Genesis 1:20-23

Day Five: the Water and Air Species (Genesis 1:20-23)

And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that moveth, wherewith the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, 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.

1. We have here the account of the beginnings of animal life, in the aquatic and aerial species. Did animal life appear first in the water? Evidently so, as air-breathing animals could hardly have lived until the atmosphere had been purified. Water animals must have preceded all other kinds in the Creation. It is a commonplace, of course, of present-day biology that animal life began in the water, and that flying reptiles which lived in the water and required but little oxygen, were probably the precursors of birds.

2. Genesis 1:20let the waters swarm, etc. That is to say, the seas were to be filled with creatures adapted to marine life, each species capable of reproducing its own kind prolifically. Note also Genesis 2:19Does this mean that the bodies of marine animals are of a different texture than those of birds and beasts? Whatever it means, it is made clear that the life principle was inherent in every individual of every kind (species) of both water and air creatures. These are here differentiated from all previous creations, and from vegetation in particular, by their possession of this vital spark. Butdoes not this contradict the fact that plants are also living organisms? It does not. It simply bears out the well-known fact that the life processes of animal cells are different from those of plant cells (as stated heretofore, the latter are specifically characterized by their possession of chlorophyll and by their unique activity of photosynthesis). Whitelaw (PCG, 25): It may be impossible by the most microscopic analysis to differentiate the protoplasmic cell of vegetable matter from that of animal organisms, and plants may appear to be possessed of functions that resemble those of animals, yet the two are generically differentvegetable protoplasm never weaving animal texture, and plant fibre never issuing from the loom of animal protoplasm. That which constitutes an animal is the possession of respiratory organs, to which, doubtless, there is a reference in the term nephesh, from naphash, to breathe Lange (CDHCG, 171): The creation of marine animals begins first. It is not only because they are the most imperfect creatures, but because the water is a more quickening and a more primitive conditioning of life than the earth. The like holds true of the air.

3. Genesis 1:21And God created. every living creature that moveth (A.S.V.) The moving creature that hath life (A.V.) R.S.V.every living creature that moves, from ramas, meaning move, creep, etc.the term remes being especially descriptive of creeping animals, either on land, or in water (Genesis 9:2; Genesis 7:14; Psalms 69:34). Does this mean that insects also came into existence at this stage? Or are these to be included among the creeping things named in Genesis 1:24? We cannot be certain about this. One fact, however, is obvious, namely, that the appearance of the power of locomotion is emphasized here as the significant characteristic of the life process at this stage. Human experience proves that animal life is specified (distinguished from plant life) by the power of sensitivity (sensations are the sources of consciousness) and locomotion. (See infra, Aristotle's Hierarchy of Being.) Lange (CDHCG, 172): It suits well the fifth day, or the number five, that the symbols of mightiest life-motion, the fishes and the birds, are created on this day. The animals of lesser physical motion, but of more intensive individual sensation, come after them.

4. Genesis 1:22. In the case of plants, their reproductive powers are included in their creation. Here, however, the first living animal forms are endowed with the right of self-propagation by a separate acta Divine benediction. In Scripture, as in nature, fish are assigned to water, birds to the heaven (sky, air), and beasts to the earth. In a later verse, we shall see that man's lord tenancy over all these forms, indeed over the whole earth, is ordained by the Creator.