DOMINION VERSUS DOMINATION

Genesis chapter 1







Today we are walking in: Dominion Versus Domination







Today we look to the word-DOMINION- H4475 memshalah--rule, dominion, realm, rule, dominion, realm, domain









The Torah testifies..................…
Genesis 1:28

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.










The prophets proclaim...............…
Jeremiah 34:1

The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, H4475 and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying,




Jeremiah 51:28 - Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion. H4475




Miciah 4:8 - And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; H4475 the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.













The writings bear witness.............






1 Kings 9:19 - And all the cities of store that Solomon had, and cities for his chariots, and cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of




Psalm 103:22 - Bless the LORD, all his works in all places of his dominion: H4475 bless the LORD, O my soul.

his dominion. H4475


Psalm 145:13 - Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion H4475 endureth throughout all generations.




Dominion versus Domination




Yah Created Men and Women to Dominate the Earth, Not One Another.




Both males and females were created in Yah‘s image. The basis of their equality before Yah is that man, the spirit, resides within both of them. As physical beings they were created of the same essence, but differently—because each has been designed with specific purposes to fulfill. The different ways in which their dominion assignment is carried out does not affect their equality; it only reflects their distinct purposes, designs, and needs.




We saw in the previous teaching that the male was created to exercise dominion over the earth through his priority, position, and assignment. The female was created to help the male fulfill Yah‘s dominion purposes for mankind in both the earthly and spiritual realms. It is Yah‘s intention that, together, their individual strengths would combine to produce exponential results—outcomes much greater than either could accomplish alone. The woman adds to the man‘s power in living and working, so that the sum is far greater than its parts.




If males and females were created with perfectly complementary designs, why do men and women experience conflict and competition rather than cooperation? Why does the purpose of dominion over the earth seem more like a quest for domination of one sex over the other?




The Dominion Plan Attacked




The third chapter of Genesis explains the source of the conflict. Sometime after Yah had instructed Adam that he could eat from any tree in the Garden except the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and Adam had passed this information along to Eve, HaSatan, in the form of a serpent, tempted Eve to eat from the tree.




Yah’s Word Questioned




I don‘t think this was the first time this animal had approached Eve. First, she didn‘t seem surprised to see him or to hear him speaking. I imagine she said to the serpent, ―Oh, there you are again. What do you want this time? Second, I believe they had talked earlier about Yah‘s instructions because of the way HaSatan phrased his crafty question: “Did Yah really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden?” (Gen. 3:1, emphasis added). His first tactic was to try to cast doubt on Eve‘s memory and understanding of what Yah had said.




Yah’s Integrity Assaulted




Eve replied, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but Yah did say, You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die‟” (vv. 2–3). She had most of her information correct, so HaSatan‘s next ploy was to try to undermine Yah‘s integrity in her eyes. “„You will not surely die,‟ the serpent said to the woman. „For Yah knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Yah, knowing good and evil‟” (vv. 4–5). Eve succumbed to the temptation, Adam joined her of his own free will, and they both ate of the fruit of the tree. (See verse 6.)




The Spirit-Man Rejected Yah’s Purposes




This decision resulted in the spiritual deaths of the man and the woman and their banishment from the Garden by Yah. (See verses 7–24.) Realize that it was the spirit- man—the responsible spiritual being—within both the male and female that made the fateful choice to eat the fruit in disobedience to Yah‘s command. This is why mankind‘s dilemma is a spiritual one.




When Adam and Eve rebelled, they immediately died a spiritual death—just as Yah had warned—and eventually the physical houses Yah had given them to live in on the earth also died. However, the spiritual death was the worse predicament of the two because it separated them from their former perfect fellowship with Yah. Yah still loved them, but they no longer had the same open channel to Him with which to receive His love. While they still retained elements of their creation in Yah‘s image, they no longer perfectly reflected the nature and character of their Creator.




HaSatan had presented Adam and Eve with a big lie, and they had fallen for it, to their own sorrow. However, there was an underlying reason that mankind fell. To understand it, we need to look to our foundational principles of purpose:




• To discover the purpose of something, never ask the creation; ask the creator.




• We find our purpose only in the mind of our Maker.




In his temptation, HaSatan suggested to Adam and Eve an alternate purpose for their lives than Yah had already given them—they would know good and evil and supposedly become equal with Yah. Their wrong choice was based on their own ideas about their purpose, which were limited. In actuality, they were already ―like Yah in nature; they had been created in His image and reflected His glory. As for knowing good and evil, there were certain things Yah knew it was best for them not to know—or else He would have told them. If they were eventually to know them, Yah wanted them to be ready to receive this information so that it wouldn‘t harm them. Like the training in dominion rule they were meant to receive in the Garden, it would be best for them to learn it when they were prepared for it, so that they could handle it.




Adam and Eve fell because they became dissatisfied with their position and roles. They stopped looking to their Creator for their purpose and instead looked to themselves. They thought they knew their true purpose better than Yah did. Yet their rejection of Yah‘s plan brought them only heartache, because they were not meant to live independently from Yah and the purpose for which He had created them.




Consequences of Lost Purpose




Adam and Eve‘s tragic choice inevitably led to the fulfillment of another principle of purpose:




• Where purpose is not known (or rejected), abuse is inevitable.




Mankind‘s predicament can be summed up by a statement from the book of Romans: “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools” (Rom. 1:22). Because the man and woman thought they knew what was best for themselves, they rejected their true reason for being and suffered the loss of many of the benefits and blessings Yah had given them. Inevitably, they also began to abuse each other‘s purposes. Men and women cannot function in true harmony and effectiveness outside Yah‘s plan.




Broken Relationship between Males and Females




First, they lost their perfectly balanced relationship. Right away, we see conflict between them. When Yah asked Adam, “Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” Adam accused Eve, saying, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it” (Gen. 3:11–12). Feeling trapped, Eve tried to put the blame on HaSatan (v. 13). Yet Yah held each of them accountable because both were spiritual beings responsible to Him.




We see how Adam and Eve‘s decision to disobey Yah altered their relationship. Yah said that one of the consequences of their rejection of His purpose was that they would strive with one another. “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you” (Gen. 3:16). This statement emphasizes the fact that the male and female were originally created to rule together. They were designed to function together equally. Yah had said to them, “Fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28). Both of them were supposed to be rulers—and that is still His plan.




After the Fall, both the man and the woman still ruled, but their relationship was distorted. Instead of equality, there was imbalance. The woman now had a longing after her husband that became controlling because it never seemed to be fulfilled. Yah also said that the man would develop an attitude of rulership over the woman. This was not part of Yah‘s plan; however, because of sin, the man‘s twisted perception of life would cause him to want to dominate the woman, and because of sin, the woman would continually desire to do anything to keep him.




Broken Relationship with the Earth




Adam and Eve also lost their harmonious relationship with the earth. They forfeited their right to live in the controlled Garden environment in which they were to learn to have dominion over the earth, so that now they had to live under harsh conditions. Yah told Adam, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field” (Gen. 3:17–18). In other words, He was saying, ―It is the earth that is really going to feel the impact of your disobedience. Because of this, you will have to struggle to survive in it.




In these consequences of sin—the broken relationship between Adam and Eve and the cursed ground—we see HaSatan‘s scheme to try to undermine Yah‘s purposes of dominion. He was afraid of the power that would be released through a man and woman united in Yah‘s purposes. He also didn‘t want Yah‘s Garden spread over the world; he wanted his own fallen kingdom to prevail. Therefore, he sought to distort the relationship between males and females and limit the Garden by bringing an atmosphere of thorns and thistles to the rest of the earth. Yahusha referred to HaSatan as the “prince of this world” (John 12:31) because, through the Fall, mankind became controlled by the “spirit of the world” (1 Cor. 2:12) rather than by Yah‘s Spirit.




Yet regardless of the Fall, Yah‘s purpose has never changed. His original design still stands. At the very hour of humanity‘s rejection of Yah‘s purpose, Yah promised a Redeemer who would save men and women from their fallen state and all its ramifications (Gen. 3:15). The Redeemer would restore the relationship and partnership of males and females. Yahusha Hamachiach is that Redeemer, and because of Him, men and women can return to Yah‘s original design for them. Hamachiach came to redeem us from the spirit of the world so that we can fulfill Yah‘s purposes once again. We could call Him the legal representative of the Manufacturer. He came as an Authorized Dealer to restore the Manufacturer‘s specifications for His products. Purpose, peace, and potential can return to humanity. We can again have true dominion over the earth—but only through Hamachiach.




Let‘s take a look at the problems of dominion and relationships that occur when we try to function without Yah‘s plan and without Hamachiach‘s redemption and restoration.




A Lost Understanding of Dominion




Yah created men and women to dominate the earth, not to dominate one another. The Fall, however, has caused us to lose the concept of what shared responsibility and respect is all about. Although both males and females reflect a controlling tendency in their own ways, I want to focus here on how it affects men. Throughout history, this tendency has particularly undermined the male‘s true purpose and has resulted in the widespread devaluing of women— preventing both men and women from fulfilling their purposes in Yah.




Fear of Appearing Weak




Much of a man‘s tendency to control comes from a false understanding of how his own nature is to function in dominion. Men have lost the knowledge of what Yah created them to be. They have mistaken power for strength. Let me explain what I mean.




Men have a deep desire to prove themselves strong. It is one of the underlying issues every male faces, whether he is a ten-year-old boy or a ninety-year-old man. Men‘s internal passion to prove their strength is inherent in their nature. Some call it ―ego or ―manliness. Others call it ―male pride or ―machismo. But all men have it in some form or another because of the purpose for which they were created. It is built in by Yah in order to give them the ability to fulfill their purpose of leading, protecting, and providing.




In its true form, the male ego is not negative, but positive. It is not evil, but Yahly. The problem is that the male‘s passion to prove his strength has been perverted and abused by HaSatan and the sinful nature.




Because of this tendency to want to prove their strength, there is nothing more frightening to most men than to be perceived as weak. Again, this fear is a result of the Fall. Now that his true relationship with the female has been distorted, he feels vulnerable in this area of strength. He doesn‘t want to be perceived as being helpless or out of control by either males or females. This fear drives the man to feel as if he has to constantly prove himself. It is the source of his aggressive spirit. It is the source of his being overly competitive. It is also the source of some men‘s tendency toward violence.




A lot of men have muscle, but are weak in their minds, their hearts, their discipline, their responsibility, and their spirits. That is why they feel the need for excess muscle—to hide their weakness in these other areas. Many men don‘t understand why they have this desire for strength, so they compete with, fight, or even kill other men. They domineer their wives and cheat on them because they need to feel in control.




You can observe men in a barroom trying to build up each other‘s egos. ―I showed my woman who‘s the boss in the family. ―Yeah? Me, too. I tell her what she can and can‘t do. What they are really doing is lying to each other about their strength. They‘re fooling themselves. If you‘re wrong and I‘m wrong, we‘ll feel better if we say we‘re right. Both of us are wrong, so we‘re comfortable together. We get together with all our foolishness and failures, and we encourage each other in order to give our failures dignity.




Now, you may think that you are different from other males. You may not outwardly fight with other men or try to control women, but you still struggle with the issue of proving yourself strong—in relationships, in work, in sports, in various aspects of life. If you ask women, they will agree that all men are alike in wanting to prove themselves strong— whether in positive or negative ways. And it‘s true. We have different personalities. We have different visions. We have different sizes and skin colors. We have different jobs and vocations. But we are all the same in this tendency. I can affirm this fact because I travel all over the world, and I see a similar pattern everywhere.




Dr. Myles Munroe said, When I was in South Africa, I found that the men there, whether they are black or white, have the same tendency. In Ghana or in Nigeria, men are the same. The tendency can be found in Germany or in Italy. When I was in Canada, the women there had the same complaints about men that women do in the Bahamas. All over the world, women have the same complaints, no matter what language they speak or what nationality they are.