mean equality. Man has been given control over things. Things are at his disposal. His lordship over his own affairs, i.e., his capacity to make decisions and live with their consequences, now extends also to the world of things. He is to “till it and keep it … give names” (Gen. 2:15, 20), or as a later reflector on the same data put it, “to have dominion” (Gen. 1:28). It was a new thing in Israel for someone to affirm that man is meant to control his natural environment. It was a thought too bold