Book Excerpts

Genesis 1:27-28 states:

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 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.”

In what has come to be known as the Adamic Covenant, God gave man dominion over the earth.  In brief, a covenant is an agreement or a promise between two parties.  As used in the Bible, a covenant is an agreement between God and man. God tells man what He will do, and what He expects man to do in obedience to Him. While there may be some disagreement among biblical scholars over some of this, some points are not in dispute.  With regard to the Adamic Covenant, these points include:

1. Man was commanded to “be fruitful and multiply”. God wanted man to reproduce and fill the earth.
2. Man was to subdue or have dominion over all the earth; the fish of the sea, the beasts of the earth, and every fowl of the air.  (This means that pit bulls are supposed to be afraid of you … not the other way around.)
3. Man, beast, and fowl were provided with food from the herbs or fruit yielding trees (man was vegetarian, so there were no cheesesteaks … the horror!).
4. A command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  The punishment for violating God’s command not to eat of this tree was death.  This was the one thing God commanded man strongly not to do.  It wasn’t an option although man has free will.  If he ate, he would die. So man had a choice…even though he was under the command not to do this. He could live life under the grace of God who gave man all the good things in life, or he could eat of the tree. He could continue to have fellowship with God, enjoy His provision of food, companionship, and dominance over all life that God created, or he could die. Does man choose to be obedient, or does he choose death?

The above covenant points are found in Genesis 1:28-30 and Genesis 2:16-17.

So, all forms of life, even the beasts of the field, were in obedience to Adam. God completed His creation in six days, and on the seventh day He rested from His labor, and sanctified that day as a day of rest unto Himself. This day of rest, which will become known as the Sabbath, is an observance that will become important.