Albert Barnes Commentary Genesis 1:20-23

"And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that moveth, wherewith the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day." — Genesis 1:20-23 (ASV)

• שׁרץ shārats — “crawl, teem, swarm, abound.” An intransitive verb, however, it admits an objective noun of its own or a similar meaning.

• נפשׁ nephesh — “breath, soul, self.” This noun is derived from a root meaning to breathe. Its concrete meaning is, therefore, “that which breathes,” and consequently, it has a body, without which there can be no breathing; therefore, “a breathing body,” and even a body that once had breath (Numbers 6:6).

  As breath is the accompaniment and sign of life, it comes to mean “life,” and therefore, a living body, “an animal.” And as life properly signifies animal life, and is therefore essentially connected with feeling, appetite, and thought, נפשׁ nephesh also denotes these qualities and what possesses them.

  It is obvious that it denotes the vital principle not only in humans but also in animals. It is therefore a more comprehensive word than our word “soul,” as commonly understood.

• תנין tannı̂yn — “long creature,” a comprehensive genus, including vast fishes, serpents, dragons, crocodiles; “stretch.”

• ברך bārak — “break, kneel; bless.”

The solitude בהוּ bohû—the last and greatest defect in the state of the earth—is now to be removed by the creation of the various animals that are to inhabit it and share in its vegetation.

On the second day, the Creator was occupied with the task of reducing the air and water to a habitable state. And now, on the corresponding day of the second three days, He calls into existence the inhabitants of these two elements. Accordingly, the animal kingdom is divided into three parts in reference to the regions they would inhabit: fish, birds, and land animals. The fish and birds are created on this day. The fish seem to be regarded as the lowest type of living creatures.

They are here subdivided only into the monsters of the deep and the smaller species that swarm in the waters.

(Genesis 1:20) The crawler - שׁרץ sherets apparently includes all animals that have short legs or no legs, and are therefore unable to raise themselves above the soil. The aquatic and most amphibious animals come under this class. “The crawler of living breath,” having breath, motion, and sensation—the ordinary indications of animal life.

“Abound with.” As in Genesis 1:11 we have, Let the earth grow grass, (דשׁא תדשׁע tadshē‛ deshe'), so here we have, Let the waters crawl with the crawler, (שׁרץ ישׁרצוּ yîshretsû sherets); the verb and noun having the same root.

The waters here are not the cause but the element of the fish, just as the air is for the fowl. Fowl means everything that has wings. The face of the expanse. The expanse is here shown to be aerial or spatial, not solid, as fowl can fly on it.

(Genesis 1:21) Created. - Here the author uses this word for the second time. In the selection of different words to express God's work, two considerations seem to have guided the author’s pen: variety and propriety of diction.

The diversity of words appears to indicate a diversity in the way of exercising divine power. On the first day (Genesis 1:3), a new admission of light into a darkened region, through the partial rarefaction of the intervening medium, is expressed by the word 'be.' This may indicate something that already existed, but not in that place.

On the second day (Genesis 1:6–7), a new disposition of the air and water is described by the verbs 'be' and 'make.' These indicate a modification of what already existed.

On the third day (Genesis 1:9, Genesis 1:11), no verb is directly applied to the act of divine power. This divine agency is thus understood, while the natural changes following are expressly noted.

On the fourth day (Genesis 1:14, Genesis 1:16–17), the words 'be,' 'make,' and 'give' occur, where the subject is the manifestation of the heavenly bodies and their adaptation for human use. In these cases, it is evident that the word 'create' would have been only improperly or indirectly applicable to the action of the Eternal Being.

Here, it is used with propriety, as the animal world is something new and distinct called into existence. It is clear from this review that variety of expression has resulted from attention to propriety.

Great fishes. - These are monstrous crawlers that wriggle through the water or move swiftly along the banks.

Every living, breathing thing that creeps. - The smaller animals of the water and its banks.

Bird of wing. - Here the wing is made characteristic of the class, which extends beyond what we call birds. The Maker inspects and approves His work.

(Genesis 1:22) Blessed them. - On this day, we are brought into a new sphere of creation, and we encounter a new act of the Almighty. To bless is to wish for, and in God's case, to will some good to the object of the blessing. The blessing pronounced here upon the fish and the fowl is that of abundant increase.

Bear. - This refers to the propagation of the species.

Multiply. - This indicates the abundance of the offspring.

Fill the waters. - Let them be fully stocked.

In the seas. - The 'sea' of Scripture includes the lake and, by similar reasoning, the rivers, which are the feeders of both.

This blessing seems to indicate that whereas in the case of some plants, many individuals of the same species were simultaneously created to produce a universal covering of vegetation for the land and an abundant supply of food for the animals about to be created, regarding these animals, only a single pair, at least of the larger kinds, was at first called into being.

From this pair, by the powerful blessing of the Creator, the multitude that peopled the waters and the air was propagated.