When God said, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth" (Genesis 1:28 ESV), he was talking to Eve too. Eve was Adam's coworker in filling and subduing the earth. When Moses' audience heard this command, they would have thought of their own mothers, wives, or daughters, who helped with the planting and harvesting and herding and milking. These were not surburban housewives but farm women!
I grew up on a farm and many of my relatives were farmers. I can tell you that even before the fall changed work into toil and the fertile ground sprouted weeds and thorns, there would have been a lot to do in the garden! Adam would have needed Eve working at his side, caring for the cultivated plants and domesticated animals. God put the world under Eve's feet too (Psalm 8). Carol Meyers (Discovering Eve) notes that in Genesis 2 Adam and Eve are set like bookends around the world they are to rule together: the garden, the rivers, the minerals, the animals.
Genesis 1 and 2 show us that God didn't intend for Adam and Eve to stay forever in the garden. There was a whole world outside to fill and subdue. Adam would have needed Eve's help to go beyond the garden into that beautiful but undeveloped world outside, where the four rivers flowed and the ground held gold and jewels waiting to be used (Genesis 2:10-14).
God made women to be out and about in his world, filling it with people who know and worship him and subduing it under God's rule, until the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9). Because this world is God's kingdom, every good thing we do is kingdom work, whether we work in our own homes as wives and mothers, or work outside the home for income, or volunteer in our churches and communities.
What has God put under your feet? What is your sphere of influence? Whatever it is, remember that you are a kingdom coworker. Do your everyday work with all your heart; it is the Lord Christ and his kingdom you serve (Colossians 3:23-24).
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