The strangest word in the Torah's creation account is "us." "Let us make man in our image." The rabbis have spilled rivers of ink explaining who God was talking to. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 1:26) gives a direct answer: the angels.
"And the Lord said to the angels who ministered before Him, who had been created in the second day of the creation of the world, Let us make man in Our image." The Targumist pins it down with a timestamp. The ministering angels were created on day two — after the firmament, before the dry land — and on day six, God turns to them and announces a collaboration.
Why include the angels?
Later midrash imagines the angels protesting. Why create a being who will sin? Why place another will in the universe? The Targumist does not give us that debate here, but he preserves its foundation. God does not act alone when creating humanity. He gathers a council.
The reason, the sages suggest, is pedagogical. Every judge, every king, every teacher learns here that you consult before you decide something of weight. Even a being who needs no consultation models it, because the creatures to come will need to learn how to lead with humility.