The previous post described how humans are created to represent God. But what does this mean in real life? If we are to represent God what does this look like? We get a glimpse of this in the last few verses of Genesis 1. So let us proceed to look at the text.

Hebrew text:

28 וַיְבָ֣רֶךְ אֹתָם֮ אֱלֹהִים֒ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר לָהֶ֜ם אֱלֹהִ֗ים פְּר֥וּ וּרְב֛וּ וּמִלְא֥וּ אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ וְכִבְשֻׁ֑הָ וּרְד֞וּ בִּדְגַ֤ת הַיָּם֙ וּבְע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וּבְכָל־חַיָּ֖ה הָֽרֹמֶ֥שֶׂת עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃

29 וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים הִנֵּה֩ נָתַ֨תִּי לָכֶ֜ם אֶת־כָּל־עֵ֣שֶׂב׀ זֹרֵ֣עַ זֶ֗רַע אֲשֶׁר֙ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י כָל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וְאֶת־כָּל־הָעֵ֛ץ אֲשֶׁר־בּ֥וֹ פְרִי־עֵ֖ץ זֹרֵ֣עַ זָ֑רַע לָכֶ֥ם יִֽהְיֶ֖ה לְאָכְלָֽה׃

30 וּֽלְכָל־חַיַּ֣ת הָ֠אָרֶץ וּלְכָל־ע֨וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֜יִם וּלְכֹ֣ל׀ רוֹמֵ֣שׂ עַל־הָאָ֗רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־בּוֹ֙ נֶ֣פֶשׁ חַיָּ֔ה אֶת־כָּל־יֶ֥רֶק עֵ֖שֶׂב לְאָכְלָ֑ה וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן׃

31 וַיַּ֤רְא אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֔ה וְהִנֵּה־ט֖וֹב מְאֹ֑ד וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם הַשִּׁשִּֽׁי׃ פ

Transliteration:

28 way·ḇā·reḵ  ’ō·ṯām ’ĕ·lō·hîm  way·yō·mer lā·hem ’ĕ·lō·hîm,  pə·rū ū·rə·ḇū ū·mil·’ū ’eṯ- hā·’ā·reṣ  wə·ḵiḇ·šu·hā; ū·rə·ḏū biḏ·ḡaṯ hay·yām ū·ḇə·‘ō·wp̄  haš·šā·ma·yim, ū·ḇə·ḵāl ḥay·yāh hā·rō·me·śeṯ ‘al- hā·’ā·reṣ.

29 way·yō·mer  ’ĕ·lō·hîm, hin·nêh  nā·ṯat·tî lā·ḵem ’eṯ-  kāl- ‘ê·śeḇ zō·rê·a‘ ze·ra‘,  ’ă·šer ‘al- pə·nê ḵāl hā·’ā·reṣ,  wə·’eṯ- kāl- hā·‘êṣ ’ă·šer- bōw p̄ə·rî-  ‘êṣ zō·rê·a‘ zā·ra‘; lā·ḵem yih·yeh lə·’āḵ·lāh  

30 ū·lə·ḵāl-  ḥay·yaṯ hā·’ā·reṣ  ū·lə·ḵāl- ‘ō·wp̄ haš·šā·ma·yim  ū·lə·ḵōl rō·w·mêś ‘al- hā·’ā·reṣ,  ’ă·šer- bōw ne·p̄eš ḥay·yāh, ’eṯ- kāl-  ye·req ‘ê·śeḇ lə·’āḵ·lāh way·hî- ḵên.

31 way·yar  ’ĕ·lō·hîm ’eṯ-  kāl- ’ă·šer ‘ā·śāh,  wə·hin·nêh- ṭō·wḇ mə·’ōḏ;  way·hî- ‘e·reḇ way·hî- ḇō·qer  yō·wm haš·šiš·šî. p̄

NIV:

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

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.

30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Study:

The first thing we read about after the claim that God made humans in his image in vv. 26-27 is the commission to rule the Earth and ‘subdue’ it. Only some creative special pleading such as done by Steve Ham¹ could make us separate the claims of vv. 26-27 on the one hand and that of v. 28 on the other. It is clear from the text that v. 28 is an explanation of what is meant in vv. 26-27. The way we are to represent God in this world and by doing so be the image of God is by the wise exercise of the stewardship God has entrusted to us.

The call to subdue the earth needs some attention. The Hebrew word כָּבַשׁ (kabash), does mean ‘subdue’ or ‘bring into bondage’. It is a word that is most often used in the context of battles in which the enemies or the lands of the enemies are to be subdued and conquered. In Esther 7.8 it is used by the king to accuse Haman of attempting to molest Esther. So what do we make of this word?

We perhaps have an idyllic view of what the initial state of creation was like. We envisage a world in which there is no conflict whatsoever, one in which everything we touched turned, in midasian manner, to gold. But the account of Genesis 1 says nothing of the sort. The account began with God exercising dominion over the possibly chaotic waters of the deep. In his wisdom he brought that under his control, under his dominion. And then we are told that we humans are created in God’s image. And God then gives us the command to exercise dominion over the earth.

We were always created to be productive. We are not consumers, we are creators and producers. And our first calling is to implement that identity by exercising dominion over the earth. God has endowed his creation with the ability to grow. However, without the direction of wise stewards, this good creation can become a colossal briar patch! Anyone who gardens or is involved in agriculture will easily recognize that the ground needs a lot of care in order to become fruitful. Fruitfulness is a potentiality that needs to be realized, not an automatic destiny. That is why God gives it to us as a vocation and command. If it were an automatic eventuality, God would not have had to do this.

I think Genesis 1.28 uses כָּבַשׁ (kabash) to mean that God intends for humans to bring the earth under their control. This does not mean an exploitative control, but one in which the growth of the earth receives wise direction and in which each creature is given the conditions within which it can flourish.

In v. 29 God gives humans food – every seed bearing plant and tree that has fruit with seeds. There are some who take this to indicate that this means that humans were originally vegetarian. This is difficult to press from the text for two main reasons. First, this is poetic in nature and to obtain prohibitions and permissions related to diet is to read into the text. After all, it would then mean that v. 30 indicates that all animals, even those that are currently carnivorous, omnivorous, or scavengers, were herbivores! A grass eating lion is not something that I can envisage.

Second, if we are going to be literal with the text, we must be consistently literal. V. 28 states that God gave humans fruit with the seed in it. If this is the case, then we should not eat cashew or strawberries, where the seeds are outside what we would consider the fruit.

The sixth day concludes with the grand declaration that God saw all he had made and claimed that it was ‘very good’. It is a brilliant conclusion to a chapter that is dotted with statements that God saw that what he had made was good. Now, with everything in place, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and so it is no longer enough for God to declare it good. It is very good.

Prayer:

Our loving Father. We are grateful that you have created us to be fruitful and productive. We ask you for the wisdom to act in your good world in ways that would allow every part of it to flourish. We pray that you would guide us with your Spirit to fulfill this vocation to which you have called us. And we pray that every day you would give us fresh eyes to see that your creation is beautiful and very good. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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^{1. Steve Ham. What is the Image of God? (Accessed on 25 April 2019)↩}