Always
watch for clues that reveal how much time passes in the verses of the Bible
that you are reading. Not only will this help you better understand the context
of what you are reading, it will make you aware of what happened in that period
of time. This will often help fill in blanks about what took place in that
period of time; it may also raise some very interesting questions.
And the man knew his woman Chavah,
and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. (Genesis 4:1a)
Remember
the Hebrew word YADA, which was translated
“knowledge” in the name of the
forbidden tree – Tree of Knowledge of TOV
and RA? It is translated “knew”
in this verse, but here it functions as a well-known euphemism for “sexual intercourse.” This is the first act of sex in the
Bible. It is also a good example how much time can pass in just one
verse. Let’s look at the things that took place in the lives of the man and
woman, beginning with the moment they were driven from Yahweh’s Garden Temple:
(1) The
man and woman were driven from the Garden.
(2) They
traveled from the Garden to the place where Yahweh created the man.
(3) The
man and woman had sex.
(4) The
woman became pregnant.
(5) The
woman gave birth.
Now
let’s consider what took place in the time period the above things happened and
the blanks they reveal. The first blank is the time it took the man and woman
to travel from the Garden to their new home – the ground where Yahweh made the man. Was it close to the Garden or hundreds of
miles away? Keep in mind that they had to walk to wherever it. It is also
important to understand that the moment they left the Garden was the beginning
of the transition into a completely new way of life. They had to find shelter, food,
and water to survive. They had to deal with pain for the first time as they walked
and worked. And then, they had to deal with the memories of what each one of
them did in the Garden – and memories of
what the other one had done -- that led to their pain! How often did that
subject come up? How many times did their conversations begin with -- “If you hadn’t done . . .!”?
Another
blank is the question of how they came up with the idea to have sex. Stop and
think about the physical mechanics of sex. What led them to do that the first
time? They had no parents or friends to explain “the birds and bees” to them. How
long was it before they came up with THAT idea? Were they sitting around a campfire one night and
one of them said to other – “Hey, I just
had an idea; you want to try something?” Another blank is did they have sex
during their trip or after they had settled in their new homeland?
All
of the above blanks about time are unknown, but, the moment she became
pregnant, we finally have a time marker we understand – at least nine months will pass until she gives birth. But, a lot of
new blanks pop up when we consider what happened in that time period. First, put
yourself in the woman’s shoes as each month passes and she experiences the changes
in her body – not knowing what is going
on. Next, put yourself in the man’s shoes as he watches those change. And
then, keeping in mind that they had no idea what was happening, she gave birth!
Think about what would have gone through each
of their minds at that moment! And, after all of that, how much longer did
it take them to connect the dots that sex caused babies?
As
you can see, when we become aware of how much time passes in the passages we
read in our Bible – even in just one
verse -- it will not only expand our understanding of the events that are
recorded, but raise other important questions. Now let’s take another look at
the verse above and the nine months of events recorded in it:
And the man knew his woman Chavah,
and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.
I
bet you think about the verse differently than you did when you read it at the opening of
this Bible study. Be sure to add this to your Bible Study Tool Kit and always
consider how much time passes in the verses you read from your Bible.
Shalom,
Jim
Myers
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