Tag: Genesis 03

Categories
Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

Heaven in our likeness: Adam & Eve’s revolutionary views on God (Genesis 2–3; Isaiah 42)

Adam & Eve's revolutionary views on God: A timeless warning against creating Heaven in our likeness (Genesis 2-3; Isaiah 42)

God made mankind as the pinnacle of creation. He created us to aspire to do things beyond our reach, to learn about the world beyond our horizons and to change our environment.

Men and women are pre-programmed to seek out our purpose in relation to each other and to the world at large. This gives us the ability to either accomplish great good in the world or great evil.

And that’s where the lessons come in from Adam and Eve’s choice between the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life, recorded in the Torah reading רֵאשִׁ֖ית Beresheet (“in the beginning,” Gen. 1:1–6:8). We can learn from them to choose the path that leads to life, rather than the one that leads to death.

Categories
Discussions Torah

Eden’s two trees: Paths of life and death (Genesis 2–3)

Eden's two trees: Paths of life and death (Genesis 2-3)

It could be easy to dismiss as myth the Bible account of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2–3). Can god-like wisdom come from eating fruit from a special tree? How could the fate of humanity be tipped toward toil and sorrow just because Adam and Eve selected fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Bad versus the Tree of Life?

But this passage from the beginning of the Book of Beginning — בְּרֵאשִׁית Beresheet (“in the beginning,” Gen. 1:1–6:8) really directs us to the key question the Creator asked the first couple before and after their fruit selection: Will you choose life or choose death? Appeal, similar to what Moshe posed in Deut. 30:19 and what’s seen in the Book of Revelation, was presented physically in the form of two trees, both of which the Holy One created.

And this choice of the path toward life versus the path toward death is one that each of us have to keep making from one moment to the next.

Categories
Discussions Prophets and Writings

Hosea 1:1-2:4: Mercy in God’s uncovering our sin

Painting of the The Prophet Hosea and the Delphic Sibyl Fresco Borgia Apartments, Hall of the Sibyls, by Pinturicchio.

The promiscuous wife of a prophet of Israel and the mother of mankind walk into a Bible lesson…. The joke is on us if we don’t catch why the Hoshea (Hosea) was told to marry a harlot and connect her predicament of being discovered to the test given to Chavah (Eve) at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Bad (Genesis 3–4).

Here’s a hint: “Nakedness” is an important symbol of a spiritual condition used in teachings in the Hebrew and Apostolic scriptures.

You and I are similar to Gomer. When we sin, we want to “get away with it.” We don’t want our sin revealed. We still have to have control over our desires. 

Categories
Discussions Torah

Genesis 1:1–6:8: God commanded, but why should I listen?

If you were to chop off Genesis 1–5, you would not be able to competently answer this about the instructions and teachings of the Father and Messiah: “Why should I do that?” Two-thirds of children from Christian homes will walk away from their faith to varying degrees, and one of the main reasons for that fall off is they are not given honest answers about the authority of the Scriptures.

Categories
Discussions Torah

Genesis 1:1–6:8: The Creator shows why to ‘have no other gods before [Him]’

Fresco of God creating the sun, moon and stars. Fanefjord Church, Møn, Denmark.

Some Bible versions translate Gen. 1:1 as “In the beginning, God created…” or “In the beginning of God’s creating the heavens and the earth….” בְּרֵאשִׁית Bereysheet (Genesis) is not a science book. It is not designed to teach you how God created anything. The purpose of the beginning of Bereisheet is to teach us who God is, what He did and how powerful He is, much like Devarim (Deuteronomy) starts with reminding the people who God is and why the Ten Commandments say to have no other gods before Him.

Categories
Discussions Torah

Genesis 3:14-24 — Curses for Man, Woman & Serpent

https://hallel.info/wp-content/uploads/file/080927%20Genesis%203vv14-24%20-%20Curses%20on%20Man,%20Woman,%20Serpent.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 47:00 — )Subscribe: RSS  The curses on Adam, Eve and the Serpent are well-known but misunderstood. For example, how many snakes eat dirt? Is a husband to be a dictator for his wife? The original language of Gen. 3:14-24 holds the answers.

Categories
Discussions Torah

Genesis 3:7–14 — Adam’s & Eve’s eyes opened to their ‘nakedness,’ shame covered by prophetic fig leaves

https://hallel.info/wp-content/uploads/file/080906%20Genesis%203vv7-14.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:04 — 9.5MB)Subscribe: RSSWhy do the fig tree show up in the Genesis 3 account of Adam and Eve’s decision to pursue knowledge of good and evil? What does the fig tree symbolize throughout the Bible?