God created man in his image, giving him dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts, and everything that creeps on the earth. The man was ordained to rule the beasts.
The serpent was wiser than any other beast of the field, but he was one of the beasts of the field. The man was to rule the serpent. Instead, the man submits to the serpent, allowing the serpent to have dominion over him. When Yahweh God comes for his inspection, discovering what the man has done, he clothes the man in the skin of a beast. Clothing the man in beast skin is a grace that covers the man’s sin, but there is another dimension to it. The man has become beastly. He is under the dominion of the beast. The world is upside down. Adam needs a son to set things right, a man who will do what he failed to do and take dominion over the beast.
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