Animals of the Bible
Animals in Genesis 1-3
On day 5 and 6 of creation, we see animals first appear. On day 5, two different groups of animals appear, sea creatures and birds. The sea creatures (or perhaps more accurately, sea monsters) were created to multiply and fill the sea. These included everything that lives exclusively in the water. Also on day 5 we have the birds that were created and their role was to multiply and fill the sky since that is where they fly.
This means they would’ve had to have landed somewhere on the surface of the earth but because they have wings and fly, Genesis records them as filling the sky. Notice how these two groups share the same primary function. Their primary function was to multiply or procreate, and “fill” the space God designed. In Genesis 1:22 God commands them to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth”. So if you ever wonder what the purpose was for God creating these creatures, it’s quite simple: to make more of themselves and to fill the land.
On day 6 we have land animals that were created by the land itself. God used the surface of the earth to bring forth the land animals on which they would live. Genesis describes them as being made by their “kinds”. There’s always been some mystery behind this word kind but the Bible itself describes what it means. Three categories appear for the kinds of animal God makes, livestock, creeping creatures, and wild animals.
- Livestock- animals that lived with humans
- Creeping creatures- animals that move close to the ground such as insects, reptiles or amphibians (those that crawl).
- Wild animals- untamed land animals.
As we can see, the word “kind” is used to describe groups of animals separated by habitat and their primary function or characteristic. All animals are under the rule of man, however. They were to eat green plants and not each other. They were meant to live in harmony with one another and with humans. Humans were also not supposed to eat animals as our diet was supposed to be strictly plant based as well. The human role of “ruling” the animals was not to hunt and kill them to display dominance, but rather a rule of preserving and keeping the order and life God established with his creatures.
In Genesis 2:19-20, we get a narrative of God forming the animals from the dust, a visual from Genesis 1. God then brings the animals to Adam in the garden and he names them all. Adam naming the animals was his first act of having “dominion” over them. The other reason for bringing the animals to Adam was that since Adam was alone in his kind, he needed a help-mate. No animal was found to be suitable to fulfill this role, so that is why God made Eve. Animals are not meant to be our soul mates and this is also why soul animals do not exist. We are not equal with the animals but have dominion over them. This does not mean we should be cruel or violent towards animals just because of our higher status. Our duty is not to dominate them but to love the creation God made.
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