Many have argued what this meant - "Made in God's image." Not quite the exact replica but an image. What attracted Eve in Gen 3 was to be like a god. She was not satisfied with just being an image.
So what does it mean to be made in "His image?" Man and woman were made quite different from all His other creations. It appears that man and woman were given 2 mandates: To be fruitful and multiply (1:27) and to rule over every living thing that moves.(1:28) it appears in 1:29-31 there is the food chain in place and humans held a special place in this chain. Part of this included naming the animals 2:19
Man and woman were different from all creatures. They were tasked to care for and tend the animals. It appears that the animals and plants on earth were given for human sustenance and flourishing. How were humans different from the other creations? They were made in God's image. They were able to think and reason. They were able to create and make things. They were chief of all pant and animal forms on earth.
To the original hearers, the people of Israel who had fled Egypt hearing this changed their perspective of who they were. All their lives they worked as slaves to Egypt and the Pharoah. They had no rights or no value. They worked the pyramids and if they were sick and weak they were a burden and discarded. Now God is telling them through Moses that they were made in the creator's image. They had a value and a purpose and an authority. They understood this for wherever Pharoah's statue was that was his image and authority over the people. God was telling them that they are made in His image and like their first ancestors have been given the mandate to subdue and rule over creation.
Can you imagine what this would do to their self esteem and value as humans?
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