The Bible and the Environment

Abstract

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. For one thing, the command to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” has been thought to encourage overpopulation. 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. To quote it as though it constituted a divine ban on birth control in the vastly different circumstances of today is absurd. As for the command to “subdue” the earth the verb kabas is certainly a strong one, but anyone who has tackled the business of turning a builder’s yard into a garden would probably agree that it is not too strong. In any case, however strong it is “subdue” does not mean “exploit.” It is indeed the motjuste for the back-breaking work involved in transforming forest and wilderness into cultivable land.