FIRST QUARTER.

LESSON I.--JANUARY 2.

THE BEGINNING.--GENESIS 1:26-31; 2:1-3.

      GOLDEN TEXT.--In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.--GENESIS 1:1.
      TIME.--Unknown. Placed by Usher B. C. 4004.
      PLACE.--Eden.
      HELPFUL READINGS.--Gen. 1:1-26; 2:4-25; John 1:1-5; Hebrews 1:1-5; Acts 17:22-31.
      LESSON ANALYSIS.--1. The Creation of Man; 2. The Commission to Man; 3. The Sabbath Instituted.

INTRODUCTION.

      Genesis is the "Book of Beginnings." It gives the beginnings of the history of the world and of man. It is the oldest authentic history in existence. It is the first of the "Five Books of Moses," that portion of Holy Scriptures which was compiled or composed by Moses as the medium of inspiration. Of the object of Genesis Dr. Conant says: "It is to reveal the origin of the material universe; man's origin and relation to the Creator, and the equality of all men before him; the divinely constituted relation of the sexes; the divine institution of the Sabbath; the origin of physical and moral evil; the primeval history of the human race, and the origin of nations; the selection of one as the depository of the sacred records, and of the divine purpose and method for man's redemption; the history of its ancestral founders, and their relation to its subsequent history. Of these truths, to the knowledge of which we owe our present advancement in civilization, it is the object of the book to furnish a divinely accredited record."

      Our lessons open with the 26th verse. The preceding part of the chapter has revealed the creation of the heavens and the earth at some unknown period of the past, followed by a long formative period of darkness and emptiness, and the five periods, or days of creation in their order. When the sixth dawns the earth is prepared for rational beings. Had the creations ended with the fifth period there would have been no being upon the earth which could recognize and adore the Divine Creator and Ruler, but the creation of man reveals the purpose that God had in view from the beginning. [11]

      I. THE CREATION OF MAN.--26. And God said, Let us make man. The ancient Christians, with one mind, see in these words of God that plurality in the Divine Unity, which was more fully revealed when God sent his only begotten Son into the world, and when the only begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, declared him to mankind.--S. C. It is insisted that the language implies consultation and deliberation. It is held there that there was communion with him "by whom all things were made that were made." It cannot be denied that the language is of entirely different form from that used in the preceding creations. Conant, however, insists that it should be translated, "We will make man," the language of purpose and resolve, and that the plural form "does not necessarily express anything more than the dignity and majesty of the speaker; being often appropriated, by way of distinction, to personages of exalted rank and power." The plural of the word meaning God, the plural of dignity, Elohim instead of El, is almost constantly used in Genesis to represent the Creator. Man. The Hebrew word is Adam, a word kindred in meaning with ground. Since the proper name is used to indicate the new creation some have held (see Prof. Winchell's Preadamites) that there were already human beings of lower races on the earth, but that a new and higher and more spiritual race was now created. It is probable, rather, that the name is used collectively. In our image, after our likeness. This does not refer to the human body, or physical nature, but to the moral and spiritual being of man. The brute creatures had no self-determining will, no power to choose between good and evil, no power of self-education, no moral character, and no conscience. Man, endowed with all these and capable of reasoning, is in these respects in the divine likeness. And let them have dominion. Because the human race was created in the divine likeness it was fitted for and endowed with the right to rule all other animated beings. While the physical powers of man are far inferior to those of many brutes, his reason has made him superior to and the ruler of all.

      27. So God created man in his own image. In the first two chapters we meet with four different verbs which express the creative work of God, viz: (1) To create; (2) to make; (3) to form; (4) to build. The first (to create) is used of [12] the creation of the universe (verse 1), of the creation of the great sea monsters, whose vastness appears to have excited special wonder (verse 21), and of the creation of man (verse 27), the head of animated nature, in the image of God. Everywhere else we read of God making, as from an already created substance, the firmament, the sun, the stars, the brute creation, etc.--S. C. In his image. The image of God consists in knowledge, righteousness and true holiness (see Col. 3:10; Eph. 4:24; Eccl. 7:29). Though the image was greatly marred by the fall it was not, wholly effaced; hence, murder is made the most awful of crimes, because it strikes at the Image of God (Gen. 9:6). Male and female created he them. There was one and only one created of each sex, and it was thus taught to all ages that it was the divine will that a man should have but one wife, and a woman but one husband.

      II. THE COMMISSION TO MAN.--28. And God blessed them. The nature of the blessing is explained in the rest of the verse. He made them fruitful, capable of reproducing rational beings like themselves, and gave the empire of the earth and its tenantry to them. Replenish the earth, and subdue it. It was the will of the Creator that man should not only occupy the earth, but bring it under his control. The savage does little or nothing to obey this command and the earth remains a natural wilderness. It is only when the earth is "subdued" that it furnishes an abundance of food for the race. The wild fruits are scanty and furnish only a precarious support, but it is when man has recovered the soil from the state of nature that it yields its harvest. The great food products, wheat, corn, etc., only exist in a state of cultivation, and without it would soon become extinct. The earth affords a productive soil and abundant materials, but these have to be made ready for use by human labor. The metals have to be reduced before they are useful, the forests leveled, the natural turf broken up, timber converted into houses and useful implements, and, indeed, man has everywhere to "subdue" before be gets the right of ownership or adapts to his use. Labor subdues and gives ownership. It is the power of subduing, or converting the products of nature to useful ends, which measures progress in civilization. Our own age has been remarkable for the advance made. The applications of steam and electricity to the service of man have revolutionized commerce and human industries. Nor are the collateral and remote less important than the direct and immediate results. He who takes a piece of timber from the common forest, and forms a useful implement, thereby makes it his own, and it cannot rightfully be taken from him, since no one can justly appropriate to himself the products of another's skill and labor. He who originally [13] takes possession of an unappropriated field, and by his labor, prepares it for his own use, thereby makes it his own and it cannot be rightfully taken from him. Hence, arises the right of property, the origin and bond of civil society; and thus all the blessings of society, and of civilization and government, are due to the divinely implanted impulse, "fill the earth and subdue it."--Conant.

      29. I have given you every herb-bearing seed. In this and the following verse are given the provisions made for the sustenance of man and the lower animals. To man is assigned every herb yielding seed, as the different kinds of cereal grains, and every fruit tree, suffering him to choose those which were adapted to his taste and nature. It will be observed that only a vegetable diet is assigned. The traditions of almost all nations point to a golden age when flesh meat was not eaten and all was harmless innocence. I suppose that if man had never fallen he never would have become an eater of flesh, and there is no divine warrant recorded for its use until after the flood (Chap. IX.), but at the same time we must remember that man was to have dominion over "the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens," etc. They were created to minister in some way to his use.

      30. To every beast of the earth. To animals there is assigned for food "every green herb." While there are animals that live upon grain or fruits, or even upon other animals, the great source of food of the brute creation is the herbage of the earth. "All flesh is grass," and is either sustained by the grasses of the earth, or by the flesh of herb-eating animals.

      31. God saw everything that he had made and it was very good. He contemplated it and pronounced his approval upon the entire finished creation. Nothing but what was good, unless perverted, could come from the hand of an all-wise and benevolent Creator. Even after the distortion which has been [14] caused by sin, there are countless proofs of the benevolence and perfection of the divine works. A blasphemer of Portugal, King Alphonso, asserted that if he had been consulted he could have suggested a better world, and the great modern blasphemer, Ingersoll, has got off as original the same blasphemy, but those who look deeper see that for such a creature as sin has made man this is the best possible world. When completed nothing had been corrupted or impaired by sin. The evening and the morning were the sixth day. Each day, or period, begins with evening, for darkness was upon the earth before light. The Jews always followed the order of Genesis and began the new day with the evening, a necessity also from the fact that their calendar, the beginning of their months, their year, and the time of the feasts were regulated by the new moon, which, of course, was always seen first in the evening.

      CREATION IN THE BIBLE AND IN SCIENCE.--Whether we regard the six days as six periods of indefinite duration, of which the day was a symbol, or as six natural days, all scientists are agreed that the place assigned to man in the order of creation is that agreed upon by science. Man was the last of the creations, and his fossils or remains are found only in the most recent formations. Nor can it be doubted that the general order of the creations, given In this chapter, are in harmony with the teachings of science. The successive stages are: 1. The creation of matter; its condition of "waste and empty" chaos, the divine influence imparting to it active properties, the production of light. 2. The separation of the fluid mass into waters and vapors or clouds, waters below and waters above. 3. Separation of land and water; beginnings of vegetation. 4. Sun, moon and stars appear. 5. Animal life, beginning in the waters and followed by winged fowl. 6. Terrestrial animals, followed by man. "In the succession," says Prof. Dana in his Manual of Geology, p. 745, "we observe not merely an order of events, like that deduced from science; there is a system in the arrangement, and a far-reaching prophecy, to which philosophy could not have attained, however instructed."

      III. THE SABBATH INSTITUTED.--2:1. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished. As described in the preceding chapter. The first three verses of chapter 2 really belong to chapter 1, as the change of subject occurs with verse 4. All the host of them. This expression is often used of the heavenly bodies (see Isa. 45:12), which move through the heavens like marshalled armies. The expression is a military one, and is appropriate as well as beautiful. Here it not only includes the heavenly bodies, but the earth and it tenantry. The term fitly expresses the orderly arrangement of creation. Delitsch says: "God is the Lord of hosts. The sun, moon and stars are his hosts that he leads to battle against darkness." [15]

      2. And on the seventh day God ended his work. The six days, or periods, were fully occupied with the work of creation. During them the creative activity did not cease, but on the seventh day God ended his work. Some have corrected the text so as to read, "ended on the sixth day," or, "God had ended his work," but these are human amendments of the divine record, which tells us that the work ended on the seventh day. Having ended it he rested, or ceased from the work of creation, on the seventh day.

      3. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. He made the day blessed, or rich in blessings to man, distinguished it above other days by his special regard, hallowed it by setting it apart from common and worldly uses, and consecrated it as a season of sacred rest.

      Three views have been taken of this fundamental charter for the Sabbath day. 1. That it is anticipatory, and that the Sabbath never existed as a religious institution until it was given to the Jews in the Decalogue. This is argued from the silence concerning its observance by the patriarchs, and the fact that there is no distinct record of its existence until the Jews had started upon the exodus. In Exodus 16:5, 22-30, it seems to be spoken of as a new institution just established. 2. That it was created in Eden, was obligatory on all worshipers of God from the beginning, had fallen into disuse during the long sojourn in slavery in Egypt, and was revived and incorporated in the law given at Sinai. 3. That in the beginning God provided for a religious rest for one-seventh of the time, that it was observed in Eden, that this original article of the moral constitution was not put into force after the Fall until law was given, that it was then made special for the Jewish race, that when Christ came it was modified, given a new significance, adapted to a universal religion and made of world-wide application. That this view is the correct one would seem evident from the follow facts: In the original charter and charge to man in chapter 1:28-31, in the covenant made with Noah after the flood with its various requirements, and in the covenants with Abraham, there is not a word concerning its observance. The requirements made of man are few, simple and fundamental. It is only when God is setting apart a nation for his worship and giving them a religious system, that the specific enactment is established. It was in the mind of God from the beginning, there is and always has been a need for it in the constitution of man, "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath," but the circumstances were not favorable for its observance, and [16] man had not reached the religious stage which prepared him to keep it sacred, until the law was given. It is inconceivable that the observance of the Sabbath should have been required of the Ante-diluvians, of Noah, Abraham and the rest of the patriarchs, and that the Scriptures should have been silent upon the subject during a period that covers 2,500 years of the history of our race.

      There are traces of the division of time into weeks in Genesis. Noah is twice said to have waited seven days when sending the dove out of the ark (Gen. 7:10, 12). The week is recognized in the history of Jacob, especially in Genesis 29:27, 28. It was also known to other ancient nations; in Exodus 16:5, before the formal giving of the law the Sabbath is recognized. Yet Deut. 5:15 especially connects the ordinance with the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt.

PRACTICAL AND SUGGESTIVE.

      MAN A SPECIAL CREATION.--It is possible to conceive that a being with such mental endowments as man possesses, and with even the throat of a gorilla, might originate an intelligible language; but it is incomprehensible how the gift of speech could develop man's mental qualities in a brute, however long the time allowed. Moreover, it is a natural question, why there are not man-apes in the present age of the world, representing the various stages of transition, and filling up the hiatus, admitted to be large, If such a process of development is part of the general plan of nature.--Prof. Dana.

      THE UNITY OF THE RACE.--While attention was exclusively directed to the extremes of color and form, the result of the first vivid impressions derived from the senses was a tendency to view these differences as characteristics, not of mere varieties, but of originally distinct species. The permanence of certain types, in the midst of the most opposite influences, especially of climate, appeared to favor this view, notwithstanding the shortness of time to which historical evidence applied. But, in my opinion, more powerful reasons lend their weight to the other side of the, question and corroborate the unity of the human race.--Humboldt.

      THE DIVINE IMAGE.--Adam was created in the divine image. The second Adam, our Lord, is the "brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of his person." The Gospel seeks to restore the divine image in man, sadly defaced by sin, and to this end aims to transform us into the likeness of Christ. To follow him, "to look unto Jesus," to make him our example, to become Christlike, is to renew the moral likeness of God in our nature. If we are God's children we must have the Father's likeness.

      MAN'S WORK.--Our race was not created to drag out an idle existence. It had a distinct work assigned from the start. It is required not only to fill the earth but to subdue it. It has spread itself into every habitable land, and has done much to subdue the wild powers of nature, but much still remains. It is required to bring the whole earth not only under human [17] dominion, but of the Lord, the Divine-man, and to make all the kingdoms of the earth the kingdoms of the Lord and his Christ. All will yet be subdued and everyone shall bow to him as the Lord of all. Every Christian is helping along in this work.

      THE LORD'S DAY.--One day in seven, as a day of thanksgiving and praise, a day of grateful work and worship, in lively communion with God--this is the Sabbath made for man. *   * It is found to be in accordance with the physical constitution of man and beast, which requires such an interval of rest from the six days work. It is in every way the highest boon to man, in his social interests--it is at the very foundation of social order--the great auxiliary of good laws, and without whose blessed influences, infidelity and crime must desolate the fairest land.--Jacobus.

      An association of twenty physicians voted " yea" unanimously on the question, "Is the position taken by Doctor Farre, in his testimony before the Committee of the British House of Commons, in your view correct?"--That men who labor six days in a week will be more healthy and live longer, other things being equal, than those who labor seven; and that they will do more work, and do it in a better manner?

      One morning a gentleman was going to church. He was a happy, cheerful Christian, who had a very great respect for the Lord's day. He was a singular man, and would sometimes do and say what children are apt to call very "funny things." As he was going along he met a stranger driving a heavily-loaded wagon through the town. When this gentleman got right opposite to the wagoner he stopped, turned around, and, lifting both hands as if in horror, he exclaimed, as he gazed under the wagon, "There, there! you are going over it! You have gone right over it!" The driver was frightened. He drew up his reins in an instant, cried, "Whoa! whoa!" and brought his horses to a stand. Then he looked down under the wheels, expecting to see the mangled remains of some innocent child, or at least some poor dog or pig that had been ground to a jelly. But he saw nothing. So, after gazing all about he looked up to the gentleman who had so strangely arrested his attention, and anxiously asked, "Pray, Sir, what have I gone over?" "Over the law of the Lord," was the quick reply.

POINTS FOR TEACHERS.

      1. Note that creation testifies of a Creator, as a watch implies a watch-maker. 2. That all life comes from God. Man can endow nothing with vitality. He has never been able to make a single seed. God is the fountain of all life. 3. That our race was placed here with a definite work. That idleness is not our mission. That every one must help in "subduing." That he must begin by subduing himself. 4. That man has rightful dominion over all animated creation, and that this is acknowledged. The savage beasts, ten times stronger than himself, flee before him. The mighty elephant becomes his servant. He was given this rule because he was created in the divine likeness. He cannot rule rightly unless he retains that likeness and is moved by wisdom, mercy and love. 5. That God [18] rested from creative work in order to engage in other activities. So we are to rest from secular employments one day in seven that we may give our time to higher employments, study of the Word, worship of God, and activities for the moral advancement of the race. 6. That God has a right to your service because he made your home, made you, gave you life, and blessed you with his favor and love.

Source: Barton Warren Johnson. The Christian International Lesson Commentary for 1887. Des Moines, IA: