Genesis opens, the careful student will notice, with a great deal of "bringing forth" transpiring. The first instance begins with light itself. The Hebrew, slightly awkward in English, for "let there be light" in the Greek of the Old Testament most often used by the Lord Jesus and the apostles reads "photos egeneto." We could just as easily construe it as "let light come [bring] forth."

Verse 22 specifies the precise wording of God's blessing upon the sea creatures and fish, "And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth." The part about "being fruitful" means multiplying abundantly. This is what blessing looks like in the Bible. This divine blessing multiplied the possessions of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

God's command makes the stipulated blessing actual in history. When one man blesses another, he does so in hope that God will make it good. But when God blesses, the blessing is certain. He ensures it. The blessing instances what philosophers of language like to call a "performative utterance." Here, the saying IS the doing of what is pronounced, as when bride and groom say "I do." They saying, as it were, does the doing of what is spoken. The uttering performs.

The fish of the waters beneath the earth, and the birds of the heavens above both receive a blessing from God in chapter 1, as do the first man and woman, the appointed masters of the other forms of life. But no such blessing attends the "creeping things, and beasts of the earth" (land dwellers other than mankind). Here, we have a glimpse into the foreknowledge and sovereignty of God in history. The most "subtil" (KJV) or crafty of all the beasts of the field -- land dwellers apart from man -- is the serpent who for his trickery ends up being the "most cursed" of all the land dwellers. It reads "Cursed are you above all cattle" (where cattle stand for the land-dwellers generally, meaning beasts) where it had read "subtil above all beasts of the earth." To whom much is given, much is required.

God did not bless them because their best examplar would be cursed above all. And He knew it.

Finally, God blesses and sanctifies the Sabbath Day as the day from which He rested, having complete the work of creation. Here, the text does not state the words of, merely the fact of, the divine blessing.

As we jump ahead to the days of Noah, we see that God curses the whole earth by water, just the undoing of what God had done in the earliest part of Genesis, setting the world in order (with the earth as Peter says, "standing out of water and by water") and bringing life forth in abundance. God promises, however, never to do so again, signifying his covenant with all creation under Noah's headship with a rainbow of the clouds, the very source (from above) of the appointed diluvial mayhem. God repeats to Noah and his household the dominion mandate-blessing "be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it."

Genesis 6:16-18 reads,

"Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee. **Bring forth** with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him ..."

The Flood, a general curse upon the earth had not eradicated God's blessing upon His people. The Noahic covenant essentially required God -- by His own oath -- to provide always the preconditions for His people to flourish as He commanded in Genesis 1. The later covenants presuppose and establish the earlier. They do not replace them.

Next, we find Noah planting a vineyard and drinking either too much wine, or just enough too fast. This also ends in a curse upon Canaan. Contrariwise, one mysterious Melchizedek, priest and king of Salem, and priest of the Most High God, blesses Abraham by way of bread and wine in the name of God. Once again the blessing is effectual, not merely wishful.

Thus, we see this blessing falling upon Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and through Jacob to others in Israel, including Moses (who was faithful in all God's house), David and Solomon.

This blessing has something of a cumulative historical force over time, as God habitually and repeatedly blesses His people, both directly and by way of appointed covenant representatives like Melchizedek. And God's people bless the Lord.

God's promise by way of covenant to Abraham receives greater detail over time, until God promises to make his descendants as numerous as "the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore." Here, God retains the structure of the original blessing upon man (both male and female) in the beginning. The stars represent the heavens above and the sand represents the seas. Notice the earth still receives no blessing which corresponds to the curse upon the serpent, while inanimate inhabitants of the regions above AND below the earth DO. The Bible is rigorously consistent (because it is the Word of a rigorously consistent Lord).

This is repeated with King Solomon. 1 Kings 4:29-34 explains that "... God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt [as it were, "the stars" for wise men were wont to consult the stars of the heavens, see the Magi of Luke].

For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about. And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five.

And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes [Here, we see reflected the three regions of creation -- birds flying in the heaven above, dwellers upon the earth, and fish under the earth, meaning in the seas].

And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom."

Solomon had received a blessing from God that encompassed greater wisdom than existed upon all the earth among the highest form of God's creation: Man. In Solomon, as God had promised to Abraham, "kings shall come of thy loins" and "in you shall all the nations of the earth be blessed."

This the Word shows fulfilled by this saying: "And there came of **all people** to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from **all kings of the earth**, which had heard of his wisdom."

The rise of Solomon, Son of David, king of Israel, corresponds to the promise in Genesis by way of command "be fruitful and multiply" -- though it did not have in mind a thousand wives. Nevertheless, Solomon's dominion extended to all the earth in his day, and the borders of Israel expanded to the South and to the Euphrates river. His wisdom excelled that of both "the east country" (Job's homeland) and of Egypt, which was known throughout the ancient world for its math, science and technological innovations.

What then can we learn from this cursory lesson in the history of redemption? God's original command to all men of all nations has not diminished. This means that for those who believe in Jesus, the sciences, technology and especially wisdom, are not optional. They never have been. But these do not alone accomplish God's will, which requires his added blessing.

But God only blesses righteousness, roughly the same as "justice" in the Greek tongue. "Righteousness exalts a nation; but sin disgraces any people" (Proverbs 14:34). Proverbs 11:11 reads, "By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked."

God command the priests through Moses to bless the people in the Name of the Lord, saying,

"Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them,

'The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.'

And they [thereby] shall put my name upon the children of Israel, and [in this way, through the appointed covenant representatives] I will bless them."

Above all, the blessing the people of God are to seek is that of wisdom. " Proverbs 4:5-9 urges us,

"Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee."

Finally Moses urged God's people, teaching and warning every man:

"Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; ****for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations,**** which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons ..."

This is how we are to walk in the commandments of the Lord and be blessed unto dominion. For "There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan, which can succeed against the Lord" (Proverbs 21:30).

But "The blessing of the Lord crowns the head of the righteous..." (Proverbs 10:6). Descendants and prosperity as numerous as the stars and seashore sands included (actual sanctification may vary).

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