The Literal Meaning of Genesis (continued)
BOOK NINE 87 ceding book about the twofold working of Divine Providence should be a help here.>* We must not suppose that the animals were brought to Adam as when hunters and fowlers seek them out and drive them into their nets when they engage in the chase. Nor was there a command spoken by a voice from a cloud in words which rational creatures on hearing would understand and obey. Beasts and birds have not received such power. But according to their nature they obey God, not by a rational free choice of the will but according to the plan by which God moves all creatures at the appropriate times. Although He is Himself unmoved in time, the angels who minister to Him understand in His Word what things are to be done at appointed times. And hence, without any temporal motion in God, the angels are moved in time to accomplish His will in the creatures that are subject to them.*°?
25. All living souls, not only rational souls as in men, but also irrational souls as in beasts, birds, and fishes, are moved by what they see. But a rational soul by a free choice of the will either assents to what it sees or withholds its assent. An irrational soul, however, is not able to make such a decision: according to its nature and character it is set in motion at the sight of an object. Furthermore, no soul has control over the objects that meet its vision, whether it is a question of the exterior vision of the eyes or the interior vision of the imagination, and the appetite of every living being is moved by what it sees. Thus, when these visions are brought about through the ministry of angels obeying God's wiil, a divine command comes not only to men and not only to birds and beasts but also to creatures hidden beneath the waters, like the sea monster that swallowed Jonah;®! and not only to these larger creatures, but even to worms. For it is written that God's command was given to a worm to eat the root of the gourd in whose shade the prophet had rested.°?
Now, God gave to man when He created him a power over the lower animals which he did not lose when he sinned, so that he is able to capture and tame not only cattle and beasts of burden, training them for his needs, and not only birds that he domesticates, but also those that fly at liberty as well as all sorts of wild beasts, and thus he is able to dominate these creatures