The
Edenic Covenant
Gen.
1:26-30, 2:15-17
26 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.
27 So God created man in
his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he
them.
28 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.
29 And God said, Behold,
I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the
earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to
you it shall be for meat.
30 And to every beast of
the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon
the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and
it was so. – Gen. 1:26-30
15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him
into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,
Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17 But of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. -Gen. 2:15-17
He,
God created mankind. Mankind being the created thing, naturally, God has
control, rule and dominion over us. In other words, He has the right to tell us
what to do, or to do with us anything He wishes. Because God is Holy (Lev.
11:45, I Peter 1:16) and God is Love (I John 4:7-8) we don’t have to worry
about ill, cruel or maltreatment by Him.
If
I built a robot, I created it, and therefore it is my right to program it to
perform whatever function I desire, whether that is to mow my lawn or vacuum my
carpet or assist me in various tasks in the home or yard. Likewise, if I molded and fired a clay pot, I could either use it to store water, grain or
garbage, it’s totally my choice. So too, God, being our Creator, can do with us
as He sees fit.
But
here we see God created us in His Image (1:26-27), a little lower than the
angels (Psa. 8:5, Heb. 2:7). In other words, we have the intellect and rational
creative abilities like God, we are a spirit being like God and angels and yet
we are housed in a clay body like animals. Like animals, we eat, sleep,
reproduce, defecate and die; we are like a bridge between the physical and the
spiritual.
So
following the pattern of ancient near east covenants, we see God establishes
Himself as Ruler and Creator (1:26-27). He gave His stipulations and
expectations (1:28-30, 2:15) and the curse for disobedience (2:16-17). The
continuation of the Covenant, by nature is a given and the witnesses by
implication is the created order itself as in other Divine Covenants; heaven
and earth (Deut. 4:26) are called as witnesses.
“The Edenic
Covenant was made between God and Adam in which Adam stood as the
representative head of the human race. Thus the actions of Adam are attributed
to the whole human race.” – Arnold Fruchtenbaum, “The Eight Covenants of the
Bible” pg. 7
What
I love about this Covenant is that even though we are God’s creation, His
subjects, His vassals, we are also co-managers of His earthly created order.
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. – Gen. 1:28
And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the
garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. – Gen. 2:15
We
are to have “dominion” over it. The Hebrew word for dominion is “radah,”
meaning, to rule or reign over creation as a king would rule a Kingdom. It also
means to, “scrape out,” implying that we carve out an existence with the
created order we have been given responsibility over. We are to rule in holiness
and love, in imitation of the Creator Himself. Dominion does not mean dominate
or decimate. It means to be a responsible manager. So yes, proper treatment of
animals and the environment is a part of this.
Also
note that God “blessed” mankind in order to rule over the created order. He
blessed us, in other words, enabled us, gave us the power to do so.
We
were originally vegetarians.
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… And to every beast
of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth
upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat:
and it was so. – Gen. 1:28,30
But because we broke an aspect of the Covenant
(2:16-17, 3:8-13) it gave God the right later on to set new conditions and
parameters, for as we shall see, in the Noatic Covenant we are now permitted to
eat animals considered clean (9:3-4). I know that the text does not
specifically say that, but it was implied in that God, since Adam, made a
distinction between clean and unclean animals taken aboard the ark. In the
Mosaic Covenant He solidifies the fact that only clean animals are to be deemed
as a viable food source.
15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him
into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,
Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17 But of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. – Gen.2:15-17
Other
than the expectation to keep (the Hebrew word means to guard) and tend the
Garden, man was prohibited from eating of the Tree of Knowledge. Why?
Satan
said:
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your
eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. – Gen.
3:5
God said:
But of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die… 22 And
the Lord God said,
Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he
put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for
ever:
23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the
garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
24 So he drove out the
man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming
sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. – Gen. 2:17,
3:22-24
The
one and only prohibition mankind broke, resulting in the curse of death.
There
were seven provisions of the Covenant:
1.
Man
was to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. 1;28a
2.
Man
is to subdue the earth. 1:28b
3.
Man
is to have dominion over the earth 1:28c
4.
Man
was to be vegetarian 1:29-30, 2:16
5.
Man
was to dress and keep (guard) the Garden. 2:15
6.
Man
was NOT to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. 2:17a
7.
Man
was to be penalized if he ate from the forbidden tree. 2:17b
