Some thoughts on Genesis.

Why write " God said..." and creation happened? If we were telling the story we would say " and God made..." But God said emphases God’s command that it be so and it was exactly what he wanted and it was good. The Aramaic version of John chapter one has "willed action" or " manifestation" instead of "word" . There were three kinds of tree. All the other trees were food for the body, one gave life or food to the spirit, and one gave food to the mind or soul, to know or experience what was forbidden. It does not say it was the tree of everlasting life until after they had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Once they had eaten they knew all kinds of things that would bring death.(The first death - that of Abel was a murder by his own brother Cain.) This situation was brought about by the intervention of a third party - our weakness in being obedient is made worse by others involved - some times they make it almost impossible for us to do the right thing. And Adam’s protestation has some justification and also Eve comment that the serpent made her forget. The big question is - would Adam or Eve have eaten if there had been no serpent? All this happened before they had got around to multiplying - so eating the forbidden fruit was not the only thing in which they had disobeyed ; NOR was it the first. In ch .1 they had been told to multiply, subdue and rule. They did not subdue and rule the serpent - so the positive command was disobeyed BEFORE the negative " thou shalt multiply, subdue and rule" before " thou shalt not eat" . Perhaps they had also disobeyed in that they had not already eaten of the tree of life and if they had done so then maybe they would not have been able to be led to disobey in eating that which brought death? We do not know.

Everything that was made and is now is made from atoms and molecules of subatomic particles and what we see now, including our bodies has all been something also before.

God gave living things the power to make their bodies out of these atoms for them selves. Non-living things are changed by heat or pressure or chemical reactions in nature, but more often by man making them into things for his use.

Our bodies are only unique in the DNA which fashions them and has been handed down from Adam. Eve was almost identical with him having been taken from his body but with a chromosome change for gender. We borrow what is needed from the world and go on to be recycled too. This means that it is our souls or personality that is eternal.

Moses, or whoever wrote Genesis, was writing down what had been handed down from previous generations from Adam through Noah and Abraham and Jacob. But he also had the input from Egypt. Before the days of the exodus the Hycsos had come to Egypt from the Middle East - the shepherd kings. What had they brought from Canaan, Midian, and Sumer which was where Abraham had originated. ? This connection with the nomadic peoples of the Middle East could account for why the people of Abraham seemed drawn to go back to Egypt in times of trouble.

Would Moses have combined the two origins of understanding in his 40 years in Egypt and his 40 years in Midian? There was a pharaoh who brought back the worship of one God, reminding them that the other deities were just facets of His powers.

The significant part of the tree is the fruit, although leaves can be used for medicines. When the fruit is eaten the flesh gives life to the eater and the seed passes out to give life to another tree. So it seems the flesh of the fruit of one tree gives life but of the other comes death from eating.

In Egypt to eat of the tree of ASHERAH was to eat the flesh of the mother goddess and to gain knowledge of the tree of life. Asherah means happiness or good fortune. When you had eaten you became one with the goddess and shared in her resurrection. So maybe the two trees were from one root or trunk. This means the forbidden knowledge Moses was speaking of would come from the eating of the fruit of worshipping other gods; even if the other god is yourself. . The root or trunk of the tree is worship: but of the fruit of which branch will you eat..? Both look good to the eye and could bring happiness.

The story answers questions about how things are now : death, suffering, the hard life of most people struggling to make a living, pain in child birth, the relationship between man and woman, and both to God.

It also asks questions that are not answered. What if they had eaten of the tree of life first, or instead? Did God set them up to fail, knowing they would make the wrong choice? What exactly was the evil knowledge? (The Hebrew has "bad" which is not what we think of as evil) Was it sexual awareness and knowing they would die one day : a consciousness of self in a way animals seem not to have ?

The story does seem to be about vulnerability. This does not come out well in English. The word for "subtle" used of the serpent means naked - so it reads " the serpent was more naked than the other beasts of the field" Also the word for field means open and bare (as opposed to the area of the forest?) The word for serpent used is onomatopoeic - indicating it is hissing, and the word for beast can also mean " coiled and uncoiling" These coupled with the word for field "sde," which is also associated with " shedding," a picture comes in Hebrew which is lost on us of a possible shade of meaning like " a serpent hissing and coiling and uncoiling as it sheds its skin revealing its beauty underneath that was hidden before, but at that moment it is very vulnerable."

Eve sees an animal like her - it has no fur or feathers to protect it, but as it sheds its restricting old skin there is a new beauty. Does she think of what may be hidden from her in the fruit of the forbidden tree that perhaps she should have after all? She " forgets" what God has said will be the consequence. Certainly after eating they know - i.e. experience their nakedness and vulnerability: making their own decisions without God’s protection is frightening.

The skin represents the boundary- the serpent was shedding its boundary and suggesting she should do the same. Freedom from restriction seemed a good idea until they had it ;then it was frightening. Not only good things were available to them but bad too.

The field is a place of openness and freedom but also of being open to danger.

There are no trees.

The fruit of the tree gives continuation for that tree - there is death for plants as well as animals. It seems there was multiplying, but also death from the beginning. Death had to come as a practicality.

Adam and Eve had free will to choose to eat of either or both trees.

Perhaps if they had eaten of the tree of life they would have continued as they were.

They chose to eat of the tree that brought continued knowledge of things both good and bad, and dying from then on they would die, and their descendants, from early and horrible, painful deaths. The next thing in the story is a murder of one human by his brother out of envy for his relation ship with God.

Without total dependence on God to decide what was best for them in their vulnerability, their decisions proved bad - we always use everything for both good and bad.

It seems God allowed evil to be there for a purpose - to test whether they would obey and continue to worship only God, or would they worship another god; even themselves?

Importantly: God provides a covering for their nakedness - their vulnerability.

Where, in our Bibles, Cain seems t o protest that his punishment is too great to bear- it actually says " my sin is too great to bear." He realises what he has done and is sorry.

When God warns him earlier there are two ways to translate: which give a typical Hebrew paradox where both are true! It can read " sin is outside your door crouching ready to pounce on you like a wild beast as you go in and out" or " the sin-offering is lying as a sacrificial animal from the herd provided at your door for your going out and coming in" .

In both cases its desire is toward him and he can rule over it, but the sin-offering is provided to deal with the sin: both are at his door.

The strange thing is that Abel, who seems to have got it right dies, but the perpetrator of the crime, Cain, is protected by God from others killing him.

The word for skin used where God provides tunics of skin for the man and his wife means also nakedness,boundary, anxiety, covering, a hide (as in leather), even blindness (cannot see beyond). Its root is the same as for "eer" : a walled town.

So we have God providing a tunic to cover their nakedness (both from each other and from God) which is a boundary beyond which they cannot see, but covers their anxiety.

So God has made another boundary. Does this go with the cherubim and the flaming sword?

Death is the barrier to going back to Eden and the tree of life.

God had set a new (?) limit for them - beyond is the unknown.

They were covered and a barrier between each other and God, a separation, but it calmed their fear of being vulnerable.

When they had a blind faith in God they felt comfortable in their nakedness - now they know and see but feel uncomfortable and anxious because they have to make decisions with all this new knowledge. But death has become the great unknown. We do not know what lies beyond it. The flaming sword bars the way back to the tree of life.

Does any of this help to understand the book of Revelation?

There it is promised to those who overcome that they will have access to the tree of life, and not be injured by the second death, they have white linen for covering their nakedness, eye salve for their blindness and a new name. In the Aramaic version it is recurring death.

In Rev. 19 it says the righteous acts (works) of the saints is the white linen.

"avodah" in Hebrew means both work and worship. In the Aramaic it is blessings, which means bending the knee.(see "Blessings and cursings." )

In first letter of John he defines the overcomer as one who overcomes the world by FAITH.

Total faith in God was what Adam and Eve lost or forgot to practise or work or act out.

As the word for "word" can be the same as for "lamb" in Hebrew it is interesting to read Revelation substituting " word" for" lamb" . We then see the relationship between God, the righteous in their white robes,and the word of God which is true and faithful and overcoming.

The son of God walks among the menorah candlesticks of the true Torah (word of the law) practising assemblies.

In Genesis we see the seeds of the Mosaic law to come.

Noah knew which animals were clean, or unclean for sacrifice. I t is interesting that he took 7 times more clean animals into the ark than unclean.

Abraham was told to circumcise all the people in his household, including the servants not related to him. This is the forerunner of the law that all who ate of the Passover must be circumcised, even the sojourner with them.

When Abraham takes Isaac to be sacrificed he calls the place YHWH yire which means Yahweh will appear or be seen (comes from the root to see.) but can sometimes mean provide. But it also means the fear of Yahweh. This may explain the strange phrase later in Genesis about the" God of Jacob, but the fear of Isaac" . So what this play on words in the Hebrew is saying is here is the place where Abraham saw the way God would provide to cover the fear of Him for His people. It was to be by way of animal sacrifice not human sacrifice as the Canaanites did. This is very important because it is confirmed by the prophets that human sacrifice is an abomination to God. So it is very significant for Christianity which depends on a human substitutionary sacrifice. God does not change or lie so why does Christianity change all that He has said?

next section : Genesis 6