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.
And the fear of you and the dread of you. The second re-establishes man's dominion over the inferior animals. It was now founded, not as at first, in love and kindness, but in terror. This dread of man prevails among all the stronger as well as the weaker members of the animal tribes, and keeps away from his haunts all but those employed in his service. It is partly the result of his reason and superior intelligence (for knowledge is power). But there is a natural sense of dread impressed on all classes of the lower creation which is greatly increased by the fears inspired by the steadfast piercing glance of man's eye, and the special accents of his voice. No sound, however loud, when produced by a cannon or a gun, carries the same amount of terror among wild beasts and wild birds as the human voice. Even in the thickest jungles the lion and the tiger will often skulk away if they hear him speak. This dominion, as granted anew to Noah, though expressed in stronger terms than to Adam, probably to inspire him and his family with confidence to spread over the earth, was restored only in the imperfect degree in which it was possessed after the fall, when, through his own fierce passions and cruel tyranny, man's supremacy over the inferior creation was much impaired. Still it continues great. But the coercive rule which he now exercises, and which is often successfully resisted, is not to be confounded with that benign and complete dominion which was his critical prerogative, and which having been conferred on Christ (Psalms 8:6-8; 1 Corinthians 15:27; Ephesians 1:22; Hebrews 2:7-8), will in due time be the imparted privilege of His people in the restored condition of humanity.