Genesis 2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air… Was it an invention? So some have taught. Was it the issue of a convention? So some have taught. Was it an imitation of the sounds of nature? So some have taught. Was it a direct gift from heaven? So some have taught. Most erudite men have pondered the problem; and yet all speculation here is quite afloat. And so we fall back on the childlike, pictorial language of time's most hoary archive: "Jehovah God formed out of the soil every beast of the field and every fowl of the heavens: and He brought them to the man to see what he would call them: and whatever the man should call every living being, that should be the name thereof; and the man gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the heavens, and to every beast of the field." It was man's first recorded act. Observe: it was an act of perception, discrimination, description. The animals were arrayed before him; and animals suggest all the phenomena of life. And the vision of moving life stirred up within him the latent capacity of speech. In brief, it was the origin of humanity's vocabulary. As such, it is a profoundly philosophical account. For nouns, i.e., names, are the rudiments of language, the very A B C's of speech. Such is the theory of the genesis of language according to Moses. Can your Max Mullers and Wedgwoods and Whitneys give a more philosophical theory? (G. D. Boardman.) Parallel Verses KJV: And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. |
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