●
Yahweh will multiply hardship, pain and suffering in general, and the
raising of children in particular, in the lives of Adam and Eve.
●
Yahweh will multiply Eve’s pregnancies.
●
Eve’s desire shall be towards Adam and they are to rule together.
●
Yahweh cursed the ground in which the plants that are food for Adam and Eve grow.
Thorns and thistles will now grow among the food plants.
●
Adam will have to labor much harder to produce food.
●
Adam knows at some point in time he will die and become dirt again.
Now
let’s continue with the story (Genesis 3:20-24).
I
have been calling the humans Adam and Eve because those are the names
translators have used in English translations of the Bible American’s read. Those
names are not in the ancient Hebrew text, so you need to be aware of what they
were called in the ancient text until now.
●
The man was referred to as ADAM by the unnamed narrator of the
story. It means “a man.” When Yahweh made the woman, the man
called himself “ISH,” which also means “a man.”
●
The Hebrew word for woman is ISHAH, a word that reflects her
relationship to ISH.
I
will use those words when they appear in the story.
ADAM called his ISHAH’s name “CHAVVAH,”
because she
was the mother of all living (CHAYYAH).
He named her “CHAVVAH”
a Hebrew word related to the word CHAYYAH, which means “living.”
The word “Eve” comes from the Latin translation of this verse.
So, at this point in the Hebrew text we have an ADAM who called
himself ISH, and an ISHAH (named by ADAM)
and then renamed by him CHAVVAH.
Yahweh made
the ADAM and his ISHAH
garments of
skin and clothed them.
Next comes the most important verse in the story, however it is
completely unknown to readers of English translation. Below is the common
translation found in most Bibles.
Then
the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has
become
like one
of Us, to know good and evil.”
This translation raised that centuries
old theological question – Who is the “Us”? Since we us
linguistic models to guide us as we read the Hebrew text, the models produced the
translation below:
Yahweh the God said, “Behold, the ADAM
has become
like MIMENU,
knowing TOV and RAH.”
This is the seventh
appearance of MIMENU in this story, and in Hebrew when a
key word appears seven times, that means pay close attention to
it! The underlined words in the verses below show how translators
translated MIMENU.
1.
Genesis 2:17a - “you shall not eat “from
it” (forbidden tree).
2.
Genesis 2:17b - “in the day that you eat “from
it” (forbidden tree).
3.
Genesis 3:3 - “You shall not eat “from
it” (forbidden tree).
4.
Genesis 3:5 - " in the day that you eat “from it” (forbidden tree).
5.
Genesis 3:11 - “I commanded you not to eat “from it” (forbidden tree).
6.
Genesis 3:17 - ““You shall not eat “from
it” (forbidden tree).
If the translators had translated
verse 22 the same way, this is what your Bible would say:
Yahweh the God said, “Behold, the ADAM
has become
like the Tree
of Knowing TOV and RAH.”
The ADAM became like
the forbidden tree when he broke Yahweh’s commandment! He had produced “fruit
that was RAH” through his actions. RAH is the opposite of
TOV.
An act that
is RAH destroys lives, harms lives,
makes lives
less functional, and decreases the quality of life.”
In the first story in Genesis, God
introduced TOV into the creation through His acts. In this story a
man introduced RAH into the Yahweh’s Garden through one act. Or to put
it another way – God introduced good, and man introduced evil!
What Yahweh does next will probably surprise you. I will continue the story in
the next email.
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