Lesson 9
Genesis 1:24-25
Introduction
"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. 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" (Genesis 1:24-25).
In this lesson we are going to look at the first of a two-part study of Day 6 of Creation Week. On this day God created all the land animals and creatures. Why did He not create all the animal life on Day 5? Land creatures, according to our reading, must be of a higher order than marine life and birds.
Day 6 - The Creation of Land Animals
These creatures are categorised as "cattle, creeping thing(s), and beasts of the earth." The term 'cattle' probably indicates all kinds of domesticable animals; 'beasts' refers to the large wild animals (including dinosaurs), and 'creeping thing' includes amphibians, small mammals, and all the insects and bugs that live on and in the ground. These three classifications of land animals are based upon their relation to man's interests:-
1. Cattle; the animals (e.g., sheep, cows, and horses) in this category would be domesticated by man.
2. Beasts; animals that live wild and cannot be (fully) domesticated (e.g., lions, elephants, and reptiles).
3. Creeping things; all the creepy-crawlies we dislike, plus frogs, moles, rates and mice.
The Genesis list is far simpler than modern-day classification systems (taxonomy) for it places each group according to its importance to man. There may be some crossing of the groups, such as is the case with the elephant, but the fact remains that the elephant is still essentially a wild animal.
Brought Forth
The land animals were 'brought forth' out of the ground. This means that their bodies were composed of the same elements found in the earth. When they died they would return to the earth (dust) from which they were created.
Created Simultaneously
Theistic-evolutionists try to correlate the evolutionary order with that of Genesis 1:24-25, but it cannot be done. According to evolution, the order of appearance (over millions of years) is, insects, then amphibians, then reptiles, then all mammals.) In fact it places amphibians, reptiles and insects before birds, but Genesis reveals that God created the fowl on Day 5. God's order was mammals, amphibians, reptiles and insects. This is only a basic order since they were made simultaneously (or within a few hours according to earth time).
It Was Good
There was no evolutionary struggle for existence as Charles Darwin and his followers suggest. Their 'Survival of the Fittest' is simply a rejection of the plain description of the facts presented to us in Genesis. Any fight to be the leading creature on the evolutionary scale cannot be seen as 'good.' God made everything perfect, meaning nothing can be improved upon, and that one kind did not evolve into a different kind. Each 'kind' was declared 'good' by God. Those who believe that God used evolution are actually guilty of calling God a liar … "Let God be true, but every man a liar" (Romans 3:4).
Conclusion
The world was now totally ready for the next part of God's creation on Day 6, the entrance of man. It did not take billions of years to get to this stage, God created and prepared everything in six literal days consisting of twenty-four hours each. He did not even have to take six days, but He did so for two reasons:-
1. To stress the order and logical relationship between each part of creation.
2. To provide man with a pattern for a six-day working week.
There are those who teach that Genesis 2 is a second creation, but what we have seen so far is really only a brief outline of what happened during the six days. Genesis 2 expands on certain aspects of Creation Week. We shall investigate this further in later studies.