First mention of a solution against death 5 Evil its law of death

There was a lovely harmony in the Garden of Eden. Man was free to walk around and live nicely. He also was free to think and to make choices. There it went wrong. The woman let her mind wander and got tempted by her thoughts, willing to know more.
We have seen that the yielding to the tempter or man’s mind doubting God‘s honesty is treated allegorically in the Edenic covenant as the serpent in the flesh. First man was full of life but now death had come to him. Temptation had taken over and evil had entered his mind. This evil is the “devil” or diabolos of the New Testament, which term is defined as “that which has the power of death” (Hebrews 2:14), elsewhere described as “the law of sin and death”, “sin that dwelleth in me”, “sin in the flesh” (Romans 7:20; Romans 8:2-3).

Hebrews 2:14-15 NHEBJE  Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,  (15)  and might deliver all of them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Eve was taken in by her thoughts which proofed not to be good thoughts.  Those ideas opposing God’s Wishes are considered bad thoughts. Going against God His Will is as declaring yourself to be against His ideas and opposing Him or to rival God, taking on the position of an opponent of God or an adversary (satan) of God.

Evil thoughts got so much power in man that it brought death to them but also put its stamp on all the rest of mankind. The act of the first two human beings created an awful situation for us. The curse of death having come over man also brought plants and animals in danger. Because now the mind of man was filled with darkness and their way of thinking became so blurred that often they would take the wrong decisions. At the beginning of the universe man had received the plants as food, meaning they had to be vegetarians or veganists. By the years following their expulsion from the Garden of Eden they were not happy any more by eating only plants and wanted also to eat meat, also becoming more like the animals, a carnivor. By doing so they also became killers of animal. They had taken their power to be master over plants and animals to be able to kill other living beings. Evil or badness in this way creped further in their life and as such evil or satan has become master or chief ruler of this world now. The enmity against God was so strong it became deeply rooted in the next generations.  Paul described how that this “warred against the law of my mind” (Romans 7:23), and in doing so gave expression to the enmity described by God in the 15th verse of Genesis 3.

Romans 7:23 NHEBJE  but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.

God talking about the seed to come (a seed of a new generation), wanted mankind a solution for what they had caused and for those who had nothing to do with that first fault or wrong choice of Adam and Eve. God had asked not to touch nor to eat from the tree, which was a law for man. They ignored it, but with it they also did not listen to God.  Also later the many Laws provided by God to guide man, got ignored. Through the flesh every law would be weak. But the seed or the send one from God was to show the world that he who also was in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, would be able to follow the Laws of God, not doing his own Will, but continually doing the Will of God. The action or attitude of that seed was going to contradict the thoughts of those taken by that ‘hissing in the mind’, the ‘serpent‘ or ‘evil’, the adversary of God, satan or the devil. Those coming after Adam and Eve also would have the choice to be after the flesh either to mind the things of the flesh or to love the things of the flesh. The loving harmony which subsisted between the Father and the son restored the relationship between God and mankind and could again bring liberation in the condemnation of sin in the flesh.

Romans 8:3 NHEBJE  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;

Though there is constant enmity or animosity between the lusts of the flesh and the requirements of God as set down in His law those who would come into the seed of the woman and would follow his teachings could make themselves stronger and become once again in the spiritual life or after the Spirit (o. pneuma) or the things of the Spirit (o. pneuma) . In order to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually (o. pneuma) minded is life and peace.

Romans 8:5-10 NHEBJE  For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.  (6)  For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;  (7)  because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.  (8)  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.  (9)  But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.  (10)  If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

That the serpent is used allegorically of sin is shown by the punishment meted out to Israel when the people “spake against God, and against Moses” (Numbers 21:5). Serpents appeared among the people, the sting of which proved fatal (cp. 1 Corinthians 15:56), so that “much people of Israel died”.

1 Corinthians 15:56 NHEBJE  (56)  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

In panic, the rest of the people appealed to Moses for help, and he interceded with God on their behalf. He was told to make a serpent of brass, and to set it on a pole, so that the people might view it. All who did so in faith were saved from the death that threatened them. The serpent on the pole illustrated to the people what they should do to the “serpent” within (the carnal mind that inflamed lust): they must crucify it if they would live.

The serpent or evil could put the seed on the pole, Jesus Christ being put to death, as a symbol of bringing the curse of evil and death to its end, Jesus vanquish evil by giving his unblemished body as a ransom for all who had that sin of the flesh. His decision only to follow God His Will has overcome the fault of those who followed their own will, ignoring God’s Will.

Unlike the active serpents on the ground, there was no venom in the serpent on the pole (not by Moses, not by Jesus Christ); similarly sin must be neutralised in us if we would live. At the time of Moses the serpent on the pole could also representing that seed promised in the Garden of Eden,the Lord Jesus Christ who came in the nature common to all. On several occasions he compared his crucifixion with the “lifting up” of the serpent in the wilderness (John 3:14-16; John 8:28; John 12:32), thus identifying his nature with the allegorical significance of the serpent.

John 3:14-21 NHEBJE  As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,  (15)  that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.  (16)  For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.  (17)  For God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.  (18)  He who believes in him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.  (19)  This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.  (20)  For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his works would be exposed.  (21)  But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God.”

All About Evil
All About Evil (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We do live in a time now that people should be able to see who God has send to the earth and has lifted up. Today there are still too many, even people who call themselves Christian, who do not want to believe Jesus is that seed God has promised and send to the earth. They still do not want to believe Jesus is really the son of God and not a god son. They still do not want to accept that Jesus did not his own will (which he would have done when he is God) and and that he did nothing on his own authority, but spoke just as his heavenly Father taught him.

John 8:28-29 NHEBJE  Jesus therefore said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of myself, but as the Father taught me, I say these things.  (29)  He who sent me is with me. The Father hasn’t left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”

John 12:32 NHEBJE  And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw everyone to myself.”

In the seed, which always did only those things that pleased Jehovah God, would come power to battle the evil. All those who would come to recognise that seed and would come under it, multiplying in unity trying to put away those fleshly lusts would be able to put their flesh to death at the stake to gain life in the mind of Christ.

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Preceding articles

A multifold of elements in creation and a bad choice made

First mention of a solution against death 1 To divine, serpent, opposition, satan and adversary

First mention of a solution against death 2 Harm or no harm and naked truth

First mention of a solution against death 3 Tempter Satan and man’s problems

First mention of a solution against death 4 A seed for mankind

Next: First mention of a solution against death 6

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Additional reading

  1. Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #6 Words to feed and communicate
  2. The Seed Of The Woman Bruised
  3. Jesus begotten Son of God #10 Coming down spirit or flesh seed of Eve
  4. Sayings of Jesus, what to believe and being or not of the devil
  5. A question to be posed
  6. Which man is mentioned most often in the Bible? Jesus, Moses, Abraham or David?
  7. Who is on the Lord’s side
  8. Chaff and the shoot out of the stock of Jesse
  9. Seeing or not seeing and willingness to find God
  10. The God of hope filling us with all joy and peace
  11. A book of life and a man born more than two thousand years ago
  12. Not about personal salvation but about a bigger Plan
  13. True riches
  14. Let us become nothing, and Christ everything
  15. Deliverance and establishement of a theocracy
  16. Solution for Willing hearts filled with gifts
  17. Looking for something or for the Truth and what it might be and self-awareness
  18. Message from the family tree in the Tanakh
  19. Set free from any form of mental torment or self-condemnation
  20. Were allowed to willfully break the Law of Moses
  21. God loving people justified
  22. No curtain placed over tomorrow
  23. Has the Bible’s Garden of Eden been found — and restored
  24. A promise given in the Garden of Eden
  25. Around pre-existence of Christ

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Further reading

  1. Where Did We Get Our Sinful Nature?
  2. “Where are you?” N:o 25 The enmity in the history
  3. As a believer your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost
  4. The Truth About Being Born Again
  5. Walking in the Spirit
  6. Be Still
  7. Covenant and the law (Sir 24:23-24:23)
  8. Looking at the Ocean and Seeing God’s Hand
  9. Signs from God
  10. Prophet Moses’ Obedience to Ishmaelite Prophet Jethro
  11. Anatoly of Optina: “Wherever God is — there is peace.”
  12. Debtor
  13. Enmity
  14. From The Heart The Mouth Speaks
  15. The Fight You Won’t Win
  16. Addiction #05 — Eating Animals (05/27/12)
  17. Men think they need to eat meat to be manly—and it’s making them sick
  18. How humans are not physically created to eat meat

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First mention of a solution against death 4 A seed for mankind

Vanity and the hope to be as God, knowing everything and being able to do everything, man made the wrong choice, going in against the Will of God, disobeying His mitzvot not to touch or eat of the tree of knowledge of good and bad.

The Divine Creator is a God of order, clarity, Who does not tell lies (= always telling the truth) and does not create chaos or confusion. (1 Corinthians 14:33) Man should have known that God always told the truth. But by letting his thoughts wander about, he was caught by his own bad thoughts that God would keep something hidden from him or did not want to give him what he also should own.

As He had promised they would get to know life and death, He cursed them to the hard labour which they previously never had to do. And having made out of dust, God told them they would return to it, becoming dust again, meaning to die and then to decay. (Genesis 3:19)

 (Genesis 3:19 ASV): “in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

In the previous chapters we discussed that what happened to Adam and Eve still happens to us every day. Temptation today still follows the same pattern with us as it did with Eve in the Garden of Eden. Always there is first the arousing of desire; then the mind, seizing upon that desire, rationalizes it to make it seem reasonable, proper, and profitable. Then the will acts — and often immediately confusion, guilt, blame, and a sense of limitation follows without fail. The process is absolutely relentless.

Adam and Eve thought, like we often do, that we can hide ourselves. We may think that we have hidden things we did from the eyes of man, and oftentimes many of us are deluded into thinking that because no human being knows about our guilt, nothing has happened.

Yet within us, whenever we yield to evil, a darkness falls and death tightens its grip upon our throat. {Ray C. Stedman}

When addressing the evil God shows His understanding and shows His willingness to provide help in their hopeless situation. It is not that man shall be able to escape for what they have done. No, there is the curse for the woman and for the man. and to the evil or the adversary of Him, Jehovah says

Genesis 3:15 NHEBJE  I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”

The evil or satan shall become subject of a war  to the “death”. The thoughts Eve had, would now also come to her children, dwelling in them they shall be troubled by desires, vanity, and other bad things, bringing them into captivity to the law of sin which is in their members

Romans 7:18-23 NHEBJE  For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but to do that which is good is not.  (19)  For the good which I desire, I do not do; but the evil which I do not desire, that I practice.  (20)  But if what I do not desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.  (21)  I find then the law, that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present.  (22)  For I delight in God’s law after the inward man,  (23)  but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.

For those who have that incapacity to be fully correct or without fault, God did not want that they would not have to face total destruction. Speaking out His judgement over Adam and Eve the Divine Creator spoke about a future saviour. Some one who would be able to break the curse of death. Between the bad thoughts and the way of righteousness shall be a battle. Those who would like to follow their own self-love and what made Eve from this world shall find tribulation and lots of problems in this world, not strong enough to fight them. Though others who not want to be of that world shall be able to be stronger and find their way out, though the world may hate them.

John 15:19 NHEBJE  If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

John 16:33 NHEBJE  I have told you these things, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have oppression; but cheer up! I have overcome the world.”

Yes, there will be one coming, by the promise of the Most High, who can call himself the only begotten son of God. Though the mind of the flesh may be hostile to God (Romans 8:6-7) this provider foreseen by God in the Garden of Eden, after the fall of man, long before Abraham, is the one we all have to look for and have to find. In him we shall have to put our faith to come away under the curse of death. He is the only man who succeeded to be without fault. He always managed to do God His Will. Though he was tempted many times (in the desert, in the square of the village and in the town, in the temple, in the garden of Gethsemane) he never gave in to the temptation, always wanting to do God His will instead of his own will.

Luke 22:41-42 NHEBJE  He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and he knelt down and prayed,  (42)  saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

The writer of Bereshith notates God’s declaration that there shall be a separating of the serpent (the evil, the temptation) from the woman, and tells about the provision of a solution, which we shall hear about in later books as well. In the third chapter of Genesis we find  the basis for the first promise of redemption which must be interpreted allegorically. In that light, the serpent stood for what it proclaimed:

“Ye shall not surely die” (v. 4).

This error was an emanation of the thinking of the flesh called “the carnal mind” by the apostle Paul, which, he declared

“is enmity against God” (Romans 8:7).

Moses lets us understand that there in the Garden of Eden was the base of our problems. There the first man and woman doubting God and His honesty, they becoming adversaries or enemies of God. Eve her thoughts are represented as the creeping animal, a serpent which became “the father of lies“, and all who endorse or proclaim error are considered as its seed, or children.

John 8:44 NHEBJE  You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and its father.

 

English: Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil עב...
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil עברית: חטא עץ הדעת – ד”ר לידיה קוזניצקי (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Accordingly, in the allegorical signification of this statement, the serpent represents the spirit of error and deceit as it emanates from the carnal mind. It is frequently used for those who oppose the Truth (Psalms 58:4; 140:3; Matthew 23:33; Revelation 12:9), manifesting themselves as adversaries of the righteous. Its error stemmed from its presumption in reasoning upon Divine law from the standpoint of the flesh. This philosophy caused Eve to view the forbidden tree anew, and its attractive appearance aroused in her the latent propensities of the flesh which then became active and demanding.

“The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life”

which John teaches is

“not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16)

were inflamed, and became “the word of the serpent” made flesh in her.

Adam and Eve wanted so much to have that knowledge of good and evil. Their aspiration to own that knowledge was fed by their lust for more. Paul calls such ‘wants’ “lusts” and gives them the title of sin in the flesh (Romans 8:3), or “sin that dwelleth in me” (Romans 7:20).

Romans 8:3 NHEBJE  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;

The sending of that son is God’s solution for mankind. Though evil shall do everything to try to destroy him, it shall not succeed.

Michelangelo Bounarotti - The Fall and Expulsi...
Michelangelo Bounarotti – The Fall and Expulsion of Adam and Eve – detail (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By the offspring of the woman the world shall come to see a Virgin Birth where “It” (AV), a singular seed, shall “bruise” (AV), or “Shuwph” = to crush (Job 9:17).  This enmity which had come into existence, between man and God, is seeking the destruction of the higher interests of man. While it will inflict injury, this enmity is subject to the ultimate conquest of man.

The sorrow of woman consequent upon the Fall brings God now having a woman bringing life to a man, but this time not without pain. Also the seed God provides shall bring lots of pain to his mother and generations shall look up at that miserable pain this son of hers had to endure.

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Preceding articles

Creation of the earth and man #22 Man in the image and likeness of the Elohim #6 Spirits, spiritual bodies and illusory perception

Necessity of a revelation of creation 1 Works of God and works of man

Necessity of a revelation of creation 4 Getting understanding by Word of God 2

Genesis – Story of creation 6 Genesis 3:13-24 Enmity and curse

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 1

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 2

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 3

What others think about the tree of knowledge of good and evil

A multifold of elements in creation and a bad choice made

Not trying to make the heathen live like Jews #1

Not trying to make the heathen live like Jews #2

First mention of a solution against death 1 To divine, serpent, opposition, satan and adversary

First mention of a solution against death 2 Harm or no harm and naked truth

First mention of a solution against death 3 Tempter Satan and man’s problems

Necessary to be known all over the earth

Next: First mention of a solution against death 5 Evil its law of death

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Additional reading

  1. Challenging claim 4 Inspired by God 3 Self-consistent Word of God
  2. Creator and Blogger God 3 Lesson and solution
  3. Possibility to live
  4. Dying or not
  5. A learning process for each of us
  6. Together tasting a great promise
  7. The Devil Not A Personal Super-Natural Being
  8. Satan the evil within
  9. Satan or the devil
  10. Lucifer
  11. Redemption # 1Biblical doctrine of salvation
  12. The Song of The Lamb #3 Daniel and Revelation
  13. Story of Jesus’ birth begins long before the New Testament
  14. Marriage of Jesus 10 Old and New Covenant
  15. God Our Refuge
  16. On the Edge of Believing
  17. What is life?
  18. Dying or not
  19. Mortal Soul and Mortal Psyche #6 Summary
  20. People Seeking for God 5 Bread of life
  21. When believing in God’s existence and His son, possessing a divine legislation
  22. The redemption of man by Christ Jesus
  23. Suffering redemptive because Jesus redeemed us from sin
  24. Looking for a primary cause and a goal that can not offer philosophers existing beliefs
  25. 1 Corinthians 15 Hope in action
  26. How we think shows through in how we act
  27. Not staying alone in your search for truth
  28. Doing the works of God
  29. Being fit to take care of a garden
  30. Be holy
  31. We have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace
  32. Aim High: Examples of Godly Characters to follow
  33. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #10 Prayer #8 Condition
  34. Mortal Soul and Mortal Psyche #2 Psyche, the word
  35. Departed Souls Await Judgment

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Further reading

  1. Daily Reading: 29 March – The Fall – Genesis 3 ~ paradise lost
  2. The Original Sin
  3. Were We Ever Cursed?
  4. The fall of “The Fall” Part 2
  5. Genesis 3 – would you Adam and Eve it?
  6. Why We Sin…and the Truth That Sets Us Free
  7. Death, Life, and Trees
  8. Fear & Loathing In… God?
  9. Significance of Jesus wearing a crown of thorns?
  10. Christ’s Sacrificial Love
  11. Children of the Free
  12. How Great The Fall
  13. Practising Ministry 5: It All Went Wrong
  14. Pastor Wrinkles: Unintended Consequences Pt. 5
  15. Pastor Wrinkles: Unintended Consequences Pt. 6
  16. Tradition or the Bible – your choice.
  17. The Answer for Pain
  18. More Grace Needed Here!
  19. A Tale of Two Skywalkers
  20. Redemption and Restoration
  21. The Poetry of George Herbert: “The Sacrifice” (Pt. 2)
  22. Rejoicing in Christ
  23. In A Perfect World…
  24. Reasons not to compromise with theological compromisers
  25. No Longer Slaves!
  26. +++
  27. Further reading
  28. Is Eve Responsible?
  29. To The Weary…
  30. Ripped from the headlines: Bring on the so-called “Catholic” guilt
  31. Empathy and Guilt
  32. 5 Steps: Overcoming Guilt
  33. Guilt and Regrets
  34. The Voice of Guilt
  35. Guilty of Being Human
  36. Living With Guilt
  37. Guilt, Shame & the Atonement: A Foreword
  38. Daily Obstruction: Religious Obstructions
  39. No More Guilt
  40. Guilt Free
  41. Condemnation Never Comes from God
  42. It’s On You, It Always Has Been
  43. Here’s to You: Your are Right in His Sight
  44. Who is evaluating you?
  45. The Offerings in Leviticus (1 of 2)
  46. The Offerings in Leviticus (2 of 2)
  47. Perfectly Imperfect
  48. The Path to your Potential
  49. No short cuts to heaven..!
  50. The Purpose in it All
  51. Not For The Faint Of Heart
  52. Redemption
  53. Deliverance
  54. What Lie We Often Fall For
  55. Why does God allow deception?
  56. The Father of Tall Tales
  57. The Father of Lies
  58. Satan, Who? Is Satan Real?
  59. Dear Father of Lies
  60. Look at the Lamb (Day 8)
  61. The Importance of Biblical Discernment
  62. God Is and We Aren’t
  63. Jesus Free Man From Sin
  64. Are people willing to die for something they know is a lie?
  65. Liars & Murderers – God Says They Are The Same!

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First mention of a solution against death 1 To divine, serpent, opposition, satan and adversary

You would expect a created being be loyal to its creator. Also the Elohim Jehovah God, the Divine Creator, wanted His creatures to be faithful to Him.

All the fullness of the Godhead was and is still thereto be that of mankind to make them  complete. The Divine Creator made us in His image but did not endow us with the attributes of Deity. Though He had given man the possibility to give names to all things and to govern this world. He provided His omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, immutability and infallibility, for our defence. Man had to be satisfied with favour and full of the goodness of the Lord.

The first man (1° Adam) felt lonely and ‘fancied’ some accompaniment. He willingly or readily was quite ready to admit to his Creator that he loved somebody to talk to and to share ideas with. It was ‘of pleasure’ to have somebody of is equality around him. ‘Obliging’ or ‘willing’ he ‘on his own accord’ let his ‘mind wander’ to have a partner which he did not find in those already created creatures. His ‘spirit’ was ‘willing’ to have somebody who could be with him and help him.

Genesis 2:18-25 NHEBJE  Jehovah God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”  (19)  Out of the ground Jehovah God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.  (20)  The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a helper suitable for him.  (21)  Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall on the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.  (22)  He made the rib, which Jehovah God had taken from the man, into a woman, and brought her to the man.  (23)  The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”  (24)  Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.  (25)  They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

There was no need to be ashamed because their thoughts were still pure and innocent in conscience. The covering of our body is the ensign of our bad thinking and going wrong or our sin. There was no proneness to lust or sin: they were and everything was “very good”.

Genesis 1:31 NHEBJE  God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

They got habitual to their environment, a planted garden in a place called Eden, which was in the east, in which they also saw the tree God had planted and had asked them not to eat of its fruit.

Genesis 2:8-9 NHEBJE  Jehovah God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed.  (9)  Out of the ground Jehovah God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:16-17 NHEBJE  Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;  (17)  but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it; for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die.”

God ordered man something He knew they would be able to follow. It was not that God demanded more than man may cope. (Because that is not something God does.) God’s commandments are rules given to man  in the knowledge that they should be able to keep them. In case God would have created human beings of which He knew they would not be able to keep or to observe His commandments that would have made Him to be a Creator of imperfect beings and also a cruel God or cruel Father, because when He cursed those who are at fault when He knows they cannot keep His rules He would have asked more than they can bear or demand more than they can do.

God had created the human beings with a free will. You may notice above the ‘signs’ of the feelings and the thoughts of man. It was the free mind and the capability of man to think and to reason that may have brought them to question their Maker.

From the man was taken a bone and as such being flesh of the man’s flesh the mannin or wo-man came living next to him and reasoning with him. They had all sorts of things pleasant in their sight and should have had no reason to complain.

File:Blake Adam and Eve.jpg
Adam and Eve by William Blake (1808), Watercolour on paper

With the tree of knowledge of good and evil in their sight, both Adam and Eve were confronted with the idea that they might also get the same insight as God and could come to know the good and evil. Though for them God having said that they should not eat of it, neither to touch it, lest they’ll die, seemed as if God was holding something back from them which they also could deserve.

The inner feelings or thought about that tree became very tempting. It was as a reptile creeping in their head, coming to their heart, making them to believe they could gain a knowledge which they did not have yet. The word ‘serpent‘ which can be found in many English translations stands for the Hebrew word that indicate “quickness of perception” or “to hiss, to divine”, in Greek, “to see” or also as the Hebrew meaning for a “voice of flesh”. It was an act of expressing (a negative view or reaction) disapproval, contempt, or dissatisfaction. They showed discontent with their situation God having the right to touch the tree of knowledge and to eat that fruit whilst they were forbidden to come near it.

The original wording in the books of Moses show there was such a sound uttered as an exclamation of derision, contempt, etc, which made them doubt God and go against His Wishes. Such going against the Will of God is called sin and makes the person an adversary of God, for which the word ‘satan‘ is used. Satan is an act (and not a person as such) of taking on adversary or offering resistance or opposition. Adam and Eve felt an aversion against their Maker the Most High Elohim and this brought them to eat from the fruit of the tree of knowledge.

Their backbone was not strong enough.  Their willpower was not so strong they could resist their inner thoughts of trying out what it would give if they ate from that tree. By absence of consensus ad idem Adam gave in to the will of the woman and with her, tried to eat from what they thought would give them more power and would bring them on the same line as God.

It is this act of wanting to become like God and disobeying His commandment what brought to mankind the first sin or mortal sin and the fall of man.
Selfseeking in the hope to gain something he thought God kept secret for him man out of selfishness, self-willed went his own way , headstrong or high-handed his self-complacency and conceitedness brought him to take the fruit. With his own hands man took the fruit like the woman had done in the hope to receive self-satisfaction, knowledge and more power.

The first human beings their mind had become adverse to or at enmity with God.

Genesis 3:1-8 NHEBJE  Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Jehovah God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?'”  (2)  The woman said to the serpent, “Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat,  (3)  but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'”  (4)  The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t surely die,  (5)  for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  (6)  When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.  (7)  The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.  (8)  They heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah God among the trees of the garden.

Psalms 12:4 NHEBJE  who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail. Our lips are our own. Who is lord over us?”

Now they had found a liar in themselves. (Proverebs 30:6) Their idea of becoming like God made that they gained knowledge of good and evil, like God had warned them. Every thing that is desirable to be known could have been that knowledge. But with it came also what they thought God would not bring over them. This means that they thought God was not telling the truth or that God was a liar. But God always tells the absolute truth and does not tell lies. This means that those who love God believe that God is always clear in His speaking and does not hide something but always says how it is.

Eve doubted of the certainty of what God had said whilst her partner the 1° Adam plainly and cleanly impugned it. God’s veracity was attacked first, than the truth of God’s Word was doubted and God‘s benevolence and goodness toward humankind was also further attacked (Genesis 3:5).

In a way it is ironical that mankind tried to grasp from God what was already his and was not willing to be patient enough to see everything evolve. The rabbis say that the eyes and ears are windows of the soul and what we let in, grows in our heart until the fateful act is committed. Eve is the first example given to us and should also be a warning to be alert and to not let us be carried away by our bad inner thoughts.

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Preceding posts:

The very very beginning 2 The Word and words

A multifold of elements in creation and a bad choice made

Creation of the earth and man #17 Man in the image and likeness of the Elohim #1 In the image and after the likeness

Creation of the earth and man #18 Man in the image and likeness of the Elohim #2 Assimilation of character

Creation of the earth and man #19 Man in the image and likeness of the Elohim #3 Beholding image and likeness of the invisible God

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 1

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 2

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 3

Genesis – Story of creation 5 Genesis 3:1-12 Eating of the fruit-tree of knowledge

Genesis – Story of creation 6 Genesis 3:13-24 Enmity and curse

Man in the image and likeness of the Elohim #8 The Formation of woman #1

Man in the image and likeness of the Elohim #9 The Formation of woman #2

Gone astray, away from God

Continues with: First mention of a solution against death 2 Harm or no harm and naked truth

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Additional reading

  1. Creator and Blogger God 2 Image and likeness
  2. Creator and Blogger God 3 Lesson and solution
  3. Creator and Blogger God 5 Things to tell
  4. An anarchistic reading of the Bible (2)—Creation and what follows
  5. Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #1 Creator and His Prophets
  6. A god who gave his people commandments and laws he knew they never could keep to it
  7. The faithful God
  8. Story of Jesus’ birth begins long before the New Testament
  9. You Need Light for Your Path
  10. God’s wisdom for the believer brings peace
  11. God son king and his subjects
  12. Dignified role for the woman
  13. Satan the evil within
  14. The Devil Not A Personal Super-Natural Being
  15. Messenger of Satan
  16. Epicurus’ Problem of Evil
  17. The Existence of Evil
  18. The Soul confronted with Death
  19. Lord in place of the divine name
  20. People Seeking for God 2 Human interpretations
  21. To be carried away – meeslepen of laten verleiden
  22. Immortality, eternality – onsterfelijkheid, eeuwigheid
  23. Getting to know the Truth
  24. The naked truth is always better than the best dressed lie
  25. How to look for and how to handle the Truth
  26. The truth is very plain to see and God can be clearly seen
  27. Thy Word is Truth
  28. Bible, helmet of health, salvation and sword of the spirit
  29. Determined To Stick With Truth.
  30. Truth never plays false roles of any kind, which is why people are so surprised when meeting it
  31. It is a free will choice
  32. Sincerity not a test of truth

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Further reading

  1. 1. Creation
  2. Whence Creation…
  3. In the Garden
  4. Ferenc Helbing (Hungary, 1870-1958), The Garden of Eden
  5. Seated in the Clouds, Ruling in the Earth
  6. Bible Study: Insights in Genesis: Adam and Eden
  7. Bible Study: Insights in Genesis: Adam Dominates
  8. Adam and Eve
  9. Adam, Eve and Lilith
  10. Adam, Eve, and Mara
  11. Adawn and Eve nun
  12. Was Eve really made from one of Adam’s Ribs?
  13. Out of a rib
  14. Genesis 1-4: The Tree of Life and the Protoevangelium.
  15. What does the Story of Eden Tell Us? Is it about Sin?
  16. A Compromised Free Will in John Milton’s Paradise Lost
  17. The Faulty Foundations of Faith Alone – Part 2: Original Sin?
  18. Surviving the generations
  19. Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 1)
  20. Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 3)
  21. Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 5)
  22. Eve and the Apple of Doom
  23. Genesis 3:20, Life in a Dying World
  24. Genesis 3:21,Yes, There is Hope for Us Yet
  25. Swords Genesis 3:23-24
  26. The Simplicity of the Gospel
  27. Did Adam’s Garden Have a Talking Snake?
  28. Snake Dragon
  29. Snake in the Grass
  30. Exchanging the Truth of God into the lie…
  31. Alas, Poor Adam
  32. Let go
  33. Becoming a Man
  34. Pope Francis and the Search for Adam
  35. The First Kiss
  36. From Adam to Jesus
  37. Adam and Eve as a figure of Christ and the Church
  38. Know who you are in Christ, because Adam and Eve didn’t
  39. Is God a Feminist?
  40. What Does God Know?
  41. Human Beingness
  42. Hungry for God
  43. Are You a Playing Field for God or The Devil?
  44. Are You Free?
  45. We Do Not Inherit Original Sin from Adam
  46. Eve Makes Intercession And So Does Dawna~
  47. Giver Of Life!
  48. Motherly Love
  49. Improving Your Life
  50. A Poem to a Friend
  51. The Fake Apology & the Garden of Eden
  52. What does the Story of Eden Tell Us? Is it about Sin?
  53. In the Garden
  54. “Walking in the Spirit”…of Truth
  55. A Circle Has No Start or End
  56. Healing the Divide I – Death and Sin
  57. Isis, the Kurds, and the Garden(s) of Eden
  58. How Rival Gardens of Eden in Iraq Survived ISIS, Dwindling Tourists, And Each Other

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