The purpose of man’s creation.
In his book New Studies in Bereshit (Genesis), Nemaha Leibowitz mentions a Jewish interpretation on Gen. 1, about the purpose of man’s creation:
Man as soon as he was created received a special divine blessing. However, he was not the first creature to be blessed by God, but had been preceded by the fishes. The content of both blessings is similar but a very significant difference can be detected. Compare the blessing accorded the fishes:
And God blessed them, saying,
be fruitful and multiply
with the blessing received by man:
Then God blessed them and God said unto them,
be fruitful and multiply.
The fish do not qualify for a special address to them by God. They are merely granted the power to be fruitful and multiply. This is their blessing. Man, however, besides being given the power to be fruitful and multiply, is especially told by God to be fruitful and multiply and is conscious of his power to do so. What is merely an impersonal fact with regard to the rest of the animal creation is a conscious fact with regard to man. A similar idea is to be found in the statement in Pirkei Avot (3.14):
Beloved is man since he was created in God’s image; but it was by a special love that it was made know him that he was created in God’s image.
Man who was created in God’s image is charged with a special task over and above those applying to the rest of creation.
