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Portion B'reshith
(In the Beginning)
Genesis 1:1-6:8
CHAPTER 1
1. Originally [b'reshith], Elohim formed the heavens and earth:
Originally: or "in a beginning". The word is based on "head", but comes from a root meaning "to shake", as a head of grain and the head of a human being can shake. The language indicates that it was the shaking of something that had existed before (see v. 2 and compare Haggai 1:6). In addition to making or “creating” men, this term “formed” is used of cutting down a forest to carve out more living space (Y’hoshua 17:18), and renewal of a pure mind and right attitude within a man (Psalm 51:10). This does not mean his old physical heart was taken out, but that something changed within him, and these usages all describe drastic changes in a thing’s form--the transforming of what was already present into something useful. Elohim is the title or category emphasizing the Creator's judgment, which comes out during each day of creation, when He looks upon His work and judges it to be appropriate. Elohim is a generic term that can also refer to a whole gamut of beings from angelic entities to simply human judges. (Psalm 82:6) It literally means "mighty ones", and is a plural word, but the verbs here are all singular, showing that YHWH (the specific name of this Elohim who created, as seen in 2:4) is so extraordinarily superior to His creation that a plural word is used to describe Him, much like the Queen of England’s quip, “We are not amused.” (See also note on v. 26.)
2. Now the earth had become a [chaotic] ruin and an [empty] desolation, with an obscuring darkness over the surface of a [primeval] depth; and a mighty wind was fluttering intensely over the surface of the waters.
Had become: the verb is not used if it simply means "was", with no change involved. (Custance) Thus the creation described here is really a reconstitution after some sort of catastrophic disaster--probably the judgment described in Yeshayahu 14:12ff and Y’hezq’el 28:13-19. In the Greek Septuagint (LXX), "depth" or "deep" is translated "abyss" (a scene of disaster or place of punishment). This would explain why the earth appears more ancient than the history of mankind that begins here. Yeshayahu/Isaiah 45:18 tells us that YHWH did NOT create the earth "a chaotic ruin"--the same word used here, which is the direct antithesis of the forming in verse 1. “Ruin and desolation” both refer to something lying in waste—which once had a shape but no longer does. (In Deut. 32:9 it describes a desert wasteland.) This is an aftermath, comparable to the result of YHWH’s vengeance on another occasion (Yeshayahu 34:8-11) when the end result is also chaos and emptiness—the same words used here. Obscuring darkness: like that which protected YHWH's people during the Exodus, in which we also see the other elements mentioned here of “an ancient wind”, water, dry land being brought out of the waters, confusion for the “villains”, and the revelation at daybreak that they were all dead. In that act, YHWH transformed a group of slaves into a new nation which would be an example of order to the world. (Ex. 14:19ff) A mighty wind: like a cleansing breath that allowed the world to start over. This sentence could read "a spirit of Elohim intervened deliberately upon..." There is no definite article here, and Elohim is sometimes used as a superlative adjective—i.e., an extremely strong wind. "Fluttered" can also be translated “hovered” or "brooded", as a dove waits over her hatched young until all is in readiness. (Compare Deut. 32:11, in which what took place at creation also takes place with Israel.) Elohim seems to be pondering how to bring order from this mess, for the word for “formed” in verse 1 often has the sense of conceiving the idea mentally and deciding to do it, a step that precedes physically giving it shape. A mystical retelling says the Endless One, wanting to share Himself, yet being all that there was, had no one to communicate with, so He created a "vacuum"--a space within Himself, which was "not Himself", so He could fill it with creatures who could know and enjoy Him. A mother's womb is an excellent illustration of this idea. Into this empty space, He sent a single point of light, the maximum amount of His nature that this new universe could as yet tolerate:
3. Then Elohim said, "Let there be light", and light came into existence.
Said: The Law of entropy says that everything when left to itself becomes more chaotic; the only exception is the life force, which creates more energy than it takes in. The first step in restoring order to a mess is to be able to see what we are dealing with, and for that we need light. YHWH spoke a word at the beginning of creation (2 Ezra 6:38, 43), and the word itself is described as completing the work or carrying it out. This separating of YHWH's word from Himself so that we could grasp something of His unfathomable nature was the first of many divisions that were part of creation, and the second is seen in the distinction made in verse 1 between heaven and earth. Thus began a great "expansion" seen over and over in this book, which continued with the distinction between Israel and the nations, the division of the Kingdom into "two witnesses" for YHWH, and He continues creating until a "fullness" is reached (Rom. 11:25), but then when it is at the limit, there is a rapid "contraction" back to the ancient ways is seen, culminating in Yeshua himself giving the Kingdom back to the Father after He puts everything under his feet, so YHWH may again be All in all (1 Cor. 15:28; Zkh. 14:9) Like a stretched-out rubber band, YHWH’s response to chaos is to expand the universe so that the surface can be drawn out, revealing more clearly what is already there at its heart (as a microscope does), so that what is hidden in the depths can be isolated and brought forth—or removed.
4. And Elohim gazed at the light, because it was right, so Elohim made a distinction between the light and the darkness.
It was right: Previously, light could not be distinguished from darkness. The light was there all along, but could not be seen until the right measure of expansion had taken place. Now it was no longer so gloomy, and some of the confusion was ended. He isolated the light from the darkness, breaking the unity that once existed, as a mechanic must take a damaged machine apart before he can repair it. It will all be put back together when the right elements are all reconditioned or replaced. He was sorting through the mess and setting things aside to be put back later. To bring order, we have to find light in dark, seemingly profitless places, and separate it out so there is clarity, for another event seen later in this portion has brought chaos to our world again. The epistle of Yaaqov (James) tells us to rise to the occasion rather than hesitating when the trials come, because they harbinger the drawing forth of patience which leads us to completeness and perfection. If we doubt, he says, we will be unstable like the waves driven by the wind (compare verse 2 here), and all we will experience is confusion. For the Kingdom to come—the ultimate restoration—we must get into the proper order. One does not light a match before gathering kindling and firewood, for the fire will go out too soon. The Torah is the road map to restoring that order.
5. And Elohim called the light "day", and the darkness He called "night". And there came to be an evening and there came to be a morning [constituting] one day.
Evening: the root meaning is "mixing" (of light and darkness) or "transition"; morning: literally, that which is sought after or looked for, when things are distinguishable from one another. This was prior to the creation of the sun, so the measure of time would have had to be from YHWH's own perspective alone. The biblical pattern from the start is that the day begins at sundown, with the evening first. Thus each day is a repetition of creation in which light shines out of darkness.
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6. Then Elohim said, "Let there come to be an expanse between the waters; let it divide the waters from the waters."
Expanse: space, vault, dome, spread or stretched-out surface "beaten out very thin"—i.e., an atmosphere.
7. And Elohim organized this expanse and divided the waters that were below it from the waters that were above it, and so it came to be.
Organized: or "made", but it is a different verb from "created" in v. 1. It means "produced", "prepared", or “accomplished”--i.e., He took the raw materials He had made and set them in their proper order. Waters...above it: This "firmament" has the sense of being solid in Hebrew; Donald Patten says there may have been a crystalline "window" of ice in a heat sink 11 miles above the earth's surface, where extra water was held in reserve for a special contingency (7:11). It would also screen out much of the sun's harmful radiation and produce a stable, “hothouse" climate, even-tempered throughout the world; this allowed for the radically-longer lives seen in the chapters ahead.
8. And Elohim called the expanse "Heavens", and there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
"Heavens": or "skies"; the word is dual rather than plural, indicating that there is a pair of two matching things that are described thereby. On the simplest level, it is the day sky and the night sky. In traditional Hebrew thought, it refers to the sky and something “behind” it, which in some way corresponds to it. Psalm 68:33 tells us that YHWH rides on the “Heaven of heavens”—a Hebrew idiom for a “heaven” superior to or higher than the one we can see—“which were of old”--at this most ancient point of the revealed history of the universe.
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9. And Elohim said, "Let the waters from under the heaven be gathered together into one place, and let dry land appear." And so it came to be.
10. And Elohim called the dry land "earth", and the gathering of waters He called "Seas", and Elohim saw that it was right.
Gathering: or pooling; Heb. miqveh, a term now usually used for ritual purification pools. The root word also has the sense of waiting in expectation, and from it is also derived the word tiqvah, or hope. The scene of punishment was washed clean of its defilement. There was already an earth in verse 1. Now He narrows its definition to the dry ground. Later, the same word would come to have the specialized meaning of the Land of Israel in particular. Seas is plural, but earth is singular, for it was not until the day of Peleg that the land was divided into the continents as we know them now. (10:25) Earth can only be unified again as Israel is unified.
11. Then Elohim said, "Let the earth bring forth tender sprouts, green plants that yield seed, and fruit trees producing fruit of its own species—whose seed is within it—on the earth. And so it was.
12. And the earth bore tender sprouts, the herb yielding seed according to its own kind, and the tree producing its fruit which has its seed in it according to its species. And Elohim saw that it was right.
13. And the evening and the morning became a third day.
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14. And Elohim said, "Let there be luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to divide between the day and the night, and let them be for signs and for appointed times, and for days and years.
Signs: distinguishing marks (see 15:5; Psalm 19:1; Rev. 12:1). So when we read of a “sign in the heavens”, we should look to these bodies, and interpret what is being communicated according to the characteristics associated with each in Hebraic lore. The Sabbath is also called a "sign" (Ex. 31:13, and like the new moon, it occurs at regular intervals, indicating that one of the things the signs communicate is that YHWH loves order, and when something disrupts it, it is “sign-ificant”. The root word for "sign" means "to be in agreement". In our day, when there are many calendars, only the sighting of the new moon can bring us to agreement on when a time or season actually begins. That is YHWH’s calendar rather than man’s; all it requires is looking at the sky and bringing some order and separation as He does. Appointed times: or appointments (Lev. 23:2), the first of which is the Sabbath (which begins in the next chapter), reckoned by cycles of the sun’s setting. The heavenly bodies were given not as things to be worshiped, but as reminders to keep YHWH's appointments. Years: the root meaning is "to fold over" or "reduplicate", since the end of the year brings us back to the place we began (though wiser). As the Hebrew root word for night means “a spiral staircase”, even YHWH’s calendar includes times of darkness which forge brighter light (like Hanukkah and Purim). Each time round we can bring more light out of darkness. How was there light before there were light-bearers? Gaseous nebulae do give off light before they form into stars.
15. "And let them come to be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to illuminate the earth", and this is exactly what took place.
16. Moreover, Elohim appointed the two great luminaries, the greater one to govern the day, and the lesser one to govern the night, and also the stars.
Even among the “monotheistic” religions, much of what Christianity has become is based on sun-worship, Islam has moon-worship at its root. The later Hebrew terms for the sun and moon are simply “the servant” and “the white one”. They work for YHWH; He does not work for them. They are only to rule the times and seasons, not us. They tell His story (Psalm 19), tell us when to plant and harvest, and show what is going on in the unseen realm that will soon be manifested in the physical world. We are to watch them, like a clock, for they affect our lives, but we are not to fear them. As the one actually reflects the light of the other, we, too, can be the "light of the world”.
17. And Elohim provided them to give light on the earth through the expanse of the heavens,
What is heavenly is meant to shed light on earth; what does not is of questionable value. Through: to translate it “in” would suggest that the sun and moon as well as all the stars were actually within the earth’s atmosphere rather than just visible through it. The waters above the atmosphere might have made the atmosphere translucent rather than transparent for the first 1656 years (7:11). But the refraction from the waters also spread (diffused) the light in a more consistent and usable way for our benefit.
18. to regulate the day and night, and to make a distinction between the light and the darkness; and Elohim saw that it was right.
19. And the evening and the morning became the fourth day.
A 6,000-year-old universe need not conflict with the appearance of age. Trevor Norman and Barry Setterfield compared 163 measures of the speed of light through the centuries and found it (well beyond expected margins of error) to be slowing down in a cosecant-squared curve. Graphs of "light-year"-based accounting and earth-revolution-based time converge about that long ago by this measure. The electric permittivity of space has not changed, but the magnetic permeability has been "stretched out" (cf. Yeshayahu 42:5; Yirmiyahu 10:12). The reason for such universal entropy is found in. 3:17ff.
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20. And Elohim said, "Let the waters teem with an abundance of lively animals, and let birds fly above the earth, upon the face of the expanse of the heavens.”
The first place we see life is in the waters. Then we see birds. This order of events reconciles with what science has been able to legitimately hypothesize. Lively animals: literally, "swarmers having a soul of life", with the nuance of merriment; LXX, reptiles. Face of the expanse: i.e., the inner atmosphere, the “sky”.
21. Then Elohim created the great reptiles, and every amphibian with which the waters swarmed, each according to its category, and every species of winged bird according to its kind. And Elohim looked [intently] because it was right.
Reptiles: alternately translated elsewhere as dragons, serpents, or sea monsters. This may be a reference to dinosaurs. The Hebrew word is taninim. Most Scriptures about them hearken back to the Exodus and are associated with Pharaoh (Ex. 7:9; Y’hezq’el/Ezk. 29:3; Psalm 74:13, 14; Yeshayahu 51:9), yet they are called "ancient", which suggests a connection with this creation account. Is this describing the age of dinosaurs before the age of man’s supremacy? But as in the targum, Yeshayahu 27:1 speaks of YHWH again punishing and slaying them "in that Day", an idiom for the Messianic Kingdom. So there is something behind Pharaoh that both predates and outlives him and remains YHWH's enemy throughout history. According to its kind: Cross-bred species like the mule are possible but last only one generation, being sterile.
22. And Elohim blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the sea, and let the birds multiply on the earth."
This is the first blessing and also the first command to living things. He makes them able to procreate, and expects them to. Indeed all creatures have within them the desire to do so, and if we are walking in His Torah in other areas, this is indeed a blessing. We need to look at all of YHWH’s commands not as rules, but as special gifts.
23. And there were evening and morning, the fifth day.
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24. And Elohim said, "Let the earth bring forth living animals as befits its nature: quadrupeds, creeping things, and, from the earth, its living things, each after its own kind.” And so it came about.
25. And Elohim fashioned from the earth its living things, and likewise the beasts, as well as everything that moves on the ground, each reproducing true to its own kind—and Elohim saw that it was right.
From the earth: Again we see another aspect of creation being drawn out of something that was visible earlier. Does this just mean He made animate creatures from the same elements as the soil and added the aspect of life? The point of this account is not so much to enable us to explain the mechanics of creation, but to see this as something not just historical, but ongoing, and to discover what it tells us about our part in carrying it on. Whatever He tells us that He wants us to do, He gives us the raw materials for in advance, whether they be motivation, energy, resources, or an open door.
26. Then Elohim said, "Let Us make Mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness—and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and the birds of the heavens, and the beasts, and all the earth, and all the living things that crawl upon the earth."
Us: not to be read as a literal plurality, for every other deity worshipped by the pagans is called an elohim as well (1 Shmu’el 5:7, 1 Kings 11:33), and each was considered a singular entity. Rule over: guide toward the fullest potential and benefit of all.
27. So Elohim created the Man in His own image. In the image of Elohim He created him; male and female He created them.
Man: Heb., Adam, which includes the concept of a single particular person (“him”) or the entirety of Mankind (“them”). At this stage both were the same. The "Ancient Adam" once bore the "full image of YHWH", which has in it both masculine and feminine qualities, until the two were separated (see 2:21 below) in order to be able to voluntarily come back together.
28. And Elohim blessed them, and told them, "Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and bring it into subjection to yourselves, and rule over the fish of the sea, and the birds of the heavens, and over all living things that crawl on the earth."
Fill: or (in light of v. 2), "replenish" (as also used in 9:1, after the Deluge when a new beginning is also needed). This suggests that the rest of the world remained ruined and chaotic, and this was the only place that was suitable for man to inhabit. But it was not meant to remain that way. As man multiplied he could take the lessons learned here in the prototype and transform the rest of the world into something useful and habitable. “In multiplying and filling the earth, he was not merely to spill out over the boundaries of the Garden, but to expand the Garden as he himself expanded. The whole world was to become an Eden.” (Custance)Bring into subjection: subdue, have dominion over, not forcing our way to their detriment, but making sure they are properly cared for, like a shepherd. YHWH gave humankind, unlike the animals, responsibility over other things.
29. And Elohim said, "Here, I have given you every seed-bearing herb on the face of the earth, and every tree on which there is seed-bearing fruit; this will be your food.
This will be your food: After another great reworking of the earthly order, meat would also be permitted (9:3), but limits are also placed on which types of meat anyone wanting to be in covenant with YHWH will eat (Lev. 11:3ff). Seed-bearing fruit: or, fruit with its seed in itself—the seeds themselves being a source of protein and anti-disease agents.
30. "Also, to every earthly creature, and to every bird of the heavens, and to every creeping thing in which there is a living soul, [I have given] every green plant for consuming." And so it was.
One day the scenario seen here will be restored, during the Messianic Kingdom, and the animals will again lose their taste for blood. (Yeshayahu 11:6; 65:25) Even now, when conditions allow them to be content with other foods, animals raised in captivity refuse meat when offered it. (Custance) However, to keep this in perspective, the Messiah also both ate and cooked fish after his resurrection. (Luke 24:42; Yochanan 21:9-10)
31. And Elohim looked at everything He had made, and, behold, it was just right. And evening and morning became a sixth day.
Sixth day: Gerald Schroeder masterfully shows how since the “big bang”, the universe has been expanding, and, (as Einstein showed) time is relative; therefore, looking forward from the starting point, YHWH experienced it as 6 days, whereas if we look back, after time has stretched out to the extent it has, we see it as 14 to 15 billion years. There need be no contradiction if we think of the one sending the message doing so while time was yet compact, though we do not receive the message until it has, with the whole universe, spread out thus. Schroeder, in The Science of God, also correlates events in the geological record with this description of the six days. The reason six is “the number of a man” (Rev. 13:18) is because man was created on the sixth day. Just right: This is due to the creation of Adam, whose job is to bring order to all the rest of creation. Everything was now put together, and the whole was greater than any of its parts. Note the parallels between the two sets of three days in creation:
Day 1 - lights; Day 4 - light bearers
Day 2 - heavens and waters; Day 5 - their inhabitants
Day 3 - land; Day 6 - its inhabitants.
CHAPTER 2
1. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, along with all those that issue forth from them.
Those that issue forth from them: or, are mustered; literally, armies or soldiers. He had called up all the “troops” He might need for His purposes in this world.
2. On the seventh day, Elohim fulfilled the workmanship that He had been constructing: He ceased on the seventh day from all His work that He had accomplished.
He fulfilled His work by pausing to enjoy it, and so should we. This way He can actually enter into what He has created. There is more provision as we shut out the other days; sealing off the Sabbath creates a window by which we can receive from the seventh millennium, which it foreshadows (see note on 1:19), for there “remains a [Sabbath] rest for His people”. (Heb. 4:19) It is the training ground for that Kingdom. Ceased: the verb form of “Sabbath”. "Workmanship" (mal’akhah) can also be translated "message", because the creation is our teacher. It is from the same root word as a messenger—one who represents someone else. It is the type of work which we do for someone else or to represent someone else for the sake of pay. There is another Hebrew word also translatable as “work” (avodah), and it means service, the kind of work we do without the intent of receiving something back. This kind of work remains valid on the Sabbath, as the priests and Levites worked twice as hard in the Temple on this day. By stopping the mal’akhah, we make room for more avodah. To participate in the Sabbath makes us its co-creators as we build what Rabbi Heschel has called "a palace in time".
3. And Elohim gave the seventh day His blessing and set it apart [from the others], since on this day He had rested from all the work in which He had [been] shaping to produce.
It is not “a seventh day”, but “the seventh”, for if we decide where to start counting, we are not following the pattern. We must start where YHWH starts. The holiness of the Sabbath was established from the very start. He blessed it but did not tell it to multiply this time, for there is only to be one Sabbath each week; without common things to be set apart from, nothing can be holy. This blessing belongs to no other day. YHWH Himself established the Sabbath, and no one has the right or authority to change it. Yeshua certainly did not; he made it his habit to be in the synagogue on the Sabbath. (Luke 4:16) If we are his followers, so will we. To be in tune with YHWH, we must rest when He rests. If we try to keep the appointment at a different time, we will not find Him when we get there. The Hebrew word for “commandment” also means “order” in a military sense, but more. With every one that we obey, we bring more order back into the world and repair what is broken. His commands may seem restrictive, but only in the sense of being guard rails that keep us from danger so we can travel safely. Kerry Alexander points out the parallel between the prohibitions of work on this one day (a test, Exodus 16:4, 25; 35:2) and of eating the fruit of just one tree in the garden (v. 17 below). “He who watches Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps” (Psalm 121:4). Yet He can rest and be refreshed (Ex. 31:17). If we join Him in taking this break, we can be more fruitful when we begin working again. Yeshua said, “The Sabbath was made for man.” (Mark 2:27) It is a specially-crafted gift from Him, which is all the more reason we should not despise it. Psalm 33:6 tells us that “by the Word of YHWH were the heavens made, and all their hosts by the breath of His mouth.” Most interestingly, a group of Jewish scientists called Gal Einai notes that up to this point there are 92 unique Hebrew words (different root words, though they may be used in several different forms). There are also 92 naturally-occurring elements in the periodic table (those not modified by humans in any way as some of the other elements are). “The 92 distinct roots of the story of creation are divided such that the first 86 appear in the verses relating the first six days of creation (Genesis 1:1 through 1:31), while the last 6 are found in the verses relating the Sabbath (2:1 through 2:3). This motivates us to correspond the 6 noble gases with the 6 distinct roots found in the Sabbath section in Genesis, while the remaining 86 elements will be corresponded in order to the distinct roots found in the 6 Days section of Genesis.” The “noble” gases are the most stable—“at rest”—corresponding with the creation of the Sabbath!
[YEAR 1 / 4000 BC]
4. These are the births of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the Day when YHWH Elohim set the heavens and the earth in readiness,
Births: or generations, begettings, i.e., history. YHWH: the name by which Elohim revealed Himself. (Yirmeyahu 16:21) Though opinions as to pronunciation vary, the archaeologists most skilled in ancient linguistics say that Yahweh or Yahuweh is most likely the way it was said during the Biblical times; Yehowah is also arguable, since names derived from His begin with Yeho- or end with -Yahu. Its usage was later forbidden (due to influence from Babylonian customs). The only reason to follow this taboo is if its use would be flippant. Scripture rather tells us not to “make His Name nothing” (Ex. 20:7), which both abusing it and refraining from speaking it at all would do. Find the right balance. YHWH Elohim: This combination of name and title highlights His attributes of both judgment and mercy.
5. when there was not yet any shrub of the field upon the earth, nor had any plant of the field sprung up, for YHWH Elohim had not yet sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the soil.
Till: literally "work" or "serve" (from the same root as avodah). Upon the earth: i.e., on top; the plants had not yet sprung up, but they may have been present in the soil in seed form. Being diligent to find and bring forth what is hidden inside is one way we continue the process of creation. (Prov. 25:2-3) This is a flashback to the third day, where the structure of the account did not lend itself to stating this detail of the separation of the waters above from the waters below.
6. But a mist ascended from the earth and watered the entire surface of the ground.
7. And YHWH Elohim formed the man [adam] from the dust of the ground [adamah], and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man came to be a living soul.
Breath [n'shamah]: from the idea of panting; exhaling as opposed to inhaling. In Hebrew anthropology it is something included in the direct image of Elohim having to do with intellect, distinct from and higher than the kind of soul (drive, appetite) that animated the other creatures, and the ruakh or spirit (which has to do with the sensory aspect of breathing, smell, thus the part of the “soul” that exercises judgment). Having YHWH’s own breath gives us more in common with Him than the beasts have. (cf. 6:17) It is sometimes called the "second soul", now said to be imparted to man only on the Sabbath day so as to be better able to commune with YHWH, as a foreshadowing of how His full image in us will be restored in the 7th world “day”, the Messianic Kingdom, which was begun by a similar act by the first to be resurrected after having kept the image of Elohim intact all of his life, unlike this Adam, and thus able to impart this newness of life to those who dare to come close to him. (Yochanan 20:22) It can then be strengthened in each of us to the extent that we give it space to do so. Dust: tiniest particles, possibly a description of atoms. Living soul: Aramaic, a spirit uttering speech.
8. Now YHWH Elohim had planted a garden in Eden from the east, and there He placed the man whom He had formed.
East, not north, is the true "orientation" in Hebrew thought. But at root the term “east” (qedem) means "ancient", so this garden could have been planted from a remnant of the world that had preceded this one, the seeds being still left in the soil, as verse 5 suggests. All the Aramaic targums take it this way. It is from a place closer to the essence of Him who is called “Ancient of Days”. "Eden" means luxury or delight—what YHWH originally intended for us. The man was not formed from the ground IN the garden, but outside it, then put into the garden. (3:23)
9. And YHWH Elohim caused to spring up from the ground every kind of tree that is aesthetically pleasing, and appropriate for food. The Tree of Life was in the middle of the garden, as was the Tree of the Knowledge of Right and Wrong.
How YHWH treasured this epitome of His creation, to put him in such a special place prepared long beforehand, like a husband planting and walling off a pleasure garden for his wife, then presenting it to her as a gift. YHWH had now breathed something ancient into the man as well, and put him in this place full of life that emanates directly from YHWH. There are also some implied contrasts here. The Tree of Life was apparently not aesthetically pleasing. Taking hold of life as YHWH intended it does not look pleasant to our fleshly eyes, but once we embrace it, like the Sabbath and all of the Torah, it is the most delightful thing.
10. And a river went out from Eden to water the garden, and from there it was divided and became four heads.
The imagery of four heads shows up often in Scripture: notably the beings called kh’ruvim, which first appear in chapter 3. (Yechezqel/ Ezekiel 1:6; 10:14; Rev. 4:7). A river that divides rather than converging is an example of how the earthly is the mirror image of the heavenly. Hebrew tradition says the garden hovered directly over Yerushalayim, based on Psalm 122:3, which calls it “city joined together”. Here it is said that heaven and earth meet. This is substantiated in verse 13 below. Y'hezq'El (Ezekiel) 44 tells us that in the Time of the Restoration of All Things, a river will again flow from the Messiah's throne—where else but in Yerushalayim?--and divide into two flows, eastward and westward.
11. The name of the first was Pishon ["spreader", "increase"]. (It is the one that makes a circuit encompassing the land of Chavilah, where there is gold,
Targum Neofiti identifies Chavilah as India. Chavilah was one of the sons of Kush (10:7), and there is a mountain range named the Hindu Kush. Nimrod, who built Babylon (10:10), is also a descendant of Kush, yet is not listed with the rest of his sons. Since we are not certain who his direct father was, this verse suggests that it was Chavilah.
12. and the gold of that land is excellent; there are also bdellium gum resin and onyx stone there.)
Bdellium: The root word is the same as the “distinction” between light and darkness seen in 1:4.
13. And the name of the second river is Gihon ["Gusher", "bursting forth"]. (It is the one that surrounds the whole land of Kush).
Gihon: Hizqiyahu/Hezekiah channeled this river right into the city to enable it to withstand an Assyrian siege--a picture of hiding YHWH's Word within our hearts so we have access to it under any circumstances (Ps. 87:7; 119:11; Yoch./John 7:38). Its terminus formed the Pool of Shiloakh ("sent"), where healing was found when Yeshua sent a blind man there to wash (Yoch./ John 9:7). This internal water source travels underground and remains hidden until it reaches the place it is needed. Thus it pictures the waters of Eden, which are now hidden, but will re-emerge when the time comes for full healing and restoration. (See note on 3:24.) Again, Nimrod (v . 11) was a Kushite. In Mikha 5:3ff we see the Messiah defeat “the land of Nimrod” (5:6), founder of paganism, and Yirmeyahu 51:41ff tells how Babylon would be judged, allowing Israel to go freely back to her Land. The names of all four rivers carry the theme of expansion (see note on 1:1), but this one circles back like a lasso, picturing how by heading back to our origins as Israel, we can strangle the influence of Nimrod, which is still strong today. These rivers flow apart, but by definition they must reconverge; the root meaning of “river” (nahar) is to flow together or to assemble. Psalm 122:4 tells us that Yerushalayim is the place the tribes will come up to and where the thrones of judgment are to sit. The Torah goes forth from here, and the result is that all nations will flow up to it, and the creation will be put back in order. (Yeshayahu 2:2ff) Everything that was drawn out from here will return here. Adam could freely go back and forth from the garden to govern the earth that he was given charge of. But where is this garden now? We will see the return of this river when the Kingdom is reestablished on earth. (Y’hezq’El/Ezekiel 47)
14. And the name of the third is Hiddeqel ["rapid"] (it is the one going east of Assyria), and the fourth river is the Ferath [Euphrates, or "Fruitfulness"].
Hiddeqel: the Hebrew name for the Tigris. The meanings of the names of the four river branches (increase, bursting forth, rapid, fruitfulness) reiterate the only command that had been given to mankind thus far, and His first blessing, already spoken, thus comes out of this “river of life” which is not part of this creation, but flows into it. The restoration back "upstream" to Eden will also take place "in rapid succession". (Rev. 1:1)
15. And YHWH Elohim took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden, to cultivate it and care for it.
The term here for “care for” or “keep” (shamar) literally means to guard it. We are likewise told to guard both the Sabbath and the commandments. (Deut. 6:17ff) So they are gates that lead us back to the Garden.
16. And YHWH Elohim gave the man orders, saying, "You may freely eat of any tree in the garden,
17. " "except [that] of the the Tree of the [Experiential] Knowledge of Right and Wrong you may not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you will certainly die."
YHWH did not intend for us to make this distinction. (Compare verse 25.) We have come to see individual actions or words as right or wrong, wanting to be individual moral agents in our own right. He instead wanted us to remain in relationship--to make each choice based not on an impersonal code, but on love for Him and for one anothe rand direct obedience to whatever He might say today. Everything was to be seen as useful at its proper time. (Qoheleth/Ecclesiastes 3.)
18. And YHWH Elohim said, "It is not fitting, the man in his aloneness. I will make a helper suited to him."
This is the first thing declared to not be right, for who can we then serve? As individuals we cannot fully follow YHWH. To get back to the ancient place, we need to recognize that we need help. Suited: correlated as a counterpart, or "opposite"; Pseudo-Jonathan, a support alongside him. This is seen in the opposing sexual complementation, but Avi ben Mordechai also brings out the sense in which the wife is "opposed to" her husband, as a paper held in the air is too flimsy to write anything on, but when there is something to prop it against, it becomes useful rather than existing abstractly as in a vacuum. The opposing pressure keeps him in the upright position. If she were just like him, they would both fall into the same traps. He needs her different perspective on things to keep him balanced (but never through nagging—because he reserves the right to decide which aspects of her unique angle on things will be used. She will think of things he never could. He is not obligated to go with them, but where her views are wise, why wouldn’t he?) The Hebrew word for “bride” (kalah) also means “one that completes”. The “helpful opposition” (which includes some critique and rebuke) is about upholding one another, not belittling each other’s differences.
19. And out of the ground YHWH Elohim fashioned every living being of the field and every bird of the heavens, and brought each to the man, to see what he would call it. And whatever the man called each living being, that became its name.
20. And the man gave names to every animal and bird of the heavens, and every being that lives in the field, but as for Adam, no helper suited to him could be found.
The memory and insight required in classifying so many creatures demonstrates Adam's original mental capacity. Naming also implies authority over the one named. But Elohim's main purpose here was to show Adam that he had no counterpart as each of the animals had. His recognition of this is evident in v. 23. The Hebrew pattern is to put the syllable –ah at the end of the masculine name when its feminine counterpart is named. But adamah already meant “ground” or “soil”, and this clearly, though like a mother to him, was not his spouse!
21. So YHWH Elohim caused a deep numbing to fall upon the man, and he fell asleep. And He took [out] one of his ribs [sides]. Then He closed up the flesh in its place.
Numbing: trance or deep sleep. The "sleep" of the Second Adam was also necessary for his bride to be formed. The same term is used in Yeshayahu/Isaiah 29:10, the verse that Sha'ul quotes in Romans 11:8 in speaking of the "spirit of insensibility" that came over Israel so that YHWH could have two kinds of witnesses. Ribs: translated "sides" everywhere else the term is used, having to do with the sanctuary or its implements, so not only a bone, but a psychological "side" of him also, was made into another person, so that he would not be alone and so that each mindset could be carried to its full extent, much as the separation of the two houses of Israel was "of YHWH" (1 Kings 12:15) and enabled two themes of His to be taken further, though it caused a great lack of unity when each tried to act on its own rather than in tandem. Closed: stopped up, repaired, or replaced the missing side with flesh--which often biblically means carnal desire or over-fatness (especially over the "heart", needing to be "circumcised" away)--possibly the reason men are generally less spiritually sensitive than women and need more reminders to be holy. A wife is given to lend men support in the battle against their own flesh.
22. Then YHWH Elohim built up the side that He had taken from Adam into a woman, and brought her to the man [adam].
23. And the man said, "[This time] At last, this is now bone from my bones, and flesh from my flesh! For this one, the name shall be 'Woman', because this one has been taken out of man!"
Bone: can also mean "body (part)" or "the selfsame" or "bound tightly to". Flesh: basar, which can also mean "glad news". It certainly was to him! Woman: Hebrew "Ishah", the feminine form of "ish", not adam.
24. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cling closely to his wife, and the two of them shall be turned into one [unit of] flesh.
Thus the image of Elohim was divided, and no longer could any one person bear the complete image unless they were brought back together to operate in unified symmetry. Their flesh is intertwined, but they are not one soul. The two are meant to combine their differences in a special way to serve YHWH’s purposes. Finding one’s “soulmate”—one who thinks just like him—may not be so helpful after all, and may actually only be an excuse to be unfaithful to the one YHWH has joined him to. Leave: His parents have helped balance and support him, but now he must transfer this job to his wife. This argues against both polygamy and celibacy. Cling: cherish her, considering her a part of himself.
25. And both the man and his wife were naked, yet they were not ashamed.
They were vulnerable (another meaning of "naked" in Hebrew) but neither did anything shameful. The closer we move back to the kind of fellowship YHWH had with Adam, and the priorities and lifestyles that come with it, the less shameful it will be to bare our souls, for the less and less greed and selfishness we will have to hide. They did not see any potential for the kinds of abuse that now ruin nearly every attempt to highlight the aesthetic beauty of the human body. (See 3:7.) Right and wrong were not yet separate concepts, for their minds and hearts were still innocent, not having eaten of the Tree that so seductively promised to let them in on that secret:
CHAPTER 3
1. Now the serpent was more crafty than any living creature of the field that YHWH Elohim had made. And he said to the woman, "Although Elohim has said, 'You may not eat from any tree of the garden'…"
Serpent: literally whisperer, practicer of divination (one able to cast a spell). Whispering catches the attention better even than shouting, for it hints at intimacy and being taken into one’s confidence. Another animal speaks in Numbers 22:28-31, but here the woman does not seem surprised; in an uncursed world there may have been nothing unusual about talking animals. But apparently this talking snake was either inhabited or influenced by the former "kh’ruv who covers", who had become the sworn enemy of Elohim and who was jealous of mankind's being given the rulership of earth which “she” had once possessed. Arthur Custance wrote, “one could well imagine the serpent ascending the forbidden tree in Eve's presence and there eating its fruit with complete confidence and manifest enjoyment -- and, to her amazement, perhaps, with apparent safety. Perhaps the thought came to Eve that if this creature could eat with impunity, why could not she?” Might this be the way it “spoke” initially? More crafty: shown in its reframing of the prohibition in an exaggerated form, throwing the woman off balance and influencing her to overreact, and suggesting that they can make an exception to the commandment, but already it is casting YHWH in a bad light. But what we miss in English is the that the word for "naked" in the previous verse is from the same root as "crafty" here. The serpent had indeed lost a far more glorious covering than mankind had (Y'chezqel 28), so it would lose nothing more by eating this fruit, if it did so. Its former adornment is described just like that of the New Yerushalayim (Rev. 21), which is described as YHWH's bride, as Israel also is. The kh’ruvim atop the Ark of the Covenant represent YHWH and Israel in close relationship. Humanity, at first, and later Israel in particular, is thus a replacement for a rebellious “bride”, which is why haSatan was so eager to have Adam and Chawwah disqualified from this position. We can sense the bitterness in her leading statements that reflect her own experience of YHWH’s ill will.
2. But the woman told the serpent, "We may eat from the trees of the garden,
3. "but from the tree which is in the center of the garden, Elohim has said, "You shall not eat from it, nor shall you [even reach out to] touch it, or else you'll die."
She had never thought to judge whether YHWH’s words are true or not, but the serpent presents as from YHWH something He never said. She denies it, but it puts doubt in her mind as to whether that is really what YHWH said. She also added a "fence" to what Elohim said—generally a healthy practice which can keep us one step away from actually transgressing, but which can breed discontentment with Elohim's protective commands if we forget all that we really are offered, and seek greater fulfillment through going outside the bounds He really has set. The other danger with fances is that since she did not die when she touched the fruit, she may have thought there would be no harm in eating it either. (We must not equate fences we set up with YHWH’s actual commands.) The Holy of Holies, likewise, would later be an "off-limits" zone in the center of the camp of Israel.
4. And the serpent said to the woman, "You won't really die as in 'death',
She slandered YHWH—that is, cast the truth in such a light as to make His motives look evil: “He doesn’t want you to have what He has! You can be Elohim if you overcome these chains He has put on you!” It plays on the woman’s envy and selfishness, and we have been fed this lie many times since.
5. "because Elohim knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Elohim—[intimately] knowing [both] right and wrong.
It deceived her with the truth, appealing to her vanity and bending the facts. While YHWH "understands" evil better than anyone, He has never experienced it in the way Adam's race does now. He does not want to take away their innocence. Thus far nothing has been proclaimed wrong; only one thing had been “not appropriate”, and that had been remedied. We must not give too much credit to haSatan, who also serves YHWH (albeit reluctantly) and must ask His permission to do any damage. (Iyov/Job 1:6ff) Chawwah was already intimately familiar with what was right, for everything was; the only thing this fruit really offered was the intimate knowledge of wrong. Why would anyone want this? Yet the crafty serpent made it look desirable. Notice that it is never called just “the knowledge of wrong”, because there is no such thing; everything YHWH created is good (1 Tim. 4:4), but can have wrong uses, and the worst part of the curse is the mixture that has resulted since that time. Nothing remains purely good anymore either, because the very prohibition of a thing now triggers something rebellious in us (Romans 7) and the abuses we have seen can create in us a revulsion for things that do have good potential in them (such as wine or sex), making us hesitate to think of YHWH as their Creator. This was a test: would she incline toward obedience to YHWH, trusting Him to have her best interests in mind, or toward the whisperer and what her heart was now telling her she needed? The manna was a similar test involving food, one of the most basic needs of man, to see if Israel would do things the way He wanted them done. But since the serpent has experienced YHWH’s punishment, “she” wants this same familiarity to affect the woman as well, possibly so she can have someone to commiserate with.
6. And when the woman perceived that the tree was beneficial for food, and that to the eyes it aroused a craving, and that the tree was intensely desirable to bring insight, she took some of its fruit and ate it, and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
"Beneficial...to the eyes...insight": Compare these three areas of temptation as seen in Mat. 4:2-10 and 1 Yoch./John 2:16. Actually the first two characteristics were true of every tree in the Garden (2:9), and the third was only her perception, for this would not be inherently visible in the fruit itself. It could be that, when she tried it, it had a mind-altering effect like some modern drugs do, opening her to some altered state of consciousness. (Custance) The accuser took advantage of the innate traits in the woman that were necessary for sympathetic mothering, but her husband, who had been placed in authority over her to protect this area of vulnerability, knew better, and thus bore the greater guilt. Custance writes, “although Eve was in one sense as innocent as a child who has disobeyed somehow but is not sure exactly how, Adam was not deceived at all. He realized in a moment that he was once more completely alone. He perceived the real significance of what had now taken place. He had lost his other self, his love, his sole human companion. She stood before him, but she stood completely removed from him. Adam knew it at once. And in that moment he faced a trial surely more heartbreaking than has ever been the lot of any man since who is called to surrender his love. For although many men since have made this sacrifice for one reason or another (millions were forced to do so by the Nazis), Adam could never, for all he knew, expect to have a ‘suitable helper’ again. There was no other woman in the world. Nor was there any other man who, placed in similar circumstances, might have shared his burden of loss with him. He had been alone before, but now he had to face the prospect of an aloneness far more acute, and seemingly forever. Adam was still immortal: but for Eve a subtle change had already begun and she was, as [Elohim] had said she would be, from that very day a dying creature.” Did he love her enough to choose to be condemned along with her rather than to retain his purity but lose her to Elohim's judgment?
7. And the eyes of both of them were indeed opened, but [in such a way that] they realized that they had been stripped. And they sewed together leaves from a fig tree, and made for themselves loin coverings.
Stripped: Targum Pseudo-Jonathan adds, “of the clothing of ‘fingernails’ in which they had been created, and they saw their shame”. The fingernails are the only part of our bodily covering that still reflect light, as is highlighted in the chavdallah ritual that closes out the Sabbath. At this point, some aspects of Elohim's image (1:27) were lost, so there may have been a perceptible change in their appearance, which was once mostly light. (Blood as we know it now, according to some scientists, cited by Kenneth Copeland and Gwen Shaw, is thought to be light that has been slowed down nearly to the point of congealing.) Custance writes, “Whatever this fruit may have been, it is not at all unreasonable to suppose that it contained a poison or… developed within itself a toxic agent because it was picked but not immediately eaten, and the poison, once introduced into his perfect body, began a process of decay that ended in death. For nearly one thousand years he survived its effects, so full of vitality and health was he when [Elohim] created him; nevertheless, in the very day that he ate, that day the process of dying began. Thenceforth it was merely a question of time, and it appears that both Adam and Eve detected almost at once that this process had begun, for they somehow became physiologically self-aware. It is, I think, an almost infallible sign of health that no part of the body makes itself "felt." … It is the sick body that is felt; the body draws attention to itself, whether we want it to or not. Adam and Eve almost immediately seem to have become aware of their bodies in an unwelcome way… perhaps a sense of chill that for the first time came to them ‘in the cool of the evening,’ when their originally perfect mechanism of thermoregulation began to fail them and the chill they experienced for the first time drew attention to their nakedness. This consciousness brought with it a fear of being discovered, as though the discomfort was so obvious that others would observe it, too.” While they did not fall over dead during the same 24-hour period, the process of physical death did begin, along with the immediate psychological fragmentation evidenced by their shame, terror of Elohim, and blame of one another. They went from being immortal to being mortal. They were separated from their Source like an unplugged electrical appliance. But by the logic of Ps. 90:4 and 2 Kefa/Peter 3:8, man cannot live more than 1,000 years. Though antediluvian conditions allowed very long lives, no one reached 1,000 years of age; thus they "died the same day". HaSatan's rule of the earth had been justly removed and given to Adam, but now “she” had usurped it again as “the Ruler of This Age”. The Kingdom of Elohim was withdrawn until another man who was on the same footing as Adam had been could win it back (see verse 15). Their eyes were only opened to their guilt, and they were therefore just like the serpent (rather than just like Elohim) in this regard. They found out very quickly what “wrong” was. And their punishment would begin right away; fig leaves secrete a very itchy, acidic juice that would burn their skin! They were trying to pretend they were not really naked rather than admitting guilt and doing something about it.
8. And they heard the sound of YHWH Elohim walking around in the garden in the breezy part of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of YHWH Elohim among the trees of the garden.
Breezy part: literally "spirit". This seems to have been a special time when He would regularly visit them. What used to attract them now made them run away. They even used camouflage. Maybe He would not see them! This is the very reason the Babylonians would not say voice the names of their ruling spirits, and, sadly, some Jews brought this practice back from Babylon.
9. And YHWH Elohim called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?"
It was not that He needed to know; He wanted the man and woman to stop and take stock of their condition. Each year forty days before Yom Kippur, we begin a special time of self-examination to inquire about where we stand. On a deeper level, as Arthur Custance wrote, “It was…not the man hiding in the bushes that He was looking for. He knew where that individual was. What had been lost from the web of life which He had just finished creating was the master species, the appointed agent of management for that web of life. Mankind was, in short, the first of a whole catalogue of species which would subsequently be "endangered". The extinction of species, so common to history since, began with the Fall of the species, Man. The Lord God had just finished creating Man as the one species that bore his own image. It was that kind of "man" that had now disappeared, converted by sin into a creature quite unlike the original — without innocence, without immortality, without the sure instincts of all other creatures, and above all, having lost the image he had been endowed with.” As C.S. Lewis put it, “What man lost by the Fall was his original specific nature. . .This condition was transmitted by heredity to all later generations, for it was not simply what biologists call an acquired variation; it was the emergence of a new kind of man — a new species, never made by God, had sinned itself into existence. The change which man had undergone was not parallel to the development of a new organ or a new habit; it was a radical alteration of his constitution, a disturbance of the relation between his component parts, and an internal perversion of one of them. Our present condition, then, is explained by the fact that we are members of a spoiled species."
10. And he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I am naked, and I hid myself."
I am naked: not "I was". Though he was now physically clothed, every aspect of his being came to be out of balance. They were now more focused on themselves than on what was around them. Hid: We were made to experience pleasure, yet to exist for YHWH’s pleasure as well. (Rev. 4:11) To experience His presence is pleasure, yet that is just what they ran from.
11. And He said, "Who told you that you are naked? Have you eaten from the tree about which I gave you orders so as to prevent you from eating?"
His fatherly prohibition had been intended to preclude such a predicament, not to withhold anything beneficial. Though they have missed the target, they have not yet committed the sin that would get them in the most trouble. By asking him the question, YHWH gave him the option of owning up. Though difficult at first, confession ultimately frees us from the weight of the guilt and strengthens us so we can more easily say “no” the next time and strengthen others against temptation as well. Had he admitted his fault, his penalty might have been at least mitigated like David's. Instead, he presented himself as the victim and ultimately laid the blame on YHWH:
12. And the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it."
A failure to "admit" the light (see Yochanan 1:1-5) parallels the mystical story of golden light being poured into earthen vessels and causing them to shatter because it is too intense. Adam and Chawwah desired something that they could not contain. The job of Israel, the mystics say, is to regather the millions of shards of light from wherever they are found and reassemble the fallen Adam. This "Most Ancient Adam" is a symbolic "body" built of all the isolated aspects of Elohim's image--that "point of light" (in 1:2, 3) refracted into many different colors so we could know Him in many ways. But although "all the king's men" have tried unsuccessfully to do put him back together again, Israel is ordained to bring the restoration. Understanding this imagery makes Rav Sha'ul (Paul)'s deep teachings understandable, for he ties all of these metaphors together by describing the Messiah as the "firstfruits" and the "head of the body" (Col. 1:18) of this "second Man" (1 Cor. 15:47) or "final Adam" (15:45). The head is what is born first; after him comes the rest of the body. It is our job to complete the recovery of what Adam lost. This is the theme of the rest of Scripture, though the account runs on “fast forward” until it reaches the beginning-point of Israel, the exception to the rule of "vanity of vanities" (see Qoheleth/Ecclesiastes) which began here in the garden, and the embodiment of YHWH's solution to this tragedy.
13. So YHWH Elohim said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent enticed me, and I ate."
She, too, makes excuses for doing what something in herself wanted. “The devil made me do it” is the same kind of failure to take responsibility, and this, not the initial disobedience, was what earned them such severe punishment. This is what cost them—and us—the Garden. All they had to say was, “I did the wrong thing; I am guilty. How can I fix what I broke?” YHWH would have found a way, and they would have been closer to Him than before. As it turned out, He still made a way, but it was long and arduous, and cost the next person who bore the fullness of His image everything.
14. So YHWH Elohim said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, you are cursed more than any beast, and more than any animal of the field. You will go around on your belly, and eat dust all the days of your life.
Like the Gentiles who have no covenant, the serpent had not been given any command, but since it impinged on those who did have a relationship with YHWH, it was given a penalty as well. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan adds, “Your feet will be cut off, and you will suffer pain in the casting off of your skin ...” (which incidentally begins at the snake’s belly). Snakes do indeed have what appears to be the vestiges of bones at the point where lizards have legs.
15. "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed: he will bruise your head, though you shall bruise his heel."
People (especially women) don’t like snakes and snakes don’t like people. But it goes deeper. The serpent acted as adversary, and now the woman had within herself an evil inclination that we all have had since—which in itself would be enough of an adversary. The myth of Achilles' heel probably originated from a memory of this promise. Yaaqov’s name is also based on this word for “heel”. His line was the one that made this defeat possible, narrowing the target of this prophecy, which eventually would come down to one individual, for the “seed” (often translatable as “descendants”, is here identified as a particular “he”). The serpent's seed (possibly embodied in those called Nefilim) almost crowded out the human, but Elohim preserved it. (Gen. 6:4, 9) But it is more specific: geneticists have found that the reproductive cells carried by women are actually immortal until they are "poisoned" at fertilization by something carried by the sperm. Arthur Custance suggested that this may be due to a mutation acquired from the forbidden fruit itself which affects both sexes but is carried only by the male. If the Gospel account has stayed true to the original, by being the "seed of woman" apart from a man’s seed, the Messiah could be free from this, and thereby be back on the same truly innocent footing as Adam was, until he became fully righteous by passing the tests Adam failed. When haSatan the usurper was allowed to kill (“bruise the heel” of) Yaaqov’s innocent descendant (indeed, a crucified person's heel was literally worn away as he pushed himself up to breathe), “she” lost any legal rights to earth, for she had become a murderer by killing one who had no sentence of death on him. Thus the legal deed to the earth could be given back to humanity.
16. To the woman He said, "I will greatly increase your pain and your [frequency of] conception; in pain you will bear sons, and your husband shall be your desire, but he will have authority over you.
Increase: since, due to the presence of death, mankind would now have to replace itself each generation, not just fill the earth once. It may be that before this, like some animals, she would have only been capable of conceiving once a year rather than once a month. Her desire for her husband and for children would overrule her fear of this pain. But this word for "desire" can also mean "ambition"; she would strive for dominance over him--for his position--but would not achieve it. She chose to use her inclination toward her husband to oppose him rather than help him, so now the balance is tipped against her. Today’s effort to put women on equal footing with their husbands must take this into account. She knew first that she had done wrong, yet still chose to pass this on to him, and she has a price to pay for that. She was naïve because of her emotional tendencies, so YHWH put her husband in charge. But the woman's deliverance comes through bearing children (1 Tim. 2:15), so the remedy is included right in the chastening. Simply overlooking it could never demonstrate YHWH’s mercy as well as this, for this gave her a way to learn to overcome the desire that had gotten her into this predicament. It was not a punishment, but for her protection, because if she continued to listen to everything that whispers, she would get us all into even more trouble.
17. And He said to the man, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it', the ground shall be cursed because of you; you shall eat from it in hard labor all the days of your life.
YHWH had given Adam her voice to add balance to his insight (compare 21:12) but it is never meant to override YHWH’s voice—or even his own. He is the one who is to make the final decisions when a verdict is needed. If “the other side of the coin” is in any way contrary to His word, it is the man’s responsibility to shut down his wife’s voice in that regard. (Compare Numbers 30:3-8) King Akh’av also listened to his wife Izevel (Jezebel)'s advice and killed a man so he could have, of all things, a garden. (1 Kings 21)
18. "And it shall bring forth thorns and thistles for you, and you shall eat the grasses that are on the surface of the field.
It was not Adam who was cursed, but the ground (adamah), and he was then thrown down to it from the garden. But even the thorns seem more to be a statement about the course nature must now take, rather than a curse in themselves. They result when an area once cared for by man is left again to take its natural course. “Outside the Garden, a weary Adam turned his hands to till the earth. Very soon, he found there were short cuts. It was easier to burn off the trees and cultivate a small patch till it was exhausted -- then desert it. And in time he began to create deserts. Undressed and unguarded, the earth became naked and unfruitful. Deserts grew where none had been before…Thorns are a symbol in Genesis 3:18 of an earth cursed because of man, cursed because improperly dressed and tended…cursed by erosion...” (Arthur Custance) “There is in all plants a tendency to a spiral arrangement of leaves and branches, etc., but we rarely see this carried out fully, in consequence of numerous interruptions to growth and abnormalities in development. When branches are arrested in growth they often appear in the form of thorns or spines, and thus thorns may be taken as an indication of an imperfection in the branch… That thorns are abortive branches is well seen in cases where, by cultivation, they may disappear.” (J.H. Balfour) “Whenever man cultivates nature, and then abandons her to her own unaided energies, the result is far worse than if he had never attempted to improve her at all. There are no such thorns found in a state of nature as those produced by the ground which man once has tilled, but has now deserted.” (Hugh McMillan) Elohim (YHWH’s title when acting as judge), in His mercy, did not rescind provision of food, but it would no longer come with the ease or joy he knew in the garden. Barley and wheat, the staples of the Israelite diet, are actually grasses—from the ground rather than from the trees. The first two pilgrimage festivals focus on these two grains; only the third focuses on fruit, for Sukkoth is about the healing of the nations (which lies in the leaves of the tree of life) and is thus a foretaste of being back in the Garden. In the days to come, the tree of life will bear fruit year-round; now we are only given one season to remember Eden. The rest of the time we are reminded of the curse so we can deal with its causes.
19. "By the sweat of your face shall you eat bread until you return to the ground—for out of it you have been taken, because you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
Unfallen man, with no fears or emotional stress and a perfect physical efficiency, must have had a slower metabolic rate and hence little need for sweat. (Custance) Animals react to us with hostility chiefly because they detect sweat, whereas they are friendlier toward children who do not know enough yet to fear them. Linen garments, which symbolize purity, do not produce sweat (Y’hezq’el 44:18), and that is what the Levitical priests would wear, as those who provided a covering for Israel’s sins. The intensity of the Messiah's sweat (Luk. 22:44) made the true bread (Yoch./John 6:50ff) available to us again. Dust: the very thing the serpent was told he would consume (v. 14), and in a way it did so. This also speaks of bodily decomposition, breaking all the way down to the smallest components, which could then become part of the soil. Prior to this, death was not the norm, and now science is at the point of asking why it is necessary. Custance says, “It is now quite within the bounds of possibility in the light of our present understanding of life processes that the first man could indeed have enjoyed a condition of immortality, and that death ‘entered’ (Romans 5:12) into human experience only after he had somehow poisoned his body. And what more simple an explanation of this loss is there than that he ate a fruit containing a toxic agent that initiated the dying process? Moreover could it not also happen that, once introduced, the diseased condition was transmitted to his descendants so that each succeeding generation was weakened more by it than the preceding one, by the accumulation of mutant genes? Thus, a once immortal line fell so low that shortly after the Flood man barely survived 500 years, a century or two later barely 120 years, and in another few hundred years barely three score and ten… A toxic agent … could have just such an effect and which would accordingly provide us with an example of an acquired characteristic (mortality) becoming inherited.”
20. And the man called his wife's name Chawwah, because she became the mother of all who are alive.
Chawwah: related to chai ("life" or "alive"). Science has found that the woman’s eggs remain immortal, as long as unfertilized by a male sperm, and are carried from generation to generation as untainted by whatever poison in that fruit changed the constitution of the human body so that it had to die, rather than just being able, but not necessarily sentenced, to die as it is now. But this made it possible for one man later in history—the seed of the woman (3:15) and not of man—to recapture the image of Elohim that was preserved through, but not affected by, Chawwah (for, as M.R. DeHaan points out, the mother’s also-fallen blood never mixes with that of the infant while in her womb). Thus, while Adam was the father of all who die (Rom. 5:12), Chawwah was indeed the mother of the ones who live, preserving the possibility of truly human life remaining pure throughout the generations, housed in a protected place, the only part unaffected by the Fall, until the right time came for an unfallen man to again appear in her line. (Arthur Custance)
21. And YHWH made garments of skin for the man and his wife, and thus He clothed them.
Skin: possibly of an animal that He slaughtered, or simply skin as we now know it: what formerly ran through their veins was more like light, and their bodies held a glow which was now missing. Blood as we now know it, which carries the soul in it, is the corrupted form of this “light” which bore Elohim's image in a much fuller way. The words for "light" and "skin" sound the same in Hebrew (or), though they have a different spelling. So we could say their lack of "’or" was covered up with "or". Now the fact that we were ever in YHWH’s presence is hidden (as Moshe’s face shone after having been in His presence, Ex. 34:30ff; 2 Cor. 3:7ff.) Guilt needs to be covered, but this creates a useless layer between ourselves and Him. The Aramaic Targum Pseudo-Jonathan says YHWH clothed them with the skin that the serpent had cast off. In fact, the high priest’s breastplate does bear a strong resemblance to what this creature had looked like in Eden. (Compare Y’hezq’el 28:13 with Exodus 28:17ff; along with Revelation 21, we can see the common theme of the divesting and replacement of rebellious Heylel with Israel, just as Hadassah/Esther replaced the disobedient queen Vashti.)
22. Then YHWH Elohim said, "Look! The man has become like one of Us, able to know right and wrong, therefore, so he doesn't stretch forth his hand and take from the Tree of Life also, and eat, and live forever—"
They now officially had intimate knowledge of evil, yet were they satisfied? They were in too dangerous a position to become immortal. YHWH did not want him to remain in that double-minded state forever, so He mercifully kept us from eating of the tree of life until the process of true repentance had been brought to fruition. If he could live forever anyway, what motivation would he have to be accountable for his actions? YHWH had opened every door to repent, and he did not, so why should He make it easy on us any longer? We have to learn just how evil the “knowledge” we had chosen really is. He hopes that by finding out just how everything else treats us, we will want Him again, like the Prodigal Son. David got the point: “It is better to be a doorkeeper in YHWH’s house than to dwell in the tents of Wickedness.” (Psalm 84:10) If we choose obedience now (Deut. 30:19), at whatever point we are, we can start heading back toward life. Proverbs 3;18 calls wisdom a tree of life, for it can keep us from making such deadly mistakes again.
23. YHWH Elohim sent him out of the Garden of Eden as well, to work the ground out of which he was taken;
Adam could have direct communication with YHWH before he decided he wanted to be an independent moral agent. Now he was divorced, as haSatan had been. The communication line was cut. Now only YHWH's Word came to mankind, because His direct presence would destroy us. But he could now earn back what he was given the first time by trying to get as close to the Garden again as he could.
24. indeed, He drove the man out. And He stationed the kh’ruvim from the east for the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword whirling around, to guard the way to the Tree of Life.
“Note the urgency with which they were expelled from the Garden. This is not an indication of God's harshness, for He loved them still. It is, rather, a testimony to His wisdom and His mercy. For in the Garden there remained a tree of great physiological importance… whose leaves, according to Revelation 22:2, are for healing… It was the existence of this tree in the Garden which now constituted a source of gravest danger. For had they taken of its leaves (Genesis does not tell us any more about the tree than that they were free to eat of it), the effects of the poison in their bodies would have been counteracted and their immortality restored so that they would have lived on forever (v. 22). But immortality would now be immortality with a fallen nature, for their disobedience had introduced not merely a physiological poison into their bodies, but a spiritual poison into their souls. So awful was the possibility of everlasting existence in a state of sinfulness that the very sentence itself is unfinished.” (Custace) Kh’ruvim: a class of “angels” associated with guarding holy places (like the holiest part of the Temple--which is the way YHWH gave us to get back to the Tree of Life). They are more like winged sphinxes (per Hirsch) than the unthreatening baby "cherubs" of Western art. From the east: or, possibly, from the ancient (world that had preceded this one). Rev. 22:2 seems to say the Tree of Life, to be restored when the curse is gone, is a species that will bear a different kind of fruit each new moon, and says its leaves are for the healing of the nations. So it may be that the tree had to be eaten of on any occasion of injury in order to maintain life rather than making the eater immortal once and for all.) The Gihon (2:10-14) originates just east of Yerusahalayim. So this is another evidence that Eden was right there above it. (See note on 2:10.) Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on verse 23 said Adam went and settled on Mount Moryah, which is where the Temple would later sit. Revelation 21 speaks of a Heavenly Yerusahalayim, and Hebrews 9:8-24 tells us that the Temple on earth was a copy or shadow of the one above it. YHWH stipulated that pictures of kh’ruvim
be woven into the veil guarding the way to the Holy of Holies to strengthen this reminder of what it was about. The main gate to the Temple was visible from another garden directly east of the city, where the final battle for the restoration of Israel was won. As the eastern gate to Yerushalayim is now blocked off, and in Yeshua's day the
Temple was usually entered from the south after a ritual washing,
entering through long tunnels and crossing a wide courtyard.
Though the main gate to Eden is closed off, there is another way
back to fellowship with YHWH, but it is a long, roundabout one.
Likewise, after Yeshua's accomplishments, our repentance, dying to self, and re-learning the right patterns of life through the Torah, we are only back at the starting point for what it means to worship YHWH. One aspect of what keeps us from the Tree of Life is time, an illusion that would have meant nothing had Adam remained immortal. Now that he had only one “day”—no more than 1,000 years—left to live, suddenly time mattered. The pain of exile was meant to drive us to seek the way back. Paradoxically, the way YHWH gives us to circumvent the sword is His appointed times. By walking in His times we can get a taste of eternity again, and eventually overcome the punitive aspect of time. If we want to hear His voice again, we can walk in the Torah where it has been recorded. It might not be as spectacular as some alternatives available today, but it will be real. The Torah is what teaches us to love YHWH’s presence again. It even holds the command not to eat of the fruit of trees for a certain period (Lev. 19:23ff)—a vivid reminder of where we came from and a test of whether we will obey this time. As we work toward establishing a better resting place for His presence, it no longer matters if we die, because we can enter back in by means of resurrection, if we have made the right choices while we live. Yeshua’s successful obedience was one part of the path back to the lost relationship with YHWH. But we cannot take it as something that cancels our responsibility, write our own version of the contract on that basis, and expect YHWH to honor it if He never signed it as well! He has covenant only with Israel, but as we become part of that entity, we can, as a restored Adam, a unified new man, return to what the ancient Adam lost.
CHAPTER 4
1. And the man [intimately] knew his wife Chawwah, and she conceived and bore Qayin, and said, "I have acquired a man with YHWH!"
They were obedient to the command to be fruitful. With YHWH: i.e., with His help; she thought he might already be the redeeming seed promised in 3:15, but it was not yet the right time. Qayin means "possession", and is related to the word "acquired" here.
2. And again she bore his brother, Hevel. And Hevel became a keeper of flocks, and Qayin a tiller of soil.
Hevel means "a breath", "vapor", or "vanity", a harbinger of the fleetingness of his life, and probably a reflection of how futile their own struggle to stay ahead of the spreading corruption was already turning out to be. A "keeper of flocks" also symbolically means one who watches over the welfare of others (see v. 9), while Qayin was literally a "servant of the ground" (see v. 5) If we concentrate our focus on caring for YHWH’s people, the cares of this world will not weigh so heavily upon us. (Mat. 6:25-33) This is what we should invest our sweat in. But they probably thought Qayin’s tilling would mitigate the curse of 3:17-19—but that would not come for several more generations. (5:29)
3. And in the course of time, it came about that Qayin brought a grain offering to YHWH from the fruit of the ground,
Course of time: According to Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, a widely-held opinion in the second Temple period was that this took place on the 14th of Nisan, the day on which the Passover lamb would later be slain, and just before the day on which Israel would later bring the firstfruits of the barley harvest.
4. And as for Hevel, he also brought some of the firstborn of his flocks—indeed, the finest of them. And YHWH respected Hevel and his tribute,
Though in Eden they were given the vegetation alone as food, have they already begun slaughtering? It actually says nothing here about shedding blood; he may have brought it to his parents to do with as they liked, as Israel later brought most offerings to the priests alive. What we do know is that Hevel gave YHWH his best, and put a lot of thought into it, while Qayin appears to have brought just any of his crops rather than the firstfruits or the best. (Compare Mal’akhi 1:6-8.)
5. but He did not have respect for Qayin or his tribute. So Qayin burned greatly with anger, and his face was downcast.
In the Temple, grain offerings were accepted as an added gift, supplementary to the slaughter—a contribution really to the priests more than to YHWH--or the offering of those who could not afford anything better. Thus Qayin's tribute was just a token of what he grew, like one who washes his hands to come into a king's presence while the rest of his body is still filthy. He was bringing a gift without the relationship to back it up, meaning he just wanted something from YHWH (approval, in his case). Thanking Him without giving one’s whole life to Him is profaning His word. What his brother brought (v. 4) was the firstfruits, which is what YHWH later did require. Qayin was like Christians who give YHWH part of what is theirs (Sunday) but not what He actually asked for (the Sabbath). If there has to be a choice, He would rather only have what He asked for than only something extra but not what He specifically requested. Qayin still wanted to approach YHWH his own way. It was not even the fruit of a tree, but from directly on the ground, which is precisely what was cursed. This tells us that YHWH only pays attention when we bring Him our first and best. Can we ask and beg Him for everything that we want, then give Him leftovers?
6. So YHWH asked Qayin, "Why are you so furious, and why is your face downcast?
7. "If you make it right, [there is] a higher position [for you]. But if you do not make it right, sin is crouching at the opening; its desire is to [overwhelm] you, but you can take dominion over it."
Make it right: something Adam and Chawwah had not done when given the open door. Would Qayin “do better” (another way to render the phrase)? YHWH would not condemn him unless he was not interested in fixing what he had broken. If he made it right, YHWH could make what came before to be of no consequence. Repentance renders sin powerless. He was given the occasion to try again—to shoot another arrow where he had missed the target the first time. We do not need to cry over the past, but take another shot. The Torah shows us how. The opening or door was the place on which the lamb's blood was later applied in order to keep the death angel from one's house (Exodus 12:7); does this suggest that he should offer a lamb like Hevel? Blood is what YHWH provided as a covering for our souls. (Lev. 17:11) Crouching: ready to pounce. If he did not deal with the one sin that was blocking the opening to the tent of meeting with YHWH (lack of repentance), a worse one waited to devour him. He paved the way for the next sin by not undoing the first. Any sin we perpetrate on others will wait to devour us if we do not take control of it.
8. But Qayin challenged Hevel his brother, and while they were in the field, Qayin rose up against his brother Hevel, and killed him.
Challenged: or simply, spoke to. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan says Qayin complained to his brother that his judgment was unjust, but Hevel said YHWH’s favor was his because the fruit of his deeds was better and more prompt. Then Qayin drove a stone through his forehead.
9. Then YHWH said to Qayin, "Where is your brother Hevel?" And he said, "I don't know; am I my brother's keeper?"
YHWH already knows the answer, but wants him to see where he stands. Instead, this first child ever born already exhibits the human tendency to lie. Keeper: watcher or guard, as if he were a shepherd or babysitter. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” is the most profound question in Scripture, and the rest of Scripture is YHWH’s answer to it: absolutely! Not everyone is our brother, but if we have the same father (YHWH) and mother (Torah), we are indeed responsible for one another. We don’t naturally like being guarded or having to watch out for one another, unless the trouble is obvious, as on a battlefield.
10. And He said, "[Don't you realize] what you have done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground.
I.e., "Who will take care of Hevel’s sheep now? You are their keeper now, too!" Once we realize we can remove the life by letting the blood go, everything changes. Blood cries out: Such an outcry is seen again in 6:13 and 18:20, as well as in Rev. 6:9ff. Blood is bright red, and gets our attention effectively. It “speaks” to us and tells us there is big trouble! All unjustly-spilled blood will be disclosed, and YHWH will bring about complete justice for these victims at a time like the first Passover (Ex. 12:21ff), as the birthpangs of restoration begin again. (Yeshayahu 26:20-21)
11. "And now you are cursed in a worse way than the ground which [at least] opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
Since he did not try to make things better, the ground would no longer even respond to him (v. 12) --a far worse punishment than that given his father in regard to the soil (3:19).
12. "When you till the soil, it will no longer yield its potential to you. You will be a vagabond and a fugitive on the earth.
This curse is exile. We, too, have been in exile for over 2,730 years. Do we want to go home? If we do right, won’t we also be accepted? (See Y’hezq’el 3:17-21; 18:4-24) That can be the end of the story--if we allow it to be. The word for “vagabond” is related to the word for moving about in the sense of leading a sheep to pasture. Someone had to care for the sheep Hevel left behind, so YHWH removed Qayin’s current livelihood and forced him to walk in his brother’s shoes. If he had known what it was like to care for living animals, he might not have envied his brother. So one of the first lessons we find in the Scripture is learning to see from another’s perspective.
13. And Qayin said to YHWH, "My punishment is more than I can bear.
14. “See here, You have evicted me from the land, and I will be banished from Your very presence! On top of this I will be a vagabond and a fugitive on the earth. And anyone who finds me will kill me, for sure!"
So despite his pride and stubbornness, Qayin really did enjoy YHWH’s presence. He understands that there is safety there, yet still does not take responsibility. Moshe highlights the common belief that a deity is tied to a particular location. While YHWH is not limited to one place, He does focus on one. Who would kill Qayin? Every child born after this would hear what he did, and he knows he deserves justice.
15. And YHWH said to him, "If anyone kills Qayin, he will be avenged sevenfold." And YHWH established a mark for Qayin, so that anyone who found him should not kill him.
Qayin had refused the escape from guilt he was offered before the deed was done, so though he saw it as punishment, YHWH would ensure that he got his rehabilitation. This sign was a deterrent that made other people respect Qayin. If he were to be killed, the lesson of exile would not be there for others to learn from: This is where disobedience gets you! Yet though out of His presence, he still had YHWH’s watch-care. A mark on the forehead is seen as a special seal of protection in Song of Songs 8:6; Yochanan/John 6:27; 2 Tim. 2:19; Eph. 4:13; Rev. 7:3. In Y'hezq'el/Ezekiel 8 and 9, the mark of protection is given to those who do not participate in the prototypes of "Easter" sunrise services, but rather lament them, and they are passed over, like those with the mark on their door in Egypt, when YHWH's wrath came on the idolaters. Thus Qayin, the man who would not kill a lamb, had to be taught the "way of Passover". Later we see Moshe repeatedly bringing a sevenfold pattern—apparently a mathematical formula that sets us firmly in harmony with the natural patterns of the earth, so we can see other truths more easily.
16. And Qayin went out from the presence of YHWH, and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
Presence of YHWH: geographically, the place bearing His name (Deut. 26:2; 2 Chron. 6:20). “Nod” means vagrancy, exile, wandering. Though Adam and Chawwah had sinned, they had a goal to work back toward; Qayin’s life was now aimless.
17. And Qayin knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Hanokh. And he built a city, and he called the city by the same name as his son, Hanokh.
The gene pool was still relatively unblemished, and inbreeding with his sister (5:4)—apparently the only possible source of a wife at that time--would not be a problem. This was not overtly forbidden until Moshe's time. However, if we read “east of Eden” in v. 16 as “the ancient part of Eden”, we could speculate that he found a wife from the same previous creation from which the serpent had come, which might have had some of the same kinds of results as those seen in chapter 6: his line might not have been completely human. Hanokh: Early cities were often named for their first settler, 11:32. Near eastern documents added a cuneiform notation to a proper name if it referred to a city, except in the case of Unuk, which is linguistically similar to Hanokh (Enoch). If it were the only city in existence when built, no such classifier would have been needed. But Hanokh’s name means “dedicated”. Was Qayin starting to learn from his mistakes after all by dedicating his own firstborn to YHWH? Or was he building a permanent settlement to try to break the curse of having to wander all his days? Even if so, he would have to guard a city, and in learning to guard, he would bring reparation for his unwillingness to guard his brother. (v. 9) The purpose of our exile is that we will learn to repent. Rabbi Chaim Nussbaum thinks Qayin did repent by leaving behind the occupation he loved most to focus on protecting his children instead.
18. And Irad was born to Hanokh, and Irad fathered Mechuya'el ["smitten of Elohim"], and Mechuya'el fathered Methusha'el ["one of the few men associated with Elohim"], and Methusha'el fathered Lamekh ["Despairing"].
19. And Lamekh took two wives to himself: the name of the first was Adah ["Ornament"], and the name of the second was Tsillah ["Shade"].
20. And Adah gave birth to Yaval ["Conduct", "Lead along"]; he was the father of those who live in tents and possess [livestock].
He was the founder of nomadism, one way to remove some of the guesswork out of the search for food. But wasn’t Hevel the first who had livestock? Yes, but he regarded them as something to protect rather than a possession to acquire, as this term emphasizes, in contrast to “keeper” in v. 9.
21. And his brother's name was Yuval; he was the father of all of those who play the harp and the pipe.
Yuval: the root word for "jubilation" and the year of release; probably tied more to lively music here. Pipe: a flute or any type of reed-based instrument, of which many variations have come since.
22. And Tsillah also gave birth to Thuval-Qayin, the hammerer of every engraving tool of bronze and iron. And the sister of Thuval-Qayin was Naamah [pleasantness].
The relative strength of the earliest patriarchs would make them seem like gods to descendants whose lifespans were shortening as we will see in the chapters ahead. Hammerer of every engraving tool: or, instructor/sharpener of every craftsman working in bronze and iron. Thuval-Qayin was probably the real personage behind the legend of Vulcan, the god of fire and metal-forge, the smith of the Roman TUBIListrum. In other words, his reputation grew larger than life, possibly because he taught the skills needed by those who wanted to make idols. Qayin means "smith", and near eastern smiths even today refer to iron splinters struck off the anvil as "TUBAL". The Sumerian word for "iron" is BARZILLU, a variation on "son of Tsillah". (The Hebrew word for iron is similar: barzel.) Since Qayin was barred from agriculture, all of these descendants of his invented alternative occupations, all of them designed to make life in exile easier, thus in a sense escaping the curse. But Adam, while continuing to till the soil, would have a constant reminder of what he had lost and, as he humbly submitted to his punishment, would have the possibility of fully learning the lesson YHWH wanted to teach and bringing the right kind of corrective. (Pember)
23. And Lamekh said to his wives Adah and Tsillah, "Hear my voice, you wives of Lamekh! Listen to my words—for I have killed a man for wounding me, and a young lad for hurting me,
Tradition says the man he killed was Qayin (based on his statement in v. 24). For wounding me: or, to my wounding…to my hurt. I.e., he would experience the sevenfold YHWH had promised. Otherwise, this would be the first killing that arose from vengeance rather than envy.
24. "for Qayin is avenged sevenfold, but Lamech seventy-sevenfold!"
25. And Adam knew his wife again, and she gave birth to a son, and she called his name Sheth [granted or appointed]—"because Elohim has appointed to me another seed in place of Hevel" (since Qayin had killed him).
Since Qayin had also left home, she was without seed until Sheth was born. She knew Qayin would never hold the kind of promise for the reparation of the world that Hevel had, so she had always felt the need for a replacement. Elohim is the name used when emphasizing His judgment and justice. 5:3 tells us how long a time this chapter covers.
[Year 235 / 3765 BC]
26. And a son was also born to Sheth, and he called his name Enosh. Then was it [that people] began to call on the name of YHWH.
Those who had not had a direct experience of YHWH (as Adam and Chavvah had) began to call on His name as a result of Sheth naming his son Enosh (which means "mortal", "frail", or "fragile"). Those who recognize their frailty commonly do turn to the help that He provides. Calling on His name particularly as YHWH has only been widely restored in the past few years. What momentous spiritual results will this have for the world? But the term for “begin” means to begin using something in such a way as it is no longer new or pristine/virginal, and hence it often has the sense of profaning the thing. Hence, an alternate reading is “began to use the name of YHWH in a profane manner”, much as men have so often profaned the substitute names for YHWH.
CHAPTER 5
1. This is the book of the genealogies of Adam.
This term "genealogies" (tol’doth) --also translatable as "births", "generations", or "history" is found throughout the book and in Num. 3:1, as well as in Matt. 1:1. In Aramaic it is translated as “pedigree” or “line”. Its repeated use may indicate that what preceded each one was an account appended by the person named therein (Adam wrote chapters 1-4, etc.), with the possible exception of notations later added to Terakh's, possibly by Avraham. Moshe, the redactor and editor, would simply have completed the account. (Custance) In that case, most of Genesis was written by eyewitnesses. Josephus writes, "Those who then lived...noted...with great accuracy, both the births and deaths of illustrious men." The scrolls would undoubtedly have been given to Avraham by Shem (Melkhitzedeq) then kept safe while in Egypt by the Levites, who maintained more freedom than the rest of Israel, as evidenced by Aharon’s being able to leave at will to go meet Moshe in the desert. After its initial use in 2:4, before the fall of Adam, from this verse on ward, it is spelled “defectively”, that is, missing the second “vav”, which does not change the pronunciation. The “vav”, which has the numeric value of six, and therefore represents a man, is restored only in Ruth 4:18, after the blessing of being like Peretz is given to Ruth (4:12), for Peretz was also whose line was restored after it appeared to have been cut off. They were both ancestors of the one to be called “the second man”, who reopened for respecters of YHWH the possibilities for the close relationship with Him that the first man had lost.
* * *
In the day when Elohim created Adam, He made him in the likeness of Elohim.
2. He created them male and female, and blessed them, and called their name Adam on the day they were created.
Note the interplay between the description of Adam as both "him" and "them". The two together were counted as one entity. Thus the likeness of Elohim is only seen in its fullness when both male and female are present. Both aspects are seen in YHWH. Some of His titles even reflect the combination of the two: El Shaddai describes Him as both a stern judge and a breast that is adequate to nourish His children. The pagans had goddesses of fertility, but YHWH provides all we need. The name He gave Moshe—“Ehyeh asher Ehyeh”--means He will be whatever He needs to be at the moment. It too is a nurturing name, but when attached to Tz’vaoth (armies), it brings back the balance we need to view Him as, and imitate. When YHWH judged, He still provided. For Israel to finish forming the restored image--the second Adam of which Messiah is the head--and then return to Eden, we must have the proper balance brought by both sides—judgment in mercy and mercy in judgment, in the right measures. The word “righteousness” in Hebrew means “the narrow edge”, emphasizing the need for balance. In order to be in balance, the things not directly covered by Torah must be weighed out by seeing how they fit together and considering more than just how they will affect our own selves or interests. Being joined to others in community sets our individual idiosyncrasies straight, keeping us from “majoring on the minors”. The voice of the serpent still influences us and when we heed it, we get out of balance. It can sound very much like the Torah at times, and will use YHWH’s words against us if possible, as in Chawwah’s case. A key to discerning which is which is that the Torah assigns different weight to the same thing in different seasons. At Passover, deliverance and teaching our children receive the heaviest emphasis; at Sukkoth, it is what will bring most joy that takes priority and can help us determine which course to take. Not working on the Sabbath balances out the working on the other six days with true refreshment and the ability to enjoy what we have worked for rather than continuing to work for the elusive “more”.
3. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and called his name Sheth [“appointed”].
Adam did not truly have a son, or "another Adam", until Sheth, for both Hevel was lost, and Qayin’s descendants are not counted in the book of the genealogy of Adam. But Sheth carried in him "the Seed" that held Israel, the key to the restoration of the full image of Elohim. But on another level, in contrast to Adam’s being made in Elohim’s image (3:1 and 5:1), Sheth is born with only Adam’s. After he lost Elohim’s image due to his pivotal sin, from here on until that Seed met with the open door to overcome Adam’s ways by obeying where he did not (Heb. 1:3) and reconstitute that image (2 Cor. 3:18), all men were born only in Adam’s image—essentially a different species, truncated from what it once was—“fallen man with all his destructive and suicidal propensities” being now the only form of humanity that was seen anymore. “Adam's children were born in his image, no longer in [Elohim]'s image… By the introduction of a deadly poison into his system after eating the forbidden fruit, he had entailed to all his naturally born descendants a fatally flawed constitution, both physically …and spiritually. And the process has been at work generation after generation, steadily deteriorating man's vitality from a life span of nearly a thousand years to 120, and for the vast majority of his descendants considerably less than that.” (Custance) No wonder, with this being the “new normal”, people were tempted to consider the second true man seen in the history of the world to be something superhuman, even on the level of the Elohim whose image he bore more completely than any of us does.
4. And after he fathered Sheth, the remaining days of Adam were 800 years, and he fathered other sons and daughters.
These would provide wives for Qayin and Sheth, as there would have been few mutations prior to the events of the next chapters that would render marriage to close relatives dangerous to the gene pool. We do not even know their names; they were not as weighty as the firstborn, who inherits a double portion so he can carry out his role as priest (officiator, mediator) to the family in his generation. He was responsible to see that the rest did the right thing. Only one branch of the family in each generation bore this special relationship to YHWH.
5. And all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.
He could not live past 1,000 years, for YHWH said that in the day Adam ate of the forbidden fruit, he would die. Psalm 90:4 explains how YHWH saw this: 1,000 years to Him is like yesterday when it is past. It is up to Him whether He will see a day as 1,000 years or as 24 hours. The serpent knew the fullness of death would not come within 24 hours (though they did go through a tremendous loss), and so used the ambiguity of YHWH’s own words to deceive. YHWH chose the definition that allowed for more mercy on these mortals so that they might be cured of what got them expelled. But did men really once live so long? Actually, science now asks why, given the right advances, such bodies as ours should die at all. (cf. Yeshayahu/Isaiah 65:20f) Before the Deluge, a denser atmosphere (cf. 2:6; 9:13) screened out most ultraviolet radiation and kept weather more stable, and the gene pool had not yet deteriorated far enough for inbreeding to cause genetic debilitation, which required ten generations to take full effect. Men's life expectancy began to stabilize at 120 years or less (cf. 6:3) 10 generations after Noakh.
6. And Sheth lived 105 years and fathered Enosh [“mortal, danger”].
7. And after he fathered Enosh,
Sheth lived 807 years,
and he fathered sons and daughters.
8. And all the days of Sheth were 912 years, and he died.
The focus is now on the line that will bring about Israel. Foreign women are brought into the mix to carry on the line that counts—possibly because there was yet a little bit of decency in those lines that YHWH still wanted to preserve and connect to it, as He continues to do through any who wish to join themselves to Israel.
[Year 325 / 3675 BC]
9. And Enosh lived 90 years and fathered Qeynan [“mournful lamentation”, “to form, build, or nourish”].
10. After he fathered Qeynan,
Enosh lived 815 years, and he fathered sons and daughters.
11. And all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died.
[Year 395 / 3605 BC]
12. And Qeynan lived 70 years and fathered Mahalal'el [“the mighty judge who is to be praised”].
13. And after he fathered Mahalal'el,
Qeynan lived 840 years, and he fathered more sons and daughters.
14. And all the days of Qeynan were 910 years, and he died.
[Year 460 / 3540 BC]
15. And Mahalal'el lived 65 years and fathered Yared [“He shall descend”].
16. And after he fathered Yared,
Mahalal'el lived 830 years, and he fathered more sons and daughters.
17. And all the days of Mahalal'el were 895 years, and he died.
[Year 622 / 3378 BC]
18. And Yared lived 162 years and fathered Hanokh [“training, dedicated”].
19. And after he fathered Hanokh,
Yared lived 800 years, and he fathered more sons and daughters.
20. And all the days of Yared were 962 years, and he died.
[Year 687 / 3313 BC]
21. And Hanokh lived 65 years and fathered Methushalach [“His death shall send”].
22. And Hanokh walked with Elohim for 300 years
after he fathered Methushalach, and he fathered more sons and daughters.
Walked with: Hanokh is the first who was said to walk with Elohim. This is more than was said for Adam, who hid when he heard YHWH walking toward him. He did not just call on YHWH’s Name, like those who came before him (4:26); he actually walked with Him. I.e., he was more after what YHWH wanted, and YHWH played a larger role in his life. The sages say that YHWH is the name that emphasizes His compassionate side. The term Elohim emphasizes the fact that He is a judge. Adam was approached by “YHWH Elohim”, suggesting that he had a choice of which side of Him he wanted to encounter. He could expose himself, admit his guilt, and see YHWH, or he could hide it and be judged, which he did. Hanokh made the other choice. What made him special was that he walked in YHWH’s judgment. He judged as YHWH judged, but also judged himself, which is where all judgment must begin.
23. And all the days of Hanokh were 365 years,
24. and Hanokh walked with Elohim, then he was not [there], for Elohim took him.
Was not: It never says he did not die, though it seems implied. The key is in the meaning of his name: “dedicated”. He was so consumed by his walk with YHWH that he apparently moved into another dimension and disappeared from sight in this one. The book of Hanokh (1 Enoch) goes into more detail about what this meant. Arthur Custance writes that “death is ‘required’ for two reasons: to make allowance for change in animal form and to prevent over-crowding. But if, in the original scheme of things, [Elohim] did not plan to change man into some other kind of organism through the course of time, and if over-crowding was not going to occur because, as each one became spiritually mature, he would be lifted out of and transferred to a higher sphere of life, death would be quite unnecessary.” We see similar “liftings out” in the lives of Eliyahu and Yeshua, both of whom had achieved such maturity. This kind of promotion may become common in the time when the Adversary is bound and we have a Sabbath of 1,000 years to grow spiritually (Rev. 20:2-4), yet some still die at what is considered a young age (Yeshayahu/Isa. 65:20).
[Year 874 / 3126 BC]
25. And Methushalakh lived 187 years and fathered Lamekh [“powerful” or “despairing”].
26. And after he fathered Lamekh,
Methushalakh lived 782 years, and he fathered more sons and daughters.
27. And all the days of Methushalakh were 969 years, and he died.
Methushalakh’s name is a prophecy that means "His death shall send (it)." (Thus Hanokh was a prophet.) Send what? Simple math shows that he died the year of the Deluge described in the following chapters.
[Year 1056 / 2944 BC]
28. And Lamekh lived 182 years and fathered a son,
29. and he named him Noakh ["Comfort"], saying,
"This child shall comfort us concerning our work and the hard labor of our hands, because of the ground which YHWH has cursed."
Contrast him with the Lamekh in Qayin’s line: strength came much sooner for Qayin than for Sheth, but so did despair. Both lines also had a Hanokh. Both were dedicated, but Qayin’s line was dedicated to their own accomplishments, and Sheth’s to YHWH. The only difference seems to have been their priorities. The holy line did continue to eat bread by the sweat of their brow, as YHWH had commanded. They thus learned to work the ground in a way He would accept, in contrast with Qayin, whose line seems to have given up the practice altogether. They just ignored the cursed ground, while the holy line fought to still make it fruitful. Qayin’s line soon lost track of the fact that the world was against them, because they were just leaving it alone. They would thus have had to buy bread from the line of Sheth, because they were busy with other pursuits. With the tenth generation, however, deliverance from some of the effects of the curse could come.
30. And after he fathered Noakh,
Lamekh lived 595 years, and he fathered more sons and daughters.
31. And all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.
[Year 1556 / 2444 BC]
32. And Noakh was then 500 years old.
Then Noakh fathered Shem, Cham, and Yefeth.
The above lineage defines the “sons of Adam” alluded to so often throughout Scripture, in the fullest sense. Qayin’s line is not referred to by that name. So “Son of Adam” identifies those from the original line who walked with YHWH and took responsibility for the rest of their brothers. Psalm 8:4 contrasts the fact that YHWH keeps all kinds of men (ish) in mind (He sends the rain on the unjust too), but He visits, looks after, cares for the Son of Adam. Others later called “son of Adam” (Y’hezq’el, Daniel, and Y’shua) were the ones who took responsibility to carry on YHWH’s rule in their generation.
CHAPTER 6
1. And it came about that as men began to multiply upon the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them,
2. that the "sons of Elohim" noticed that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took wives for themselves from whomever they chose.
Sons of Elohim: elsewhere this refers to a class of “angels” who were present at creation and had some authority over the earth (e.g., Iyov/Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:4ff). The most ancient commentaries interpret it this way. Another interpretation, of which the first known adherents were around the second century C.E. in reaction to overemphasis on the importance of angels by some other sects, is that this refers to the line of Sheth intermarrying with those from the line of Qayin. The term “son of Elohim” is indeed used elsewhere in Scripture to refer to David, Shlomo, and their seed who would inherit the throne. (2 Shmu’el 7:12ff; 1 Chron. 17:13; 28:6; Psalm 89:20ff; Acts 13:33) This is a title they were not born with; it was conferred on them at the time they were raised to the throne. In Hoshea 1:10-11, the House of Israel are also called “sons of Elohim” (when joined back to Yehudah, who already have this title because the king is from that House). As Qayin wanted YHWH to overlook his pitiful attempt at a sacrifice because his brother’s had already been accepted, so the Northern Kingdom of Israel has wanted Him to count the offering of our brother, the Jew, as covering us as well, as an excuse not to do as well. But this part of Israel will come back into the line of Sheth and again be a people with true Kingdom vision and deeds.
3. And Elohim said, "My Spirit will not dispute forever with the Adam who goes astray; he is flesh, and his days shall be 120 years."
Whatever is going on here angers YHWH to the point that He will no longer take the merciful interpretation of His sentence that men will die in the day they sin (that they could not live a full 1,000 years), possibly because they are having too many daughters with the inclination to tempt. They will no longer live so long—no more than 120 years. This could also mean that Elohim would extend a final grace period of 120 more years (which is how targum Onqelos interprets it), or that mankind's lifespan hereafter would be only 120 years. Both could be the case.
4. The Nefilim came to be on the earth in those days--and afterwards--when the "sons of Elohim" [made a habit of] coming in to the daughters of men [the Adam], and they bore offspring to them. These were the mighty heroic
champions who were of the ancient age, the famous men of renown.
Nefilim: fallen ones; LXX, "earth-born", which is similar to the word for “giants” and thus some have interpreted it this way. Were they the unnatural hybrid offspring of the unions in v. 2, to which multiple ancient cultures seem to refer in their stories of the demi-gods? Champions: these may have been the "people" capable of building such colossal monuments as Stonehenge, the Great Pyramid, and the Easter Island statues. Their sires may be those to which Yehudah/Jude 6 refers as the angels who "left their proper estate and went after strange flesh". This is probably why Elohim considered the whole earth corrupt. (6:11; compare Lev. 18:25) Worship of "the gods" is forbidden not because they do not exist, but because they are not our creators, though some demonic overlords may be given jurisdiction over those who will not deal directly with the "Elohim of elohim" (cf. Daniel 10:13, 20). Afterwards: The Nefilim show up again in Num. 13:32 and Deut. 3:11 in the Land of Kanaan, unless the fearful spies were only exaggerating. If they were indeed very large, how could this have resulted from two human lines being mixed? Science actually shows that when a gene pool is closed, there is a negative effect on those born from it, contrary to Hitler’s philosophy. We have seen examples of inbreeding, and the children that result are less intelligent and less well-formed. So introducing a different strand into the genetic mix does tend to produce stronger and smarter people. But if they were earth-born, from what had they fallen? It is not necessary to interpret the Nefilim as themselves being these great heroes, for the text only says they were present at the same time. Could they have been beings that fell with Heylel (Lucifer) prior to this creation, and who came with the same intent as the serpent—to encourage the corruption of this new creation? A Hebraic outlook can accept all of these levels of interpretation as possible, because they would all teach us the same lesson—that YHWH does not want us unequally yoked. All of the ways to interpret should be in our toolbox in case we need them later. All of the options have to do with seed. What it all comes down to is that YHWH does not want His people partaking of those who worship other elohim. He wants His people separated from the other lines. (Ex. 34:14ff) This does not mean “racially” as we think of it today (which is really an erroneous concept since all people now alive stem from Noakh). There have always been people of other nations who married into Israel and became part of Israel. The intermarriage YHWH does not want is with those who do not give up their pagan ways, for that way the guarding of YHWH’s teachings cannot remain pure.
5. And Elohim saw that the wickedness of humankind was great on the earth, and that every inclination of the contrivances of his heart was only evil all the day long.
He saw by their actions that their hearts were evil. In rabbinic teaching, everyone is born with two inclinations, one to right and one to wrong, but here they had gotten to the point of only serving one side. There is no balance.
6. And Elohim sighed because He had put mankind on the earth, and He was gouged to His heart.
7. And Elohim said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, off the face of the earth, from man to beast to creeping thing to bird of the heavens, for I regret that I have made them."
8. Noakh, however, found favor in the sight of YHWH.
The verses to come will describe how.
INTRODUCTION: The book of beginnings chiefly focuses on how YHWH brings order out of chaos. This is portrayed through the creation account, through a re-starting after a great deluge, and through the creation of the people of Israel after yet another setback. The rest of Scripture indeed shows how every time we reintroduce chaos and confusion back into the mix, YHWH makes a way to restore order. The purpose in it has always been so He could have relationship with the people He made in His image. As we bear this simple truth in mind, it brings clarity to the often-complex themes that run through the whole book.
The Torah (the five books written by Moshe, of which this is the first) is split up in roughly-equal increments so that it can be read in its entirety in a year. (It is sometimes done in 3-year cycles instead.) One rule of biblical interpretation is that the first usage of a particular term sets the tone for how or in what context it should be understood when used later, and this helps us trace undercurrents and themes throughout all of Scripture. This first portion includes many such “firsts”. It spans over 1,500 years (not including those that comprised the creation itself before human beings came into the picture), so it is “history on fast forward”. Read carefully, it really speaks of two creations, one at the very beginning of the physical universe and a second one (which included us) after something that threw it back into chaos, and brings us to the brink of what comes just short of another complete creation—except that this time, there is room for mercy so that Adam’s race can survive until the day when a more complete restoration takes place.
As we begin a new Torah-reading cycle, we can’t help but think of new beginnings. We all need them. Not only do our once-enthusiastic attitudes wear thin; we become irritated with one another and relationships become attenuated. Nerves fray, and things become chaotic—far from the way we wanted them to be. We blame one another, and soon we find ourselves outside the Garden of Delights.
The beginning and the end of this Torah portion find things in that condition, so it seems that is meant to be the emphasis this week. We need things to come back into order again. Nothing is settled until we do. When things that are “up in the air” get resolved, we feel the same sense of relief that YHWH must have when He saw that each step of creation was “tov” (appropriate, right, good). Then when all was together, He “rested and was refreshed”—and said it was tov me’od--“VERY good” or “just right”!
This portion tells us that we—the last piece in the puzzle--were designed in the image of Elohim, and what He did here was bring order out of chaos. What will we do this week to follow in His footsteps, to live out that image? So often, as the end of the Torah portion finds it, we spoil His work instead. We can even destroy years of progress with one explosion of anger against a brother—as in the case of Qayin here.
Elohim means, among other things, a judge. The Creator stopped to judge His work at each stage, and even though He found it to have been done rightly, it was still an important step—the same step He tried to instill in Qayin when He asked him questions: “Where is your brother?” “Is it right for you to be angry?” If only he had paused to assess, as Elohim did—if he had judged himself so he would not need to be judged by Another—things could have turned out so differently. Order could have been maintained. Maybe those Nephilim would never have gotten a foothold as they did, if people would have paused to judge whether those thoughts of their hearts were still “very good”. Maybe the storm-clouds would not have had to gather, because the smoke would never have come out of YHWH’s nostrils.
We can’t change history, but we can make the right decisions this time. When our integrity is questioned, instead of immediately putting up the defenses and pointing fingers at someone else, we can at least assess which part of the responsibility for the chaos is on our shoulders. If each of us would answer in the affirmative—“I am my brother’s keeper”—things could turn out very differently this time. And it may again be safe for the land that was divided to again be gathered back into one place—because people don’t have to be kept so far apart.
Every day there is an occasion for a new creation on some level. This time, let us not fail our Creator.
May YHWH grant you clear judgment and a fresh start wherever you need it.
Study Questions:
1. Elohim begins by saying, “Let there be light.” (Gen. 1:3) Then we see both Elohim and Adam making a series of one distinction after another. Philo and Yochanan, drawing on rich Jewish tradition, say that the word was the first thing YHWH created. How do words help us make distinctions? How do words bring light or clarity? How does light help us make distinctions? Why is this beneficial?
2. Why does evening precede morning in the day as defined by Scripture (1:5 et al)? What other acts of Elohim can you think of where darkness (figuratively) preceded light? Does this make you more optimistic about your present situation? How?
3. Why do you think YHWH would want to create a being “in his image/likeness”? (1:26)
4. What do you think it means that YHWH wanted human beings to “subdue” and “rule over” the rest of creation? (1:28) How do you think men have fulfilled His intent in this regard? How have they taken this idea in directions He did not intend?
5. When YHWH’s work was complete (2:1), He said it was “very good”. (1:31) What characteristics of earth make it “just right” for human habitation? Would you still describe the earth as “very good” today? If not, what caused the change?
6. Even in the Garden of Eden, humanity was given work to do. (2:15) What does this tell us about work?
7. What do you think he was meant to “guard” the Garden against? (2:15)
8. How does the command as presented in Gen. 3:3 differ from its original form in Gen. 2:17? What resulted from this misunderstanding?
9. “Naked” in 2:25 and “crafty” in 3:1 are the same word in Hebrew. What connection(s) can you see between the two ideas, as represented by the human beings and the serpent? “Naked” has the connotation that something important is missing. If they had never been clothed (as we think of it) before, how do you think they deduced that they were lacking something?
10. What parallels can you see between 3:4-6 and Yeshua’s temptation (Mat. 4:1-10)? (Philippians 2:6 may give you a big clue.)
11. YHWH Elohim said the human beings had now become like Him—knowing good and evil. (3:22) So was the serpent right (3:4-5)? Why or why not? Why was important to YHWH that they not be permitted to eat from the Tree of Life after that?
12. “Hevel” means, essentially, “Here today, gone tomorrow.” Those who are good have often met untimely deaths at the hands of the wicked. (4:10-11) But Isaiah 57:1 says it may be merciful when the righteous die, if they are kept from experiencing times of trouble. Yet how, then, could these people ever know justice and vindication for having acted rightly, though it cost them everything? Is that possible if there is not a resurrection to a world more worthy of them, or at least some kind of afterlife?
13. What do you think led to a condition in which “all the thoughts of their hearts were only evil continually”? (6:5) Do you see the same trend today at all? What can we do to prevent or slow such a process?
Companion Passage:
The Sidewalk
for kids
Did you ever look at a pretty sunset or a bluebird or butterfly and think, “It looks like an artist made that”?
If you did think that, you would be right! Our Creator really is very creative; He doesn’t seem to like to make any two things exactly the same (except maybe penguins!). My sister lives where she can watch the sunset every night across a lake, and every day it is different—a “changing exhibits gallery” like you would find at an art museum.
They say every snowflake is different from every other one. Well, I don’t know who has seen every snowflake and checked, but they have looked at enough of them under microscopes to make that guess, because no two that have been seen have looked exactly alike. That is because the Creator didn’t just make the world and then leave to go do something else, just letting it keep running. He stays involved with His creation every day because He considered it to be “very good” from the start, and even though we messed it up very badly, He designed it so it still can work if He keeps making adjustments to compensate for the muck that we threw into the “machine’s” gears.
So, in a way, He keeps creating every day. Maybe not “something out of nothing” every time, but He puts circumstances in a different order every time so that new combinations can keep showing up and we not only never get bored, but we never lose hope, because things don’t have to turn out the way they did another time. He is still involved every step of the way.
The Renewal of B'Reshith
“In the beginning was the Word…” (Yochanan 1:1) It starts out almost the same as Genesis 1:1, but adds another layer to the narrative. This is what the Renewed Covenant does, and this will be our theme of Torah studies for the coming year: seeing how the Renewed Covenant sheds light on and clarifies what the Torah was really talking about all along, but which became overt once Yeshua had accomplished what had to be kept somewhat of a mystery until YHWH had gotten it past haSatan’s ability to prevent its completion (1 Cor. 2:8), though YHWH does nothing without revealing His plan to at least some degree to His prophets. (Amos 3:7)
There are many who think the “New Testament” opposes the Torah. . But Yeshua said very clearly that we should never take his words to mean that. And so did Paul. So we are going to take the bull by the horns and show that that idea is only an interpretation developed because of reading it through smudged, shaded glasses, colored by a mindset that had not followed the Hebraic threads from the start.
It never undermines anything said the first time around. It brings it to fuller meaning, as we see in Yeshua’s series of “but I say unto” statements in the “Sermon in the Mount” (Matithyahu 5-7). He does not contradict anything YHWH said, only the ways some people have interpreted it. But most of the time all he does is take it to the heart of the matter. For example, murder is forbidden, but where does that murder originate? In hateful thoughts of the heart, which was corrupted by the fruit Adam and Chawwah ate and by their decision to disobey. Those are the root sins of which the ones that get all the way to the point of culpability are just symptoms. Adultery is forbidden, but the only way to prevent it, Yeshua says, is to nip lust in the bud while it is still in the imagination stage. THAT is what it means to “fulfill the Torah”—to bring out its deepest meaning and set it on an even firmer foundation.
B’reshith means “In [the] beginning.” Indeed, this Torah portion contains the account of the beginnings of so many things we know—of the world, the larger cosmos, of humanity—but also of where our down- fall originated. And that sets the stage for the rest of the story.
The Torah lets us in on the beginning of YHWH’s solution, which first shows up in a cryptic way in 3:15, but continues throughout the next weeks in the calling of Avraham, Yitzhaq, and Yaaqov to start a new nation, by which the curse could be reversed, then the calling of Moshe to write down the instruction for how to get there. The Renewed Covenant shows us the culmination of that plan, how the final piece of the crushing of the serpent’s head was accomplished and then how it would be carried out to completion through more sons—whose success the Kinsman-redeemer would make possible again.
Yeshua himself is called “the beginning” (Colossians 1:18), so this is certainly a remez-trail that we need to follow, because his identity is integrally related to that of Adam, actually in both directions. There’s a clue in that he is called “the root and offspring of David”. This also holds a key to our understanding of his relationship to Adam.
There’s a Jewish concept of the “Adam Qadmon”—the oldest or most original Adam—being the “blueprint” after which the physical Adam was patterned. This way, when Adam marred the “image of Elohim” (notice that when Adam had a son, he was only in Adam’s likeness and image, not Elohim’s anymore, per Gen. 5:3), the original, the blueprint, still remain in the heavenly realms, unmarred. It was held in reserve for “the fullness of time”, when the world was ready for another manifestation of the image of Elohim. This time the image would not be marred, and though this “second Adam” was destroyed because of the hatred of envious men, the image was not lost. YHWH’s holy one was not allowed to experience decay (Psalm 16:10) because there was no poison in his bloodstream or in his heart this time, and therefore his merit could be applied to many more people. Just as King Menashe’s evil continued to bear fruit in the nation he ruled even after he repented, it works in the realm of good as well.
“If by one man’s offense, death reigned through one, how much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Yeshua the Messiah. Therefore as by the offence of one [man], judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one [man], the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” (Romans 5:17-19)
On many occasions we see YHWH sparing the whole nation for the sake of our ancestors who pleased Him or for the sake of Moshe, who put his own status in YHWH’s book of life on the line so that the awesome concept of Israel would not be lost. Now, on a much grander scale, a perfection to a degree that Abraham and Moshe could not achieve (since they also inherited Adam’s tainted blood) could be shared with those who, like Menashe, could never overcome their debt because it was so deep.
Now there was a spiritual wealth so vast that it could overcome what we owed to YHWH and the compounding “interest” of one sin leading to another and another that kept us from ever being able to climb out of that ever-deepening hole. “The first Adam became a living soul; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit!” (1 Cor. 15:45)
So Yeshua really did more than renew the Torah covenant. He renewed the other covenants before that too—all the way back to the initial, unmarred relationship YHWH had with Adam before there was any reason for any kind of contract, which is basically what a covenant is, on a bigger scale. It’s a peace treaty with agreements that each side will do this or that. This way of doing things was only necessary after the knowledge of evil entered the picture and people’s motives became tainted, causing us to be suspicious of YHWH’s motives—the very thing the serpent in this portion introduced in order to break down our trust in YHWH.
Yeshua came to restore that trust, and part of how he did it was to show us just how far YHWH would go to restore the broken relationship—sacrificing His own most prized possession—the only man who had ever had a perfect relationship with Him, succeeding where the first Adam failed. He gave that up so that the “seed” could sprout and become many seeds. Thus he became what Isaiah called “the father of continuity” (9:6), for now the human race had begun again, its dead battery jump-started by an infusion of the very life that had flowed through Adam before he cut himself off from its source.
As Michael Card puts it, “This very moment is filled with his power that we might start anew, to break us away from the past… And so the Alpha brings to us this moment to commence to live in the freedom of total forgiveness… The beginning will make all things new... He hands us each new moment, saying, ‘My child, begin again.’”
He does grant us not only new beginnings, but makes it possible for us to be “born again” (Yochanan 3:3-7; 1 Kefa/Peter 1:23) --the ultimate re-boot. We can now get past our personal history, leave our old selves behind, and “put on the new man, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.” (Colossians 3:10)
If that isn’t good news, I don’t know what is.
Can We Do It Better?
Over and over in our opening Torah portion, we see the phrase, “…and Elohim saw that it was good.” (Gen. 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25, and the emphatic one, “very good”, v. 31, when all was complete.) Nothing to improve upon, as if to say, “Leave well enough alone.”
But that was then—before chapter 3, when things went so woefully wrong. Now they are not so very good—or, should we say, they are all a mixture of good and evil—because that is what we asked for. Now that everything is corruptible, humans are trying to replace YHWH’s marred creations with genetically-engineered “improvements”, and even hybrids of the best aspects of more than one type, extending all the way to the giddy but ethically-challenging addition of electronic or cybernetic elements to the human genome itself.
The critical question here is, do we think that, apart from a resurrection and new creation, we can bring things back to being “very good” again on our own? That seems to be the essence of the “Beast” of Revelation 13 and other chapters I that book—the creation by man that replaces man with something more “evolved” (even though it is by intelligent design, though far less intelligent than the original Designer). Is that the road we really want to go down? G.H. Pember points out that it was the line of the cursed Qayin (Cain) that (at least in the record) first came up with labor-saving innovations (4:17, 20, 21,22)—many of which we still use today--possibly to circumvent the blessing-in-disguise of having to eat by the sweat of our brow (work that actually strengthens our muscles). There is a reason YHWH barred us (in our truncated condition) from the Tree of Life. “Creation was subjected to vanity in hope” of not just improvements here and there but of complete restoration and redemption—at the right time. (Romans 8:17-25)
Might it not be better to, in Yaaqov’s words near the end of this book, “wait for Your deliverance, O YHWH”, in contrast to the way of the serpent (Gen. 49:17-18), who wanted us to doubt the goodness of YHWH’s design while it still was truly good? (3:1-5)
How to Get Back
to the Beginning
The beginning. It is where we often have to go back to be able to make sense of what is going on now.
This first chapter indeed sets the stage and defines terms for all that follows. “By the Word of YHWH were the heavens made...” (Psalm 33:6) A group of Jewish scientists called Gal Einai notes that up to Gen. 2:3, there are 92 unique Hebrew words (different root words, though some appear in various forms). There are also 92 naturally-occurring elements in the periodic table (those not modified by humans as some other elements are). “86 [distinct roots] appear in the verses relating the first 6 days of creation (1:1-31), while the last 6 are found in the verses relating to the Sabbath (2:1 through 2:3)… The 6 noble gases [correspond] with the 6 distinct roots found in the Sabbath section.” “Noble” gases are the most stable—“at rest”—just what the Sabbath is about!
The waters (1:7) above the atmosphere (a concept unfamiliar to us today; it is not clouds that are being spoken of) will show up again in a dramatic way for the one time they were used for a special event (7:11), for which they were held in reserve until then. (2 Kefa/Peter 3:5-7) Of course, they served a purpose before that--of keeping earth’s climate such that human beings and other life forms could live nearly 1,000 years—even with the poison introduced into our systems in chapter 3. (Read 2:17 in this light.) The name of the expanse below those waters (sham-mayim—“There is water there!”) should have tipped men off to the potential for disaster if they should step out of line, but as the early part of chapter 6 shows, it did not deter them. Were they already taking uniformity for granted (as Kefa warns we should not do in verses 3 and 4 that same chapter)? After all, nothing about the mechanics of the sky seems to have changed for about 1650 years. And now they seem to assume the same thing again.
The greatest heartbreak in history was so comprehensive as to turn a humanity that began in Elohim’s image (1:27) into merely the image of Adam (5:3) within only one generation. The Book of Jubilees (3:18) says they did have seven years of the “very good” YHWH had arranged before the serpent worked such deadly sorcery that the true Adam could no longer be found (3:9). Having their eyes opened (the serpent did keep that promise) was not exactly progress, was it? (3:5, 7)
Can we get back to the beginning and undo this? Yes! It took Elohim only one day to create all the species of land animals—and mankind. (1:24-31) It took the same amount of time (if it was time yet) just to create light and separate it from the darkness. (1:3-5) How complex the composition and properties of light must be! But still more complex and complete is the way YHWH brought the light back into the darkness, and this time the dark did not overcome it. (Yochanan 1:5)
How could male and female have evolved? But what we could have become might never have been realized were it not for a technicality built into creation—the seed of the woman (3:15), which Arthur Custance discovered remains immortal until fertilized by male seed. This allowed for the emergence, under special circumstances, of a “second Adam”, who did pass the test Adam failed (of grasping for equality with Elohim—see Philippians 2:6 in light of Genesis 3:5). He made it possible to again bear YHWH’s image!
We look forward to and stake everything on the new beginning promised us in not-too-distant days—a “time of restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21), beginning with the 7th day (when we enjoy the fruits of our labors) and then the 8th day, which we celebrate during Sukkoth (the finalizing and incorporating of all the gains of the seven days). Then, all will be truly new and again very good, yet still built from what was accomplished during the seven “days” that preceded it. (See Psalm 90:4 and 2 Kefa 3:7-10.)
Elohim Created
—but How and When?
In the last couple of years I have investigated the spectrum of views on creation held by Bible-believers. While they all agree on “intelligent design” and even design by the Elohim of the Bible in particular, they vary in their views of whether the six days of creation (which open this Torah portion) were days as we know them or metaphors for long ages.
Jewish physicist Dr. Gerald Schroeder says there is no contradiction, as both of these can simultaneously be true; it just depends on your perspective, considering the relativity of time depending on your location in the universe. From YHWH’s point of view, since He was present at the beginning, it has been six days. Suppose He sent a message from the moment of creation saying He would carry out some action after six days. From His viewpoint at the center, looking forward, that six days remained six days. But if the universe has been expanding outward since the initial “bang” (if there was one), time itself has also been lengthening out from when it all began. So by the time the six days were finally completed and we got the message, they had stretched into billions of years, and we see them looking backward, from that perspective. He also correlates the geological record with the order in which things appear in the Genesis account.
Other long-agers like Hugh Ross (The Fingerprint of God) don’t believe humans evolved from anything else, but think other creatures may have evolved prior to YHWH’s bringing us directly on the scene. He and authors like Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee (Rare Earth) appeal to the long sequence of processes that would be required to get atoms initially released by the “big bang” cool enough to combine into elements that only form at much lower temperatures, and for galaxies to have had enough time to send their light back to us from the edges of the universe. (Ward and Brownlee conclude it is very unlikely that conditions anywhere else in the universe would facilitate life at the level seen on earth; Ross also cites such examples of how ideal earth’s location and its particular balance of gases, magnetic intensity, and elements are to support life; a tiny difference in any direction would render it as unable to sustain life as other planets.)
The best arguments for a young earth (circa 6,000 years, though Donald Patten, author of The Mars-Earth Wars, saw the possibility of the universe existing a few thousand more years before earth was pulled into the sun’s orbit) lie in the potential of planetary-scale catastrophes (the Great Rift in the days of Sodom, Noah’s flood, etc.) to accomplish most of the sedimentation that by the usual processes would take millions of years to accrue (proven in 1982 when a miniature “grand canyon” on Washington’s Toutle River (see photo below) was cut through sediment laid down rapidly after the eruption of Mt. St. Helens less than two years earlier, and by places where tree trunks spanned dozens of rock strata—not possible if they were laid down more slowly than wood decomposes).
There are also the theological implications of there being any death in the world before sin. Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis’ Creation Museums notes that if YHWH’s assessment of all creation was “very good” and as Paul said, “by one man sin entered the world and death by sin” (Romans 5:12), there could not have been death in any species before Adam, because that would not have been “very good”. (Dinosaurs, in the form of dragons, cited all around the world beforehand, were made extinct by man as recently as medieval times.)
We may be able to get around this via the Hebrew text, which describes the earth (Gen. 1:2) as tohu v’bohu (a ruin and a desolation). But Isaiah 45:18 says YHWH “did not create [the world] tohu”, so we have to interpret the haytah in 1:2 as meaning that sometime after creation, earth “became” tohu, possibly due to the rebellion of haSatan and his minions and their consequential judgment. But the gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 would not have been during but before the six-day clock began, allowing for some stretch of time prior to the arrival of light. The “very good” would thus only apply to the “reconstituted” heavens and earth and the creatures over which Adam was given dominion, not any fallen angels that may have used and ruined our planet before us. The “eastward” (miQedem) in Gen. 2:8 might be thus better rendered, “YHWH Elohim planted a garden in Eden from the more ancient [world]…” Note the importance of studying the original language—literally the language of creation, according to Isaac Mozeson (The Origin of Speeches)!
The jury may still be out as we await more evidence, but after over 150 years since Darwin published his theory, no plausible “missing links” beyond variation within a kind (like all the different breeds of dogs), have ever been found. And “intelligent design” is a growing consensus among scientists who’ve turned every stone and found no way to explain life’s origin by chance; even billions of years wouldn’t suffice, as chronicled by Stephen Meyer (Signature in the Cell), whose study of DNA led him to believe there had to be a creator.
So just be sure that whatever view you hold thinks outside the Darwinian box and does justice to YHWH’s word without compromise, not catering to the “spirit of the age”.
Another view of the Toutle River Canyon
Restoring Order
Amid Chaos
B’reshith begins with YHWH bringing order out of chaos (Genesis 1:2ff); in the news today we see Israel’s enemies doing all they can to turn order into chaos and then blame Israel for pushing them to do it.
And that’s been the pattern ever since Adam’s fall (Gen. 3): even Adam blamed Eve. (3:12) The next step in the dissolution that resulted from the poisonous fruit that broke the bonds of our DNA was that, whereas Adam was made in Elohim’s image (Gen. 5:1), Adam’s son was only said to be in his own image and likeness. (5:3) After the lie shattered trust, Cain blamed his righteous brother for ruining things for him since he “messed up the curve” when YHWH was “grading” them both (4:3-8), so he took the competition out of the picture. The light shined in the darkness, and those it caught doing evil things cursed the light as if it had caused the problem! And so it continued through Medieval times, when Jews, who bathed well enough to avoid catching the plague were blamed for others catching it. Later they were blamed for Germany’s economic downfall, just as they are still censured for taking steps to eradicate an organization that just massacred them in a similar attempt at genocide.
The hard part is separating the innocent from the guilty, so that, as with Qorakh’s rebellion (Num. 16:21), justice might be done to the perpetrators of evil without collateral damage. A big part of the reconstitution of what appears to have been a ruined earlier creation (contrast Gen. 1:2 with Isaiah 45:18) involved dividing one thing from another. (1:4, 6, 9; 2:22). This brings about distinctions—the only way there can be definition. (2:20) First, He mercifully separated us from the Tree of Life. (3:22-24) Sometimes the separating must wait, lest good that has gotten intertwined with the bad also be lost (Mat. 13:29-30), but ultimately it must come. (Mat. 25:32)
The new moon haftarah focuses on a separation that was, sadly, necessary for survival: David’s tearful parting with Jonathan (1 Samuel 20:35-42), undoubtedly like many who are about to go into enemy territory out of an unshakeable sense of duty to root out the evil, knowing many of them may not come back alive. May our words to them echo what David (a Jew) and Yonathan (an Israelite from another tribe like many of us) said to each other at what they thought might be their last time to see each other: “Go in shalom, since both of us have sworn in YHWH’s name, saying, ‘May YHWH be between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants until the Age’.”
It’s hard to imagine any of those soldiers going “in peace” right now, but the verse literally says, “Go for peace/total well-being”. That is more reasonable to ask for, and is the outcome we all hope and pray will result from this awful but necessary incursion. Despite the remaining chaos, some measure of order can be restored.
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” (Psalm 122:6) Since the word “of” is only implied in Hebrew, it is “shalom Yerushalayim”, the same linguistic construct as the famous “Pax Romana”, which made international travel safe and brought some measure of order to the Mediterranean world in its day. I can’t help but think in those terms when I hear “the peace of Jerusalem”, because Pax Romana ended up being part of the disorder, for it destroyed Jerusalem in its day; only when the emperor of the world (the Messiah) sits on the throne in Jerusalem--in "the Age"--will there be complete peace anywhere else. Earth will at last be subdued by a human being as YHWH originally intended (1:28), and he will have dominion in the way that was meant to be. (1:26) May it come “swiftly and in our day”!
The One Who will install that king on the throne in Zion (Psalm 2:6) says, “Behold, I am making all things new!” (Rev. 21:5) Even now, in Michael Card’s words, “He hands us each new moment, saying, ‘My child, begin again!’” This is full circle from creation and the return to chaos that followed. What form will that take? One with a much better outcome than the first: “Elohim will wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; neither will there be any more pain, because the former things have passed away.” (21:4)
That is the outcome to invest our ultimate efforts in. May the liberators--and all of us--be successful in taking whatever steps are needed to restore order in the meantime, while we await the real, full, permanent solution.
