Israel and Humanity - Dominion of man over nature
CHAPTER FOUR
THE IDEA OF MAN IN JUDAISM:
HUMAN COOPERATION WITH GOD.
I.
Dominion of man over nature.
§ 1.
Among the characters that Judaism ascribes to man, it is not more prominent in the Scriptures, and from the first pages of the Pentateuch, that of the dominant na-ture. This empire that man is to perform covers not only the creatures but the earth itself, men, multiplying, and must complete subjugation, which proves that their dispersal throughout the Earth's surface during the construction of the tower of Babel, only the implementation of the primitive design of the Creator against whom the first tribes rebelled by refusing to separate.
The Psalmist was probably present at the brief narrative of the book of Genesis, when he exclaimed: "Thou hast made man master of all thy works, thou hast put all things under his feet [1] ". If the promise of universal empire inspired the words above: "What is man that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man that you care for him "as the memory of the creation in the image and likeness of God has clearly dictated the following:" Thou hast made him little [2] lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and majesty! "It should be noted however that the text does point the entire universe dependence of the earth. The cantor sacred, exalting the skies above the man in front of them, seemed a creature so small, conceives their immensity not like the former, but as we envision ourselves today. Anthropocentric belief, so general in his time and seemed so natural, is totally banned from this passage, and the empire he attributes to man, to be more modest and limited to only this world, is also more real and more legitimate.
This empire is evident in Genesis through the imposition of the names Adam gives all animals, there is a kind of possession of a sovereign over his subjects, but another idea is hidden in the biblical story: that of knowledge that man is called to acquire creatures, naming them as is already known.
The domination of man over all living beings is yet confirmed solemnly to Noah after the flood: "You will be a subject of fear and terror to every beast of the earth ... they are given into your hands [3] ". This sovereignty is inseparable purely material point of the previous addition, the one science subject to civilized humanity. What knowledge have enabled human communities to achieve in this area, people did in primitive times by their own forces of instinct. Diversity in the means employed to meet the diverse moral conditions of humanity and the law by which the force in general tends to spread more and more. The rationalist can not see a myth in this rule that the individual, according to the Scriptures, would have possessed the nature in ancient times, but he can not deny that it has been conceived as a reality.
A trace of this primitive state remains in the kind of fascination that men have on animals. Instead the man degraded, that is to say in whom the divine image is distorted, becomes a slave and is dominated by the physical nature and animals. That is why Cain, after his crime, said: "Whoever meets me, kill me [4] and the Talmud states that only [5] when they appear in the form of an animal that animals man can dominate [6].
§. 2.
Man must act on nature in the dominant and this domination is to Judaism, cooperation with God because it is imitating its model, the Ideal, that man rules over the creatures on earth itself to perfect by subjecting them. Yet it would be impossible, if not point looking his direction and inspiration in something greater than it is for him to govern and transform.
Kabbalists have shown that dominance as a victory won on the man seen God in his works, that is to say about God as Creator, working with God regarded as ideal and as Redeemer and triumph in reality, Man is only a tool in his hands. Thus this verse of Scripture: "The righteous among men reign, reign in fear of God [7]," they say to the Lord: "And So who rules over me? The just [8] ".
If the influence of man on nature is certain, as it is endowed with free will, its action may be beneficial or disastrous. To him falls the duty therefore to enter into the divine plan, that is to say to advance the works of God, instead of letting them become. We see in the biblical myth of Adam, that the effect of the first man of sin is felt on earth in general: "Let the earth, we read, is cursed because of you! [9] "Before the Fall, human action would be beneficial. Adam is placed in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. But the garden of Eden is the state of the earth before sin, yet in the future, after the redemption. There, in the curse pronounced in the wake of disobedience, something other than the enunciation of a fact or mere recognition of the inevitable consequences of human actions must be seen as a declaration of a duty, sacred duty work that complements the promise of earthly domination previously made to Adam. [10] While Eden has gone through the fault of man, for him to recover from her activity carried out in accordance with the views of the Creator. Therefore, Judaism, through the medium of its prophets and its rabbis, has he ceased to extol the noble character and religious work.
Following in the footsteps of the Bible the harmful action of the men when they are in rebellion against God, we see, from the sacred text, the days of Noah "the earth was corrupt before God, the earth was filled with violence. God saw the earth, and behold it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth [11] ". And similarly the time of Moses, the Israelites are warned not to imitate the evil behavior of the peoples they have conquered and that the earth had vomited before them "with fear, the text says that the land vomit you if you the soil, as it vomited out the nations that were before you [12] ". So by obeying the laws of the Sovereign Lord is acting as man here below its legitimate empire. It said he is expected to compete with nature by imitating it and hold it by happy to assist its efforts encroachments [13]. But just a moment's reflection to understand that it is impossible to compete with nature through simple imitation. This requires that man first conceives the ideal that nature itself has imitated and, shaping his thoughts on the divine thought, he agreed with her work, by the end she has provided
