In His Own Image : part 2

Then God said, “We will make mankind in our image, after our likeness and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:26, ONMB)

This verse presents a challenge to classical Jewish thought because God has neither an image nor a form. It is puzzling when God proclaims His intention to create humanity with both His tzelem(image) and His demut (likeness) while in the following verse Man is created only in God’s tzelem. 

The puzzle increases in Genesis 5:1 where Man is described as being created in God’s demutbut not in His tzelem, and again in Genesis 9:1 where Man is created in God’s tzelembut not His demut. The root word, tzalamor tzelem refers to the original imageor imitation. “In our image”is translated from one Hebrew word betzalmeinuand is again used with a plural pronoun “in our image”indicating the plurality of God – “Let us make”.