And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth [upon] the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
2. the fear of you and the dread of you ] This is a new feature in God’s ordering of the world. Hitherto (Gen 1:28) man had received the command (1) to replenish the earth, (2) to subdue it, (3) to have dominion over the animals. Now, however, a new stage is reached. Man hereafter is invested with the right to take the life of animals for food. The animals, therefore, are in a new measure placed at the mercy of man; and “the fear and the dread” of him are associated with man’s fresh prerogatives.
teemeth ] R.V. marg. creepeth, as in Gen 1:29-30 (P).
into your hand delivered ] i.e. placed at the mercy of you who now have absolute power. Cf. Deu 19:12, “deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 2. The fear of you and the dread, c.] Prior to the fall, man ruled the inferior animals by love and kindness, for then gentleness and docility were their principal characteristics. After the fall, untractableness, with savage ferocity, prevailed among almost all orders of the brute creation enmity to man seems particularly to prevail; and had not God in his mercy impressed their minds with the fear and terror of man, so that some submit to his will while others flee from his residence, the human race would long ere this have been totally destroyed by the beasts of the field. Did the horse know his own strength, and the weakness of the miserable wretch who unmercifully rides, drives, whips, goads, and oppresses him, would he not with one stroke of his hoof destroy his tyrant possessor? But while God hides these things from him he impresses his mind with the fear of his owner, so that either by cheerful or sullen submission he is trained up for, and employed in, the most useful and important purposes; and even willingly submits, when tortured for the sport and amusement of his more bruitish oppressor. Tigers, wolves, lions, and hyaenas, the determinate foes of man, incapable of being tamed or domesticated, flee, through the principle of terror, from the dwelling of man, and thus he is providentially safe. Hence, by fear and by dread man rules every beast of the earth, every fowl of the air, and every fish of the sea. How wise and gracious is this order of the Divine providence! and with what thankfulness should it be considered by every human being!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Before they loved and reverenced you as lords and friends, now they shall dread you as enemies and tyrants.
Into your hand are they delivered, for your use and service. I restore you in part to that dominion over them which you for your sins have forfeited.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. And the fear of you and the dreadof youThe second part re-establishes man’s dominion over theinferior animals; it was now founded not as at first in love andkindness, but in terror; this dread of man prevails among all thestronger as well as the weaker members of the animal tribes and keepsaway from his haunts all but those employed in his service.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the fear or you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast of the earth,…. This is a renewal, at least in part, of the grant of dominion to Adam over all the creatures; these obeyed him cheerfully, and from love, but sinning, he in a good measure lost his power over them, they rebelled against him; but now though the charter of power over them is renewed, they do not serve man freely, but are in dread of him, and flee from him; some are more easily brought into subjection to him, and even the fiercest and wildest of them may be tamed by him; and this power over them was the more easily retrieved in all probability by Noah and his sons, from the inhabitation of the creatures with them for so long a time in the ark:
and upon every fowl of the air, and upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; as appears by fowls flying away, by beasts and creeping things getting off as fast as they can, and by fishes swimming away at the sight of men:
into your hand are they delivered; as the lords and proprietors of them, for their use and service, and particularly for what follows, see Ps 8:6 where there is an enumeration of the creatures subject to men.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2. And the fear of you. This also has chiefly respect to the restoration of the world, in order that the sovereignty over the rest of animals might remain with men. And although after the fall of man, the beasts were endued with new ferocity, yet some remains of that dominion over them, which God had conferred on him in the beginning, were still left. He now also promises that the same dominion shall continue. We see indeed that wild beasts rush violently upon men, and rend and tear many of them in pieces; and if God did not wonderfully restrain their fierceness, the human race would be utterly destroyed. Therefore, what we have said respecting the inclemency of the air, and the irregularity of the seasons, is also here applicable. Savage beasts indeed prevail and rage against men in various ways, and no wonder; for since we perversely exalt ourselves against God, why should not the beasts rise up against us? Nevertheless, the providence of God is a secret bridle to restrain their violence. For, whence does it arise that serpents spare us, unless because he represses their virulence? Whence is it that tigers, elephants, lions, bears, wolves, and other wild beasts without number, do not rend, tear, and devour everything human, except that they are withheld by this subjection, as by a barrier? Therefore, it ought to be referred to the special protection and guardianship of God, that we remain in safety. For, were it otherwise, what could we expect; since they seem as if born for our destruction, and burn with the furious desire to injure us? Moreover, the bridle with which the Lord restrains the cruelty of wild beasts, to prevent them falling upon men, is a certain fear and dread which God has implanted in them, to the end that they might reverence the presence of men. Daniel especially declares this respecting kings; namely, that they are possessed of dominion, because the Lord has put the fear and the dread of them both on men and beasts. But as the first use of fear is to defend the society of mankind; so, according to the measure in which God has given to men a general authority over the beasts, there exists in the greatest and the least of men, I know not what hidden mark, which does not suffer the cruelty of wild beasts, by its violence to prevail. Another advantage, however and one more widely extended, is here noted; namely, that men may render animals subservient to their own convenience, and may apply them to various uses, according to their wishes and their necessities. Therefore, the fact that oxen become accustomed to bear the yoke; that the wildness of horses is so subdued as to cause them to carry a rider; that they receive the pack-saddle to bear burdens; that cows give milk, and suffer themselves to be milked; that sheep are mute under the hand of the shearer; all these facts are the result of this dominion, which, although greatly diminished, is nevertheless not entirely abolished.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Gen 9:2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth [upon] the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
Ver. 2. And the fear of you, &c. ] Timor, quo a bestiis timeamini, et terror quo bestias terreatis .( Piscat. ) This is a piece of God’s image yet remaining to man, that every nature of wild beasts, birds, creeping things, and things in the sea is tamed, and hath been tamed of the nature of man. Jas 3:7 , marg. a
a Monoceros interimi potest, capi non potest . – Solin.
fear . . . dread. Figure of speech Synonymia.
beast = living thing, as in Gen 3:1.
earth. Hebrew. ‘adhamah = the ground.
Gen 1:28, Gen 2:19, Gen 35:5, Lev 26:6, Lev 26:22, Job 5:22, Job 5:23, Psa 8:4-8, Psa 104:20-23, Eze 34:25, Hos 2:18, Jam 3:7
Reciprocal: Gen 1:26 – have dominion Job 39:11 – leave Psa 8:6 – madest Psa 50:10 – every Jer 27:5 – and have
9:2 And the {b} fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth [upon] the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
(b) By the virtue of this commandment, beasts do not rage as much against man as they would, yea and many serve his purposes by it.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes