The Eden ideal is humans peacefully co-existing with the animals, that's the Eden ideal.

On page 1, the ideal is that humans are placed in a role of responsibility for the animals

to rule them.

But that raises the question that's both ancient and modern about humans' relationship

to animals.

To rule the animals, what does that mean?

Hey, this is John at the Bible Project, and on this episode of the podcast, we're going

to continue a series that we just began on the Son of Man.

The Son of Man is a phrase that Jesus uses to refer to Himself.

It's a phrase that He got from a vision, a dream that takes place in Daniel 7.

And in this dream, there's a series of beasts, crazy animal-like creatures that represent

oppressive humans.

It's a picture of humans becoming animals.

And this isn't just a random image that the Bible uses.

It's actually a theme the Bible develops, starting in its very first pages.

The Son of Man theme is a way of thinking about the whole biblical story through the images

of humans and animals.

The Genesis chapter 1, God creates humans and animals on the same day.

And if you think about it, humans are kind of just a type of animal.

But according to the Bible, we're much more.

So very clearly, humans come from the earth, just like animals come from the earth, which

are similar.

...