God blessed them, &c.— He pronounced his blessing upon them: he gave them the earth as their possession, and commanded them to multiply and replenish it with inhabitants. Children and the fruit of the womb are an heritage and gift that cometh of the Lord.
And subdue it— Man by his superior wisdom is furnished with methods to make the fiercest animals yield, and the strongest to serve him; and he hath dominion over all, by grant from God himself. We have forfeited it by sin, but God in mercy hath not wholly resumed it: though much is lost, and all had been, were it not for the Repairer of the breach, who is come to be the Saviour of all men; but especially of those who believe; to them all is restored, for all is ours, in the sanctified use of them, when we are Christ's.