Origin Story #5 of 21:

And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures,

And let birds fly across the sky (Gn 1:20)

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures… (Gn 1:24)

By the fifth day, the Word of God has brought the dark, chaotic and formless world into a form that is just right for “swarms of living creatures.” The sky and sea God formed on the second day provides space for all sorts of living creatures.  God declares “every living creature” of sky and sea “good”. Even “the great sea monsters” receives God’s blessing.

Sky and see have now been populated with swarms of creatures. Now God turns his attention to the earth between. The properly watered earth with its lush vegetation that God formed on the third day, is now ready to be filled “with all kinds of living creatures.” This will take a sixth day. It’s a big day. Some might say it’s a big risky day:

And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds."

And it was so. God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the cattle according to their kinds, and everything that creeps upon the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them.

And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food."

And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day. (Gn 1:24-31)

What a day. This is fun. Look what “the earth brings forth”! We could linger here forever. The earth is filled with God’s manifold creatures of which we are one. You would think we would get a special day. But no, we share the sixth day with all living creatures, even “creeping things.” We are sixth day creatures. We eat, excrete and procreate pretty much like all other animals. Yet we do it different from all other animals. And when we fail to live different, we become inhuman.

What is this difference? Here our two origin stories converge. Both acknowledge the uniqueness of the human species. But, they will differ on the “Why”. Why this difference?