Page 28 - ADAM IN GENESIS

generally speaks of human rule versus a divine rule. Man is to rule over the fish and birds
of Day 5 and the behemah and remes of Day 6 as well as all the earth (erets). It is
interesting that the wild beasts of the earth (chaytho erets) in verse 24 are not mentioned
here. It is possible that that was intentional as we do not currently seem to rule over the
wild beasts, but the phrase all the earth would seem to include these beasts. Are humans
really only supposed to rule over the domesticated animals and small reptiles? Probably
not, as the phrase all the earth picks up the pieces of anything left off the list here. The
Hebrew listener would most likely get the idea that the entire living Creation would be
subject to the original created man. The term erets here describes the living portion of the
earth. Man certainly has no rule over geologic events of the physical earth such as
volcanoes and earthquakes.
If the listener did not get enough of a sense of the specialness of his creation from verse
26, he most certainly would from verse 27. The verse begins with the wayyiqtol form of
the verb bara (create). Since this verb is only used to show something new created by
God it obviously refers to the creation of man in His image. There is nothing new or
special about our bodies except that they are called good with all Creation in verse 31.
They are useful in fulfilling their purpose. But whats new with man is his moral, spiritual
and intellectual likeness to God. So crucial is this point that the author goes out of his
way to make the reader stop and ponder it. The verb bara is used three times in this verse
and the other two times stop the storyline momentarily while the point is stressed. The
final two uses of bara are in the perfect tense. The reader is to make no mistake that he is
part of a kind that was created by God in His image. In His image he was created. Male
and female were created by God. This is the climactic point of the entire Creation
narrative. In a story that starts with the creation of a flat infinitely large universe which
contains over 10 sextillion (10 with 21 zeros) stars arranged predictably in roughly 100
billion galaxies and an earth with as many as 10 million species of living organisms,
mankind lies in sole position as the masterpiece of Gods work. May the reader not have
any doubt.
The storyline picks up again in verse 28 with another wayyiqtol verb. This must occur
after the creation of the woman which we will see in 2:21-23. God blesses (Heb. barak)
them and tells them to 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. The first part of the blessing is identical to the one He gave
the aquatic creatures and birds on Day 5. Instead of filling the seas, man is to fill the erets
or the land portion of the earth. He also is to subdue (khavash) it. According to TWOT
the word choice implies that creation will not do mans bidding gladly or easily and that
man must now bring creation into submission by main strength. This seems to portray an
original Creation that is much the same as we experience today and contradicts the notion
that the Fall of man in Genesis 3 is the culprit for the physical evils we know in the
present world. There is a tendency to read into Scripture a certain mysticism or fairy
tale-like quality to the natural world in the beginning. We must be careful not to practice
such eisegesis and just take the text itself and make sound exegetical interpretations.
There is no biblical evidence that the physical world at the time of Adam's creation was
any different than the one we live in today. Finally, to repeat verse 26, man is to have
dominion (radah) over an implied all living creatures.