Genesis 1:22-23

Genesis 1:22-23: 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.

Two things strike me about the content of this verse and its placement in the creation process. First, that God dealt with the birds of the air and the creatures of the sea separately from the rest of the animal kingdom (see following verses). That points to the more complex creation of the earth’s animals. God created them after the birds and the inhabitants of the waters but before humankind. If one takes the position that God’s most complex creation is in fact man, than one could take the position that somehow land animals are more complex in their being than birds and fish of the sea.
The fact that God spoke directly to them as indicated in this verse – something He did not do for plant life – further supports this premise. God knew they would somehow be able to identify with His instructions to them to ‘be fruitful and multiply’ or else why would He utter such direct instructions. For plant life, however, He had provided no such direction but rather created them in such a way that reproduction would be automatic.

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