SANCTIONS AND DOMINION - EntreWave

INTRODUCTIONof the wilderness period. It chronicles about four years: two at thebeginning of the wandering and two at the end. (2) It provideshistorical information on the reasons for God's imposition of corporatenegative sanctions on the exodus generation (1-17); then it providesmore historical information regarding the removal of these sanctionsfrom their children, (21-36). Two chapters are devoted to certainpriestly laws (18, 19). The central passage is chapter 20, whichrecords the death of Miriam, the sin of Moses in striking the rock,God's judgment against Moses - he shall not enter the land - andAaron's death. This marks the great transition: from wrath to grace forIsrael.Numbers reveals the covenantal basis of historical progress: positivesanctions for covenant-keeping and negative sanctions forcovenant-breaking. This covenantal cause-and-effect relationshipserves as the foundation of the theory of economic growth. Profits(positive sanctions for accurate forecasting), (3) wages, andinterest-rent (4) can be invested. If these investments are based onaccurate forecasts of the future, and if they are implemented on acost-effective basis, they produce an expansion of capital, which is atool of dominion. With greater capital, more of the earth can bebrought under mankind's dominion. The positive feedback ofcompound growth, if extended over time, becomes the basis ofeconomic transformation and the conquest of nature, or as economichistorian John U. Nef put it, the conquest of the material world. (5)We conclude that one of the foundations of mankind's fulfillment ofthe dominion covenant (Gen. 1:26-28) is long-term economic growth.Without the possibility of reinvested earnings and the growth ofcapital - above all, accurate information and the social means ofimplementing it - there would be no way for mankind to extend God'skingdom across the face of the earth, transforming nature to reflect thecovenantal, hierarchical rule of God in history through His ordainedagent, man. The idea of an "unspoiled nature" that has not beeninfluenced by man and reshaped by man in terms of man's desires andneeds is an anti-biblical concept. God made it plain to Israel: betterthe rule of covenant-breaking Canaanites than the rule of nature. "AndI will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, theCanaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. I will not drive them outfrom before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and thebeast of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drivehttp://freebooks.commentary.net/freebooks/docs/html/gnsd/introduction.htm (2 of 12) [5/26/2000 1:29:39 PM]