Wednesday, February 13, 2019

The 7 Covenants: The Edenic Covenant


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