We are still in the ‘sixth day’, which is the day that is described in greatest length in Genesis 1. In the preceding study, we saw how God has infused his creation with interdependence. No part is isolated from the earth or from the other lifeforms that inhabit this earth. And now, into this interdependence, God continues his creative enterprise as the text moves to the account of God creating humans.

Hebrew text:

26 וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֔ים נַֽעֲשֶׂ֥ה אָדָ֛ם בְּצַלְמֵ֖נוּ כִּדְמוּתֵ֑נוּ וְיִרְדּוּ֩ בִדְגַ֨ת הַיָּ֜ם וּבְע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֗יִם וּבַבְּהֵמָה֙ וּבְכָל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וּבְכָל־הָרֶ֖מֶשׂ הָֽרֹמֵ֥שׂ עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃

27 וַיִּבְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים׀ אֶת־הָֽאָדָם֙ בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ בְּצֶ֥לֶם אֱלֹהִ֖ים בָּרָ֣א אֹת֑וֹ זָכָ֥ר וּנְקֵבָ֖ה בָּרָ֥א אֹתָֽם׃

Transliteration:

26 way·yō·mer  ’ĕ·lō·hîm, na·‘ă·śeh  ’ā·ḏām bə·ṣal·mê·nū kiḏ·mū·ṯê·nū;  wə·yir·dū ḇiḏ·ḡaṯ hay·yām ū·ḇə·‘ō·wp̄  haš·šā·ma·yim, ū·ḇab·bə·hê·māh ū·ḇə·ḵāl hā·’ā·reṣ,  ū·ḇə·ḵāl hā·re·meś hā·rō·mêś ‘al- hā·’ā·reṣ.

27 way·yiḇ·rā  ’ĕ·lō·hîm ’eṯ-  hā·’ā·ḏām bə·ṣal·mōw,  bə·ṣe·lem ’ĕ·lō·hîm bā·rā  ’ō·ṯōw; zā·ḵār ū·nə·qê·ḇāh bā·rā  ’ō·ṯām.

NIV:

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Study:

These two verses contain two foci – the idea that humans are to rule and the idea of the image of God. While both are surely intrinsically related, I will deal with them separately. In this post, I will focus on the idea that humans are to rule, leaving the issue of the image of God for the next post.

The polemic nature of the text once again surfaces when it describes the creation of humans. Unlike most Ancient Near Eastern texts, in which the kings or priests are declared to be the ones to whom the gods gave the authority to rule, the text of Genesis 1 clearly indicates that this authority is not vested in any special group of people but that every human is given this authority.

This is at once liberating and dangerous. It is liberating because it means that, if all humans are given the responsibility to rule over the rest of creation, then no human ought to be oppressed by any other human. In other words, it speaks against all forms of slavery and exploitation, all forms of oppression and subjugation of one human to another. This is not to say that human societies are not to have different levels of responsibility. Rather, the organizing of human societies should not be exploitative and oppressive.

And the universal authority to rule is dangerous for now any humans can, by virtue of their greed, misrepresent God’s rule. Human action in the world is supposed to be a manifestation of God’s action in it. Hence, if humans act in ruinous ways, this communicates to the rest of creation that this is how God would rule them.

When we read that God has given every human the task of ruling, we need to ask what shape this rule would take. How are we to exercise this God-given vocation? If, as will be seen in the next post, the task of humans is to represent God to the rest of creation and to represent creation to God, then our exercising this vocation of governing creation must be consonant with the way in which God exercises his rule over creation.

The very act of giving humans some level of authority involves a self-limitation on God’s part. He is allowing humans a certain amount of freedom within which to operate. And by doing so he limits his own actions. This is the way in which God exercises his authority – by self-limitation and trust. And this is the way humans are to exercise their authority – by not imposing ourselves on the rest of creation and by not dealing with creation in unwholesome ways.

And if God creates humans to rule over (say) the birds in the air, we need to ensure that there are birds in the air to rule over! In other words, the preservation of species that share this world with us is of prime importance when viewed through the lens of the vocation given to us by God. We are to understand what makes them flourish and work so that we create such environments as would encourage that flourishing.

Such is the delegated responsibility we have from God. It is evident that we, both individually and as societies, have not lived up to this vocation. But it is never too late to turn around and reaffirm this vocation. For as long as there is life on earth we remain tasked with this delegated responsibility.

Prayer:

Our gracious, loving Father. You have trusted us with so much. And we have repeatedly let you down. You have given us such a lofty vocation. And we have continuously rejected it. We ask you now for a fresh inspiration of your life giving and life affirming and life renewing Spirit so that we can reconnect to the vocation to which you have called us. We ask you to give us the courage to rule over the rest of creation in non-threatening ways. We ask you for the wisdom to truly understand what makes every creature flourish and for the fortitude to work toward that flourishing. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.