Gary North

And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth (Gen. 9:7-11).

The language of the covenant between God and Noah is very similar to the language of the covenant between God and Adam (Gen. 1:26-28). God tells Noah that Noah will be responsible for exercising dominion over the animals.

This reminds us of how much responsibility we have. Christians who resent this fact do not like the implications of this passage.

BIBLICAL CHRONOLOGY

Why did God announce the same covenant with Noah that He had announced to Adam? God was re-establishing the original covenant with mankind. This was an act of covenant renewal. God reminded Noah of the original covenant between God and mankind. Noah would represent God to the animals, and he would represent the animals to God. He would serve as God's agent in history. He would serve as a mediator between God and the creation.

God had just destroyed all the land animals and birds in a worldwide flood. There were very few animals remaining. There were only eight human beings remaining. From this tiny beginning, humans and animals began to fill the earth.

We know from the genealogy in Genesis 11 that it was only 222 years from the flood to the birth of Terah, the father of Abram. When was Abram born? We are not sure, but it could not have been more than 70 years later. "And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran" (Gen. 11:26). We know that God established his covenant with Abram at age 99.

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly (Gen. 17:1-2).

That means it was about 331 years from the flood to the Abrahamic covenant. Finally, we know from Paul's discussion in Galatians that it was 430 years from this covenant until the exodus.

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect (Gal. 3:16-17).

So, in a period of about 760 years, mankind filled much of the earth. Men had filled the earth as to such an extent that the number of Israelite males 20 years old or older at the time of the exodus from Egypt was over 600,000 (Ex. 38:26).

This means that there were almost 2.5 million Israelites involved in the exodus: wives and children. Why do we know that there were two children per family? Because, four decades later, at the second numbering, there were still about 600,000 men age 20 or older (Num. 1:3, 46). We know from demographic law that replacement rate is 2.1 children per family, since a few children do not marry. So, at the exodus, there was a boy and one girl under age 20.

In addition to 2.5 million Israelites, there were the Egyptians and all of the other nations on the earth. When did this take place? Sometime around 1492 B.C. How do we know? Because the Bible reveals this.

And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD (I Kings 6:1).

When was the temple built? It was begun in the fourth year of the reign of King Solomon (I Kings 6:1).

Ezekiel informs us that it was 390 years from the division of the monarchy under Rehoboam to the fall of Jerusalem.

Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel (Ezek. 4:4-5).

Jerusalem fell to Babylon in 586 B.C., or maybe 587. We know this from Babylonian sources.

Adding 390 to 586 gives us 976 B.C. That was the last year of Solomon's reign. Maybe we could argue 977 B.C. It does not matter for this chapter. We know that Solomon ruled 40 years (I Kings 11:42; II Chron. 9:30). Adding 40 to 976, we get 1016 B.C. for the beginning of his reign. In the fourth year of his reign, he began to build the temple. Subtracting four years from 1016, we get 1012 B.C. So, adding 480 years to 1012 B.C., we get the year of the exodus: 1492 B.C.

This is not what you are told in the world history textbooks and the archeology books. Most Christians have never done this rudimentary chronological estimate. They do not understand how fast men filled the earth. The animals did the same.

The lesson here is that the expansion of human population, when accompanied by the expansion of animal and vegetable resources, is a benefit. This is what God specifically told mankind and the animals to do. This expansion is legitimate.

Economic growth is not only legitimate, it is mandatory. God has commanded it twice: to Adam and to Noah. We are to fill the earth. We are to extend the kingdom of God across the whole face of the earth. This remains an enormous assignment. It is a highly competitive assignment today, and people of various confessions of faith compete one against another in order to extend their particular kingdoms.

WHY THINGS COST SO MUCH

This chronology gives us an indication of the potential for dominion in history. Adam had almost umnlimited free land, except for the garden itself. So did Noah. Mankind filled the earth rapidly when men had this much free land available to them to develop. So did the animals. The reproductive capacity of the creation is enormous. When land is free, it gets filled up rapidly. Then it is no longer free.

Today, people compete against each other for the available resources of the creation. In this competition, we bid up the price of these resources. Land is no longer free. In heavily populated urban areas, it is very expensive. Labor is expensive to hire. Everything around us costs a lot of money. It costs a lot of money because everyone around us is bidding up the price of scarce resources. We are a competitive species. This is as it should be. It speeds up dominion.

In a competitive free market economy, it is the right of each adult individual to offer to buy or rent anything that is offered for sale. We are not allowed to do this with each other's husbands and wives, but we are allowed to do it with respect to the marketable things that we own. We are allowed by God to offer the best deal that we possibly can afford in order to purchase whatever it is that we want.

We want a great deal. We want good deals because we are limited by how much money we can bid. We run out of money with which to make bids before we run out of things that we want to own or use. People always want more of something.

This desire becomes the religion of Mammon when it is a desire to consume it. It is the most successful competing religion.

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Matt. 6:24).

On the other hand, the religion of the kingdom of God encourages the desire to own more when this is a desire to own more capital, meaning more tools of production. This is the desire to extend the kingdom of God in history.

The kingdom of God competes against the kingdom of Satan. The kingdom of Satan is represented by the kingdom of man. God expects His people to extend His kingdom. Satan expects his people to extend his kingdom. These kingdoms are in conflict. They are competing against each other for the resources of the creation.

WHY THRIFT IS IMPORTANT

This is why thrift is so important for Christians. We are not to save in order to accumulate large quantities of consumer goods. We are to save in order to accumulate large quantities of producer goods. We are to accumulate capital.

Capital is a tool of dominion. We want better educations for ourselves and for our children. We want better equipment, so that we can produce higher quality output. We want to become more productive people. To do this requires thrift. It requires an excess of income over outgo. At the end of the month, we still have money. At the end of the next month, we have a little more money. But we do not use this money exclusively for our own enjoyment.

The religion of Mammon announces this confession of faith: "more for me in history." The religion of Jesus Christ announces this confession: "Christ shall have dominion." He shall have dominion through His people. Christians serve as mediators, for they are sons of Adam and sons of Noah. But they have been adopted by God through grace.

When Christians fall into patterns of spending that rely on debt, they are surrendering dominion. I am not speaking of debt for the purchase of better educations, better tools of production, better information, and all of the other resources that we need in order to become more efficient reducers. I am talking about consumer debt. When Christians borrow money to purchase consumer goods, they are subordinating themselves to the kingdom of man. This is why Solomon said that the borrower is servant to the lender (Prov. 22:7).

Again, let me make this clear. It is legitimate to become a servant to a productive person. A century ago, this was called apprenticeship. Young men apprenticed themselves for several years to a master craftsman, so that they could learn the skills he craftsman possessed. This was a way for young men to learn a trade that stretches back thousands of years. So, it is legitimate to become a servant for a period of time. It is legitimate to do so when you are attempting to gain information about how to be a better producer. You become a servant of a productive man in order to become a better servant to God.

So, when I say that the borrower is servant to the lender, I mean that the borrower of money to buy consumer goods is servant to a lender. This servant is not learning better means of production. This servant is learning the habits of permanent indentured servitude.

THE MOTIVATION TO SAVE

A powerful motivation for a Christian who understands the principle of dominion is that he wants to do his share of the task of extending the Kingdom of God in history. He will look to what he owns, and he will assess its value to the expansion of the kingdom of God across the face of the earth. His goal is to accumulate better tools of production.

This is why a God-fearing man is an accumulator of capital. Capital makes his work easier. But a God-fearing man does not use tools in order to gain more leisure. He uses these tools in order to work more efficiently. Rather than searching for ways to cut back on the amount of time and effort that he devotes to his work, he looks for ways to make the same amount of time and effort produce greater output area the goal is to generate more income than it costs to generate it. This is the basis of economic growth.

Economic contraction is the opposite: generating less income than it costs to generate it. The most efficient way to generate less income than it costs to generate is to go into debt. If you want a really efficient way to generate less income than it costs to generate it, go into credit card debt, where interest rates are above 15% per annum. This is a real efficiency. This is efficiency in falling behind that can take your entire lifetime to escape.

MONEY AND OPPORTUNITIES

The Christian should look for ways of increasing his opportunities. Increasing the amount of money that he has to spend is a way to increase the number of opportunities.

Anyone who says that accumulating a large amount of money is always wrong does not understand that accumulating money is really a way to accumulate a large number of opportunities. Nobody complains against someone who pursues opportunities, yet for some reason people are suspicious of people who accumulate large quantities of money.

The crucial question is the nature of the opportunities. The nature of the opportunities are what determine whether or not the pursuit of money is wise or foolish. If the quality of the opportunities is high, then the correct goal should be to accumulate lots more opportunities. This requires accumulating a lot of money.

We all know the phrase, "it takes money to make money." This is another way of saying that it takes opportunities to discover new opportunities. The heart, mind, and soul of practical Christianity is the quest for better opportunities to serve God by serving men. We act as God's agents in history. Most people do not deal with God directly. They deal with those people who, through God's covenant, represent God in history. This is why it matters what we do with our money. By means of our money, we represent God to other people.

Mother Teresa was widely respected throughout the world because of her service to other people. She did not have much money, or so people thought. Yet the fact of the matter was, she had an enormous amount of money. People gave millions of dollars to her. She then distributed the money in effective ways. The woman was one of the most efficient human beings in history. Given the size of her operation, and given the magnitude of what she achieved, anyone in private business who would attempt to achieve anything comparable would had to have an enormous staff, the best tools of production, and a 10-story building, minimum. She did it with a portable nonelectric typewriter. I know, because she once wrote me a letter. I had asked her in a letter if she had ever written how she was able to administer so much wealth and supervise so many people. She wrote back and directed me to other organization that had discussed her techniques of organization.

So, the public correctly understood that she was selfless in her service to others. People did understand that she did not have much money. They did understand that she did not use the money to accumulate consumer goods. But they were completely wrong about the enormous amount of money that she actually controlled. She controlled it because so many people were impressed by what she did with it that they sent her a lot of money.

The issue is not control over money. Every movement wants control over money. Every kingdom wants control over money. Most people want control over money. Why? They really want whatever money will buy. The distinction between Christ's kingdom and Mammon's is not based how much money they control, but rather what they do with the money they control.

To you are a member of the kingdom of God. Your goal should be to get in control of ever-larger quantities of money. Sometimes money should be accumulated. It should be accumulated so that you can use it on projects of great importance. These projects usually are not cheap. In other times, the money should not be accumulated. It should begin away. Sometimes there are immediate needs that people have that require immediate money.

THE TESTIMONY OF CHECKBOOK STUBS

Your checkbook stubs, or your digitized monthly bank statements, testify to what you believe is most important in life. They also testify to your level of self-discipline. If you are paying off debt rapidly, they testify to the fact that you lacked self- discipline before, but you have gained more of it recently. If you have no debt and all, they testify to the fact that you understand that the borrower is servant to the lender. You do not wish to be a borrower in service to a lender.

To help you become more thrifty, I offer this mental exercise. Think of yourself as Noah. What would you have done to obey God's command to extend your dominion, and your family's dominion, across the face of the earth? What attitude toward the future would you have had? That is the kind of attitude toward the future that you should have now.

If you are future-oriented, you will be a lender. If you are present-oriented, you will be a debtor. Choose this day which you would rather be.