DOMINION COVENANT: GENESIS Other Books by Gary North

THE DOMINION COVENANT: GENESIS Other books by Gary North

Marxk Religion of Revolution, 1968 An Introduction to Christian Economics, 1973 Unconditional Surrender, 1981 Successjiul Investing in an Age of Envy, 1981 Government by Em~gency, 1983 The Last Train Out, 1983 Backward, Christian Soldiers?, 1984 75 Bible Questions RUT Instructors Pray lbu Won’t Ask, 1984 Coined Freedom: Gold in the Age of the Bureaucrats, 1984 Moses and Pharaoh, 1985 Negatrends, 1985 The Sinai Strategy, 1986 Unho~ Spirits: Occultism and New Age Humanism, 1986 Conspiracy: A Biblical View, 1986 Honest Money, 1986 Fighting Chance, 1986 [with Arthur Robinson] Dominion and Common Grace, 1987 Inherit the Earth, 1987 Is the World Running Down?, 1987 The Pirate Economy, 1987 Lib~ating Planet Earth, 1987 (Spanish) La Liberacibn de la Tierra, 1987 The Scourge: AIDS and the Coming Bankrupky, 1987 Tools of Dominion, 1988

Books edited by Gary North

Foundations of Christian Scholarship, 1976 Tactics of Christian Resistance, 1983 The Theology of Christian Resistance, 1983 Editor, Journal of Christian Reconstruction (1974-1981) THE DOMINION COVENANT: GENESIS

An Economic Commentary on the Bible Volume 1

Gary North

Institute for Christian Economics Tyler, Texas Copyright 01982, 1987 by Gary North

Second Printing, Revised, 1987

Published in Tyler, Texas by Institute for Christian Economics

Distributed by Dominion Press 7112 Burns Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76118

Typesetting by Thoburn Press, Tyler, Texas

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN 0-930464-03-6 This book is dedicated to

Henry M. Morris John C. Whitcomb two scholars who, as outsiders to the “guild,” were willing to challenge the evolutionary presuppositions and conclu- sions of another academic discipline, geology. Without their pioneering work, I could not have written this book. TABLE OF CONTENTS

General Introduction to The Dominion Covenant...... ix Introduction ...... xxix l. Cosmic Personalism ...... 1 2. Purpose, Order, and Sovereignty ...... 12 3. The Dominion Covenant...... 27 4. Economic Value: Objective and Subjective ...... 37 5. God’s Week and Man’s Week...... 66 6. The Value of Gold...... 78 7. Subordination and Fulfillment ...... 84 8. The God-Designed Harmony of Interests ...... 90 9. Costs, Choices, and Tests...... 100 10. Scarcity: Curse and Blessing ...... 111 11. The Burden of Time ...... 118 12. Primitive Nomads ...... 132 13. To Keep a Brother ...... 139 14. The Ecological Covenant ...... 145 15. The World Trade Incentive ...... 150 16. Investment and Character ...... 156 17. The Growth of Human Capital ...... 162 18. Competitive Bargaining ...... 177 19. The Uses of Deception ...... 184 20. Contingency Planning...... 198 21. The Law of Diminishing Returns ...... 204 22. The Blessing of Responsibility ...... 213 23. The Entrepreneurial Function ...... 219 24. The Misapplication of Intrinsic Value ...... 231 25. Conclusion ...... 238 APPENDIX A – From Cosmic Purposelessness to Humanistic Sovereignty ...... 245 vii

v THE DOMINION COVENANT: GENESIS APPENDIX B – The Evolutionists’ Defense of the Market . ...323 APPENDIX C – Cosmologies in Conflict: Creation vs. Evolution ...... 357 APPENDIX D – Basic Implications of the Six-Day Creation .. 425 APPENDIX E – Witnesses and Judges ...... 455 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 471 SCRIPTURE INDEX ...... 477 GENERAL INDEX ...... 485 WHAT IS THE ICE? ...... 507 GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE DOMINION COVENANT (1987)

The Dominion Covenant is a multi-volume economiccommentary on the Bible. As I explain in the Introduction to Genesis (next see- tion), the biblical covenant is structured into five sections. This covenant model is discussed at length by Ray R. Sutton in his pioneering book, That MU May Prosper: Dominion By Covenant (1987 ).1 The five points of the biblical covenant model are:

1. Transcendence/immanence 2. Authority/hierarchy 3. Ethics/dominion 4. Judgment/sanctions 5. Inheritance/continuity

The covenant establishes the judicial basis of the personal relationship between God and man. There can be no relationship between God and man apart from a covenant. This is why Genesis 1:26-28 is truly a covenant: it establishes the basis of the relationship between God and man. God the sovereign Creator (point one) cre- ates man to serve as His representative over the creation (point two), commanding mankind to be fruitful and multiply (point five) and ex- ercise dominion (point three). Man is actually defined by God in terms of this dominion covenant, or what is sometimes called the cul- tural mandate. This covenant governs all four God-mandated human governments: individual, family, church, and civil. The five books of Moses (the Pentateuch) are themselves pres- ented in the same order as the biblical covenant model, This is a very important piece of evidence in favor of the five-point biblical

1. Tyler, Texas: Institute for Christian Economics. ix x THE DOMINION COVENANT: GENESIS covenant model. Those who reject Sutton’s thesis need to present an alternative model, one which fits the Pentateuch better, and one which also fits the Ten Commandments better, since they are also structured in terms of the five-point model: 1-5 and 6-10.2 Critics need to understand that old political aphorism: ‘You can’t beat something with nothing.” It is not enough to mumble that “Sutton’s book tries to prove too much” or “There are lots of different models in the Bible .“ There are indeed lots of biblical models, and all of them are to be understood either in terms of the Trinip or the covenant model. We begin and end all biblical studies with God and with the God-man relationship: Trinity and covenant. This is why Sutton’s book is the most important single theological breakthrough since the early Christian creeds that formulated the orthodox doctrine of the Trin- ity. It will be regarded as a major turning point in the history of Christian doctrine. And the realization that an obscure pastor in East Texas made this historic breakthrough has sent his critics into a dither. They much prefer to deny its importance. After all, if it were really that important, each of them devoutly believes, he would have discovered it!

The Pentateuch’s Five-Point Covenant Structures Genesis clearly is a book dealing with God’s transcendence. Transcendence is point one of the biblical covenant model. Its open- ing words affirm God as Creator, testifying to God’s absolute transcendence, the foundation of the Creator-creature distinction: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). But true transcendence also involves immanence, the presence of God with His people. He speaks with Adam, and judges Adam and Eve when He returns to the garden. He speaks to Cain, Noah, and Abraham. He establishes a covenant with Abraham and promises to be with Abraham and Abraham’s heirs forever (Gen. 17:7). Exodus is clearly the book of the covenant itself. God establishes

2. Gary North, The Sinai Strategy Economics and the Ten Commandments (Tyler, Texas: Institute for Christian Economics, 1986), Preface. 3. There are continuing rumors that certain faculty members of a particular Cal- vinist seminary have been discussing the five-point covenant structure of the Pen- tateuch for manv vears. But which five points? That is the auestion. Discussions in ./ . A private are one thing; having the courage to go into print to defend a highly contro- versial, career-jeopardizing thesis is something else. Faint heart ne’er produced fair paradigm shift. General Introduction to The Dominion Covenant . xi His authority over them by delivering them out of Egypt. He also establishes the hierarchical principle of representation. Hierarchy is point two of the biblical covenant model. The principle of representation is manifested with God’s call to Moses out of the burning bush, telling him to go before Pharaoh as His representative. God delivers the Israelites from Egypt, and then He meets with Moses, their representative, at Sinai. In Exodus 18, Moses establishes a hierarchical appeals court system, whereupon God meets with Moses as Israel’s representative and delivers His covenant law. The Book of Exodus is a book about rival kings and rival kingdoms, God vs. Pharaoh. Men must subordinate themselves either to God or Satan through their covenantal representatives. The Book of Exodus is easily divided into five sections: the inter- vention of God into history to deliver His people; the establishment of Israel’s judicial hierarchy; the giving of the law; the judgment of Israel after the golden calf incident; and the building of the taber- nacle, which they would carry with them into Canaan. Leviticus is the book that records the establishing of Israel’s ritual and moral boundaries. It is therefore about dominion, for boundaries in the Bible are always associated with dominion. The third point of the biblical covenant deals with boundaries. The third commandment deals with the prohibition of obscenit y, false oaths, and incan- tations (magical power), thereby affirming dominion through ethics,4 and the eighth commandment parallels the third. “Thou shalt not steal” is a command regarding ownership boundaries. s The eighth commandment indicates that the concept of boundaries is basic to economic ethics, the third point of the covenant. b Gordon Wenham comments on Leviticus’ place in the Old Testa- ment’s covenant-treaty structure: “(3) The centerpiece of every treaty was the stipulations section. In collections of law, such as Ham- murabi’s, the laws formed the central section. The same holds for the Biblical collections of law. In the treaties a basic stipulation of total fidelity to the suzerain maybe distinguished from the more detailed stipulations covering specific problems. In this terminology ‘Be holy’ could be described as the basic stipulation of Leviticus. The other

4. Ibid., Ctl. 3. 5. Ibid., &. 8. 6. Gary North, Inherit the Earth: Biblical BlzIEprints for Economics (Ft. Worth, Texas: Dominion Press, 1987), ch. 3. xii THE DOMINION COVENANT: GENESIS laws explain what this means in different situations.”r God sets apart His people and their worship. He makes them holy — set apart. He places ritual boundaries around them. “Leviticus centers around the concept of the holiness of God, and how an un- holy people can acceptably approach Him and then remain in con- tinued fellowship. The way to God is only through blood sacrifice, and the walk with God is only through obedience to His laws.”a The issue is sanctification, and this requires boundaries: “The Israelites serve a holy God who requires them to be holy as well. To be holy means to be ‘set apart’ or ‘separated.’ They are to be separated from other nations unto God. In Leviticus the idea of holiness appears eighty-seven times, sometimes indicating ceremonial holiness (ritual requirements), and at other times moral holiness (purity of life) .“9 As R. K. Harrison says, the first fifteen chapters deal with sacrificial principles and procedures relating to the removal of sin. “The last eleven chapters emphasize ethics, morality and holiness. The unify- ing theme of the book is the insistent emphasis upon God’s holiness, coupled with the demand that the Israelites shall exemplify this spiri- tual attribute in their own lives .“ 10 Holiness means separation from the heathen. 11 It means boundaries. Numbers is the book of God’s judgment against Israel in the wilderness. Judgment is point four of the biblical covenant model. God judged them when they refused to accept the testimony of Joshua and Caleb regarding the vulnerability y of Canaan to invasion (Num. 14). They rebelled against Him, and He punished them all by delay- ing their entry into Canaan until they were all dead, except Joshua and Caleb. “Numbers records the failure of Israel to believe in the promise of God and the resulting judgment of wandering in the wilderness for forty years.”lz

Israel as a nation is in its infancy at the outset of this book, only thirteen months after the exodus from Egypt. In Numbers, the book of divine disci-

7. Gordon J. Wenham, The Book of Leviticus (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerd- mans, 1979), p. 30. 8. Tiu Open Bible: Expanded Edition (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 1983), p. 95. 9. Ibid., p. 96. 10. R. K. Harrison, Leuih’czu: An Zntrodzution and Cornrruntaty (Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press, 1980), p. 14. 11. Jacob Milgrom, “The Biblical Diet Laws As an Ethical System: Food and Faith; Interpretation, XVII (1963), p. 295. 12. Open Bible, p. 127. . . . General Introduction to The Dominion Covenant Xlll pline, it becomes necessary for the nation to go through the painful process of testing and maturation. God must teach His people the consequences of irresponsible decisions. The forty years of wilderness experience transforms them from a rabble of ex-slaves into a nation ready to take the Promised Land. Numbers begins with the old generation (1:1-10:10), moves through a tragic transitional period (10 :11-25 :18), and ends with the new generation (26-36) at the doorway to the land of Canaan.~

Deuteronomy is the book of the inheritance, point five of the biblical covenant model. “It is addressed to the new generation destined to possess the land of promise — those who survived the forty years of wilderness wandering.”lq The children of the generation of the exodus renew their covenant with God and inherit Canaan on this basis. Moses blesses the tribes (Deut. 33), a traditional sign of inheritance in the Old Testament (Gen. 27; 49). Moses dies outside the land, but before he dies, God allows him to look from Mt. Nebo into the promised land (Deut. 34:4). He sees the inheritance. The book closes with the elevation of Joshua to leadership, the transitional event (Deut. 34:9-12). Thus, the Pentateuch is itself revelatory of the structure of God’s covenant. This economic commentary on the Pentateuch is therefore a commentary on a covenant. I call it the dominion covenant, for it is the God-given, God-required assignment to mankind to ex- ercise dominion and subdue the earth that defines mankind’s task as the only creature who images God the Creator. Covenant theology is inescapably dominion theology. God has placed on His people the moral requirement of transforming the world through the preaching of the gospel. He has also given mankind the tools of dominion, His laws. 15 This thought upsets all those Calvinist amillennialists who reject as impossible and utopian the postmillennial vision of the progressive manifestation of the king- dom of God on earth. Dominion theology is inescapably covenant theology. This thought upsets all those Arminian “positive confes- sion” preachers who reject covenant theology and its call to comprehensive social transformation, 16 and who prefer to limit the trans-

13. Ibid., p. 128. 14. Ibid., p. 171. 15. Gary North, Tools of Dominion: The Case Laws of Exodus (Tyler, Texas: Institute for Christian Reconstruction, 1987). 16. Gary North, 1s the World Running Down? Crtsis in the Christian Worldview (Tyler, Texas: Institute for Christian Economics, 1987), Appendix C: “Comprehensive Redemption: A Theology for Social Action.” xiv THE DO M1N1ON COVENANT: GENESIS forming power of the gospel to the individual soul and personal bank account. We cannot have Christian dominion without the biblical covenant, and we cannot have the biblical covenant without the requirement of Christian dominion. We also cannot have Christian economics without the dominion covenant.

Background to This Commentary I was converted to Christ in the summer of 1959 at the age of seventeen. By the end of my freshman year in college a year later, I had decided that the academic field of economics should be studied in terms of the Bible. I was becoming aware of the fact that there was no explicitly Bible-based body of material available on the topic of Christian economics. I did not imagine then that I would have to write the intellectual foundations of this required body of material. I kept looking. By the age of twenty, I knew that I would have to write it. I did not know that I would also have to raise the funds to publish most of it. My adult life has been devoted to this task. My first published book was Marx3 Religion of Resolution (1968), a critical analysis of Marx’s thought, including his economics. I understood early that the war for the minds of men in the twentieth century was primarily between Communism and Christianity, and that this war involves every area of life. It is a war now in progress. The book appeared four years before I finished my doctorate. My second book, An Introdudion to Christian Economics, was published in the spring of 1973. It was a collection of essays, many of which were rewritten versions of essays that had appeared in The Freeman from 1967 onward. Both of these books are presently out of print. At almost the precise time that Introduction appeared in print, I decided to begin a detailed commentary of the economic teachings of the Bible. It seemed foolish to attempt a textbook in biblical economics, let alone a treatise along the lines of Adam Smith’s Wea/th of Nation~, without first laying the exegetical foundations that clearly establish exactly what the Bible says about economics. Christian scholars first need to know what the Bible says about all aspects of economics before anyone attempts to write a comprehensive schol- arly treatise on Christian economics. The world does not need another half-baked defense of capitalism that is supported by a handful of disconnected Bible verses. Such books are too easy for Christian political liberals to dismiss. The standard rhetorical response of humanist-educated Christian political liberals to any General Introduction to The Dominion Covenant xv suggestion that capitalism necessarily is produced when the whole counsel of God is preached, believed, and obeyed by any society is this one: “Proof-texting! Proof-texting!” This is their code word for “this is getting too close for comfort ethically and politically.” I therefore realized by age thirty-one that writing an economic commentary on the Bible would become my lifetime project, and that I would prob- ably never write the Christian version of Walth of Nations. I did not realize that it would take me fifteen years to reach the Book of Leviticus. I completed the preliminary outline of my economic commentary on the Pentateuch in 1980, when I finished the last of my monthly columns on the Pentateuch in the Chalcedon Foundation’s Chalcedon Report. I did not realize even then that the final version of Exodus would require the publication of three fat volumes. I did not realize that the necessary appendixes would become as long and as involved as they have become. (I regard Appendix A in The Dominion Coue- nant: Genesi~ as the most important single piece of academic scholarship of my career. It took me over a year — 500 + hours — to research and write it, 1978 -79.) These include the visible appendixes at the end of each volume, and also Is the World Running Down? (1987), a study of the physical science concept of entropy and its supposed importance in social theory, and Dominion and Common Grace (1987), a study of the relationship between biblical law and historical progress. Essay versions of both these books started out as appendixes to Tools of Dominion, my commentary on Exodus 21-23. I decided in 1977 to devote ten hours per week, fifty weeks per year, until I reach age seventy, to writing and publishing this commentary. For ten years, I have stuck to this schedule. God willing, I will stick to it until I reach age seventy. Maybe I will even work for an additional decade, if mind, body, and economic resources permit. I do not expect to complete the commentary, however. The Bible has too much economic material to allow me to accomplish it in one lifetime of ten-hour work weeks. The Bible is filled with material that relates to economics in the broad sense, meaning political economy, as it was called in the nineteenth century, or moral philosophy, as it was called in the eighteenth century. Contrary to theological pietists and political liberals who deny that the Bible has much to say about economic theory and practice, it has so much material that I do not expect to discuss more than a fraction of it. What I intend to do with this multi-volume commentary is to lay the intellectual foundations for a restructuring of social science.