WORD STUDY – DOMINION

Dominion – Yiredu:  To come down, descend, to lower oneself

Genesis 1:26: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness and let them have dominion over fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepth upon the earth.”

As I look at all the Modern Christian Translations of the Bible I find that without exception everyone of the translations follow the common teaching that the word “yiredu” comes from the root word “radah” which means dominion, or to subdue,  to rule over, to tread upon like in a winepress.   An old esoteric rabbi, however, simply said that the root word is really “yarad.”    When he told me that I instantly thought of the story in Acts when the Holy Spirit “yarad” like a dove.

Seven hundred years after the birth of Christ the Masoretes put a chireq (one dot) under the Resh making this the root word radah which means to subdue.  Had they put a tsere (two dots) under the Resh they would have the root word yarad which means to come down or lower oneself.  The original inspired Word of God had no dots and I believe this old rabbi was correct in using the root word yarad (to lower oneself) rather than radah (to rule over). In the original Hebrew the word starts with a Yod (a heavenly messenger) or yarad (to lower oneself) and not a Resh (to  rule over).

If anyone should understand “yiredu” it is should be Spirit filled Christians.  Yet, for some reason we insist on saying the root word is “radah” rather than “yarad” and as a result Christianity throughout the last 2,000 years, with notable exceptions like St. Francis of Assisi, have missed out on a special blessing and spiritual experience. If you read the biography of St. Francis of Assisi he would go to the woods to worship God with the animals. It is said that the animals wild and tame would approach him.  Not because of St. Francis but because they wanted to be near their creator.  That is why you always see St. Francis of Assisi pictured with a bird on his shoulder and/or in his hand.