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earth when they were created." When we read in Gen. 5: 1, "This is the book of the
generations of Adam," we are likewise given a definite time from which to start:--
"In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him; male and
female created He them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when
they were created."
This man Adam, whose creation is recorded in Gen. 1: 26, lived 130 years and had a
son whose name is Seth. The Adam of Gen. 1: and the Adam of Gen. 2: are therefore
identical. The generations of Adam, of Noah, and of others, are their immediate
descendants. This must be the meaning, however figuratively interpreted of the first
reference, the generations of the heavens and of the earth.
Special attention is drawn in Gen. 2: 4, 5 to the fact that the creation of "every plant
of the field" must be believed to have taken place "before it was in the earth," and
"every herb of the field before it grew". This indicates that a great amount of detail is
withheld from us in Gen. 1: When we read, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb
yielding seed," we are to remember that Gen. 2: 4, 5 tells us that a creative work had
already been done. So when we read, "Let us make man", we are prepared to find that
further details will be given of that which so vitally concerns ourselves. These details are
given in Gen. 2: under the generations that there commence. Man was created in the
image of God (Gen. 1: 27), he was formed of the dust of the ground. The elements that
enter into the composition of the herb, the tree, and the cattle, enter into the composition
of man. The generic name for man, as well as the name of the first man, is Adam, for he
was formed of the dust of the ground (adamah). Man is of the earth, earthy. But, one
may interpose, "You forget that of Adam it is written, `and man became a living SOUL,'
a statement that is not said of the lower creatures in Gen. 1:" It is true that the word soul
does not occur in the A.V. until the record concerning man is reached, but this is by
reason of the power of tradition. The translators of our wonderful authorised version
apparently believed that man was possessed of an immortal soul, and consequently, when
they met the Hebrew words translated "living soul" in the passages that speak of animals
and creeping things, they assigned to them a lower meaning; the ordinary reader is
consequently at a serious disadvantage. A ray of light is shed from the margin of
Gen. 1: 30, where the reader will discover that the word "life" in the sentence, "everything
that creepeth upon the earth, wherein is life," has the marginal note, "Hebrew, a living
soul." This fact shatters the conception that man alone is a living soul, and with it goes
the fabric of error that has grown up upon that fundamental falsehood.
In Gen. 1: 20, 21, 24 and 30, the Hebrew word nephesh ("soul") is used of the lower
orders of creation. In chapter 2: two words occur twice. When they have reference to
man they are translated "a living soul", but when they have reference to animals they are
translated "living creature". Out of the first thirteen times that nephesh occurs in
Genesis, ten of these occurrences refer to animals. It is evident that the Apostle Paul,
when writing to the Corinthians, had no idea that Gen. 2: 7 taught the immortality of
man, for he uses this very passage to prove the reverse. In I Cor. 15: 44 he says, "It is
sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." We must bear in mind that the word
"natural" is literally "soul-ical", if such a word is allowable (psuchikos). In this state it is