Who's The Boss

"And 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Genesis 1:26-28 KJV

When last we met we saw that man was created to be God on earth. Now, we should begin to understand what that means. There are words like "dominion", "replenish" and "subdue". What are they doing there?

"Dominion" - God said, "let them have dominion", He did not say, "let them be dictators." For anyone who is familiar with the computer game "The Sims" and it's ilk know that being in charge is not as simple as it looks. There's a lot more to being in charge than just telling people what to do.

The position of dominion involves a fair amount of balance. If you want the golden eggs, you best not kill the goose. This is merely pragmatic. However when combined with the idea that man was created to be God on earth it takes a sense of obligation rather than privilege.

"Replenish" - God said to replenish the earth. One question asks, "If the earth needs to be REplenished, when was it first plenished?" To some this may seem a silly question, but it does fall in line with an interesting interpretation dealing with the fall of Lucifer, but that's for another time.

The thought of replenishing the earth brings to light another concept, and that is filling the earth. Part of man's initial charge was to fill the earth. Each of God's creations was to reproduce "after its kind" and there is no reason to think that man is any different in this regard. God expected man to reproduce with the end result being an earth populated with God's reflection.

"Subdue" - This word is probably the most interesting. Partially because it seems so out of place and we don't really know why it's there. Subdue is not a friendly word. It typically means to control by force an unwilling subject, a rebel. The very presence of the word implies that there was something in creation that was not fully cooperative, that was rebellious by nature. The fact that man was told to subdue means, if nothing else, that his existence was meant to be more than simply lounging about soaking up rays. From the time that man was created, there was potential for trouble.

From the beginning of time man had responsibility. Still, I am convinced that God made man with all the skills and resources necessary to fulfill these responsibilities. After all, He said, "it is very good."