God's Role with non-human Creatures

[Jeremy D. Scott]

So God created everything, including those living things that are non-human. We lean on the beginning of Genesis for this. But what is God's role with these creatures today?

I was struck by the portions of Psalm 104 (http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=142169959) provided by last week's lectionary (Pentecost Sunday), particularly verses 29-30, which speaks of "the creatures" that fill the earth (v. 24):

When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created;
and you renew the face of the ground.

Perhaps a Hebrew scholar can help me, but it would be my guess that "breath" and "spirit" here are both ruach, the very same spirit-breath that God breathes into adam in Genesis to give him life or the dead army in Ezekiel. (Hmm...just looked, but didn't notice it before: the text does indeed give all creatures the breath of God for life in Genesis 1:30. I had only remembered it for adam as far as Genesis goes.)

I think in the past I've assumed into this life-breath (ruach) the image of God that "separates" us from creatures. I see I was wrong. The speaking of "image" is only in the first account (Gen 1) and the breath of life exclusive to humanity (if it even is exclusive) is in the second account (Gen 2).

Jesus, in the midst of helping us understand what it is to not worry, says that the birds of the air are cared for (fed) by God.

What are some other passages that speak to the present role of God amongst non-human creatures? ...our role?

[Ryan Scott]

I can point you back to Terence Fretheim's God and World in the OT - his final chapter deals specifically with the role of non-human creation in relation to humans. The book itself has given me a lot to work through in terms of creation and God. I tend to see things as either God or creation. While human beings have a special responsibility we are still just a part of creation - often we take too narrow a view of our relationship.

[Dave Mann]

What are some other passages that speak to the present role of God amongst non-human creatures? ...our role?

Ryan,

Thanks for the tip to the Frietheim book. Laurie Braaten suggested "The Suffering of God" to me several years ago, and I found that book incredibly helpful. I'm putting this other book on my "to read" list.

Jeremy, I think once you start looking you begin to see God's presence with and intimate loving care for his entire creation all the way through the scriptures starting at Genesis (as you noted) all the way to Revelation, where we see a vision of a new earth (as opposed to some bad acid trip of disembodied souls). One of the hard things is how deep Greek dualism goes into our culture and day to day vocabulary. It's hard to hear the scriptures clearly through the muffle. One of the worst roadblocks is the Greek word "nature", which is separated from the divine, even rebellious. 18th century deism/theism more or less took this on entirely. God is over there and created the clock of the natural universe over here and that clock runs on it's own according to natural laws with no need for God's on-going engagement. 20th century scientific materialism just takes this same horrible thinking to it's logical conclusion, of course, and just excludes the clockmaker. Sadly, many Christians see "stuff" in the same way that scientific materialists do - soulless, mechanistic natural clock.

One author I read put it this way... (paraphrasing): "There is nothing natural about creation. Creation is an supernatural miracle which was spoken into being by the word of God and that has its on-going being through the presence of Christ."

A great book that opened this stuff for me was "Earthkeeping in the 90s: The Stewardship of Creation".
http://www.amazon.com/Earthkeeping-Nineties-Mr-Loren-Wilkinson/dp/0802805345
I've got a bunch of books in my stacks if you want to come over some day.

Some of my favorite verses...

The command for humans to name the animals, which implies a command for humans to know the animals intimately (hebrew naming practice).

The commands for humans to tend the garden and to be image of God. Image here is understood as similar to the statues erected by Kings to display their kingship over the land. We are God's statues on earth.

All of the levitcan law that relates to the sabbath given to the land and animals.

The Noachian covenant that God makes with ALL CREATION, not just people.

The psalms. The earth is the Lords, and all that is in it.

John 3:16 - For God so loved the cosmos...

Christ's response to temptation... I will cause these rocks to rise up..

Romans 8 - All of creation groans... This passage is just amazing for me and really at the core of my faith. Paul, is talking about the struggle to live without sin and in the middle of that, he trips the light fantastic and suddenly moves the discussion to that of cosmic redemption. Just stunning stuff. God's redemptive work is about much more than just us!!

Getting my head around panentheism was a big help to me. So was the chance to hike a lot with Laurie Braaten.

[Jim Chabot]

Good stuff Dave! We don't agree too often, so I wanted to take the time to say so, good stuff!

[Steven Martinez]

I will add on of my favorite passages:
10 Then the LORD said, "You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. 11 "Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?"
Jonah 4:10-11

[Rich Schmidt]

I was struck by the portions of Psalm 104 (http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=142169959) provided by last week's lectionary (Pentecost Sunday), particularly verses 29-30, which speaks of "the creatures" that fill the earth (v. 24):

When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created;
and you renew the face of the ground.

Perhaps a Hebrew scholar can help me, but it would be my guess that "breath" and "spirit" here are both ruach, the very same spirit-breath that God breathes into adam in Genesis to give him life or the dead army in Ezekiel. (Hmm...just looked, but didn't notice it before: the text does indeed give all creatures the breath of God for life in Genesis 1:30. I had only remembered it for adam as far as Genesis goes.)

A quick peek at Psalm 104 in the Interlinear Bible over at BibleStudyTools.com (http://www.biblestudytools.com/interlinear-bible/passage.aspx?q=psalm+104&t=nas) shows that, yes, both are ruach. The NASB uses the same word "spirit" to translate it in both verses.

You're correct that the breath of life isn't what separates us humans from other animals. Every creature that breathes gets its breath from God, according to the Bible.

I was about to say that the last line you quoted in bold is much more interesting, about them being created (in the present, not the past)..... but a quick look at how that word (bara) is used elsewhere in the Psalms makes it clear that the Psalmist uses it to speak of something as "natural" as future generations being born (Psalm 102:18), so it doesn't necessarily connote any "special" intervention of God in his creation -- beyond his ongoing sustaining and creative participation, as Dave pointed out.

[Jeremy D. Scott]

I was about to say that the last line you quoted in bold is much more interesting, about them being created (in the present, not the past)..... but a quick look at how that word (bara) is used elsewhere in the Psalms makes it clear that the Psalmist uses it to speak of something as "natural" as future generations being born (Psalm 102:18), so it doesn't necessarily connote any "special" intervention of God in his creation -- beyond his ongoing sustaining and creative participation, as Dave pointed out.

But that's what is "special," I think. I would venture to say that most people have what we might call a deistic understanding of God's role with non-human creatures: that in the beginning God created them, but that we don't really consider God's role with their place or being today. I think that we tend to underplay God's role today throughout creation. The difficulty of natural disasters, carnivores, and other "natural" occurrences lead us to remove God's role from the animal kingdom (minus human beings).

It was only at this past General Assembly that "Sustainer of the Universe" was added to our first Article of Faith. While "administrative" was a characteristic in the past, "Sustainer of the Universe" is a stronger understanding of God's role today, and I think, a much better one.

[Wilson Deaton]

But what is God's What are some other passages that speak to the present role of God amongst non-human creatures? ...our role?

God's role? At the time of the flood, God's plan included the preservation of the non-human species (even the unclean ones). While it was long ago, there is no reason to think that God values them any less today.

Our role? Again looking at the flood, God didn't miraculously save the animals by himself. He had Noah do the work! I believe it remains our job. (So, for example, concering the question of whether or not it is worth inconvenience and/or economic hardship to protect endangered species: I say, if God thought it worth Noah building that huge ark for all those animals instead of a smaller yacht for his family, it is worth it for us.)

Wilson

[Eric Vail]

A quick peek at Psalm 104 in the Interlinear Bible over at BibleStudyTools.com (http://www.biblestudytools.com/interlinear-bible/passage.aspx?q=psalm+104&t=nas) shows that, yes, both are ruach. The NASB uses the same word "spirit" to translate it in both verses.

You're correct that the breath of life isn't what separates us humans from other animals. Every creature that breathes gets its breath from God, according to the Bible.

I was about to say that the last line you quoted in bold is much more interesting, about them being created (in the present, not the past)..... but a quick look at how that word (bara) is used elsewhere in the Psalms makes it clear that the Psalmist uses it to speak of something as "natural" as future generations being born (Psalm 102:18), so it doesn't necessarily connote any "special" intervention of God in his creation -- beyond his ongoing sustaining and creative participation, as Dave pointed out.

It is true that spirit and breath are the same word in Ps 104 as Jeremy asked. The issue is not so simple in the Bible that both humans and animals are breath/ruach and dust. There are places where both animals and humans are said to be ruach and dust.

This is an excerpt from a paper I wrote almost five years ago now.
"In Genesis 2, among YHWH God’s first actions is to craft Adam from the dust of the ground. This narrative leaves no question with which part of the world humans are to be associated. Adam is an 'earlthling from the earth' who is to serve the earth. Every part of the human body is of the earth; this is the same substance out of which God forms the animals (2:19). Even so, the human form and the human life is from God; God breaths into the dusty nostrils the breath of life, making the dust a living person. Humans have two components: dust and divine breath. Animals do not receive the divine breath of life in Genesis 2." Later I continue: "God breathed nešāmâ (breath) into the nostrils of ’ādām (2:7). Only God and humans have nešāmâ in the Old Testament" (see Hamilton, 158ff.)

Ruach (wind, spirit, breath) seems to be a more general claim. In Genesis 7:22 at the climax of the flood narrative it says, "everything on dry land in whose nostrils was the breath [ruach] of life died" (NRSV). Humans and animals are grouped here. The use of neshema (breath)--such as in Genesis 2:7--is exclusive to humans and God. This implies a different, special relationship between humans and God not enjoyed by animals.

[Rich Schmidt]

In Genesis 7:22 at the climax of the flood narrative it says, "everything on dry land in whose nostrils was the breath [ruach] of life died" (NRSV). Humans and animals are grouped here. The use of neshema (breath)--such as in Genesis 2:7--is exclusive to humans and God. This implies a different, special relationship between humans and God not enjoyed by animals.

Hmmm... except that both neshema and ruach are used in Genesis 7:22. From the NASB: "all in whose nostrils was the breath [neshema] of the spirit [ruach] of life, died." If Genesis 7:22 is speaking of both humans and animals, then it seems that neshema is not exclusive to humans and God.

[Eric Vail]

Hmmm... except that both neshema and ruach are used in Genesis 7:22. From the NASB: "all in whose nostrils was the breath [neshema] of the spirit [ruach] of life, died." If Genesis 7:22 is speaking of both humans and animals, then it seems that neshema is not exclusive to humans and God.

I guess I'll have to quit trusting the New International Critical Commentary when its authors make claims about word uses and check things for myself :smile:

I think the claim made by Hamilton was that only God and humans share neshema. Perhaps there is a way he can justify his claim even in light of Genesis 7:22. God shares ruach with all land animals--hence the original command in Genesis 1 to eat everything but land animals. Maybe Hamilton was splitting hairs by saying that there is no direct statement in the Bible where it says God shares his breath (neshema) with non-human creatures of the land.

Thanks, Rich, for your observation!

[Jeremy D. Scott]

--hence the original command in Genesis 1 to eat everything but land animals.

It was my understanding (and I just gave it a quick read) that only plants were made available for consumption in Genesis 1 (or 2) and that no meat was provided until after the flood.