Does God decide what is Right or Wrong, or should we?

We now begin moving into the next part of the story, this one tied into this second account using identical sounding Hebrew words, “arum.” Used to connect nude and shrewd, respectively. Since we are being introduced to the snake, a character with a dramatic appearance and disappearance, I think it is appropriate to properly introduce the snake without an overemphasis which would overplay its role. As many scholars have noticed and commented about, the creation account being “stolen” from Near Eastern, and/or Mesopotamian, mythology is understood best when approached by the scholars who accept this fact, but remain honest to the accounts and their particular examination. Then they encroach upon the subtle differences and dramatic alterations they make to the overall story's emphasis and intention. The snake is just such a character, in Near Eastern mythology [such as Gilgamesh], who represents death and immortality. This should be taken into account, as the story is in fact altered with the snake promising immortality while instead delivering death. Tied into this is the sexual overtones of the snake, which should not be overemphasized nor disregarded – as the age of accountability does come into play with the onset of puberty and thus sexuality (which is the prescription God establishes for the curse of death), creating a beautiful poetic bounce with the shameless nudity of humankind and the shrewd nature of the snake.

“Now the two of them... were nude (“arum”)...” This particular Hebrew word is the passive participle of root meaning shrewd (“arum”) - its short definition is man, and is used to mean prudent and sensible. The snake comes on to the scene introduced as “more shrewd (“arum”) than all the living-things of the field that YHWH, God, had made.” Interestingly, this is the primitive root and is active instead of passive, used to mean “become shrewd” and “make shrewd” with the connotation of being very cunning and offering crafty counsel. This active definition pours right into the very next line: “It said to the woman...” Here we witness active cunning, sensible, and crafty counsel aimed at making its receiver become actively sensible (shrewd) from their current state of passive sensibility (shrewdness).

“It said...

Even though God said: You are not to eat from any of the trees in the garden...!”

The woman said to the snake:

From the fruit of the (other) trees n the garden we may eat,

but from the tree that is in the midst of the garden,

God has said:

You are not to eat from it and you are not to touch it,

lest you die.”

Thus the crafty counsel begins, and we are given a look into the happenings leading up to a transgression against God's command. The first question, the first counsel, is “what do you know about God's command for your life?” And the woman's answer reveals the first mistake in avoiding a transgression against God's command. She doesn't know what God's command is. She mistakes the Tree of Life (a tree permitted by God) with the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (a tree forbidden by God). She mistakes what is permitted, with what is forbidden. The second mistake, is adding to God's command; adding a mandate of mankind to the command of God. Jesus found this extremely distressing during his mission, constantly attacking the Pharisees tradition constantly usurping the commands of God.

“The snake said to the woman:

Die, you will not die!

Rather, God knows

that on the day that you eat from it, your eyes will be opened

and you will become like gods, knowing good and evil.”

After establishing what the woman understood about God's command, the snake cunningly counsels her concerning something she doesn't even understand – allowing for many truths to now be construed deceptively. Die? You will not die responds the snake, not clarifying whether he is responding to her understanding of the Tree of Life in the midst of the garden, or the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil which they are within eye sight of. Rather, the snake says, God knows... - pointing to God as the authority of this command the snake is about to give - …on the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will become like gods, knowing good and evil. Notice here, how the snake mixes his counsel with the command of God, “their eyes will be opened” - mankind will stop being passive participants of shrewd sensibility and become shrewd active participants in crafty counsel through this new knowledge akin to the gods. One thing which should be noticed in the conversation, is the snake has not bluntly lied about anything, but used the truth to deceive the woman through her lacking knowledge of God's command.

This time, there is no response by the woman, but contemplation.

“The woman saw

that the tree was good for eating

and that it was a delight to the eyes,

and the tree was desirable to contemplate.

She took from its fruit and ate

and gave also to her husband beside her,

and he ate.

The eyes of the two of them were opened

and they knew then

that they were nude.”

Here comes the effect of twisted truth, God's commands misconstrued by His creation. Notice the man is beside the woman during this entire conversation – implying he did not remember God's command either. Thus, the deception begins... the tree is good for eating, just as God said when He finished His creating; it was a delight to the eyes, just as God said; the tree was desirable to contemplate, and now the woman's desire – her first acknowledgment of self – kicks in. Once desire mixed into the truths she observed, and this is why truth is not the only arbiter of God's commands and morality and why reason alone cannot bring us to a proper understanding of such morality, she accepts the deceitful truth of the snake and commits the only act forbidden to her by God. The immediate outcome was exactly as the snake promised – their eyes were opened and they knew then the knowledge of good and evil, they became active participants in the snakes counsel and their passive created sensible nature (aligned with God's command) was now an active participant in what was considered sensible by them – now aligned in defiance to God's command.

“They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”

This is really important to remember; humankind instantly recognized they were somehow wrong and had disobeyed the command of God. Not only did they recognize this, they attempted to rectify the situation – though they didn't know how. The upcoming conclusion is now close at hand.

“...they heard the sound of YHWH, God, (who was) walking about in the garden at the breezy time of day.

And the human and his wife hid themselves from the face of YHWH, God...

...God, called to the human...
“Where are you?

He [the man] said:
...I was afraid, because I am nude, and so I hid myself.
He [God] said:
Who told you that you are nude?
From the tree about which I commanded you not to eat, have you eaten?”

The scene is set, dramatically, the time is evening (“breezy-time”) and thus the sun is setting and the darkness is at hand as God walks about in the garden. Humankind is hiding from the face (“presence”) of God, a theme much returned to throughout the scriptures; people seeking God's face or hiding from it, God revealing it to them, or hiding it from them. God calls out to the human asking why he is hiding from His presence. Instead of confessing, the man merely exhibits his new nature: fear, nudity as an active disturbance in God's created nature for humankind (because man is not really nude but covered by loincloths, pointing to a deeper meaning), and the belief he can no longer be in God's presence. God responds, and how do you know this, hmm? From that tree I forbid, you ate, didn't you? God presses the man to confess, to acknowledge he wronged himself.

“The human said:

The woman whom you gave to be beside me...

...God, said to the woman:

What is this you have done?
The woman said:

The snake enticed me...”

The man immediately denies wronging himself, placing the blame on God for providing him with such a helper as the woman. God turns to the woman, looking for her to accept wronging herself. She points to God again, saying the snake enticed her by abusing her desire. God then turns to the snake, but notice he doesn't ask for any acknowledgment from the snake. God now issues justice and punishment.

“...God, said to the snake:

Because you have done this,

damned be you...

...dust shall you eat, all the days of your life.

I put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed (“offspring”) and her seed (“offspring”):

they will bruise you on the head, you will bruise them in the heel.

To the woman he said:

I will multiply, multiply your pain (“itzavon”) [from] your pregnancy,

with pains (“itzavon”) you shall bear children.

Toward your husband will be your lust [desire], yet he will rule over you.

To Adam he said:

Because you have hearkened to the voice of your wife

and eaten from... which I commanded you... 'You are not to eat from it!'

Damned be the soil on your account,

with painstaking (“itzavon”) labor shall you eat from it, all the days of your life...

By the sweat of your brow shall you eat...

For you are dust, and to dust shall you return.

The human called his wife's name: Havva / Life-giver!

For she became the mother of all the living.

...God, made Adam and his wife coats of skins and clothed them.

...God, said:
…the human has become like one of us, in knowing good and evil.

So now, lest he send forth his hand

and take also from the Tree of Life

and eat

and live throughout the ages...!

...He (God) drove the human out...”

Two issues of damnation are given, affecting the snake and the man all the days of their life. The snake shall eat dust, and the soil will bear food to eat only through painful labor. The consequence of death is the focus of God's judgment in these statements, and we find an immediate prescription to remedy it. To the woman, God issues the task of keeping humankind alive through bearing children, she “became the mother of all the living.” Both the man and the woman receive equal punishments of pain, making pain a part of life – bearing children will cause pain, and eating to maintain life will cause pain. The snake and humankind will now reside in constant enmity, bruising each other, but with the promise mankind will triumph in the end through future offspring. Then comes the closing of the curse, the consequence of disobedience – death. If ever you wondered why Jesus had to die on the cross to be the first-born of the resurrection, it is because of this curse - “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” And it is precisely this return to dust, this death, which the snake will eat, all the days of its life.

Once punishment is pronounced for their wrongdoing, God blesses humankind by clothing them. Here ends the second account. These two aspects of God, justice/punishment and love/blessing are not exclusive of each other and operate together throughout the scriptures. Notice here, the snake was telling the truth, though deceptively, and God acknowledges this by confirming the human has become like Him in knowing good and evil. It is for this reason, the active engagement in deciding what is right instead of following God's command concerning what is right, and the prescription against death through procreation, that humankind must be removed from the garden which contains the Tree of Life.

In the name of the God of us all, I beg you to forgive me if anything I have said in all these blogs is wrong. Please forgive me if I have made any mistakes. I am only telling you what came to my heart. I am only telling you what I understand in my innermost heart. I humbly ask the great, wise, learned ones to do this. If there is any fault in what I have said, please forgive me for the sake of God. May all the peace, the beneficence, and the blessings of God be upon you. Amen.

Humankind's Unique Place

     

     Moving into the second creation account, this time from the perspective of humankind, the literature must be examined as a poetic tale and therefore containing elements specific to this genre. This grammatical structure is revealed by the echoing of the word “eat,” whose connotation changes from sustenance (2:9,16) to prohibition (2:17) to misunderstanding (3:1-5) to disobedience (3:6, 11-13) and, ends with, to curse (3:14, 17, 19). The bridging of the two narratives in this account, from the creation of humankind to the introduction of the snake is accomplished using two identical sounding words in Hebrew, arum, meaning “nude” and “shrewd.” I stress the poetic nature of this account not to diminish the poetic and “order out of chaos” structure achieved in the previous account, but to focus on the message which is often lost when the poetry of this story is ignored in the pursuit of establishing theological theories.

This account, at its core, seeks to address the origin of the event most central to human consciousness: death. It makes connections, as in the book of Job, of knowledge and mortality within the human sphere being inextricably linked. That rebellion against God (and His established order), or disobedience of God's commands (which established that order), results in banishment, estrangement, and involves death (however the application occurs). Thus, from the very beginning, choice is the major element in human existence.

In Gen. 2:9, God caused to spring up from the adama (soil), “every type of tree, desirable to look at and good to eat, and the Tree of Life (conferring immortality on the eater of its fruits), and the Tree of the Knowing of Good and Evil (this being the first usage of the word Evil).” The Tree of the Knowing of Good and Evil has two interpretations, that of a merism, as in the “knowledge of A to Z” (of everything), or an expression of moral choice. Seeing as how the founding major element in human existence is choice, I envision the correct interpretation as being “an expression of moral choice.” Also with this understanding is the expectation of humankind being capable of following a command of God, which would undoubtedly require the knowledge of what it is commanded of them. Thus, in a sense, what pops out is the understanding that all mankind needed to know is what was Right and what was Wrong based upon the word (command) of God which established order and brought into existence the creation humankind dwells in. The Knowing of Good and Evil then boils down into what it really is, the expression of moral choice. Realize here, when the word moral is used it does not carry with it the implication of good virtue or righteousness, but the ability to express morality – something, when expressed as righteousness, already capable of being accomplished through obedience to the command of God.

     “...God, planted a garden of Eden / Land-of-Pleasure... and there he placed the human who He had formed.” “...God, took the human and set him in the garden of Eden / Land-of-Pleasure, to work it and watch it.” The beauty of the creation accounts are the nigh inexhaustible understanding gleaming through each telling of the story. The Garden of Eden / Land-of-Pleasure, the root here for pleasure being the same used by Sara in 18:12 as she laughs about her old age and the seemingly impossible pleasure of bearing a child. This root has direct connotations to sexual pleasure and pushes into the understanding of sexual pleasure the idea of bearing life. Here we can see the intense application of the above line: God blows the breath of life into the human being and he becomes a living being and then places him into the land-of-life-bearing-sexual-pleasure. God took the human and set him in this land of life bearing sexual pleasure to work it and to watch it. The pleasure of life is not found in only working it, through rote bodily mechanics and skillful application to get what one desires, but from watching it and appreciating its multiplicity of life bearing beauty. Neither can we only be mere observers, taking no part in the abundance of life bearing existence; we must delve into the work of life and express ourselves in its beautiful nature. This is part of what we were created for!

     The word for work used in the above verse is “avod” and different from the word used in relating God's work of creation, melakha. Avod means “serve” and appears throughout the book of Exodus. The Israelites must serve the Egyptians; they become "serfs." Moses uses the root word "avod" asking the Pharoah to free the Israelites so they can serve God. The wording shows the transition of the Israelites from serving humans to serving the Divine. Thus, the work of mankind is to serve God.

     Placed into this land of pleasure, mankind is now given the guiding principle for maintaining life and avoiding death. 

“YHWH, God, commanded concerning the human, saying:

From every tree of the garden you may eat, yes, eat,

but from the Tree of Knowing of Good and Evil –

you are not to eat from it,

for on the day you eat from it, you must die, yes, die.”

Here is a occurrence of poetry with the word “eat.” Here, the phrase “eat, yes, eat” literally means “eating you may eat” (akhol tokhel) and produces its meaning when combined with the command: Every tree you may eat, but eat not from the Tree of Knowing of Good and Evil, the day you eat from it, you must die. The word eat here embodies choice, the choice of life or death ( for through the action of eating, they are rendered a choice). God proclaims near the end of Deuteronomy in verses 15 and again in 19, “See, I set before you today life and good, death and evil...” and “I call-as-witness against you today the heavens and the earth: life and death I place before you, blessing and curse; now choose life, in order that you may stay-alive, you and your seed...”. The didache begins, “There are two ways, one of life and one of death...”. The central principle around which God's commands revolve has never changed and has been hearkened to by all the prophets of God.

Directly after this central principle is established, God declares (for the first time) something not good. His created human is alone. God sets about making “him a helper corresponding (literally, “opposite”) to him.” This dispels the idea of an androgynous human, complete until God removes from him to create another. Instead, the picture drawn is that of a human who is in need, and God doesn't think this is good, instead God creates an opposite, absolutely equal and absolutely different, counterpart. The lone human, Adam, operates a function of his image-of-God function and names all living beings, whatever name he pronounces becomes its name. The power of the tongue is operated for the first time. While this powerful interaction took place, the human found no helper corresponding (opposite) to him. What comes next is one of the most beautiful pictures ever painted about the essence of sexual love... and a guidance for the sexual relationship.

     “...God caused a deep slumber to fall upon the human... He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. YHWH, God, built the rib that he had taken from the human into a woman and brought her to the human.” The ribs, located under the shoulder, protect the heart and lungs, the house of the breathe of life. The ribs are a curved bone and if you were to try and straighten it, it would break. A woman is not to be straightened, but encouraged to develop her opposite, yet complimentary, being. Her place is not on her knees, but under your arm and close to the your heart. She is a helper and an equal and, as Adam states next, the best there is!

“The human said:

This-time, she-is-it!

Bone from my bones,

flesh from my flesh!

She shall be called Isha (woman),

for from Ish (man) she was taken!

Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and the become one flesh.”

Adam, the human, already realizes the profound connection implied, the coming together and clinging of bone and flesh, the becoming one flesh. One unit, one cohesive combination of opposites attracted together and meshed like polar opposites – fighting to stay connected, never apart.

     The central principle behind God's commandments: there are two ways, one of life and one of death, and God sets before you today life and good, death and evil. Now choose life, in order that you may stay-alive.

     This choice requires absolutely no prior knowledge of good and evil to understand. There is merely a right path, righteousness, and a wrong path, wickedness; translating into the simplest of terms, the choice of life and the choice of death. No disservice to you has been done by God, no inability on humanity's part to grasp the meaning of life and no life.

One can't walk away without realizing, God's first dissatisfaction with creation is a human being alone. And the best helper in this world, is your opposite. The key to a beautiful pleasurable relationship is this – Men, keep your woman as close to your heart (your life) as possible and do not force anything upon her, for she is opposite of you, and it is this nature which is central to helping you in the best of ways. Women, stay close to your man's heart (his life), protecting and holding it, and seek to help him in his goals with your unique qualities.

In my next blog, I will explore the next act of the story in humankind's creation account. The move from, “...the human and his wife, were nude (“arum”), yet they were not ashamed...” into “Now the snake was more shrewd (“arum”) than all living things...” and concluding with “The eyes of the two of them were opened and they knew then that they were nude (“arum”).”

Bereishit (at-the-beginning)

Not the beginning of time or creation itself, but the beginning of God's creating of the heavens and the earth. Starting with the creation of light and its subsequent separation from the darkness. Unlike commonly suggested by biblical theologians, I suppose who are worried to much with the realm of theory, the account of God's creating is not about ex nihilo (creation from nothingness) but God's bringing order out of chaos.

Let us begin with a fresh perspective. Genesis 1:1-2:4 renders an account “of God's creating the heavens [plural] and the earth” from a very interesting perspective, that of God Himself! Genesis 2:4b reiterates the creation account, but this time from the perspective of His creation - “At the time of YHWH (The Name, HaShem, Bismillah; a personal name from which creation can share a personal relationship with its Creator), God's making of earth and heaven...”. Notice the voice and perspective has shifted from God, who does not invoke His personal name when giving an account, to creation, who not only invokes their Creator's personal name but addresses the story of creation from their perspective – that of “God's making earth [first] and heaven (singular)...”

This perspective, of the first account, must be understood to be the perspective of the God's Spirit within Jesus as well; for Jesus had the Spirit of God (Ruah haKodesh, Ruhullah) within him. This demands a serious attention – What does God wish to share with us from His own perspective of creating the heavens and the earth?

The two creation accounts are commonly criticized by pseudo-scholastics for their clear differences, but this is a distinction of perspective and more importantly a distinction with a purpose, as all comprehensible stories deliver an intended message.

We are told: “At the beginning of God's creating the heavens (plural, God knows more than His creation) and the earth, when the earth (already existing) was wild and waste (tohu va-vohu – void, emptiness), darkness (already existing) over the face of Ocean (already existing; different word here from when it is later separated and gathered to become the seas – give attention to “the face of”), rushing-Spirit of God hovering [the word here suggests that of an eagle protecting its young (Deut. 32:11)] over the face of the waters...” - Gen. 1:1-2

Next comes the announcement of God's word – “God said: Let there be...! And there was...”. God's word is the vehicle through which He creates. “God saw the light: that it was good.” He looked upon His creating as a craftsman being pleased with His work. Notice here, that good is referred to – not created – and it is in reference to God's creating work – not with what already existed prior to the account.

“There was setting [erev], there was dawning [boker]: one day.” Dr. Benjamin Klar writes, "Early man viewed sunrise [boker] as 'leaving' and sunset [erev] as 'coming'. Even though normally we'd think it should be the opposite, they had the view that the sun slept in a 'tent' every night. It would leave the tent in the coming, and enter it in the evening." God entered [the state before He started creating], God left [this state]: one [calculable order] day.

God creates the light and looks upon it as good, then separates the darkness from the light and names them "Day" and "Night". God has addressed the “darkness over the face of Ocean.” Next, God addresses the face of the waters - “Let there be a dome [raki'a, literally “a beaten sheet of metal”] amid the waters, and let it separate waters from waters!” God literally beats apart the waters with His words, as a smith would beat a sheet of metal. “God made the dome and separated the waters... below the dome from... above the dome... God called the dome: Heaven! [singular, literally “the sky,” what creation addresses from their perspective in Gen. 2:4b]” Something very important to notice is God beating apart the face of Ocean, the face of the waters [the primeval waters, a common ancient Near Eastern mythology – symbolic of Chaos itself]. Second day.

We find in the account of creating, an attention to God bringing order out of the chaos. The next day sees two different acts of God speaking – God orders the gathering of the waters for the appearance of dry land, both of which He names. God has thus brought the face of the Ocean, the face of the waters, under His command (order). But God doesn't stop here, with the emergence of the dry land He brings forth growth (out of what was once chaos), “plants that seed forth seeds, fruit trees that yield fruit, after their kind, (and) in which is their seed...”. Third day – four acts of God's word.

Notice God does not just subdue the chaos, but brings forth growth from it. I like to call this part of the story – Act I.

God's attention returns to the beaten expanse – the dome. In it He creates lights (lamps) in the dome for the installment of day and night as signs for set-times, days and years, and light upon the earth. God placed the two great lights in the dome to rule the day and the night, “to separate the light from the darkness.” We witness God create the same separation of the light and the darkness, the same order, in the dome as in His presence. Fourth day.

God continues to address the beaten expanse – the dome – but this time directly to the groupings He created on the second day, the heaven and the waters! From the waters He brings forth life and the great sea-serpents [the rebellious primeval monster of Ps. 74:13 and much later those which arise in Daniel and Rev. to afflict the righteous of God] – these monsters were created by God and declared good. This is a peculiarity we must think very heavily upon. Within the heaven God creates all flying creatures. Here begins the first of three blessings in this creation account. “God blessed them, saying: 'Peru u-revu u-mil'u – Bear fruit and be many and fill...'.” Fifth day.

God's attention turns to the dry land – the earth – and we again witness two different acts of God speaking. God brings forth all wildlife life from the earth. But God doesn't stop here, with the triumph of life out of chaos God crowns His creation with humanity – and gives all of creation a glimpse of His image. “God said: Let Us make mankind, in Our image, according to Our likeness!” “So God created humankind in His image, in the image of God did He create it, male and female He created them.” Quickly, pulling from a injunction in the next creation account, Gen. 2:24 (after the humans naming of Woman and Man) - “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.” This embodies our first glimpse of the image of God. A One-ness [hence the Shema] which implies a Unity. Our image, Our likeness to He create it, male and female He created them. A hint of why the disciple John says, “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” God is Love – and love insinuates a unity. The second blessing with an addition, “Bear fruit and be many and fill... and subdue it!”

God order's the diet for all upon the earth - “all green plants for eating.” Upon looking at all His creating, God sees “it was exceedingly good!” “The sixth day.” – notice the two qualifiers “exceedingly” and “the” are deviations from the previous expressions in the account and underscore the sixth day as the crowning achievement and summary of creation. I like to refer to this as Act II - the end of creating, highlighting life out of order.

The last day contains only a blessing, the last of the three: “God gave the seventh day His blessing, and He hallowed it, for on it He ceased from all His work, that by creating, God had made. These are the begettings of the heavens and the earth: their being created.” I call this Act III - there was the three day unit of order and growth out of chaos, then the three day unit of life and God's image out of order, and now the giving of the three blessings.

God finalizes His act of creating with the installment of a numerically ordered week, a set-time, He bestows His blessing upon. God, indeed, is creating order out of chaos.

Our next account will be from the perspective of creation: “At the time of YHWH, God's making of earth and heaven...”

The Opening

     I am opening this journal to keep track of my studies in an orderly fashion... as I have lost so many notes and it is truly frustrating when I then venture to write about my understanding in a manner helpful. I'm beginning in Genesis with Everett Fox's scholastic and foundational translation of the Torah that stresses the Hebraic rhythm, allusions, alliterations, wordplay, and rhetorical underscores. This will be alongside the JPS translation of the Tanach and an ESV edition of the bible. 

     I plan to ravage the Torah not so much in a scholastic manner, or should I say theological approach aimed towards the establishment of a theory, as for the practical development of righteousness as Jesus (Dyeshua, Méleḫ ha-Mašíaḥ), and later Paul (Saul ha-Tarsi), would have us understand it.  I hope to be transformed by the authority of God expressed through the scriptures, having the weeds and thistles within my experiences rooted out so the beautiful flowers and fruits of my experiences can develop and shine as a mirror of the messiah, which will mirror God's word, love, and plan for humanity.

     I intend to avoid creating a form of entertainment out of the scriptures, and this is primarily why I took the time above to point out the problematic nature of theological discourse aimed at producing a "new" theory or concept.  America is a despot of entertainment and the desire lies in receiving some preferred form of such entertainment - to the point where all that is not entertaining is a drudgery endured to once again "enjoy" entertainment.  In relation to the scriptures, the danger lies in forming new "takes" / "theories" / "concepts" for the reader to then swirl around in their head for the entertainment it brings - abandoning it once it ceases to offer such pleasure.  In the end, this is mankind's methodology designed as a safety net for facing the true authority behind the scriptures - The God of all.  I urge you to avoid this pitfall, as it waylays the transforming power of the scriptures and keeps you from the renewal of your mind.  A necessity on our part in the occurring new creation.

Onward then, into Genesis.