This post is Day 14 in a series of studies about “Creation”. I strongly suggest you begin with the introduction to this study, please click here to read it.

Feel free to comment below with your own thoughts about each verse and how you will be acting on each thought. Also, if you haven’t yet signed up to receive the notifications of new studies, you can do that today (the form is at the bottom of the page).

Creation – Day 14

Our 21st century reading of this verse can make us think of dangerous animals, just because of the word: wild. But most of the times this Hebrew word is used it refers to the land, so other translations which use land animals rather than wild animals are much more accurate.

Genesis 1:24

And God said “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds. Livestock, creatures that move along the ground and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so”.

The Thought

Our twenty-first century reading of this verse can make us think of dangerous animals, just because of the word “wild”. But a very quick study of this word tells us that “eres” in Hebrew is only translated 6 times as “wild” while it appears over 2000 times in the Old Testament. Most of the times this Hebrew word is used it refers to the land. So other translations which use “land animals” rather than “wild animals” are much more accurate.

God did not create anything “wild” in the modern scary sense of the word. All that He created was good; fear did not exist till after the fall of Adam and Eve. (Genesis 3:1-8)

In our modern scientific age, it is worth noting that this verse assures us that God made each creature “according to its kind”. He used the same expression in Genesis 1:21 (Day 11 of this study).

His intention was that it stayed that way. I do not believe it was ever meant for scientists to experiment with mating similar species. Several weird examples of that can be seen on Youtube! We live in a world that is in many ways as God created it to be! But be encouraged that He hasn’t changed, He will have the last word, Jesus will return to earth and evil will be destroyed.

Action

Praise God today for the enormous variety of animal species that He created.

As you go through your day keep a look out for different creatures and marvel at the variety and their design.

Thank Him for the gift of design that He gave to mankind. And be aware of different patterns in things around you today; buildings, textiles, furniture, crockery etcetera.