De Moor VIII:29: The Sixth Day, Part 1

On the Sixth Day God created the rest of the Animals, which Moses sets in three distinct classes;[1] although afterwards these are able to be variously mixed, especially in their own proper species, as at length we read of the Mules found, Genesis 36:24, if that interpretation of ‎הַיֵּמִם concerning Mules[2] is to be admitted, which, with BOCHART and LE CLERC, on the other hand, leading the way, Reverend HAITSMA[3] assailed in Curis philologico-exegeticis in Genesin, translating the text:  “This was that Anah that drove away the Æmeans in the desert, when he ruled over the Chamoræans in the place of Zibeon his father:”  thus having ‎הַיֵּמִם and ‎הַחֲמֹרִים, not as Mules and Asses, but as proper names of people groups.

Cattle, בְּהֵמוֹת, tame and domesticated.

Wild beasts, חַיּוֹת, which, although living in the open fields, were nevertheless subject to the dominion of man in his integrity, and at that time more than now were obliged to acknowledge that, and actually did acknowledge it, brought to Adam in the ὀνομαθεσίᾳ/naming,[4] concerning which see Chapter XIV, § 6.

Creeping things, ‎כָּל־רֶמֶשׂ, which make use of either no legs or very short legs, with the Serpent having been brought even lower upon its belly after the fall, Genesis 3:14:  compare Chapter XV, § 17.

Our AUTHOR observes, that to these brute Animals is verily attributed by Moses Life as a true name, removed from them by more recent Philosophers against reason and experience:  concerning which question we will speak in Chapter XIII, § 11.

Our AUTHOR dismisses Question concerning the existence of the Tragelaph,[5] concerning which see BOCHART, Hierozoico, part II, book VI, chapter I, columns 809-811.  Of the Myrmecoleon,[6] concerning which the same BOCHART discourses in the same book, chapter IV, columns 813-816.  Of the Salamander,[7] concerning which BOCHART is again to be consulted, Hierozoico, part I, book IV, chapter I, column 1059, chapter IV, columns 1073, 1074, chapter VI, column 1082, part II, book VI, chapter V, columns 823, 824.  Of the Monceros,[8] into which inquiry is made by VOETIUS, Disputationum theologicarum, part I, pages 729-732; VITRINGA on Zechariah 1:19, page 188; THOMAS BARTHOLIN,[9] de Unicornu; BOCHART, Hierozoico, part I, book III, chapters XXVI, XXVII, columns 930-972, part II, book VI, columns 843, 844.  Of the Centaurs, Fauns, and Lamiai,[10] concerning which see VOETIUS, Disputationum theologicarum, part I, pages 752-753, problems XI-XV:  Concerning the Centaur BOCHART treats, Hierozoico, part II, book VI, chapter X, columns 833-840:  Concerning Fauns consult the same, Hierozoico, part II, book VI, chapter VI, columns 825-828:  Concerning Lamiai likewise, Hierozoico, part II, book VI, chapter IX, columns 831-833.  Concerning Sirens or Nereids,[11] Mermaids, what is to be believed, and especially concerning the narration of a Nereid of this sort taken in the year 1403 in the Purmer Lake near Edam,[12] VOETIUS discourses, Disputationum theologicarum, part I, pages 742-746, problem VII; concerning Sirens he treats, and how the Septuagint and Vulgate make use of this term with little suitability, BOCHART shows, Hierozoico, part II, book VI, chapter VIII, column 830.  Our AUTHOR also passes over the question concerning the first Creation of Insects, either in matter or in their own species, and their Propagation, through seed or without it through putrefaction, or even in both ways.  That the Propagation of Insects happens naturally and without any miracle through putrefaction, BENTLEY altogether denies, The Folly and Unreasonableness of Atheism, third lesson, pages 112-127.

But our AUTHOR thinks that it is not to be doubted concerning Carnivores soon produced, whether they were at that time nourished by Herbs, as, among others, GREGORY NYSSEN thinks, Oration II in Hominis procreatione, opera, tome I, pages 156, 158, that Carnivorous Beasts only began to feed upon flesh after the fall:  or even then the use of Flesh, which our AUTHOR thinks no more inconsistent with that first state than the consumption of grass, was granted to them, with the Law concerning food in Genesis 1:29, 30, not preventing, since it does not treat of all nourishment, but only distinguishes Grasses and Hebrews according to the most frequent use among Men and Animals; concerning which at greater length in Chapter XIV, § 8.

Now, that this eminent part of the Works of the Sixth Day are not to be cast back upon the Fifth Day, as we have already observed above in § 15 against Picherellus:  consult hitherto our ATUHOR, Historia Paradisi, book I, chapter XIX, § 3.

[1] Genesis 1:24, 25:  “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth (‎בְּהֵמָ֥ה וָרֶ֛מֶשׂ וְחַֽיְתוֹ־אֶ֖רֶץ) after his kind:  and it was so.  And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind (אֶת־חַיַּ֙ת הָאָ֜רֶץ לְמִינָ֗הּ וְאֶת־הַבְּהֵמָה֙ לְמִינָ֔הּ וְאֵ֛ת כָּל־רֶ֥מֶשׂ הָֽאֲדָמָ֖ה לְמִינֵ֑הוּ):  and God saw that it was good.”

[2] Genesis 36:24:  “And these are the children of Zibeon; both Ajah, and Anah:  this was that Anah that found the mules (‎הַיֵּמִם) in the wilderness, as he fed the asses (‎הַחֲמֹרִים) of Zibeon his father.”

[3] Aggæus Haitsma (1722-1784) was a Dutch Reformed pastor and scholar.  He had considerable attainments in Hebrew and Arabic.

[4] Genesis 2:19, 20.

[5] The tragelaph was a legendary creature, half goat (τράγος/tragos/goat) and half stag (ἔλαφος/elaphos/stag).

[6] The myrmecoleon was a legendary creature, part ant (μύρμηξ/murmux/ant), part lion (λέων/leon/lion).

[7] The legendary, not common, salamander was a lizard said to live in fire, or to be able to withstand the effects of fire.

[8] The legendary monoceros (from μόνος/monos/single and κέρος/keros/horn) was a sort of unicorn.  It was said to have the body of a horse, the head of a stag, the feet of an elephant, and the tail of a boar.

[9] Thomas Bartholin (1616-1680) was a Danish mathematician, physician, and Lutheran theologian.

[10] In Greek mythology, Lamia, queen of Libya, had an affair with Zeus.  Hera, learning of the affair, deprived Lamia of the offspring, sending Lamia into a despairing insanity, in which she stole and devoured children.  The Lamiai are half serpent, half human, female monsters, feeding on children, or young men, in the night.

[11] In Greek mythology, the Nereids are sea nymphs, the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris, the Oceanid, companions of Poseidon.

[12] In North Holland.