By IkeChukwu Unegbe, Esq.
It is always the concern that the words of the Scriptures (the Bible) are frequently interpreted in narrow contexts by the readers and hearers, or in some cases, out-rightly misinterpreted; thereby denying many the spiritual benefits the words ought to convey. One such narrowly interpreted set of words are reflected in Genesis 9.1 (KJB): “ _And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.”_ Further in Genesis 9.7 (KJV), it states: “ *And you, be ye fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.”_* There are pretty more other verses of the Bible mentioning the same sense of the words echoing the blessings in terms of ‘be fruitful and multiply’ to mankind.
Those words have, however, only been interpreted in the narrow sense of physical procreation, population growth and expansion, and domination by man of all other creatures on earth, all in purely material sense. This age long interpretation is, with due respect to all who may subscribe to it, narrow and misconceived. Those quoted words do not really refer only to procreation and multiplication of human beings on earth; otherwise it would be termed discriminatory to those who, for one of many reasons, are unable to have children; and no blessings from God would carry such a discriminatory tone.
Let us re-examine the words again: (1) “ *Be* *Fruitful* ” and (2) “ *Multiply* ”. In plain natural logic, one must proceed first, before the other may follow. In other words, there must first be a ‘ *fruitfulness* ’ before the ‘ *multiplication* ’ can occur. Bear in mind that the words of the scriptures are meant to be viewed in their spiritual sense first before applying them to the physical manifestations.
In this regard, the address is directed at the earth man/woman, who are spiritual beings clothed in human physical bodies of flesh and blood. In all life events, it is the order of things that always the spiritual occurs first, before the physical may follow. That is why you could find words like “ _Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee”;_ clearly showing that all manifestations happen first in the spiritual before they cascade to the material planes of existence.
When a spiritual entity like man/woman is told to be ‘fruitful’ and ‘multiply’, the first focus should be on the ‘fruits of the spirit’, that is the virtues imbued by God Almighty, in all human beings, such as spirit of love, joy, peace/fairness, kindness/compassion, obedience, goodness, self-control, honesty, courage, etc. When these sublime fruits of the human spirit are allowed to germinate and take root within each person, then they would multiply automatically in our daily interactions with one another. Once this happens, the entire earth and its nearest surroundings would be over-populated with similar kinds of such sublime virtues, (think here of the spiritual Law of Attraction) and in their reciprocal effects completely influence all other creatures and existence.
This is what we should focus upon when reading those passages earlier cited and only apply the human population aspect as the least in import. Indeed, if we reflect deeply, the increasing population of humans on earth today constitute serious cause for worry and anxiety, as many of them are of evil dispositions, inwardly empty, bereft of any iota of humanity in them, hence barren and totally useless for the further evolution of the earth and human race. Poverty is rife on earth today because many human beings merely constitute themselves into ‘just statistics’, and contribute nothing of value. Whereas the situation would be classically different if the virtues were first cultivated, shared, and multiplied among earth men and women. Then, the longed-for paradise-on-earth would have since appeared. it
