Zezima
07-10-2022, 02:07 PM
In the first chapter of Genesis, we read a narrative describing the creation of all things. On the 6th day, we are told that God created man (1:27) and we read God's command to man (1:28)...
...Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. - Genesis 1:28
The word Subdue comes from the Hebrew word Kabash which translates to a few different English words depending on the context.
Kabas Definition:
to tread down; hence, negatively, to disregard; positively, to conquer, subjugate, violate:--bring into bondage, force, keep under, subdue, bring into subjection.
The Recovery Version Bible has a footnote for the word subdue in Genesis 1:28 that states the following:
Subdue here implies that a war is raging on earth between God and His enemy, Satan. Whoever gains the earth will have the victory. Man was created by God to subdue, to conquer, the earth and recover it for God.
Note, that so far in the narrative of Genesis there is no mention at all of an enemy, Satan, or of a war. In fact, at this point, man has not fallen.. We are still in the first chapter.
Let's continue...other versions of the bible articulate a different interpretation for this word Kabas. For example, the ESV Study Bible states the following in a footnote for the same word in the same verse...
The term subdue elsewhere means to bring a people or a land into subjection so that it will yield service to the one subduing it (Num. 32:22, 29.) The idea here is to make the earth's resources beneficial for themselves, that they would investigate and develop the earth's resources to make them useful for humans generally
While I am no Hebrew scholar, words have meaning in different contexts. Given the context of the world subdue in the progression of Genesis Chapter 1, there is a great argument to be made that the Recovery's footnote is wrong.
It appears to be a perfect example of reading an idea into the text, rather than pulling one from it. Why would the author be implying of a war against Satan if Satan has not even entered the scene? Was the man created ever told that there was an enemy? Maybe, but the bible never says that.
This is important because this interpretation of the word Subdue is one of the major building blocks to the Local Church's doctrine on why God created man:
Man was created by God to subdue, to conquer, the earth and recover it for God.
...
God's intention in giving man dominion is (1) to subdue God's enemy, Satan, who rebelled against God; (2) to recover the earth, which was usurped by Satan through man's fall;
- CWWL, 1970, vol. 1, "Fulfilling God's Purpose by Growing in Life and Functioning in Life to Build Up the Church," ch. 1: Fulfilling God's Purpose by Expressing Him with His Image and Representing Him with His Dominion
God's Purpose Being Not Only That Man Bear God's Image but Also That He Deal with His Enemy—In His creation of man, God also committed His authority to man in order to subdue and deal with His enemy
- The Vision, Practice, and Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ," ch. 3: The Three Main Items of God's Purpose for the Church (2)
I implore you to consider what Subdue really means in Genesis 1:28. Is Witness Lee's & the Recovery's interpretation of the meaning of the word wrong?
...Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. - Genesis 1:28
The word Subdue comes from the Hebrew word Kabash which translates to a few different English words depending on the context.
Kabas Definition:
to tread down; hence, negatively, to disregard; positively, to conquer, subjugate, violate:--bring into bondage, force, keep under, subdue, bring into subjection.
The Recovery Version Bible has a footnote for the word subdue in Genesis 1:28 that states the following:
Subdue here implies that a war is raging on earth between God and His enemy, Satan. Whoever gains the earth will have the victory. Man was created by God to subdue, to conquer, the earth and recover it for God.
Note, that so far in the narrative of Genesis there is no mention at all of an enemy, Satan, or of a war. In fact, at this point, man has not fallen.. We are still in the first chapter.
Let's continue...other versions of the bible articulate a different interpretation for this word Kabas. For example, the ESV Study Bible states the following in a footnote for the same word in the same verse...
The term subdue elsewhere means to bring a people or a land into subjection so that it will yield service to the one subduing it (Num. 32:22, 29.) The idea here is to make the earth's resources beneficial for themselves, that they would investigate and develop the earth's resources to make them useful for humans generally
While I am no Hebrew scholar, words have meaning in different contexts. Given the context of the world subdue in the progression of Genesis Chapter 1, there is a great argument to be made that the Recovery's footnote is wrong.
It appears to be a perfect example of reading an idea into the text, rather than pulling one from it. Why would the author be implying of a war against Satan if Satan has not even entered the scene? Was the man created ever told that there was an enemy? Maybe, but the bible never says that.
This is important because this interpretation of the word Subdue is one of the major building blocks to the Local Church's doctrine on why God created man:
Man was created by God to subdue, to conquer, the earth and recover it for God.
...
God's intention in giving man dominion is (1) to subdue God's enemy, Satan, who rebelled against God; (2) to recover the earth, which was usurped by Satan through man's fall;
- CWWL, 1970, vol. 1, "Fulfilling God's Purpose by Growing in Life and Functioning in Life to Build Up the Church," ch. 1: Fulfilling God's Purpose by Expressing Him with His Image and Representing Him with His Dominion
God's Purpose Being Not Only That Man Bear God's Image but Also That He Deal with His Enemy—In His creation of man, God also committed His authority to man in order to subdue and deal with His enemy
- The Vision, Practice, and Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ," ch. 3: The Three Main Items of God's Purpose for the Church (2)
I implore you to consider what Subdue really means in Genesis 1:28. Is Witness Lee's & the Recovery's interpretation of the meaning of the word wrong?