And God said, let us make man in our image, after
our
likeness
These words are directed not to the earth, out of which man was
made, as consulting with it, and to be assisting in the formation
of man, as Moses Gerundensis, and other Jewish writers
F6, which is wretchedly stupid; nor to
the angels, as the Targum of Jonathan, Jarchi, and others, who
are not of God's privy council, nor were concerned in any part of
the creation, and much less in the more noble part of it: nor are
the words spoken after the manner of kings, as Saadiah, using the
plural number as expressive of honour and majesty; since such a
way of speaking did not obtain very early, not even till the
close of the Old Testament: but they are spoken by God the Father
to the Son and Holy Ghost, who were each of them concerned in the
creation of all things, and particularly of man: hence we read of
divine Creators and Makers in the plural number, ( Job 35:10 ) ( Psalms 149:2
) ( Ecclesiastes
12:1 ) and Philo the Jew acknowledges that these words
declare a plurality, and are expressive of others, being
co-workers with God in creation F7: and man being the principal
part of the creation, and for the sake of whom the world, and all
things in it were made, and which being finished, he is
introduced into it as into an house ready prepared and furnished
for him; a consultation is held among the divine Persons about
the formation of him; not because of any difficulty attending it,
but as expressive of his honour and dignity; it being proposed he
should be made not in the likeness of any of the creatures
already made, but as near as could be in the likeness and image
of God. The Jews sometimes say, that Adam and Eve were created in
the likeness of the holy blessed God, and his Shechinah
F8; and they also speak F9 of Adam
Kadmon the ancient Adam, as the cause of causes, of whom it is
said, "I was as one brought up with him (or an artificer with
him), ( Proverbs
8:30 ) and to this ancient Adam he said, "let us make man in
our image, after our likeness": and again, "let us make man"; to
whom did he say this? the cause of causes said to "`jod', he,
`vau', he"; that is, to Jehovah, which is in the midst of the ten
numerations. What are the ten numerations? "`aleph', he, `jod',
he", that is, (hyha) , "I
am that I am, ( Exodus 3:14 ) and he
that says let us make, is Jehovah; I am the first, and I am the
last, and beside me there is no God: and three jods (yyy) testify concerning him, that
there is none above him, nor any below him, but he is in the
middle:
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and
over the
fowl of the air;
that is, to catch them, and eat them; though in the after grant
of food to man, no mention as yet is made of any other meat than
the herbs and fruits of the earth; yet what can this dominion
over fish and fowl signify, unless it be a power to feed upon
them? It may be observed, that the plural number is used, "let
them", which shows that the name "man" is general in the
preceding clause, and includes male and female, as we find by the
following verse man was created:
and over the cattle, and over all the earth;
over the tame creatures, either for food, or clothing, or
carriage, or for all of them, some of them for one thing, and
some for another; and over all the wild beasts of the earth,
which seem to be meant by the phrase, "over all the earth"; that
is, over all the beasts of the earth, as appears by comparing it
with ( Genesis
1:24 ) so as to keep them in awe, and keep them off from
doing them any damage:
and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth;
to make use of it as should seem convenient for them.