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Sunday, June 08, 2014

Animals on day 6


24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good (Gen 1:24-25).
i) On the face of it, the reference to livestock is odd. By definition, that refers to domesticated animals. At a minimum, taming wild animals, but often animals which are the product of selective breeding.
Yet in what sense did God create domestic animals on day 6? Is this like instant Jersey cows?
a) Perhaps the usage is deliberately or unavoidably anachronistic. In the nature of the case, most occurrences of the word date from a later time. Since, however, there's a contrast between livestock and wild animals, that's not the best explanation.
b) Another possibility is that the usage is proleptic. God created domesticable animals on day 6. Animals suitable for domestication. God leaves it to humans to tame them and artificially breed them (to suppress undesirable traits and enhance desirable traits). 
ii) Commentators agree that the first category (Heb=behema) denotes livestock, like cattle.
There's general agreement on the fact that the third category (Heb=hayya) denotes wild animals, although Walton and Waltke think it has a more specific denotation (see below). 
There's disagreement on the identity of the second category (Heb=remes).  Currid thinks it denotes "small animals."
Hamilton thinks it denotes reptiles (e.g. snakes, lizards). This assumes the classification is based on modes of locomotion. 
Based on cognate (Akkadian) usage, Walton thinks it denotes wild herd animals. He thinks this involves a contrast between wild prey and wild predators. (Waltke takes a similar position.) 
iii) How the animals are classified has a bearing on whether Gen 1 indicates that all animals were originally herbivorous. If Walton and Waltke are correct, then carnivory was in place from the get-go.
Likewise, if the second category denotes reptiles, many reptiles are carnivorous. Of course, some Christians think that represents a subsequent development.
I'd say the textual evidence is inconclusive for either position. 

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