Six days of creation, a human in God’s image and a seventh day when God stops His work.
The story
In the beginning God creates the heavens and the earth. The earth is unformed and empty, with darkness and water. God says there should be light, and light appears. He sees it is good, separates light from darkness and names them day and night. A line returns on each of the six days: there was evening, there was morning.
יְהִי אוֹר וַיְהִי־אוֹר
Bereshit 1:3
Over the next days God goes on creating, step by step. A dome divides water from water, the waters gather and dry land appears, and the earth sprouts plants and trees. Then lights in the sky, sea creatures and birds, and animals on land. Again and again the same words return: God sees that it is good.
וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים כִּי־טוֹב
Bereshit 1:10
On the sixth day the language changes. Until now God has said what should be. Here, for the first time, He speaks in the first person plural, and then creates the human in His image, male and female. The Torah does not explain what the image is, or whom the plural addresses.
נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ
Bereshit 1:26
God blesses the humans and tells them to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and rule over the fish, the birds and the animals. For food He gives them plants and the fruit of trees, and gives the animals and birds green plants. Then He looks at all He made: this time it is not just good, but very good.
וְהִנֵּה־טוֹב מְאֹד
Bereshit 1:31
The heavens and the earth are completed. On the seventh day God ceases from all His work, blesses the day and makes it holy. He blessed sea creatures, birds and humans before, but of all the days this is the only one He blesses. And unlike the six days, the Torah does not close it with evening and morning.
God created the human in His image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Words from the verse
וַיִּבְרָאand created (past tense)
אֶת־הָאָדָםthe human being, not a personal name
What it teaches: Human dignity
Honouring every person, because every person is created in God’s image.
The verse gives the image to the human as such, male and female, not to one particular person. The Torah teaches that human dignity is part of how a person is made, not a prize earned by deeds. So it belongs even to those we find hard to honour.
A question to sit with
Who in my life do I most easily forget was also created in God’s image?
Questions about the story
Who did God create in His image?
Only the first man
The human, male and female
The human and all the animals
Answer
b. The human, male and female
God created the human in His image, and that very verse says He created them male and female.
What does God give the humans for food?
Plants and the fruit of trees
The fish and the birds
The animals on land
Answer
a. Plants and the fruit of trees
God gives the humans every seed-bearing plant and every fruit tree. Over the fish, the birds and the animals they are given rule, not food.
The lesson
Before a person has a name or deeds, they are already created in God’s image.
For this week
This week, try pausing to look in the eyes of someone you usually walk past without noticing, and say hello or thank you.
From the sources
The Mishnah in Pirkei Avot quotes Rabbi Akiva: “Beloved is the human, for he was created in the image.” And he adds: “Especially beloved, for it was made known to him that he was created in the image.” The Mishnah begins with every human being, and only afterwards speaks of Israel.
The verses are from Miqra according to the Masorah (Wikisource, CC BY-SA 4.0), via Sefaria, without the cantillation marks. On this site the four-letter Name is written ה׳.
