Genesis 1:25

Gen 1:25 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.

Ver. 25. And all creeping things of the earth.] God assigns the parts of the people as of the gnat, saith an ancient. {Disponit Deus membra publicis et culicis.} And the wisdom of men and angels, saith a modern writer, cannot mend the least thing in a fly. The figure, colour, quality, quantity of every worm, and every flower, with what exactness is it ordered! as if God nod nothing else to do, but to bring forth such a creature into the world, as the product of his infinite wisdom. The devil, with all his skill, could not create a louse. {Exo 8:18} Myrmecides spent more time to make an artificial bee, than some do to build a house. Pliny {a} makes mention of one who had spent sixty-eight years in searching out the nature of the bee, and yet had not fully found it out. God is the greatest in the smallest matters. {Deus est maximus in mininis.} Holy Mr Dod, being at Holmeby, and invited by an honourable person to see that once stately house, desired to be excused, and to sit still, looking on a flower which he had in his hand. "In this flower," saith he, "I can see more of God than in all the beautiful buildings in the world." {b}

{a} Plin. l. xi. c. 9.

{b} Full. Chur. Hist. p. 210.

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.

Verse 25. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, &c.] Every thing both in the animal and vegetable world was made so according to its kind, both in genus and species, as to produce its own kind through endless generations. Thus the several races of animals and plants have been kept distinct from the foundation of the world to the present day. This is a proof that all future generations of plants and animals have been seminally included in those which God formed in the beginning.

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

25. And God made] Notice the word “made,” Lat. fecit, not “created”; cf. Gen_1:7; Gen_1:16.

and God saw that it was good] It is noticeable that the blessing, which followed these words after the creation of the water animals and the birds (Gen_1:22), is here omitted. Either the blessing was allowed to drop out, in order that the description of the sixth day might not become too long in comparison with that of the previous five days; or the blessing so fully pronounced upon man in Gen_1:28-30 may be considered to embrace also the living creatures created on the same sixth day.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And God made the beast of the earth after his kind,.... The wild beasts, and the several sorts of them; beginning the account with the last mentioned, as is frequent in the Hebrew language, and so he made all the rest:

and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind; tame creatures, and all the reptiles of the earth: this most clearly shows and proves that the above creatures were not produced by the mere force of nature, or the powers the earth were possessed of, however the matter of it might be disposed and prepared, but by the omnipotent hand of God:

and God saw that it was good; that every creature he had made would some way or other be for his glory, and for the benefit of man. Picherellus thinks that all this belongs to the work of the fifth day, not the sixth; because as the vegetables, herbs, and trees were produced on the same day, the third day; so animals, whether in the waters, air, or earth, were made on one and the same day; and that it was proper a separate day should be allotted for the formation of rational creatures, Adam and Eve, and that it might appear that the same blessing was not conferred on brutes as on reasonable beings; and therefore the words with which Gen 1:24 begins should be rendered, "but after God had said, let the earth", &c. that is, after God had ordered this, and it was done, then "the evening and the morning were the fifth day"; which is what rhetoricians call an "hysteron proteron".

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

And God made (asah, not beta, the principle of life being not now introduced for the first time, as in ver. 21) the beast of the earth (the chayyah) after his kind, and cattle (behemah ) after their kind, and every thing that creepeth on the earth (literally, every reraes of the ground) after his kind. The order of creation (ver. 25) differs from that in which they were summoned into existence (ver. 24). The latter may be the order of time, the former the order of rank; or there may have been two divisions of the work, in the former of which the herbivora took the lead, and in the latter the carnivora. According to the witness of geology, "the quadrupeds did not all come forth together. Large and powerful herbivore first take the field, with only a few carnivora. These pass away. Other herbivora, with a larger proportion of carnivora, next appear. These also are exterminated, and so with others. Then the carnivora appear in vast numbers and power, and the herbivore also abound. Moreover, these races attain a magnitude and number far surpassing all that now exist. As the mammalian age draws to a close, the ancient carnivora and herbivora of that era all pass away, excepting, it is believed, a few that are useful to man. New creations of smaller size people the groves" (Dana. Quoted by Dawson, "O.W." p. 224). And God saw that it was good. As in the third day"s work each branch is sealed by the Divine approbation, so in this. The creation of the higher animals completed the earth"s preparation for the advent of man; to which, doubtless, the Creator"s commendation of his finished work had a special reference. Everything was in readiness for the magnum opus which was to close his creative labor and crown his completed cosmos.

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

ויעש AND HE MADE — He formed them with their full volition and in their full stature (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.

ויעש אלוקים, the reason why the Torah reports G’d as ויעש, completing something after having already written ויהי כן signaling that G’d’s directives had been carried out, is that G’d’s directive consisted of 3 parts in addition to the directive to create man, i.e. domestic mammals, free-roaming mammals and creeping creatures. G’d constructed each category in such a way that they would make their habitat on different parts of the earth. This has been emphasised by the words למינה, למחנה, למינהו, being inserted between the names of each category of creatures. G’d did all this in order that one category of creature should not inflict harm, damage on its counterpart by interfering with the other’s lifestyle in its respective domain. This is also the reason why He did not bless them. How could G’d have blessed them with the formula: “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth,” seeing that He did not want that the harmful creatures amongst them would multiply in such a fashion? Some of these animals’ very grazing on the earth would be a form of causing irreparable harm on the surface of the earth. Our sages (Rashi on verse 22) claim that the reason G’d did not extend His blessing to these beasts was on account of the serpent which became a destructive force.

הבהמה, these are the animals which live in close proximity to man, are used by him on a daily basis. This includes, cattle, sheep, goats, horses donkeys and camels.

חית הארץ, this includes “wild” beasts such as lions, tigers, bears, wolves, etc., beasts which are predators. G’d arranged for the nature of these beasts to be such that they do not choose urban areas as their natural habitat. If they would tend to make their habitat on earth indiscriminate instead of confining themselves to virgin regions, they would lay the earth waste, and would take over by multiplying themselves while devouring weaker species. (compare Exodus 23,29) you will find that anywhere in Scripture where mention is made of the destruction of man’s habitat, that the wild beasts took over the regions formerly inhabited by man. (Leviticus 26,22)

ורמש האדמה, this also refers to specific locations in certain deserts, as mentioned by Moses in Deut. 8,15, when he mentioned the presence of such lethal snakes, etc., in certain areas in the desert. Other creeping creatures are found on a regular basis also in the regions inhabited by man, and those do not pose a threat to man. The expression רמש, refers to a type of motion. Note how G’d in His wisdom arranged all this. The worms which appear to spontaneously develop from decaying vegetable or animal matter have not been mentioned at all in connection with G’d’s creative activities, even though they possess the ability to move.

וירא אלוקים כי טוב, even though among these newly created creatures there are those which function as predators, and otherwise harmful beings, they still are also useful in many respects as has been proven by a number of scientists who are able to use the stings of wasps, etc., to help extract poisonous venom from human tissue and neutralise it. G’d provided each of the species with limbs or organs suitable to their individual lifestyle. The lion and other predators are equipped with special teeth and claws in order to facilitate their attacks on more peaceful creatures who serve as their food. At the same time, gazelles, deer, etc., which are primary targets of these ferocious beasts have been given musculature to enable them to escape from the clutches of such predators by their superior speed. Each species has been equipped with means to help it to ensure its survival in a hostile environment. This is proved by the fact that these species have not become extinct over thousands of years. Although, basically the animal kingdom can be divided into the aggressors and the victims, G’d has provided nourishment for both types of species. Each type of animal enjoys the food G’d has provided for them in nature. At the same time, each will have to die in due course. The predators will meet death either at the hands of hunters or other stronger predators, or through natural disasters depriving them of their means of survival. Job 4,11 “the lion perishes for lack of prey,” already attests to this phenomenon, as does Amos 3,4 in which the prophet describes that when these beasts succeed in killing their prey they call out in triumph. The prophet Nachum (2,13), as well as many other verses in the Bible testify to the fact that even these ferocious beasts are frequently neutralised by natural disasters. Still, the fact is that none of these predators are genetically unable to subsist on a vegetarian diet, else, at the time when G’d created them and there were only herbs to feed on, they would have perished before being able to even reproduce themselves. If, at that time, the lion had already fed on sheep, one of G’d’s species would have been eliminated from earth, contrary to G’d’s design. He had not created them in order for them to become extinct. It is quite clear from verse 30 in our chapter that originally, G’d had assigned the herbs as food for all חיות, free-roaming animals.

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.