Land Issues

Genesis 1:28

Two events this week are rooted in a common issue – land rights.

Israel: The Palestinians claim that the land occupied today by the Jews is rightfully theirs.  They argue that for centuries they owned it and lived there. The Jews counter that they lived and thrived there before the Arabs as it was given to their father Abraham and was ruled for centuries by his descendants.  Then there is a counter that the Jews under Joshua of the line of Abraham “stole” it from people groups living there for centuries before Abraham.  So, to whom does the land belong?

Columbus: The second similar issue surrounds the “claiming of the new world” for Spain by Christopher Columbus beginning in 1492 (Oct 12). There are voices who condemn the “conquest” of the native groups here by imperialistic, colonizing and autocratic Europe.  Thus, Columbus is deemed evil and his exploits wrong. True?

So, what should we think?

The Bible claims that a God made this statement:  Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth,” Genesis 1:26-28.

God gave the humans that He envisioned, designed and created a governance mandate – a commission – that had three components: fill, subdue, and exercise dominion.

I. Fill – God made a he and a she with a purpose to reproduce – be fruitful, multiply and fill!

Right away an issue surfaces – to be fruitful, multiply and fill is to consume land area forcing people into a smaller and smaller segment they call their own.  To fill means those already existing must make room for others.

II. Subdue – Man was/is charged by God to claim an area around him as his and take responsibility for it.  Man was/is to claim a piece of the planet for his well-being.

III. Exercise dominion – Within the area staked out, man was/is to rule.  God said to them: Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it, Genesis 2:15. This was given before the curse so weeds and erosion were not in view (today they are), but animals and plants were. God put the first man into a place marked out on the face of the earth (subdued by God) and told him to manage it.

Application:  Canaanites or Indians or settlers or pilgrims or whomever, are to mark their area and be about maintaining it for the filling of their family. Each such group was to permit other groups to do the same.  Thus, a Canaanite city state could claim an area but it was only theirs if they were active in maintaining it.  Area outside their maintenance was to be open for others.

Furthermore, filling would in time necessitate expansion of their area and the claiming of a neighborhood area.  The vast area of the United States had some areas claimed leaving vast amounts open for more claims (the plains Indians chasing the buffalo hither and yon were not exercising dominion).  Areas claimed and maintained should have been honored and those claiming should have been open to others claiming areas nearby.  The planet is to be shared.

At root is a belief in God and that God has spoken. So, why believe there is a God?  Why?  The life, death and resurrection of Jesus!  What Jesus said (that He pre-existed, created all, and is God) and did (miracles and teachings) and that He predicted His death and resurrection and such happened – all scream TRUTH!  Also, that those who directly knew Him agreed and died for their beliefs also scream TRUTH!  Thus, Jesus gives validity to the idea of God, to the Bible (He spoke of Noah, Jonah, Moses, etc.) and of what God told mankind to do in Genesis 1:28: fill (procreate), subdue (claim), and exercise dominion (manage).  Land unclaimed and unmanaged is available.