Chuck Larsen

Notice God’s instructions to the first man in Genesis 1:28. There are two things for Adam to focus on. “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:28). He is to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Then he’s to “subdue it” and have “dominion over it.” The Hebrew word for “subdue” was used in the Old Testament to describe the condition of the land after Joshua conquered the promised land. We read in Joshua 18:1, “Then the whole congregation of the people of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. The land lay subdued before them.” “Subdue and have dominion over are parallel expressions with reference to the plants and animals that God has put on the earth. This is not a command to go to war, but for the first people and their offspring to ‘take control, be in charge, have direction over.’”^[1] God made mankind the boss!

According to Briscoe, “Pascal said, ‘Man is neither angel nor beast.’ Far from being on a par with the beasts and yet, unlike the angels, stationed on earth, humankind stands under God, above creation, to order and direct it as God desires. From the very beginning of time God put humankind to work in the most responsible position imaginable.”^[2] “The word translated “subdue” (Hebrew kābash) implies that Adam and Eve should make the resources of the earth useful for their own benefit, and this implies that God intended them to develop the earth so that they could come to own agricultural products and animals, then housing and works of craftsmanship and beauty, and eventually buildings, means of transportation, cities, and inventions of all sorts.”^[3]

Being the boss means that we’re responsible for it. That requires a sense of accountability. This verse does not give us carte blanche in managing our environment. Walton sees it correctly. He argues, “…our role in subduing and ruling must be seen as a function of stewardship, not of ownership. This world is not ours to dispose of as we will, but it has been put under our charge to manage for its owner, God. That management is not with our own benefit in mind, but with the mindset that this is God’s world.”^[4] Jesus tells stories about the master that entrusts the care of his goods with his servants and then returns to hold them accountable for how they managed it. Shouldn’t we think of it like that?

^[1] Reyburn, William David, and Euan McG. Fry. 1998. A Handbook on Genesis. UBS Handbook Series. New York: United Bible Societies.

^[2] Briscoe, D. Stuart, and Lloyd J. Ogilvie. 1987. Genesis. Vol. 1. The Preacher’s Commentary Series. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.

^[3] Grudem, Wayne A. 2003. Business for the Glory of God: The Bible’s Teaching on the Moral Goodness of Business. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

^[4] Walton, John H. 2001. Genesis. The NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Notice God’s instructions to the first man in Genesis 1:28. There are two things for Adam to focus on. “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:28). He is to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Then he’s to “subdue it” and have “dominion over it.” I know there is a lot of discussion about over population, but I truly don’t see it. I’ve driven from South Carolina to San Francisco and from Southern California to New York. The one thing that has not changed in my lifetime is that there is a lot of room out there! If you’re not careful you might fall asleep from Lincoln to Denver because there is little but open space to look at. We surely haven’t “filled” the earth. Some argue that the real issue is that there isn’t enough food. If you ask google if overpopulation is a problem you’ll find it is not. One writer, who was well-versed in economics and agriculture said that the world isn’t even close to being overpopulated. He goes on to say that we export about 25 percent of our edible produce. Further, the countries of the world could produce immeasurably more than they do now with the right technology and training. He concludes “…the truth is that overpopulation in the United States is not even close to a serious problem. Even globally, overpopulation is an overstated problem.”

We have for the most part, bought into the lie of over population. It’s a plot of the secular humanists who deny man’s creation by a loving, caring and intelligent God. They replace the unique dignity the Bible gives humanity with the impersonal, void concept of evolution that robs mankind of what God gives us. Morey says, “While human life or animal life in general has no intrinsic value or dignity, it can have ‘acquired worth’ in terms of its utility or function. When a person’s utilitarian worth is over so far as society is concerned, that person no longer has any ‘right to life.’ The ‘privilege of life’ can be withdrawn by the state at will. Because human life has no intrinsic worth, it is perfectly proper, if deemed for purposes of utility, to abort unborn babies, murder babies already born, to put to death those who are sick, handicapped, disabled or old.”^[1]

In response to the question about over population one writer suggested, “The biblical answer to ‘over-population’ is not to demand fewer people. It is to honor people enough to provide for their needs (see Mark 12:31). Greed, lust for power, and foolishness lead to the mishandling of resources, and millions of people suffer as a result.”^[2]

^[1] Morey, Robert A. 1989. How to Keep Your Faith While in College. Iowa Falls, IA: World Bible Publishers.

^[2] Got Questions Ministries. 2002–2013. Got Questions? Bible Questions Answered. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

Verse 11 of chapter six explains the situation which necessitated the destruction of the whole human race. Corruption and violence are the two conditions described in this verse. “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.” Corruption relates to the perversion of true religion. I’ve often argued that Jesus did not come into the world to establish another religion to compete with Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, or any other so-called “religion.” He came to destroy them!  Radical convictions may drive people to kill each other. I’m writing this on Memorial Day, May 30, 2022. I just saw a post about the numbers of people that died in the wars, from the civil war through the current wars in the Mideast. Of course, WWII was the largest. We lost half a million lives during that war.

Genesis 6:11 explains the flood! The corruption of religion leads to violence. When men cast off a personal walk with God, a genuine relationship with the God of heaven and earth, they naturally turn to some form of perverted religion. When there is no “fear of God” in man, we naturally turn against one another. Without God, as Exell puts it, man “has only to let the laws of nature take their course…for when men depart from God, the principle of union is lost, and self-love governs everything: and being lovers of their own selves, they will be covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Such a flood of wickedness is at any time sufficient to deluge a world with misery.”^[1]

Recently, a border guard rushed into a classroom in Uvalde, Texas. He killed a shooter who murdered 22 people. The world celebrates the death of that shooter, and the parents want to know why they didn’t break into the classroom earlier. We do not grieve the elimination of pure evil. We celebrate it! Just as the border guard shot and killed the madman in the school to protect others, God shot and killed a whole generation of evil for the sake of those that would follow. After the flood, in Genesis 9:6, God gave the right to the border patrol agent to shoot that murderer. It says, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” Today, we honor the memories of men and women who were charged with protecting us from evil in the world, and in so doing, they gave up their lives so we might live in peace.  Today, we thank them and thank God for raising them up for us.

^[1] Exell, Joseph S. n.d. The Biblical Illustrator: Genesis. Vol. 1. The Biblical Illustrator. London: James Nisbet & Co.

The climax of the sixth day of creation is in Genesis 1:26. It says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’” When we crossed the equator while on deployment to the western pacific, we had an initiation into the realm of Neptune and had to endure some incredible humiliations. I love the way Spurgeon began a sermon, “Old ocean does not belong to Neptune, as the heathen used to say; Father Neptune is an idle dream. The idolaters parcelled out the various kingdoms among their deities: one should rule the heavens, another the clouds, another the earth, and another the sea; but we know that there is one God alone. The sea is Jehovah’s, and not Neptune’s.”^[1] It is all Gods! And he has given it to you and me! As a matter of face God has entrusted to us, mankind, the care and preservation as well as the enjoyment of the whole earth.

Up to the creation of man on the sixth day “All of creation has been merely a prelude to what would happen at the end of day six. The creation of the human race was the central object of God’s creative purpose from the beginning. In an important sense, everything else was created for humanity, and every step of creation up to this point had one main purpose: to prepare a perfect environment for Adam.”^[2] You see, “From the very beginning, therefore, man and woman, being created in the image of God (both of them!), were given dominion (lordship) over the whole of the created earth. They were the ones who bore the image of God and, bearing that image, were to be in charge, to tend the Garden, to keep it and preserve it before their own Lord.”^[3]

There is a natural wonder in being at sea. It’s different at sea than on land. When at sea there is a sense of marvel one doesn’t have on shore. Spurgeon went on in his sermon to say, “The free sea cannot be parcelled out, nor hedged, nor ditched, nor dyked, nor walled. It has no lords of the manor but remains free and unappropriated for ever. ‘The sea is his, and he made it.’ According to law, a few miles from the shore the sea belongs to the country which borders on it; but once reach the main ocean, and nationalities are forgotten. The sea is neither English nor French, Dutch nor American. No one ever thought of impounding stray whales for going out of their owner’s fields. The pastures of the deep are for all fish; they may feed where they will, from shore to shore.”^[4] According to Proverbs 30:19, the way of a man with a maiden is compared to the ways of a ship on the high seas!^[5] Mysterious indeed!

^[1] Spurgeon, C. H. 1912. “The Sea! The Sea! The Wide and Open Sea!” In The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, 58:104. London: Passmore & Alabaster.

^[2] MacArthur, John. 2001. The Battle for the Beginning: The Bible on Creation and the Fall of Adam. Nashville, TN: W Pub. Group.

^[3] Schaeffer, Francis A. 1982. The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer: A Christian Worldview. Vol. 2. Westchester, IL: Crossway Books.

^[4] Spurgeon, C. H. 1912. “The Sea! The Sea! The Wide and Open Sea!” In The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, 58:104. London: Passmore & Alabaster.

^[5] Zuck, Roy B. 1991. A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament. Electronic ed. Chicago: Moody Press.

Genesis 1:24 says, “And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.’ And it was so.” God completes the creation of animals at the beginning of day six. Looking back at all the days of creation we see the three kinds of animals that God made. They are mentioned several times after this. According to Hosea 4:3 we see them mentioned in prophecy, “Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away.” They are also mentioned in the Psalms and in Zephaniah. But in verse 24, God creates three kinds of land creatures. In this English translation the three kinds of land animals are livestock, creeping things, and beasts of the earth.

Locomotion seems to be the dividing line between plants who are stuck to the ground to the birds that have free reign in the air and fish who roam the seas at will. Now God deals with the animals that have movement on the dry ground. In verse 28, they are called “every living thing that moves on the earth.” Speaking of some Jewish commentators, Kissling says, “They argue that livestock walk on top of the ground, creatures that move along the ground slide on it, while the NIV’s (New International Version) ‘wild animals’ are animals which dig through it, i.e., ‘animals of the earth.’ They note that part of the punishment of the serpent has to do with its ‘manner of locomotion.’”^[1] The translator’s handbook helps with thos attempting to translate this passage in other languages adds a little more detail. It says, “Cattle translates a word that here refers to domestic animals. See also 34:23; 47:18. Creeping things refers not only to reptiles like snakes, lizards, or turtles, but also to insects, rodents, and all kinds of small animals. Beasts of the earth is literally ‘living things of the earth,’ referring to wild animals, or perhaps dangerous animals.”^[2]

Genesis 1:25 lays out the three kinds pretty clearly. It reads, “And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” The overall goodness of God’s creation should cause several positive responses from us. According to Boice there are four of them. First, we should be thankful for the world around us with its variety. Second, we should find real delight in it. We should appreciate it’s beauty. Anyone who might forget their schedule for a minute and take a look around at the plants, creatures won’t be able to help but notice the variety should have pleasure it in all. Thirdly, it should have a sense of responsibility towards it. But finally, and most importantly one should recognize the wonder and glory of the one who made it all. Here’s how Boice concludes his argument, “Finally, after he has contemplated nature and has come to value it, the Christian should turn once again to the God who made it and sustains it moment by moment and should learn to trust him.”^[3]

^[1] Kissling, Paul J. 2004–. Genesis. The College Press NIV Commentary. Joplin, MO: College Press Pub. Co.

^[2] Reyburn, William David, and Euan McG. Fry. 1998. A Handbook on Genesis. UBS Handbook Series. New York: United Bible Societies.

^[3] Boice, James Montgomery. 1998. Genesis: An Expositional Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

God’s command to the fish and the birds after he created them was to procreate. Genesis 1:22-23 says, “And God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.’ And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.” This is the first time anything is “blessed” by God in the Bible. We see it again with man at the end of the chapter. What is the nature of God’s blessing? Is it like Spokes, “life long and prosper?” Well, kind of but it seems more closely related to reproduction. Reyburn says, “Most interpreters are agreed that God’s blessing in the creation story is the gift of reproduction.”^[1]

Through the whole Old Testament we see the desire for children. We see the promise to Abraham was to multiply greatly and to have as many children as there are grains of sand or stars in the sky. We can understand how the absence of children is a curse while the presence of many children is a great blessing.  After Leah gave birth and Rachel remained barren she cried out to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die.”

It seems that in many cases in the bible, God’s blessings involve offspring. But it’s not just children it’s offspring that produces wealth like cattle and sheep. Deuteronomy 28:4 includes this blessing. “Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.” God’s blessing involves increase! As we’ll see in Genesis 24:60, When Rebekah was leaving her family to become Isaac’s wife her family, “…blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands.” Some translations suggest it’s thousands of millions, but the point is the blessing involved a fruitful and ever increasing life! This blessing is also seen when the people pronounce their blessing upon Boaz when he assumes the responsibility of Ruth and her mother in law. Ruth 4:11 says, “The Lord make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel; and may you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.”

^[1] Reyburn, William David, and Euan McG. Fry. 1998. A Handbook on Genesis. UBS Handbook Series. New York: United Bible Societies.