Humans and environment has an intrinsic connection from the
very beginning. The Hebrew scripture beautifully portrays this connection by
appropriately attaching the theological aspect to it. This paper in brief
discusses about Old Testament and Environment.
1. The Cultural Mandate
The aspect of environment in the
Hebrew Scriptures begins with the Creation stories. According to the Hebrew
traditions, the creation narrative of Gen 1: l-2:4a tells how mankind was made
in the image of God in order to exercise dominion over the earth and all the
animal life upon it and how God gave them what is frequently called the
“cultural mandate” to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue
it, and have dominion” (1:28). Ecologists of our day have sometimes criticized
the wording of this “mandate” and held it responsible for the misuse of natural
resources that has now become (and rightly so) a matter of worldwide concern.[1]
For one thing, the command to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth”
has been thought to encourage over population. For another, the command to
“subdue” the earth has been thought to encourage ruthless exploitation. But the
command to “be fruitful and multiply” had a positive relevance and
justification in its own context of sparse population and should be appraised
in that context.[2]
2. The framework and the unique character of the Old
Testament statements about creation
The statements about creation
concentrate on the fundamental fact, the elemental being-alive of the living
thing, and its endowment with the essentials of life. Therefore, they see life[3],
beyond biological survival, as reality that is elementally capable of giving
joy and that has meaning and value.[4]
Israel, first of all perceived the
bestowing hand offering and preserving the life that was not at its own
disposal. Consequently, it saw creation as a perspective valid for all time, a
quality that belongs to the world and all life, springing from the activity of
the Creator. On the basis of the personal experience of human life’s
dependency, human and the natural world are seen in a primal unity which
includes both. This unity reveals itself as the act of the divine gift of life.[5]
3. The unique nature of the Old Testament’s knowledge of the
world
Israel’s knowledge of God is by no
means without presuppositions. It always starts from the one God who was part
of its experience of reality long before the statements about creation. In
presupposing Yahweh in its knowledge of the world, Israel’s purpose is to seek
the truth that proves itself in the real field of one’s own historical
experience, and also in the extended field of one’s own historical experience,
and also in the extended field of the natural world existing for living things,
which is presented in the historical process. It is in this one factual and
true reality (which includes nature and history and which is accessible to
every inquiry after knowledge) that Israel (bringing to bear its experience of
that reality) shows Yahweh to be the foundation that guarantees its existence.[6]
Israel’s knowledge of the world is
not directed solely toward conditions that make the world of life possible, but
also toward the event of the granting of these conditions in actual experience.
Consequently, it does not encounter only a lack of automatic, immanent
necessity; to put it in the other terms, it does not merely light upon the
contingent, non-disposable occurrence of the coming-to-pass of a guarantee of
this kind. This means that the recognized orders of the natural world always
represent only a partial knowing. Beside the governing orders of Yahweh’s
stands his absolutely unlimited freedom of the disposal in the granting of the
world of life; and this is not the subject of fixed and demonstrable knowledge.[7]
This unique character of Israel’
knowledge of the natural world and environment makes it quite understandable
that Israel should have been unable to talk about the world as a cosmos whose
unalterable laws had a divine quality in themselves. In the wake of knowledge
(which moves within the framework of personal experience of the life that is
dependent on Yahweh) the will to knowledge is directed toward other living
things too, toward other living things too, toward their particular, personally
ordered gift of life and their equipment for living in their own environment.[8]
4. Eco-Justice
The world that God created was a
world of eco-justice. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good
(Gen-1:31). In Gen Chap.1-2 we find that there was Eco-Justice in the world
that God had created. In the world there was peace (Shalom) and harmony between
God and human, between God and nature, between human and human, between human
and nature, and between nature and nature. But this Shalom based eco-justice
was broken and the world became a world of eco-injustice.[9]
The notion of human “subjugation” of earth in Gen 1:26, 28 are blamed for the
abuse of nature by way of technology.[10]
4.1. King as Image of God (Gen-1:26-28)
The commission to “rule over” itself
does not intend abusing or destroying creation for the benefit of humans. This
result comes from misunderstanding and misinterpreting the commission in Gen
1:26, 28. Old Testament scholars agree that “the image of God” in Gen 1:26 is
derived from the royal ideology of the Ancient Near East. The background of Gen
1:26f. is what Egypt and Mesopotamia say about the king as the image of God,
both are God’s viceroy or representative. If the image of God in Gen 1:26 is
derived from the royal ideology and the king is the image of God, the “rule
over” in Gen 1:26,28 also must be interpreted from the royal ideology.[11]
4.2. Human as Brothers and Sisters of Creation (Deut –
17:14-20)
We can perceive a negative royal ideology in the rights of
king in 1 Sam-8:10-17. But in the laws of king in Deut 17:14-20 we can find a
positive royal ideology. According to this, the king of Israel should not
oppress and exploit the Israelites but consider them as his brothers (Deut-
17:14-20). The king, who is commissioned to exercise sovereign power by God,
must rule over Israel with justice and righteousness, and must take care of his
people like a shepherd takes care of his sheep. If applied, the positive royal
ideology in Deut 17:14-20 to the “rule over” in Gen 1:26, 28, “rule over” the creation
must mean that humans should not exploit and destroy creation but must consider
them as brothers and sisters.[12]
4.3. Humans as Caretaker of Creative (Gen – 2:5, 15)
God created Adam and put him in the Garden of Eden “to work
it and take care of it” (Gen-2:15). The man in the Garden of Eden is portrayed
as a man who tills the land and keeps it. He was not meant to exploit it or
destroy it. Gen-2:5 also says clearly that the purpose of the creation of man
was to work, to till the ground as in Gen-2:15. In this sense the “rule over”
in Gen 1:26,28 must be understood in connection with “taking care of the
creation” in Gen 2:5,15. After the flood God gave animals for human food. Only
when we take care of the earth and animals can we get our food from them
continually.[13]
4.4. God Himself cares for Nature
If all the creation belongs to God and God cares for them,
then God is the owner of all the creation and He is the main caretaker, not
humans! Humans are just viceroys, stewards and supporters of God in caring for
the creation. Humans must ask the will of God and follow it in ruling over the
creation because God is the owner of all creation and its main caretaker.[14]
4.5. Humans as Good Shepherd of the Creation (Ezek-34:2-4,6)
God is the good shepherd, i.e. the king of Israel, portrayed
in Deut – 17:14-20. God expects this kind of a king in Israel. If we apply this
to “rule over” in Gen-1:26.28, then humans must rule over creation as good
shepherds of the creation. This is what the commission of ruling over the
creation means in Gen-1:26,28.[15]
5. Eco-Injustice and Restoration:
The peace (Shalom), eco-justice in Gen Chap.1-2 could not
continue. It was broken because of human sin. There were no more peace and
eco-justice between God and human, between God and nature, between human and
human, between human and nature and between nature and nature. The peace,
eco-justice was broken due to human greed and human sin. Old Testament points
towards the hopeful thought that eco-justice will be corrected and it will be
restored in the future.[16]
6.1. Peace among animals and humans in Isa 11:6-9; 65:25
In Isa 11:6-9 and 65:25 the future world is described as
something in the world of the Garden of Eden filled with peace and security. In
this world peace (Shalom) and eco-justice between human and animals and between
animals and animals will be restored. The peace between animals and animals,
between animals and humans in Isa 11:6-9 is connected to the reign of the Davidic
king, the Messiah in Isa 11:6-9 will be fulfilled in the reign of the Messiah.
The peace among animals in Isa 65:25 is connected to the creation of new
heavens and a new earth in Isa 65:17. If we take into account this connection,
peace among animals in Isa 65:25 will be established in the new heavens and a
new earth that God will create in the future.[17]
6.2. Fallow in the Sabbatical and Jubilee Year[18]
In the Sabbatical and Jubilee years,
Israelites should not plow their fields but give the land rest. The primary aim
of the Sabbatical and Jubilee year was to help the poor Minjung. “But during
the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and used. Then the poor among your
people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they
leave”.(Ex-23:11).
The secondary purpose of the fallow
is to give rest to the land. “Then the land will enjoy its Sabbath years all
the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then
the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. All the time that it lies desolate,
the land will have the rest, it did not have during the Sabbaths you lived in
it.” (Lev – 26:34-35).
Rest for the land is very important
for the recovering of Eco-Justice. The lying fallow increases the fertility of
the soil which means preservation of the soil quality.
“The idea is that by leaving a field
empty (or changing the type of crop grown in a field) during a given year, the
soil will replenish the nutrients during that fallow period and the crops that
grow in the next year will be stronger, heartier, and more disease resistant.”[19]
But the Israelites had many times ploughed and sowed their
land in the Sabbatical year and in the Jubilee year, when they should have
allowed it to rest. Therefore, the land of Israel could not have rest for a
long time. But after Judah was destroyed by the Babylonians, the land lay
unplowed and unsown for 70 years. The Israelites had refused to let the land
have the rest, but God made it to rest. The land could enjoy her rest. “The
land enjoyed its Sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until
the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken
by Jeremiah.” (2Chr-36:21.Cf.Jer.25:9-12).
Remarks:
According to Hebrew Scriptures, God
is the owner of creation and its main caretaker. Humans are just the viceroys
and supporters of God in taking care of the creation. But humans disobeyed the
commission of rule over creation by exploiting and destroying it in order to
fulfill their greed. This is a sin against God and creation, their companion.
Humans should repent now and must return to their first position as the viceroy
of God in ruling over creation and must try to restore eco-justice. Humans must
remember that they cannot survive on earth without creation, their companion.
This paper in short has analyzed the
relation of God and humans with the environment which makes the position of
eco-justice a more significant deal of present times. Every appreciator of Old
Testament has to realize this and work towards the progress of environment.
Bibliography:
Bruce, F.F. “The Bible and
the environment.” Living and Active Word of God: Essays in Honor of Samuel
J. Schultz. Edited by Morris Inch & Ronald
Youngblood Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1983.
Peters, Robert Henry. A critique for ecology. New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1991.
Steck, Odil Hannes. World and Environment: Biblical Encounter
Series. Nashville: Parthhenon Press, 1978.
Tesu, Yim. “Eco-justice in
the Old Testament.” In Green Theology.
Edited by Wati Longchar. SCEPTRE: Kolkota, 2014.
Williamson, H. G. M. “The Old
Testament and the Material World”. The
Evangelical Quarterly v15. Paternoster Press, 1982.
Webliography:
http://hooverstreetrag.blogspot.in/2008/10/fallow-years.html
(retrieved on 16-11-14).
http://www.siena.edu/ellard/historical_roots_of_our_ecologic.htm
(retrieved on 16-11-14).
[1] Robert Henry Peters, A critique for ecology (New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1991), 13.
[2] F.F. Bruce, “The Bible and
the environment,” in Living and Active
Word of God: Essays in Honor of Samuel J. Schultz, edited by Morris
Inch &
Ronald Youngblood (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1983), 15.
[3] The approach and
perspective which point to the assertion of creation are unlike the modern
viewpoint; but they are common to the Old Testament and the Ancient East, and
are shared by other civilizations as well; and this is an indication of the
fact that here a fundamental experience in human’s empirical dealings with life
and the world is being expressed.
[4] Odil Hannes Steck, World and Environment: Biblical Encounter
Series (Nashville: Parthhenon Press, 1978), 146-47. Hereafter referred to
as Steck, World…,
[5] Steck, World…, 149-50.
[6] H. G. M. Williamson, “The
Old Testament and the Material World”, The
Evangelical Quarterly v15 (Paternoster Press, 1982), 10-13.
[7] Steck, World…,162.
[8] Steck, World…,163.
[9] Yim Tesu, “Eco-justice in
the Old Testament,” in Green Theology,
edited by Wati Longchar (SCEPTRE: Kolkota, 2014), 116. Hereafter referred to as
Tesu, Eco-justice…,
[10]
http://www.siena.edu/ellard/historical_roots_of_our_ecologic.htm (retrieved on
16-11-14).
[11] Tesu, Eco-justice…, 117.
[12] Tesu, Eco-justice…, 117.
[13] Tesu, Eco-justice…, 118.
[14] Tesu, Eco-justice…, 118.
[15] Tesu, Eco-justice…, 120.
[16] Tesu, Eco-justice…, 120.
[17] Tesu, Eco-justice…, 120.
[18] Tesu, Eco-justice…, 121.
[19] http://hooverstreetrag.blogspot.in/2008/10/fallow-years.html (retrieved on 16-11-14).
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