Page 101 - Through New Eyes

E I G H T

BIRDS AND BEASTS

When God created the world, he set up the animals as man’s
particular zone of dominion. God said,

Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;
and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of
the heavens and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over
every creeping thing that creeps on the earth (Genesis 1:26).

Again God said to humanity,

Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and
rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and
over every living thing that moves on the earth (Genesis 1:28).

We notice what God did not say. He did not say, “Rule over
the soil, the moon and planets, the grass, trees, and herbs.”
These seem to be taken for granted. If man rules over the high-
est aspect of creation, the things made at the end of the week,
it stands to reason that he will rule over the lower aspects, in
some sense.
Part of man’s peculiar domination of the animals lies in the
fact that only animals can be helpers to man. Pigs can help man
hunt for truffles, and oxen can pull man’s plows. Dogs can
guard man’s home, and cats can cleanse his house of vermin.
This particularly close association of men and animals is seen
in Genesis 2, where God used the animals to teach Adam of his
need for helpers. God said, “It is not good for the man to be
alone; I will make a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18).
God chose to bring the animals and birds before Adam for him
to name or describe. These animals were indeed helpers, and
Adam could see that, but they were not helpers fitted to him.
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