Vayikra Rabbah 14:1 - “Rebbe Simlai said: Just as the creation of man was after the animal, beast, and bird, so is his Torah recorded after the animal, beast and bird. Thus, it is written: This is the law of the animal, and after that it says: When a woman conceives.” The parshiyos prior to this were all about man, and the korbonos that man is to bring. It is only after all of this that the animals are mentioned. So while yes, after speaking about the animals it discusses man, but it has already discussed man before the animals.
We can explain this based on the Midrash in Vayikra Rabbah 14:1 which says, “אחור וקדם צרתני” – that man was created both in the beginning and at the end. This means that the nefesh of a person was created before everything else, and the guf was created on the sixth day of Creation, after everything else.
The Midrash says, Reish Lakish said, “If a man is worthy, the Malachim say to him: You preceded all the work of Creation. But if one is not worthy, they say to him: The gnat preceded you; the earthworm preceded you.” When it says, “If a man is worthy,” it means that if a man makes it that his nefesh is in control of his guf, the guf is just secondary, then we say to him, “You preceded all the work of Creation,” for he is looked at as a nefesh, and that was created before all. If one is not zoche, which means that he allows his guf to be in control, and his nefesh is secondary to his guf, then we tell him, “The gnat preceded you; the earthworm preceded you” – for he is looked at as a guf, and that was created at the end, on the sixth day of creation.
Now we can explain why the Torah first speaks much about man, then animal, and then man again. First the Torah speaks about man, that is in reference to the nefesh of man, created first. The Torah tells us how the nefesh can be pure, and receive a kapparah when needed, so that the nefesh can reign. It is all about the nefesh. When the Torah speaks about man after the speaking about the animals, that is in reference to the man – the guf, the body, which was created after the animals. (שם משמואל)
Times in a person’s life are not equal. There are times when a person can think clearly, and he has a desire to do avodas Hashem, and there are times chas v’shalom that it is the opposite. There are times that the nefesh rules, and there are times that the guf rules. We must know, that even when chas v’shalom the guf is ruling, we can turn the time around; we can make it into a time where the nefesh rules. This is our avodah, to always seek to ensure that the nefesh is ruling. If chas v’shalom we fail, we must not give up, and we must know that we can turn it around. We can make it that once again, the nefesh rules.
