Dominion

DEVOTION

GENESIS

DOMINION

Gen 1:28

28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

NIV

We kind of flew by this same sort of statement in the previous verse when he said: "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." We sort of got stuck on that first part about being made in the resemblance of God and never even mentioned about us being made to rule of the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So he not only said it when he made us, he repeats it right away. First off we are to be fruitful and increase in number. We are to fill the earth and subdue it. God has established an order to things, he is a God of order. He is the only one who can make order from chaos. He established the way in which his creation could be fruitful and increase in number. We will see in more detail how he determined all this to happen when we get into the next portion of the beginning. This is sort of like an outline which is followed with a detailed account. But for now let us simply consider that he created us the way he did so that we could be fruitful and increase in numbers. That is to say that Adam and Eve were to have children, and lots of them. We will see just how many years they lived and it was a bunch so they could have many children and fill the earth. Of course God knew their children would evidently have children and on and on it would go so we could fill the earth with more people who God created in his likeness, his image, to resemble him. We also were told to rule over all the animal kingdom. The original Hebrew word used here means to tread down, to subjugate. This does not mean to be their servant, but to be their master. This also does not mean we should be cruel to the animal kingdom. If we are made in his resemblance and he is our Lord and Master, we can only see how he treats us as our Master in order to know how we should treat all the animals of the earth. This still does not mean we should not rule over them and be their servants, but it does mean we take care of them in some sense. But at the same time as God is our Lord and Master and we are to serve him, we are to rule over the animal kingdom and they are to serve us. They are to serve our needs. This is not about us developing certain social groups to protect the range of a certain species. This is not about us holding back from the earth providing us with needed supplies because a certain species of bird or bear lives in that area. God told us to have dominion over them, they are there for us as this earth is. As we fill this earth we are to subdue it. To subdue, to force, to keep under, to bring into bondage, to make subservient. The earth is for us to take from it anything we need to live. This is what God created it for. He did not tell his created man and woman to serve to the earth, to protect it from all the harm that some would evidentially claim we are doing to it. Without becoming political in nature, all this fuss over climate change and environmental damage is simply that, political in nature. Those false claims are nothing more than to serve the political and financial gain of a few elitists. God created the earth to provide all our needs for as long as he determined mankind to live upon this earth. This earth will never run out of whatever we need to live. Again, should we just trash it? Heavens no! But we are also not to become servants to it, we are to subdue it, make it do what we want it to, use it for our benefit. Because we are the image, the likeness, the resemblance of God, we are the highest order on this earth. Nothing is before or higher than we are and all is to be our domain. Some would say because we are the highest or on the top of the food chain, it is our responsibility to care for all that is below us and this earth. That is true in a sense, we should be righteous rulers. Jesus gave us that perfect example of being a shepherd by how he tended his flock, his people. But the sheep were to serve the needs of the shepherd. Although Jesus did serve the needs of his flock, they were still his flock. The shepherd owns his flock and it is for his benefit, it provides him with wool and yes, even food when he has the need. The flock is for the benefit of the shepherd, and so it is with the animal kingdom and this earth. All of it is for our benefit, to serve our needs, as we tend it which we will see God told Adam to do with the garden. We will get into the meaning of the words God used in his command to Adam regarding his duties in the garden a little later, but we should note we are supposed to tend the earth, to dress it, to keep it, not to trash it. Yet it is there for our benefit. Sort of a symbiotic relationship in some sense, yet with us having the final word, having dominion over.