TORAH · CREATION · 3 OF 3
In God's image, toward the seventh day
Read humanity and the seventh day within the whole account. Follow the words carefully, learn with our teachers and gather the three readings into your own evidenced explanation.
In this lesson
Bring back the previous reading
Try this recall before rereading Lights, creatures and blessing. If you are starting the unit here, begin with the first creation reading so that you have the passages this lesson brings together.
Before reading on, name two purposes of the lights and the words of the blessing to the water creatures and birds. Did our last card end the sixth day? Check only after you have tried.
1. Check the lights, blessing and boundary
Examples of the lights' purposes are separating day/night, giving light on earth, marking times and governing day/night. The blessing says to be fruitful, multiply and fill, with birds multiplying on the earth. The previous card stopped at 1:25, before the sixth day ended. Its evening/morning refrain comes at 1:31. The next verses therefore continue, rather than start a seventh day with humanity.
Read through the chapter boundary
The sixth day is still unfolding. The Torah, the five books of Moshe (Moses), now speaks of humanity, blessing and food before calling the whole creation very good. Genesis, or Bereshit, is its first book.
Our passage is Genesis 1:26–2:3: begin at chapter 1, verse 26, and continue into chapter 2 through verse 3. The chapter number changes, but we keep reading to the account’s seventh-day conclusion.
Take this final reading in two sittings if that helps: humanity and provision first, then the seventh day and your own whole-unit paragraph. Your earlier source cards remain available for comparison.
The human, male and female
The Hebrew word adam here names the human, or humanity. Watch the movement from the singular “the human” and “him” to “male and female” and “them.” Read the whole passage before deciding who its words include.
זכר ונקבה ברא אתם
26. God said, “Let us make the human in our image, according to our likeness. Let them rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the livestock, all the earth, and every creeping creature that creeps on the earth.”
27. God created the human in his image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
28. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, and every living creature that moves on the earth.”
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
Read the speech with Rashi
Verse 26 speaks in the plural, “Let us make.” Verse 27 reports what God did. Rashi, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, reads both verses closely. His explanation names God’s heavenly court: angels, God’s heavenly servants.
Rashi on Genesis 1:26 · Paraphrase of his explanation of “Let us make”
Rashi reads ‘Let us make’ as God consulting his heavenly court, the angels who serve him. He finds a lesson in humility: one who is greater can consult one who is lesser. Rashi also stresses that they did not help create the human. The next verse says ‘God created,’ with a singular verb.
A commentary is a named teacher’s explanation of the text. We can value Rashi’s teaching in humility while still distinguishing the words of the verse from the explanation he gives.
Verse 26 says ‘Let us make’; verse 27 reports ‘God created.’ How does Rashi read the plural speech, and what does he point to in the next verse? Is the consultation itself narrated in verse 27?
2. Check speech, action and commentary
Rashi reads the speech as consultation with God's heavenly court and a teaching in humility. He explicitly says the angels did not help in the creation. He points to ‘God created’ in the next verse, whose Hebrew verb is singular. Verse 27 reports the creation; the explanation of consultation is Rashi's commentary, not a hidden additional sentence of the verse. This preserves both the plural speech we actually read and the single Creator the narrative names.
Image and likeness
Tzelem is the Hebrew word rendered image; likeness is the related term in verse 26. We learn how to read these words with our teachers, without imagining God as a human-shaped body.
Rambam, Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, teaches that God has no body; the Torah speaks in language human beings can understand. His Mishneh Torah, a code of Torah law, states this in Foundations of the Torah 1:8–9. Rambam is a different teacher from Ramban, whose comment on blessing we read in the previous lesson.
Rambam, Foundations of the Torah 1:8–9 · Paraphrase
On the words “according to our likeness,” Rashi gives this short comment:
להבין ולהשכיל
To understand and exercise discernment.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
Discernment means understanding with judgment, recognizing and distinguishing what matters. Rashi directs our attention to understanding rather than a picture of God’s body. The verse gives the standing of God’s image to humanity, male and female; it is not a test of anyone’s learning or achievement. These two named teachings help us read without claiming to exhaust everything our teachers say about image and likeness.
Who is included when verse 27 moves from ‘the human’ to ‘male and female’ and ‘them’? What does Rambam teach about God's body, and what does Rashi's comment on likeness emphasize? Which part is the verse, and which parts are our teachers' explanations?
3. Check the verse and the two teachers
The verse speaks of humanity, male and female, created in God's image. Its final ‘them’ includes both; it does not restrict image to males. Rambam teaches that God is not a body and explains the Torah's human ways of speaking. Rashi's short likeness gloss emphasizes understanding and discernment. Those are named teachings that help us read; the verse itself states creation in the image. Nothing here assigns greater human worth to a higher score, achievement or ability, or describes God's physical appearance.
Blessing and responsibility
Compare the blessing in Genesis 1:22 with verse 28. The strong verbs subdue, bringing under control, and rule, exercising authority over, each have stated objects. Read those objects carefully.
As a reflection on this address, we can speak of receiving responsibility before the Creator. That is a way to respond to the passage, not a substitute translation for its verbs. Let the words themselves tell us who is addressed and what they are given to do.
Compare 1:22 with 1:28. What language is shared, and what is added in the address to humans? Give the actual objects of ‘subdue’ and ‘rule.’ Does the verse tell one human group to rule over another?
4. Check the blessing and the verbs’ objects
Both blessings use fruitful increase and filling. The earlier blessing concerns waters and birds; the human address names filling the earth and adds subduing it and ruling the named creatures. The earth is the object of ‘subdue’; fish, birds and living creatures are the objects of ‘rule.’ No human ethnic group or social class is named as an object of domination here. A careful summary retains the force of the words and their actual objects instead of either changing ‘rule’ to a weaker verb or using it to authorize an unstated social hierarchy.
Food and the whole creation
Provision is what is supplied to sustain life. The next speech names food for humans and for the other creatures. Follow the two recipients and what is given to each.
וירא אלהים את כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאד
29. God said, “Look, I have given you every seed-producing plant on the surface of all the earth, and every tree with seed-bearing fruit. They shall be food for you.
30. And to every wild animal of the earth, every bird of the heavens, and everything that creeps on the earth that has life in it, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. There was evening and there was morning: the sixth day.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
In verse 30, the English “I have given” carries forward the giving begun in verse 29. The plants and seed-bearing fruit connect this scene to verses 11–12. Kashrut names Torah’s food laws; those laws require further Torah study beyond the provision described here.
In 29–30, what is given to humans and what to the other creatures named? Where does this connect to 11–12? Keep the provision in this scene distinct from a complete account of present-day food law.
5. Check both recipients of food
Verse 29 gives humans seed-bearing plants and trees with seed-bearing fruit for food. Verse 30 gives green plants to the land animals, birds and creeping creatures with life in them. The vegetation and seed of 11–12 now recur as provision. The account joins living beings to what sustains them. It does not list the later Torah's entire food teaching, so we should not issue a present-day diet or kashrut ruling from these two verses alone.
Give the small word all its full weight in verse 31. Then find the evening-and-morning refrain, the repeated ending that closes the day-section.
What does God see in verse 31? Why is ‘God calls only the human very good’ too narrow? Which verse finally closes the sixth day?
6. Check what is very good
God sees ‘all that he had made,’ and it is very good. Humanity belongs within that whole, but the verse's object is not humanity alone. Verse 31 closes the sixth day with evening and morning. The land creatures of 24–25 and the human/provision scene of 26–30 therefore belong before the same refrain.
The seventh day itself is blessed
Read past the chapter number. Host here means the whole array of the heavens and earth. To cease is to stop. To make something holy, or to sanctify it, is to set it apart for God.
ויברך אלהים את יום השביעי ויקדש אתו
1. The heavens and the earth were completed, with all their host.
2. On the seventh day God completed his work that he had done, and on the seventh day he ceased from all his work that he had done.
3. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he ceased from all the work that God had created and made.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
Melakhah is the Hebrew word rendered work here: the work God has done in this account. The paragraph tells of its completion and his ceasing. It does not yet give the detailed categories of human work we study in learning how to keep Shabbat, our weekly holy day.
Ceasing does not mean that the Creator has become exhausted. Isaiah says of the Creator, “He does not grow faint or weary.” Isaiah 40:28 · Short excerpt; English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva.
Look for the new recipient of blessing. Earlier God blessed living creatures and humanity; now attend to what he does to the seventh day itself.
Read 2:1–3 without using the short label ‘God rested’ as your whole answer. What is completed? From what does God cease? What happens to the seventh day itself? Name an earlier blessing recipient and compare.
7. Check completion, ceasing, blessing and holiness
The heavens and earth and their whole host are completed. God ceases from the work he has done. God blesses the seventh day and makes it holy. Earlier he blesses creatures (1:22) and humans (1:28); now he blesses a day. The word blessing is shared, but holiness of the day is not biological multiplication. ‘Cease’ describes stopping the work, not God recovering from exhaustion; Isaiah 40:28 speaks of the Creator as not growing faint or weary.
What completion includes
Verse 1 says that the heavens and earth were completed. Verse 2 speaks of completion “on the seventh day.” Pause over their relationship before reading Rashi’s explanation.
Menuchah means rest. In the second explanation in his comment on Genesis 2:2, Rashi places rest within the world’s completion:
דבר אחר מה היה העולם חסר מנוחה באת שבת באת מנוחה כלתה ונגמרה המלאכה
Another explanation: What did the world lack? Rest. Shabbat came; rest came. The work was completed and finished.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
Rashi’s question concerns what the world still lacked. Rest gives the ending meaning; it is not an empty space to skip after the objects and creatures have been named.
Rashi asks what the world still lacked. What is his answer, and how does it connect rest with completion? Is this a claim that God lacked physical energy, or the full set of Rashi's explanations?
8. Check Rashi’s second explanation
In his second explanation, Rashi answers that the world lacked rest. Shabbat's coming brings rest, and the work is completed. His question concerns the world's completion, not a tired Creator needing energy. The source card selects one of his explanations, not the whole comment. This lets us see ceasing as meaningful in the account's conclusion, rather than treating the seventh day as a discarded blank after the important part.
Give this ending its own words
An observation points to words that are present or to a repeated phrase that is absent. An inference is a conclusion drawn from that evidence. A good inference does not claim more than its evidence supports.
Compare the last sentence of 1:31 with all three verses of 2:1–3. Notice the changed wording before deciding what it permits us to conclude.
Compare the end of 1:31 with 2:1–3. What refrain is not repeated in the seventh-day paragraph? What new words are there instead? Would that omission alone prove that the weekly Shabbat has no end?
9. Check the refrain and the limit of the inference
The seventh-day paragraph does not repeat ‘There was evening and there was morning.’ It stresses completion, ceasing, blessing and making the day holy. That is a useful observation about the passage's shape. The missing refrain alone does not settle the length of a calendar Shabbat or replace the Torah's later commandments and our received practice. Our explanation should give the ending its distinct words rather than make an unsupported calendar conclusion.
Write your whole-unit reading
A synthesis brings the parts together into a connected account. Keep the biblical source cards available: Genesis 1:1–13, 1:14–25 and the three cards on this page. Close the answer disclosures and prepare your own paragraph before opening the model.
Keep three layers distinct: the biblical text, a named commentator’s explanation and your own response. Halakhah is practical Torah law; a personal response to learning is not by itself a halakhic ruling. Your work here is a complete reading of Genesis 1:1–2:3, not a complete account of every teaching about creation.
Close the answers but keep the biblical passages available. Write a paragraph of five to seven sentences answering: ‘How does Genesis 1:1–2:3 move from the opening to a world whose seventh day is holy?’ Include (a) two actual actions from the first three days; (b) a purpose or blessing from 14–25; (c) humanity and provision from 26–31; and (d) what makes 2:1–3 a distinct ending. Give at least one reference from each reading. Then add two separate sentences: one beginning ‘Rashi explains…’ or ‘Ramban explains…’, and one beginning ‘A response I can bring to this learning is…’. Do not turn your response into another quotation or a new practical ruling.
10. Compare and revise your whole-unit paragraph
God speaks light into being, separates light and darkness, and names Day and Night (1:3–5). The waters are divided and gathered, dry land appears, and the earth brings forth seed-bearing growth (1:6–12). The lights receive tasks of illumination and marking time, while living creatures receive the blessing of fruitful increase (1:14–22). God creates humanity, male and female, in his image and addresses them with blessing and responsibility (1:26–28). The plants and fruit become provision for humans and other creatures, and God calls all that he has made very good (1:29–31). The account then concludes with completed work, God's ceasing, and the seventh day blessed and made holy (2:1–3). The ending gives holy time a place in the creation account, not merely one more created object.
Rashi explains, in his second comment on 2:2, that rest is what the world still lacked and what completes its work.
A response I can bring to this learning is to notice one gift of creation with gratitude and make time to learn how our Shabbat honors its Creator.
Your paragraph, chosen commentator and response need not match this model. Check your work against these six criteria:
- It includes every required movement, with a true connection rather than only nouns in order.
- References genuinely support the statements and cover all three readings.
- It identifies “very good” with the whole creation, not humans alone.
- It preserves image for humanity, avoids a bodily God, and keeps responsibility’s actual objects.
- It treats blessing/holiness of the day as distinct from multiplying creatures and does not imply divine fatigue.
- It labels the commentator and personal response separately. A warm personal response is welcome; it is not proof of a textual or halakhic claim.
Revise: Underline your verse evidence; circle one inference you drew. Check that the inference follows from those words. If your paragraph ends at humanity, add the provision and seventh day before calling it a whole-unit reading.
Return after a delay
At your next study sitting, without looking at the cards, say the unit's beginning and ending references. Recall a separation, a naming, a blessing to living creatures, the statement about humanity, and the actions concerning the seventh day. Then explain one commentator's contribution and name its source. Reopen the passages only after your attempt.
11. Check your whole-unit recall
The unit runs from Genesis 1:1 through 2:3. Valid recalled examples include light/darkness separated and named Day/Night; the water creatures and birds blessed to multiply; humanity, male and female, created in God's image; and the seventh day blessed and made holy as God ceases from completed work. A named contribution could be Rashi on 1:7 explaining the ‘good’ pattern, Ramban on 1:22 explaining fruitful blessing and the land creatures, or Rashi's second explanation on 2:2 about rest completing the world. Check your particular example's words and reference, then repair a missed connection rather than rereading everything without first trying to remember.
Read in context
- Genesis 1 and Genesis 2: 1:26–2:3 is rendered completely here. The next verse begins a further account, beyond this unit.
- Rashi on Genesis 1:26: the consultation explanation is paraphrased; the short likeness comment is rendered completely. These are selected parts of his comments on the verse.
- Rambam, Foundations of the Torah 1:8–9: the teaching about God’s nonbodily being and human language is paraphrased.
- Rashi on Genesis 2:2: only his second explanation is quoted, not the whole comment.
- Isaiah 40:28: the brief excerpt concerns the Creator who does not grow weary.