The small meal, the grand feast, Adam and Eve, and ancient temple worship -- Part 2: "Delivered into your hand"

In my last post, I noted this verse from Genesis outlining the commandment God gives to Adam and Eve right after their creation. 

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. (Genesis 1)

I've color-coded 5 components to this commandment.  Overall, I've always taken this to mean that Adam and Eve were supposed to have children, fill the earth with humans, and exercise righteous dominion over God's creation. This still seems perfectly valid, but I'm beginning to see a deeper layer of meaning in these commands.

"Replenish/fill"

Here's one example, I recently pointed out how an important Hebrew expression for "consecration" literally means "filled hand." "Replenish" in the verse above comes from that same root: "male/mala."

Bible scholars describe the numerous connections between Adam and Noah.  The story of Noah is steeped in references to the earlier chapters about Adam and Eve. (For example, compare Genesis 9:1-3 with Genesis 1:28.)

I read these dual commands as a charge to consecrate ourselves to God's purposes -- to live in complete harmony with God's intentions for the creation: the physical creation is intended to give mankind space and time to bring about spiritual creation.  Man is to become holy by this process, and as a result, the wilderness blossoms as a rose.

I believe this explains why Noah is commanded to gather all forms of life into the ark. I've described in many other posts how the ark is an obvious symbol of covenants (see here, for example). Noah kept God's commandment and delivered all creation into God's hand (yet another layer of meaning to Moses 7:43).

I've been reading these two accounts and looking for additional connections.  I've found a sequence related to "fulness/filling" and hands in the story of Noah:

1) Before the flood, the earth is filled with violence.

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence." (Genesis 6:11)

2) Noah obeys God's command to build the ark and fill it with "every living thing of all flesh." (See Genesis 6:14-22.)

3) Amid the chaos and destruction, Noah and the inhabitants of the ark find rest in the hand of the Lord. (Moses 7:43)

Up to this point, Noah is obeying commandments, acting in the role of obedient servant of God. Watch how this begins to change as the sequence progresses.

4) Noah sends out a dove but it finds "no rest for the sole of her foot," so he "put[s] forth his hand" and "pull[s] her unto him into the ark." (Genesis 8:9)

Did you notice the shift? After finding rest in the ark, Noah is now able to extend his own hand and offer rest.

5) After the waters abate, Noah comes forth out of the ark and God covenants with Noah, delivering "all that moveth upon the earth" into his hand. (Genesis 9:2)

This sequence begins with Noah delivering all things into God's hand, and ends with God delivering all things into Noah's hand. That's pretty powerful! The purpose of the creation is fulfilled. 

Conclusion

In the latter days, God has the same purpose in mind for each of us. Notice the same sequence in this description of the Church of the Firstborn (those who inherit the Celestial glory). These righteous souls "overcome [all things] by faith" (see D&C 76:53, 60) and as a consequence:

55 They are they into whose hands the Father has given all things—

56 They are they who are priests and kings, who have received of his fulness, and of his glory;  (Doctrine & Covenants 76)

What a beautiful pattern! This is the power of living a consecrated life.

We talk often about consecration in the church, but connecting this concept directly to Adam and Eve links it even more powerfully to the temple, where we are instructed to consider ourselves as if we were Adam and Eve.  In the next post, I'll apply this same concept to the restoration of the Gospel, the Priesthood, and the latter-day work of gathering.