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"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 Gen. 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 Gen. 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
Gen. 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).
A further change is seen in the fact that whereas in the beginning the food of man was:
"Every herb bearing seed . . . . . and every tree in the which is the fruit of a tree
yielding seed" (Gen. 1: 29).
immediately after the fall, in Gen. 3:, we read:
"Thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread"
(Gen. 3: 18, 19).
When we come to Gen. 9:, we find a further change:
"Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I
given you all things" (Gen. 9: 3).
It will be observed that in none of these instances does God give to man, either fallen
or unfallen, dominion over what we call to-day the "forces of nature". The fullest
dominion was necessarily that which was originally given in Gen. 1:, and the subsequent
modifications, so far from extending the sphere, imply serious limitations.
Before passing on to the real purpose of this article, which is to trace man's departure
from the divinely appointed bounds of dominion, as in the case of Cain's line, it is
perhaps necessary to correct a false view that is often expressed, and is indeed
countenanced by the A.V. translation of Gen. 5: 3. The usual view is that, whereas
Adam was created in the likeness of God (Gen. 5: 1), all his posterity have been begotten
in "his" (i.e. in Adam's own) likeness and image--it being implied that this is something
quite different. However, in Gen. 9:, after the flood, we read that God said: "Whoso
sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He
man" (Gen. 9: 6). And centuries after, James wrote: