Genesis 1:12

Gen 1:12 And the earth brought forth grass, [and] herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed [was] in itself, after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.

Ver. 12. And the earth brought forth, &c.] Augustine {a} thinks that thorns and thistles, brambles and briers were before the fall, though not in the same abundance as now. Basil thinks otherwise, and that till sin came in, the rose was without prickles. It is likely there were such shrubs at first created, {non ut loederent hominem non peccantem, sed peccaturum,} saith Pareus. Now since the fall, all creatures are armed against man: as that sword which Hector gave Ajax, which, so long as he used against men, his enemies, served for help and defence; but after he began to abuse it to the hurt of haemless beasts, it turned into his own bowels.

Yielding fruit after his kind.] So that men do not "gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles". {Luk 6:44} "Can a fig tree," saith James, "bear olive berries? or a vine, figs?"; {Jas 3:12} that were monstrous. And should not every man in like manner bear his own fruit, proper to his kind, to his calling? do his own work? weed his own gardens. "walk within his own house with a perfect heart," {Psa 101:2} till God come unto him? Come he will, and look for fruit in its season. When he comes, he will turn up your leaves; and look that, like the tree of life, {Rev 22:21} we bear fruit every month: or that we be like the lemon tree, which ever and anon sendeth forth new lemons as soon as the former are fallen down with ripeness; or the Egyptian fig tree, which, saith Solinus, {b} beareth fruit seven times a year; pull off a fig, and another breaks forth in the place shortly after. Now if we be found like the barren fig tree, {Luk 13:6-9} that had leaves only; or the cypress tree, which is said to be fair and tall, but altogether fruitless; or the cyparittree, of which Pliny {c} affirms, that it is always fruitless; {natu morosa, fructu supervacanea, baccis parva, foliis amara, odore violenta, ac ne umbra quidem gratiosa} what can we expect, but that he should set down his basket, and taking up his axe, hew us down as fuel for the fire of hell? Spain is said to have nothing barren in it, or not some way useful; {d} and why should Christ’s orchard, the Church? He pares and prunes {αιρει χαηαιρει, Joh 15:2} his leaves and luxuriancies; yea, cuts and slashes where need requires; and all that we may bear more fruit. Sincerity alone will not comfort a man, unless it grow up to fruitfulness; which, springing from the exercise of grace, hath a sweet reflection on the soul, as in sick Hezekiah; {Isa 38:3} and sweetly seals up our "calling to glory and virtue," {2Pe 1:3} as the budding of Aaron’s rod did his calling to the priesthood: whereupon one well observeth, that not only all the plants of God’s setting, but the very boughs cut off from the body of them will flourish. Here some demand, Were the trees so created at first, that if sin had never entered, they had ever flourished, laden with fruit? Answer is made by a worthy divine, {e} that the allusion {Rev 22:2} seems to intimate some such matter. And perhaps Christ would else never have cursed the fruitless fig tree, since the time of figs was not yet come. {Mar 11:13}

{a} Augustine, De Gen. ad Literam, l. iii. c. 18.

{b} Unde pomum decerpseris, alterum sine mora protuberat - Sol. in Polyhist., c. 45.

{c} Pliny, l. x.

{d} In Hispania nihil ignavum, nihil sterile. - Solin

{e} Brightm. On Rev.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This sentence is so oft repeated, to signify that God made all his creatures to serve to his glory, and to the profit of man: but for sin they were accursed, yet to the elect, by Christ they are restored, and serve to their wealth.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 12. Whose seed was in itself] Which has the power of multiplying itself by seeds, slips, roots, c., ad infinitum which contains in itself all the rudiments of the future plant through its endless generations. This doctrine has been abundantly confirmed by the most accurate observations of the best modern philosophers. The astonishing power with which God has endued the vegetable creation to multiply its different species, may be instanced in the seed of the elm. This tree produces one thousand five hundred and eighty-four millions of seeds; and each of these seeds has the power of producing the same number. How astonishing is this produce! At first one seed is deposited in the earth; from this one a tree springs, which in the course of its vegetative life produces one thousand five hundred and eighty-four millions of seeds. This is the first generation. The second generation will amount to two trillions, five hundred and nine thousand and fifty-six billions. The third generation will amount to three thousand nine hundred and seventy-four quadrillions, three hundred and forty-four thousand seven hundred and four trillions! And the fourth generation from these would amount to six sextillions two hundred and ninety-five thousand three hundred and sixty-two quintillions, eleven thousand one hundred and thirty-six quadrillions! Sums too immense for the human mind to conceive; and, when we allow the most confined space in which a tree can grow, it appears that the seeds of the third generation from one elm would be many myriads of times more than sufficient to stock the whole superfices of all the planets in the solar system! But plants multiply themselves by slips as well as by seeds. Sir Kenelm Digby saw in 1660 a plant of barley, in the possession of the fathers of the Christian doctrine at Paris, which contained 249 stalks springing from one root or grain, and in which he counted upwards of 18,000 grains. See my experiments on Tilling in the Methodist Magazine.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And the earth brought forth grass,.... In great abundance at once; the hills and vales were clothed with it, and so a rich provision was made the beasts and cattle of the earth two or three days before they were created:

and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself after his kind: wholesome and healthful herbs and plants, and delicious fruit to be meat and food for man, ready prepared for him when created; see Gen 1:29 on this day, though after related, were made the garden of Eden, and all the trees in it, pleasant for sight, and good for food; and particularly the tree of life, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil,

and God saw that it was good; which he had now caused to spring forth, grass, herbs, and fruit trees, which were good for men and beast, and this he foresaw would be so; See Gill on Gen 1:4.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

This clause is so often added, to show that all the disorders, evil and hurtful qualities, that now are in the creatures, are not to be imputed to God, who made all of them good; but to man’s sin, which hath corrupted their nature, and perverted their use.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind. It is noticeable that the vegetation of the third day sprang from the soil in the same natural manner in which all subsequent vegetation has done, viz., by growth, which seems to resolve the well-known problem of whether the tree was before the seed, or the seed before the tree, in favor of the latter alternative, although in the order of nature the parent is always before the offspring. In all probability the seed forms were in the soil from the first, only waiting to be vitalized by the Ruach Elohim The Spirit of God; or they may have been then created. Certainly they were not evolved from the dead matter of the dry land. Scripture, no more than science, is acquainted with Abiogenesis. Believing that "if it were given to her to- look beyond the abyss of geologically recorded time, she might "witness the evolution of living protoplasm from not living matter," science yet honestly affirms "that she sees no reason for believing that the feat (of vitalizing dead matter) has been performed yet" (Huxley"s "Brit. Association Address, 1871); and Scripture is emphatic that, if it is protoplasm which makes organized beings, the power which manufactures protoplasm is the Ruach Elohim, acting in obedience to the Divine Logos. The time when the earth put forth its verdure, viz., towards the close of the third day, after light, air, earth, and water had been prepared and so adjusted as to minister to the life of plants, was a signal proof of the wisdom of the Creator and of the naturalness of his working.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ותוצא הארץ וגו AND THE EARTH BROUGHT FORTH etc. — Although the expression למינהו according to its kind, was not used when the various kinds of herbage were bidden to come forth, they heard that the trees were so commanded and they applied to themselves the argument à fortiore (ק"ו), as it is explained in an Aggadic passage in (Chullin 60a).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AND G-D SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD. This affirms the existence of the various kinds forever.There was no special day assigned for this command for vegetation alone, since it is not a unique work. The earth, whether it brings forth anything or is salt land, is one.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ותוצא הארץ, had the Torah written [in verbatim response to G’d’s directive]ותדשא הארץ, I would not have known that it was only one, as we explained on verse 11. The Torah wanted to make sure that we did not get the impression that the earth suddenly proliferated with a carpet of herbs. The remarkable thing was that although the earth produced only a single herb, ויהי כן, it endured, i.e. survived until it had many others added after the sun had become strong on the fourth day. Alternatively, the meaning of this formulation is that from this moment on the earth always produced all these kinds of plants in their unadulterated form, each true to its species. There never was an occasion when nature suddenly produced a tree combining the properties of two different species. This only happened when man deliberately introduced an additional species through grafting it onto a tree. This is the reason why G’d commanded man not to crossbreed plants or animals. Both Adam and Noach were commanded this as our sages (Sanhedrin 60) state in conjunction with the verseאת חקותי תשמרו בהמתך לא ים, שדך לא תזרע כלאים, “do not crossbreed animals, nor seed your field with a mixture of more than one seed (trees).” (Leviticus 19,19). This referred to statutes G’d had already promulgated prior to the revelation at Mount Sinai. Concerning the mixing of seeds of herbs, no such prohibition exists for gentiles. Concerning the uprooting of such hybrids gentiles are not commanded to do this, and even Israelites are only obliged to do this in the Land of Israel. The entire subject revolves around deliberately upsetting the way in which G’d created His universe.[in the Sefer Hachinuch the applicability of part of this legislation to gentiles is described as מפי הקבלה, “based on tradition.” Ed.] This is also why a scholar questioned what the halachah is according to Rabbi Chanina bar Pappa who had quoted the herbs arriving at the conclusion that they must maintain the purity of their species although the Torah had not written anything about למינו in connection with the herbs. The scholar wanted to know what the situation would be if someone had deliberately crossbred two species of herbs. According to the opinion of Ravina one could not hold such a person culpable for such an innovation. Alternatively, the question it that seeing that the herbs had voluntarily taken it upon themselves to maintain the same standards as did the trees and plants which carried their seed in them, would anyone violating that standard be held responsible for violating a law of nature which G’d had approved even though it was instigated by nature itself? The question was left open.

וירא אלוקים כי טוב, even though there are herbs which generate heat, they too are included in what is described here as “good,” seeing that they have therapeutic value and by being applied as bandages to injuries serve to cure such injuries.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.