Gen 1 28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
God created the earth as the paradise for man. He established His government by providing all the needs of man. God made man a free moral agent by the implantation of His law. Man was able to please God. Gods creation was established as all the parts working together in perfect unity in order to bring Him glory. He upheld the rights of all men in concert with His law. So Genesis teaches us that man ruled over the creation in the legitimate usage of the implanted law.
But when man sinned, he began to rule by redefining Gods law. This is why God warns the women that there will be conflict in the relationship . In other words each person desires to rule by violence in redefining the law of God. Each man was given the righteous desire to rule over the creation by subduing it. Throughout scripture the conflict of desire defines the presence of violence that Moses describes in the word "subduing the earth". The conflict is illustrated in the story of Joseph. His brothers said to him,37 8 "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said." The desire to rule was established in the creation covenant. The Psalms teach that the "desire" is fulfilled in the legitimate use of the law, covenants, curses, statutes, decrees and promises as the way that man is restored to the freedom established in the creation covenant. The Psalmist describe the attitudes like praise, thankfulness, joy, peace, exuberance, trust, and love as being orthodox within the context of the six axioms.
The Psalmist describes this conflict of violence that is much greater than physical persecution. God established His government over all things in His eternal counsel. God created all things by speaking them into existence. So the government of God is His application of the 6 axioms in designing , creating and ordering all things. The bible does not distinguish between Gods temporal government established in Israel and His eternal government. The violation in relationships is the unlawful defiance of Gods government. God establishes human government in opposition to mans attempt to redefine Gods law of relationships. God establishes human governments in the history of turning them upside down.
The Psalmist teaches that all men are born with the desire to destroy their neighbor by redefining Gods law. He describes this as a war of desire between the legitimate use of the 6 axioms and the unlawful use. Because God has given each man the desire to subdue the earth, he establishes each mans as a king over his own kingdom in the covenant of creation. God made man to rule in the state of blessing. When man sinned he began to rule in the state of cursing. Man was able to rule as a king by speaking according to the blessed word of God. But when he violated that word , he began to speak the curses of violence by redefining Gods word. To redefine Gods word is to curse oneself by cursing God and man. To speak according to the axioms is to bless oneself by blessing God and man.The bible teaches two kinds of cursing. The legitimate curses of the law and the wicked curses. This is the conflict between Gods government and human governments.
done
ReplyDelete