Yes, even the sea-monsters are good in His eyes. They are no enemy to Him.

Then God blesses the creatures. Again this is new, stressing that a new distinctive beginning has been achieved. The vegetation was not ‘blessed'. The heavenly lights were not blessed. The creatures are seen as in some special way distinctive and personal. The main blessing is that those who have received life can pass on life. They can be fruitful, and multiply. Sexual functions, rightly used, are blessed by God to the furtherance of life. A clear distinction is made between animate life and inanimate life. Animism, the belief that inanimate objects have souls, is here rejected by God. Such objects are not ‘blessed' for they have no ‘life'.