Genesis, the Shmita Covenant, and the Land Ethic

The Genesis texts in this study trace the devolution of humanity’s two most important relationships, the relationship with the land and the relationship with God. Specifically, whenever one relationship degenerates so does the other one. Alongside these two relationships, one also sees the human relationship with the animals changing, from one of intimacy to one of Γ’β‚¬Λœterror’ on the part of the animals as humans become predators.