beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and

whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas' (Psa. 8:6-8).

The works of God's hands include 'things in heaven' as well as 'things

in earth', and the Psalmist certainly recognises this, for we read: 'The

heavens are the work of Thy hands' (Psa. 102:25).  It is quite evident that

man has no dominion over the sun, moon and stars, but apart from this obvious

exception, we might be tempted to believe that dominion over every

terrestrial work of God's hands is implied in the words of Genesis 1 or Psalm

8.  Such, however, is not the case.

We have already quoted Psalm 8.

Let us now refer to Genesis 1:

'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

thing that creepeth upon the earth' (Gen. 1:26).

These words describe the counsel of the Lord before the creation of

After man was created, the dominion is further defined as follows:

'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).

It is evident, therefore, that the words 'over all the earth' in

Genesis 1:26 refer simply to all living things on the earth, and not to all

its inorganic elements, radio activity and hidden atomic forces.

One of the earliest recorded acts of man (in Gen. 2) is that which sets

forth his authority over the lower creation:

'And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field,

and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he

would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that

was the name thereof' (Gen. 2:19).

This dominion was seriously modified by the Fall.

In Genesis 3 and 4

we read:

'Cursed is the ground for thy sake' (Gen. 3:17).

'When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee

her strength' (Gen. 4:12).

After the Flood, when Noah seems to be in some respects in the position

of a second Adam, the words of Genesis 1:28 are repeated: 'Be fruitful, and

multiply, and replenish the earth' (Gen. 9:1).  Instead, however, of this

being followed by the same words as in Genesis 1 we read:

'And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of

the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon

the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they

delivered' (Gen. 9:2).