Witness Lee's Incorrect Interpretation of Subdue?

[Zezima]

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?

[Zezima]

No takers?

Isn’t subduing the earth as it’s defined by Lee go hand in hand with, “we are building Gods kingdom on earth today”? You can’t have the second if you don’t define the first incorrectly.

[Timotheist]

Originally Posted by Zezima

No takers?

Once I can figure out why God created an Earth that had to be subdued for any reason, then I will have an opinion on your question.

There are a small handful of passages that tell us that the Earth belongs to Satan, so I cannot dismiss Lee's extrapolation out of hand.

[Nell]

Originally Posted by Timotheist

Once I can figure out why God created an Earth that had to be subdued for any reason, then I will have an opinion on your question.

There are a small handful of passages that tell us that the Earth belongs to Satan, so I cannot dismiss Lee's extrapolation out of hand.

God had some questions for Job, in Job 38, when he was trying to figure out what was going on with His creation.


You might also check out Earth's Earliest Ages by GH Pember.


Nell

[Zezima]

Originally Posted by Timotheist

There are a small handful of passages that tell us that the Earth belongs to Satan, so I cannot dismiss Lee's extrapolation out of hand.

Right, but was that the case in the earliest days of creation? Lee seems to think that’s why God created man, to subdue satan. But nowhere in the creation account does it mention satan.

How one interprets this world subdue can lead to drastically different doctrines and worldviews. Case and point, how much Lee uses this verse as the backdrop to some bold statements.

[Zezima]

Originally Posted by Onlooker

Isn’t subduing the earth as it’s defined by Lee go hand in hand with, “we are building Gods kingdom on earth today”? You can’t have the second if you don’t define the first incorrectly.

Which is the point for this thread. Like many other doctrines in the Lord’s Recovery… if one point of the structure fails the rest tumbles with it.