Animals and Dominion – The Law of God: Questions and Answers

Animals and Dominion

The Law of God: Questions and Answers

How shall we understand and apply the Law of God today?

God’s Law affirms man’s right to exercise dominion over the animals.

Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox. Proverbs 14:4

A second principle relevant for knowing and doing God’s good will is embedded in Deuteronomy 25:4, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.” The principle affirms and clarifies God’s original mandate to humankind to “exercise dominion” over all creatures for the goodness and glory of God (Gen. 1:26-28).

All creatures—animate or inanimate—belong to God and exist at and for His pleasure (Ps. 24:1; 119:89-91). God intends all His creatures to please Him, for His “good” (Gen. 1:31). All our use of creatures—any creatures—must be understood within the light and against the background of this overarching reason for being. We may use all creatures in ways consistent with the goodness and glory of God.

Thus the Law of God affirms the legitimacy of domesticating and harnessing certain creatures—those that are appropriate to the task—to aid men in their work. As Solomon explains, this statute does not merely permit using oxen to tread out the grain, as at harvest time. They may also be used for other aspects of the agricultural process, such as tilling the fields, pulling carts (Ps. 65:11), and so forth.

Human beings are called to exercise dominion over all the creation, not just oxen. Whatever we may do to demonstrate the goodness of God and to advance His glory, we are permitted to harness the resources of creation to those ends.

At the same time we must bear in mind that creation has “rights.” It must be used, and we must exercise dominion over it, in a manner consistent with God’s idea of “very good.” Thus, we may not abuse or misuse the creation in pursuit of our aims, as we have seen.

A second principle thus emerges: While animals and all creation enjoy certain rights as creatures belonging to God, they are by God put at man’s disposal for doing good work that advances justice and glorifies God.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T. M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.