Apart from the word “dominion” here which is too often misinterpreted as human dictatorial lordship over other animals (Note 1), “subdue” in Genesis 1:28 is also frequently misconstrued in a similar way. Actually, "subdue" here does not mean human entitlement to trample all other sentient creatures of God under their feet; not even to arbitrarily mess with the ecological environment. It means careful gardening instead.
Let’s now look into the verse concerned. In Genesis 1:28 (KJV), God blesses humanity and instructs them to "be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and SUBDUE it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
According to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, the Hebrew word for “subdue” is כָּבַשׁ (kabash), meaning to tread down, to conquer, to violate, to bring into subjection, to keep under, and to force, besides to subdue. Sounds very violent and tyranncial, eh? But first of all, please note that the object of this verb is the earth, instead of the animals (cf. Mclaughlin 2017).
Equally importantly, this word (kabash) is comparatively uncommon, and no other occurrence is straight similar to its usage here in Gen 1:28. In this case, the most excellent method to decide its meaning is to scrutinize how humankind carried out the Lord’s order to ‘subdue’ the earth (cf. Stead 2019). We find the first instance of this in Genesis 2:15 (KJV), where God instructed the first humans to “dress” the earth and to “keep” it. The Hebrew word for “dress” here is עָבַד (abad), which, according to the Strong’s Concordance, means to work or serve; and that for “keep” is שָׁמַר (shamar), which means to watch/preserve. Further, due to human sin in Gen. 3:18, the land becomes full of thorns and thistles. In Gen. 4, Cain works the soil while Abel tends flocks. In Exodus 23:29 (KJV), God says He will not expel the inhabitants of the land “in one year, lest the land become desolate.”
So “subdue” in Gen. 1:28 must mean careful gardening, not brutalizing other sentient creatures, and not even damaging the environment on earth for selfish human purposes. And if it should imply anything forceful, it must apply to the hard work to be applied to ploughing the soil in plant agriculture, in growing trees, in planting seeds, in getting rid of weeds, and to keeping the garden from “being unruly and unproductive”, to borrow Michael R. Stead’s words (Stead 2019).
Full Text Link: https://www.hkbnews.net/post/subdue-in-genesis-1-28-means-careful-gardening-not-exploitation-of-animals-by-dr-chapman-chen
Notes
“Dominion” in Genesis 1:28 means neither lordship nor despotism nor even stewardship, but servanthood. ירדו (yirdu), the ancient biblical Hebrew word in consonantal form for "dominion" in the verse concerned, refers to either רָדָה (radah) (to tread down, subjugate, rule) or יָרַד (yarad) (to lower oneself, to descend) (cf. Chaim and Laura 2015). IMO, “dominion” can only mean the latter, because, firstly, it is in the spirit of the Jesus who said that He has come to serve, NOT to be served (Mark 10:45) {Rev. Prof. Andrew Linzey (1995:45, 57) even contends that the human species has the unique potential to become the “servant species” able to work with God in liberating animals}; secondly, the instruction is immediately followed by a vegan diet prescribed by God to humans (Genesis 1:29), as pointed out by Linzey (1995:34); thirdly, in Genesis 2:15, as noted by Richard Ritenbaugh (1999), humans are particularly assigned to tend (עָבַד/abad) and keep (שָׁמַר/shamar) the garden—i.e., to be a caretaker of it. To interpret "dominion" as "servanthood" is not only more accurate but also more secure than as "stewardship" in Linzey’s terms (1995:34) and "caretakership", because"servanthood" involves least power and authority (cf. Chen 2024). Mind you: Power tends to corrupt (Lord Acton 1887).
References
Chen, Chapman (2024) "Dominion in Genesis 1:28 Means Servanthood to Animals. Go Vegan!" HKBNews, Apr. 14. https://www.hkbnews.net/post/dominion-in-genesis-1-28-means-servanthood-to-animals-go-vegan-by-dr-chapman-chen
Chaim & Laura (2015). "Hebrew Word Study -- Dominion." Chaim Bentorah, Jun. 4. https://www.chaimbentorah.com/2015/06/hebrew-word-study-dominion/#:~:text=Seven%20hundred%20years%20after%20the,come%20down%20or%20lower%20oneself.
Linzey, Andrew (1995). Animal Theology. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
Mclaughlin, R.P. (2017). “A Meatless Dominion: Genesis 1 and the Ideal of Vegetarianism.” Biblical Theology Bulletin, 47 (3), 144-154. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0146107917715587 ; https://doi.org/10.1177/0146107917715587
Ritenbaugh, Richard T. (1999). "The Bible and the Environment." Forerunner, "Prophecy Watch," February. https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/topical.show/RTD/cgg/ID/2163/Dominion-over-Animals.htm
Stead, Michael Rennie (2019). “To Rule and To Subdue the Creation.” Anglican Org. Au., May. https://anglican.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/To-Rule-and-To-Subdue-in-Genesis-1-Michael-Stead.pdf
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