Reflecting the Image of God: OT Reflections on God's Image

The Imago Dei as the Unique Gift that God only gave to Humans.

; , and 9:6

I am basically taking a “bottoms-up” approach, what the image looks like from the human end.

“Human beings are to enjoy a unique relationship to God, who communicates with them alone and who shares with them the custody and administration of the world.” (Sarna, JPS Torah Commentary, Genesis, notes on )

“This unique combination of expressions, virtually identical in meaning, emphasizes the incomparable nature of human beings and their special relationship to God. The full import of these terms can be grasped only within the broader context of biblical literature and against the background of ancient Near Eastern analogues.” (Sarna, JPS Torah Commentary, Genesis, notes on )

“It would seem, then, that the phrase “in the image of God” conveys something about the nature of the human being as opposed to the animal kingdom; it also asserts human dominance over nature. But it is even more than this.” (Sarna, JPS Torah Commentary, Genesis, notes on )

“Selem is a rather concrete term which is normally used in the OT to refer to a model or idol of something and always has to do wit a similarity in physical appearance.” (Miller, In the Image and Likeness of God, JBL, 1972, p.291)

“Demut is a more abstract term with a broader range of usage, but it to is normally used in connection with visual similarities.” (Miller, In the Image and Likeness of God, JBL, 1972, p.291)

“The parallel and interchangeable use of selem and demut in the three "image of God" passages is suspicious on at least three grounds: (1) The redundant sentence structure of and 5:3 suggests that one of the terms has been introduced secondarily. ( 2 ) The combination of these two terms is unique to the "image of God" passages. Nowhere else in the OT do they appear in parallelism or even in connection with each other. ( 3 ) The two terms are not entirely parallel and certainly not synonymous in their meaning and normal usage. The essential difference, as noted above, is that demut is a more abstract term and can be used in reference to similarities other than visual ones.(Miller, In the Image and Likeness of God, JBL, 1972, p.293)

The way of life of God’s people (the ethics of the image)

As an Identity Marker for God’s people