UNDERSTANDING THE PHENOMEMOLOGY OF SRA/DID
This indicates that God in His triunity is unified as to His image and likeness. God further states in this verse that "man" (Heb. sing.) is also a plural or a "them", who are to exercise dominion over the lower creation. Furthermore, in verse 28, God (Elohim, pl.) "created",(qal imperfect of the verb bara, 3rd. masc.sing.), "man"; this verb in the singular indicates that God, in His triunity, created man as a manifestation of the unity of His essence. Here we have, in contrast to verse 26, the masc. sing. noun "image" followed by the masc. sing. pronominal suffix "his". This is followed by the repitition of the subject, Elohim (Heb. pl.) "creating" (sing. verb) "man" (sing.). Man is further defined as male and female, i.e., a unity in plurality or diversity. "God created them" (pl.). In Gen. 5:l-2 the text states that the same God, Elohim, created man (Heb. Adam) to manifest the unity of the divine image. This verse further states that this man, Adam, is also a "them", i.e., male and female - a plurality corresponding to the plurality of the Godhead, and that their "name" (sing. noun shem) is man, adam.
In other words, man, created in the image of God, shares the unity which corresponds to the essence of God, described as image and likeness, which in turn manifests itself in diversity as male and female. Furthermore, the male and female, in Gen. 5:2, share one name -"man" (sing.). In summary, I would like to quote John Sailhamer from Expositor's Bible Commentary, Vol.II, pg.38: "In v. 27 it is stated twice that man was created (bara) in God's image and a third time that man was created (bara) "male and female." The same pattern is found in Gen. 5:l-2a: "When God created man,...he created (bara) them male and female." The singular man is created as a plurality, "male and female". In a similar way the one God "And God said") created man through an expression of his plurality, "Let us make man in our image").
Following this clue the divine plurality expressed in v. 26 is seen as an anticipation of the human plurality of the man and woman, thus casting the human relationship between man and woman in the role of reflecting God's own personal relationship with himself. "Could anything be more obvious than to conclude from this clear indication that the image and
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