Saturday 7th January
Read Genesis 1:26-28
“Then God said,‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’
27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’” (NIVUK)
We have been considering the seminal passages in Genesis that describe the creation of heaven and earth and have come to the high point in God’s creative process – the creation of humanity in His image. The structure of the poem moves from form on days one to three to fullness on days four to six. Or, considered in a slightly different way, as describing ‘functions’ such as time and season and agriculture on days one to three and ‘functionaries’ on days four to six. So what is humanity’s role, or function, on the earth, created as we are in God’s image and likeness as His ‘royal representatives’?
Richard Middleton, in his excellent book on the Imago Dei, draws his readers attention to a fascinating parallel later in Genesis. During the Joseph narrative, after Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dreams and suggests a plan to ensure the future prosperity of Egypt in the face of devastating drought we hear Pharaoh’s conclusions.
“So Pharaoh asked them, ‘Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?’
39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. 40 You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.’
41 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.’” (Genesis 41:38-41) (NIVUK)
Just as in Genesis 1 we have the creative power of the ‘ruah elohim’, the spirit of God, suffusing the man Joseph with wisdom. We have the delegation of power and authority in the land to Joseph in order to rule wisely. Joseph is the ‘image’ of Pharoah. Whilst many understand the nature of humanity’s ‘rule’ to be subjugatory and a not a little exploitative, Joseph presents a slightly different picture. His rule, by the spirit of God, involves wisdom in preserving and continuing life in the face of challenges. Transforming society into a resilient and successful whole. Whilst it does involve domestication and cultivation of plants and animals, which we will consider in the second creation narrative, it includes so much more!
However else we understand the ‘representative royal rule’ of humanity in creation it ‘involves an element of artful discernment in the service of the (cultural) shaping and transformation of the world in imitation of God’s wise acts of ordering and crafting what was originally formless into a habitable cosmic structure.’ (Richard Middleton, The Liberating Image). What a positive picture of the divine task delegated to humanity by a gracious and incredibly trusting God.
