Messianic prophesies 2 Adversary – Root of the first prophecy

The first human beings had chosen to go their own path. As any good father would do when his children had done something wrong, God punished them. But as a loving Father He in His great mercy promised for a solution and preserved David’s bloodline and the Messianic promise.

Mankind had chosen Yet, we each must recognize the adversary’s strategy to lure us into desiring and acquiring pride, glory, power, anything more than God Himself — and understand the dire consequences of choosing to follow those desires.

In Scriptures we can find sayings which should come to recognise the one who God sent to the world to show the Way to God and to brake the curse of death which came over Adam and Eve. God provided some one, people can follow as an ideal example, namely the Messiah, who we shall see is Jeshua, who in certain countries is better known under the name Jesus, or Jezus, Jésus, Jeesus, Chesu, Jezis, Xesus, Isus or Ishi/Isha.

Throughout the Brit Chadashah, we find satan tempting, prowling, seeking whom he can destroy. That sent one from God became even his primary target. God is the only one Who cannot be tempted, but all other beings can be tempted. Also Jeshua or Jesus Christ was tempted more than once, but he resisted every temptation even during great physical weakness.
How? He confronted every satan he encountered with the Word of God, while being full of the Spirit of God. In doing so, he exited the wilderness victorious and empowered and left Peter ashamed.

When he did not succeed in destroying Jeshua, the adversary focused his slander and deception toward luring others away from God’s Word and His Kingdom. Knowing what went on and what shall come, we should not have to fear the serpent‘s schemes to destroy our eternal destiny.

Though we will certainly die physically, we don’t have to die spiritually. God placed hope for our spiritual victory over death back in the first pages of Genesis.

Who Is Our Hope?

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring [seed/ zera] and her offspring [seed/ zera]. He will pound your head, and you will bite his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

In the previous posting you could already read how God first revealed the hope for all mankind against the adversary when he promised that Eve’s seed / offspring (zera) would pound or crush the head of the serpent.

When we talk about an offspring, literally “those who spring off (someone,)” from off + springan “to spring” (see spring (v.)) we think of progeny coming from Old French progenie (13c.) and directly from Latin progenies “descendants, offspring, lineage, race, family,” from stem of progignere “beget,” from pro “forth” (see pro-) + gignere “to produce, beget” (see genus) and look at descendants or a posterity.

It can be that it is about a (singular) person’s child or the young of a person, an immediate descendant or descendants of a person or animal. Though it also may mean more than one person of one pair of people, in that instance talking about a lot of people, such as a nation of Israel or all humankind. When we look at Jewish theologians or scholars their writings we may find lots of debate going on about that.

For most Christians the seed mentioned several times in the Pre-Messianic Scriptures or Old Testament refers to a coming Messiah — Jeshua (Jesus Christ). To know for sure we shall look not only at the first mention of such seed but look at the further writings given to mankind to get to know what God His Plan is with mankind and in which The Master Maker reveals how we can see who shall be the Messiah.

The first five books (the Chumash or Pentateuch), written by Moses speaks of a male. Also in other ancient Jewish sages we find the mention of a “he”. enlightened by the Highest Ruach (the Power of God) Moses did not only wrote about the beginning of times. In 1300 BCE, Moses wrote about the last days (acharit-hayamim, בְּאַחֲרִ֥ית הַיָּמִֽים), which indicates that he likely understood a final deliverance and deliverer would one day arrive. (Genesis 49)

“So now, here, I am going (back) to my people; come, I will advise you as to what this people will do to your people in future days.”
(Numbers 24:14 SB)

“When you are in distress because there befall you all these things, in future days, you shall return to YHWH your God and hearken to his voice.”
(Deuteronomy 4:30 SB)

At the days of Jeshua people also got to hear what God said in the Garden of Eden

“I put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed: they will bruise you on the head, you will bruise them in the heel.”
(Genesis 3:15 SB)

They heard it in their common language of Aramaic, the language Jesus also spoke. In that language we can still find it in the translation, known as Targum Yonatan [Targum Jonathan (תרגום יונתן בן עוזיאל)], the official eastern (Babylonian) targum to the Nevi’im. In that “Translation,” or “Interpretation” Book (hence “Targum”) unlearned Jews to whom the Hebrew of the Old Testament was unintelligible, could hear how we all are in a power struggle with the adversary in choosing to do good while resisting our selfish, evil desires. When Scripture was read aloud in the synagogue, it was translated aloud by a meturgeman, or professional interpreter, for the benefit of the congregation. The translator tried to reproduce the original text as closely as possible, but since his object was to give an intelligible rendering of the biblical text, the Targums eventually took on the character of paraphrase and commentary, leaving literal translation behind.  The read text was utilized as a vehicle for conveying homiletic discourses, traditional sayings, legends, and allegories is abundantly illustrated by the later Targums, as opposed to the more literal translations of the earlier Targums. In both of them there is also spoken of that time to come and more in particular of that person to come. The Targum Jonathan affirms that the world was waiting for the coming of “King Meshiha” (Messiah in Aramaic) to heal the wounds caused by the adversary when we sin, and to win us an everlasting freedom.

It is from the Targum Yonatan that several Jews in later years also came to see a Messiah in certain people, like we may find followers of Simon Bar Kokhba, Nehemiah ben Hushiel also known as Mashiach ben Yoseph or Messiah ben Joseph, of als Mashiach bar/ben Ephraim, Sabbatai Zevi or Sabbatai Zebi/Shabsai Tzvi, Jakob Frank (Jankiew Lejbowi) or the contemporary adored Menachem Mendel Schneerson. They and their followers where taken by the text

“they shall make a remedy for the heel in the days of the King Meshiha.” (Genesis 3:15, Targum Yonatan, which is attributed to the work of Jonathan (Yonatan) ben Uzziel, c. 50 BC)

Today still like in the past, Orthodox worshippers pray, sing, play the violin, and dance in the synagogue at what they consider King David’s Tomb.

Title page, Midrash Tehillim

When we look at the first and second century Rabbinic commentary (known as a Midrash) the seed as Messiah is defined as:

“Rabbi Tanchuma said, in the name of Rabbi Samuel: Eve had respect to that seed (“offspring”) which is coming from another place. And who is this? This is the King Messiah.” (Midrash Genesis Rabbah 23:5)

A millennium later, the European scholar of the Hebrew language whose writings on Hebrew lexicography and grammar became standard works in the Middle Ages, David Kimhi or Kimchi (RaDaK) also seems to point to the seed as Messiah, writing:

“As You went forth for the salvation of Your people by the hands of Meshiha, the Son of David, who shall wound satan, who is the head, the king and prince of the house of the wicked…” (Commentary on Habakkuk 3:13)

And yet, with all this evidence pointing to a single man, the Messiah, as the seed, some Bible translations have led us toward a very different understanding of “the seed.”

Altered Identity

A problem with certain translations is that sometimes translators did not have an equivalent for the Hebrew word in their language or thought something to be a particular figure or person, instead of a situation or any person who took on a certain attitude, like a satan who is an adversary but became in many translations the Satan, a devilish figure. Or the temptation “nachash” , our battle or struggle against inner thoughts, (the fencing in life) becoming a literal snake or serpent.

Concerning the seed certain writers or bible-translators where too much carried away by their own doctrinal visions and tried to translate  their version from that doctrinal viewpoint, hereby creating confusion, like for example using the word Lord for Jehovah God as well as for Jesus, the son of God, so that people could not any more see clear about whom was be spoken and could come to consider Jesus to be the same as God, which he naturally is not.

Sometimes, ideas about the identity of the seed are so deeply held that, to support those ideas, even basic Hebrew words are mistranslated in Jewish Bible versions.

One such translation tells us the seed is not a single person:

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; they [in Hebrew, hu] shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise their [instead of ‘his’] heel.” (Jewish Publication Society (JPS), 1917)

Even though the original Hebrew text uses the word “hu”, which means “he”, the JPS Bible version uses the word “they.”

So, instead of a single man doing the bruising and being bruised, we read that a multitude of people, the nation of Israel, are involved in the struggle with the serpent as well as the victory over him.

Though most Jewish translations do not make this grave translation error, it illustrates how important it is to diligently search for the truth of God’s Word and how it is best not to stick to just one translation or even not to just one language.

This is true regarding Christian translations of the Bible as well.

St. Jerome, who, in 382 CE was commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Vetus Latina (“Old Latin”) collection of biblical texts in Latin then in use by the Church > widely adopted and eventually eclipsed the Vetus Latina and, by the 13th century, was known as the “versio vulgata” (the “version commonly-used”) or, more simply, in Latin as vulgata or in Greek as βουλγάτα (“Vulgate”).

Page from the Dutsch Professorenbijbel (“Professors Bible”), a translation of the Latin Vulgate of the Books of the New Testament. This part, covering the Pentateuch, was published in 1904. – De Heilige Boeken van het Oude Verbond. Vulgaat en Nederlandsche Vertaling met Aanteekeningen, part I – Petrus Laurentius Dessens (1851-1929)

When we look at the early Church’s official translation of the Bible completed in 400 CE by Jerome, we read in that Latin Vulgate translation that “he” has even become a “she”, though in the Vulgate of Hieronimus we find ‘yours’ (though also referring to “the seed of the woman” allowing it to be male or female):

“inimicitias ponam inter te et mulierem et semen tuum et semen illius ipsa conteret caput tuum et tu insidiaberis calcaneo eius” (Genesis 3:15 VULGATE)

“I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed and she [in Hebrew, hu] shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.” (Douay-Rheims Bible, which is based on the Latin Vulgate manuscript)

Here again we have to note that looking at the Hebrew text which uses the word “hu” (meaning “he”) the Latin Vulgate and those working form that work translate it to “she.”

Protevangelium of James, pseudepigraphal (noncanonical and unauthentic) work written about the mid-2nd century ad to enhance the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in Christian tradition. Mary crushes the serpent.

Several of the early Church fathers, such as Justin Martyr (160 CE) and Irenaeus (180 CE) regarded this verse “as the Protoevangelium, the first messianic prophecy in the Old Testament.”

For centuries, the above mentioned one little pronoun change led to the false teaching that Miriam (Mary) either on her own or as a co-redemptrix with her son Jeshua, crushed the serpent and claims the victory. In many Christian denominations we find such confusion and paintings referring to that crushing by the “blessed” virgin Mary.

Fortunately, more recent translations of the Catholic Bible correct this error. The 1997 Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd edition) tries to correct it as well by stating:

“This passage in Genesis [3:15] is called the Protoevangelium (“first gospel”): the first announcement of the Messiah and Redeemer, of a battle between the serpent and the Woman, and of the final victory of a descendant of hers.” (Par. 410)

From the masculine singular Hebrew pronoun in Genesis 3:15, we see that the seed of the woman is a man, to whom may be referred to in in Romans 16:20 him being called a god, or higher/important person of peace, which identifies him as the Jesus Christ.

Romans 16:20 NHEBJE  And the God of peace will quickly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Those who look at the offspring and hers find that it is all about human beings and may find that

for in context it describes those who “by smooth talk and flattery” “deceive the minds of naive people”. Particularly, this may mean the Judaizers, who sought to draw other believers — esp Gentile believers — away from their freedom in Christ into an enforced bondage to the Law of Moses. {Agora commentary on Romans 16:20}

To do away with all doubt and confusion over the identity of the seed, we can go to the apostle John who clearly tells us who the victor of the adversary is:

1 John 3:8 NHEBJE  He who sins is of the devil [diabolos], for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil.

Behemoth and Leviathan, by William Blake

The committer of sin being of the adversary is at the origin or reason to have a foreseen figure having Jehovah with His relentless, large, strong sword will bring judgement on Leviathan, the fleeing and twisted serpent, slaying the monsters of this world

Isaiah 27:1 NHEBJE  In that day, Jehovah with his fierce and great and mighty sword will punish leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and leviathan the twisted serpent; and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.

And unclean men might have questioned what that man from Nazareth, born from the Essene woman Miriam, came to do in the temple, though there was one who told it to those around him. And there was the moment the adversary would fall.

Mark 1:24 NHEBJE  saying, “What do we have to do with you, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know you who you are: the Holy One of God!”

Luke 10:18 NHEBJE  He said to them, “I saw Satan having fallen like lightning from heaven.

The Nazarene saying to his disciples that he gave them the authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, them having to know if they believed in him they should not worry because nothing at all would harm them.

Luke 10:19 NHEBJE  Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will in any way hurt you.

For Jesus it was clear that the voices which came from the heavens declared who he was and came, not for him, but for those around Jesus and for us. First there was the Pneuma or Spirit of God telling that he was the only begotten son and secondly there where the angels telling that at the moment, the judgement is of this world, having its own ruler. But that ruler of the world shall be cast out, whilst the seed of the woman shall be lifted up from the earth and will draw all people to himself.

John 12:30 NHEBJE  Jesus answered, “This voice hasn’t come for my sake, but for your sakes.

The world has to come to understand that we have man going wrong from the beginning, i.e. sinning, and that it is for this purpose that the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of evil and the trespassers or aggressors.

1 John 3:8 NHEBJE  He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil.

In the next postings you shall come to see how through later prophecies we can discover that only Jeshua could be the seed of Genesis 3:15 and the one to restore our relationship with the divine Creator, our heavenly Father, and what the importance is of that Nazarene man, who we have to recognise as the Son of God, and not a god son, God dwelling in him, so that God also may dwell in us and we in Him.

1 John 4:15 NHEBJE  Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God.

The Victory Is Ours to Share

The 1st Adam, being made in the image of God, was followed up by the 2nd Adam, also made in God’s image, like we are made in God’s image. All being children of flesh and blood, having our own weaknesses. Jesus also a man of flesh and blood who also shared in our humanity, put his own will aside so that he might destroy the originator of evil, the tempter or nachash, the ‘serpent‘ who holds the power of death, most people do know by the name “devil”. By his ransom offer Jesus could free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

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.

It is by Christ offering himself for all mankind that we are liberated and have a prospect for a better future.

“When Christ [Messiah] died for our sins, Satan was disarmed and defeated. The one eternally destructive weapon that he had was stripped from his hand — namely, his accusation before God that we are guilty and should perish with him,”  {John Piper (Desiring God)}.

Conclusion

We have seen how the first human beings (the man and mannin) already early at the beginning of times rebelled against their Maker. They had gone in into their own false thoughts that God would withhold something for them, or on purpose kept certain things secret for them,so that they would not get the same power as God. They had everything they could wish for but wanted more.

Having gone wrong they had to learn that there was a severe consequence of obeying the slanderer, destroyer, and adversary of God. It has been mandatory and expensive, namely the separation from direct contact with God, not always seeing and feeling the love of God.

We as descendants of the offspring of the progeny of those who came in the lineage of the children of Adam and Eve, we too have the defects of the damaged cake mould. Today we do have to make our own choice like Eve and Adam had to choose. Today we should be able to come to see who the bruiser is and who the one man is who can bring salvation for us.

While there may also be consequences in our lifetime to obeying the adversary, the eternal consequence of trusting in the Nazarene rabbi Jeshua, son of man and son of God, as our Messiah and Deliverer shall bring us the hope to enjoy a magnificent security, safety, and God’s chesed (merciful love) that can never be taken away from us, even when so many around us may try to destroy us or to make our life agony. whatever may happen to us, serious accidents, horrible things, when we trust Jesus we shall have the assurance of the hope, and then there shall be nothing able to separate us from the love of God that is in Messiah Jeshua our lord.

Romans 8:38-39 NHEBJE  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,  (39)  nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

+

Preceding

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

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 4

Out of the seed of Eve

Messianic prophesies 1 Adversary – Root of the first prophecy

A solution for a damaged relationship 3 Insight and prophesies given

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

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

First mention of a solution against death 6 Authority given to the send one from God coming out of the woman

First mention of a solution against death 7 Human sacrifice

Not trying to make the heathen live like Jews #1

Not trying to make the heathen live like Jews #2

Necessary to be known all over the earth

++

Additional reading

1. Creator and Blogger God 3 Lesson and solution
2. A Tool to shed light over the qualities in our life 2 Jews for a Messiah
3. An other tool bringing words for understanding and wisdom
4. Reading to grow and to become wise concerning the most important thing in life 3 Light and wisdom in words
5. The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #1 Beginning of everything
6. The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #7 Promise and solution
7. The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #8 Looking for the 2nd Adam
8. A “seed” for the blessing of all mankind would come through the family of Abraham
9. Seeds and weeds for being the greatest nation
10. The language of Jesus and the title of God
11. Revival of Jesus’ language at Oxford
12. The Sabbatean Prophets
13. Sabbatai Zevi (Jewish Convert To Islam)
14. Converso Involvement in the Sabbatai Zevi Movement

+++

Further literature of interest

1. Tell me a story [43a]
2. Adam and Eve
3. I don’t want to be a gardener
4. Genesis 3
5. Lingering: Genesis 3:1-2
6. Daily Verse Reading – Genesis 3:9-15,20
7. It Took an Apple to Create Murder (figuratively)
8. Desire of the Woman
9. Eden Another Perspective [77a]
10. Eden Another Perspective [77b]
11. Eden Another Perspective [77c]
12. In The Beginning, Part III
13. Eve and Adam not Adam and Eve says Anthony Sargeant
14. What is the big mistake of Adam and Eve? (part 2)
15. A Serpent and a Savior
16. Born of a Woman
17. Jesus the Better Adam
18. Day 19: The Snake-Stomping Baby
19. Conversation
20. Questioned by a Serpent
21. The Serpent
22. Why did Satan use a Serpent? (1 of 2)
23. Why did Satan use a Serpent? (2 of 2
24. Did Adam’s Garden Have a Talking Snake?
25. The Talking Serpent
26. Fear?
27. The Endowment of Free Will in Spiritual Things
28. A Serpent and a Savior
29. Serpent Destroyed
30. The Fall of the Deceived
31. Enmity
32. The serpent trail [133b]
33. The serpent trail [133c]
34. Give Me A Minute – Who Is The Devil?
35. Accurate Answer
36. Answer with Truth
37. Bereishis – Why the Snake was Punished — By Ben
38. Battling the Serpent
39. The First Superstition
40. Judge Not
41. Have You Been Bit and Don’t Know It
42. Scripture at Sunrise 1.11.2017Ephesians 6:12
43. The Bible Tells One Story – Andrew
44. The Creation story 2
45. Satan will be cast out in the end by Me – December 19, 2016
46. Good & Evil: Battle Continue
47. Be Skeptical of the One Who Offers You Power
48. He Shall Bruise You on the Head
49. What Broken Fellowship With God Is Like
50. An Enemy Of God
51. ‘enmity’ ….. mentioned in the Holy Bible (KJV)
52. Christ Crucified: The Seed of the Woman
53. End – Time Prophecy
54. Raising Tyrants
55. The Signs of Revelation – Part V: The Animal Symbols of the Battle
56. Human Sins
57. Second Death

+++

Related articles

• Would you Adam & Eve it? Fruit may have been the making of mankind
• Rule #5: Ponder the Brevity of Life (8 Rules for Growing in Godliness)
• Sunday reflection: Matthew 4:1-11
• INSPIRATIONAL: You Can’t Return to Eden
• What Exactly Is Written About You?
• Mark the start of Easter holy week with a Palm Sunday salad
• For Getting to know Jesus
• The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #5 Temptation, assault and curse
• Out of the seed of Eve
• Messianic prophesies 1 Adversary – Root of the first prophecy

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.

 

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 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.

+

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

++

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

+++

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. 
46. The Offerings in Leviticus (1 of 2)
47. The Offerings in Leviticus (2 of 2)
48. Perfectly Imperfect
49. 
50. The Path to your Potential
51. No short cuts to heaven..!
52. The Purpose in it All
53. Not For The Faint Of Heart
54. Redemption
55. Deliverance
56. What Lie We Often Fall For
57. Why does God allow deception?
58. The Father of Tall Tales
59. The Father of Lies
60. Satan, Who? Is Satan Real?
61. Dear Father of Lies
62. Look at the Lamb (Day 8)
63. The Importance of Biblical Discernment
64. God Is and We Aren’t
65. Jesus Free Man From Sin
66. Are people willing to die for something they know is a lie?
67. Liars & Murderers – God Says They Are The Same!

+++

Related articles

• Would you Adam and Eve it?
• Holy Tuesday 2016
• Witnessing Creation and the Day that Made History
• Why Do Bad Things Happen to Those Who Love Jesus? Dr. Michelle Bengtson – Part 3 0f 3
• Sermon Redux – “The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions” – Genesis 3:1-24 – Part 3 of How We Got Into This Mess
• Gratitude…
• How Long Did Adam Live?
• Resurrection: Dead in Adam, Alive in Christ

Necessity of a revelation of creation 2 Organisation of a system of things

In the beginning there was only emptiness and the Untold Greatness of the Supreme Adonai (a title of reverence for God, serving also as a substitute pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton יהוה {Jehovah}) Elohim Creator God of gods. His Voice echoed in the universal space and thus arose the things that He had formed. We wished His Voice echoed through eternity as He is infinite. He spoke and something came from nothing into life and the Divine Creator wished that His creation would hear His voice.

When He had created man in His own image, and blown His breath in the nostrils of this man, the 1° Adam came into life with blood running through his veins, and could hear His creation talking to Him, giving him the surroundings to live in and to give names for all the things man could find in his life. Though not so happy on his own man requested a partner, so God provided a mannin (the female, part of the red blooded man) out of his rib. This woman, Eve, also could hear the Voice of God and live with her partner in the Garden of Eden, which was a perfect world. This female creature got a dignified role in the creation, and had to bring forth other human beings to populate the earth.

We may understand God expected man and mannin to be been a faithful to each other and to Him. He had organised the system, having created space, heavens, planets, solar systems, time and as such an organised system of things and asked them also to organise their life by first calling the things by name. They had to take care of mother earth.

God created things with the appearance of age. This allows a specific ‘literal’ interpretation of Genesis 1, 2. It is suggested that miracles such as the turning of water into wine indicate that the miraculously provided wine was created with an apparent age. This idea is extended for example to God creating trees with apparent annual rings that God had fabricated. God organised the whole system so that everything would become clear as soon as man got more insight in those things. Several different combinations of radioactive isotopes in the rocks independently  indicate an age of several billion years, that way people can come to place the things in the time indication they are following, which can be different now from one group of humans to an other. Today we may find the Gregorian calendar, the Jewish, an Islamic and Julian calendar in use, making it that for each of these population we are in ‘an other time’.

God normally provided sun, moon and darkness to provide a time indication. This a lunisolar calendar is still being followed by the Jews. The time indication given by God for man is different than God’s time indication for Himself, being one day a thousand years.

Gen 1:5 NSB  God called the light day. He called the darkness night. There was evening and there was morning, one day.

2Pe 3:8 NSB  Do not forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with Jehovah as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (Psalm 90:1, 4)

Psa 90:4 NSB  In your sight a thousand years are like a single day, like yesterday, already past like an hour in the night.

Hebrew or Jewish calendar (הַלּוּחַ הָעִבְרִי, ha’luach ha’ivri), showing Adar II between 1927 and 1948

In the time span of God man could live freely but had to respect the days of God. By time passing, days were added and as such man was requested to organise special days for God. These holy days could be determined by the the dates on that calendar of the People of God or Hebrew calendar. With it people can organise for Jewish holidays and for Christian holidays, to get the dates right for the appropriate public reading of Torah portions, yahrzeits, and daily Psalm readings, among many ceremonial uses. In Israel, it is still used for religious and for civil purposes, providing also a time frame for agriculture. Although the civil calendar usage has been steadily declining in favour of the Gregorian or Western calendar also sometimes called the Christian calendar, which is internationally the most widely used civil calendar.
The Julian Day calendar, introduced by the authority of Julius Caesar in 46 bce,  brings a system of astronomical dating allowing the difference between two dates to be calculated more easily than conventional civil calendars with their uneven months and is still used by used by some Orthodox Churches. Dates in the Julian calendar are sometimes designated “Old Style.”

An Election Entertainment featuring the anti-Gregorian calendar banner “Give us our Eleven Days”, 1755. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

God gave preparation days and special days to remember and to take rest. For mankind it had to be followed and to be a “legacy,” or “inheritance” (nachala) (Time (of) Year) Later in history we shall see that the Roman emperor Constantine organised the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, one of the key concerns was to determine a date for celebrating Easter that would be the same across the board for all Christians and in accordance with the celebration of the god of fertility Eostre, the namesake of the festival of Easter. Constantine wanted to have all the Christian festivities falling together with those of the Romans and having the Christians to accept the Roman tri-godhead celebrations in their meetings. The determination of a dating method for the pagan feast which later became a holiday in many Christian communities called Easter, got all the different Christian communities who came to accept the tri-une godhead to celebrate Easter on the exact same day, whilst the other true Christians kept on celebrating God’s Days but got it more difficult to know which day had to be celebrated. As such the Romans and those who got more power from emperor Constantine hoped they would not be able to follow God’s holidays and soon would join the public holidays.

But before the adversaries of God had taken most in control god took care that His Word would keep sounding all over the world at all times. The order and organisation offered to man by god was rejected by the man and mannin, they questioning His right to govern everything and to decide everything, being Master over everything and especially over the Knowledge of good and evil (with the Tree of good and evil). The order of hierarchy became damaged and God had to provide a new world order with man having now given the right to organise everything himself. After the fall, the first sin of man, the human beings could receive all the robes in their hands to arrange life.

Destructive plate margin; oceanic crust is forced below the continental crust because oceanic crust is denser than continental crust. Friction between the moving plates causes earthquakes. The heat increase due to friction and being pushed into the asthenosphere causes the oceanic crust to melt, and reduced density forces the newly formed magma to rise. The magma rises up through weak areas in the continental crust, eventually erupting as one or more volcanoes.

Man and mannin were cast out of the perfect world which was all the time in harmony. Now they came in the outer boarders where God had allowed the world continually to develop.  From then onwards people would feel the creation evolving with among others the movement of the earth’s liquid interior causing earthquakes and volcanoes as lava is forced to the surface and the plates of the earth shift.  However, movement of the earth’s liquid core also creates the magnetosphere, a magnetic field shielding the earth from cosmic rays. This all made part of God’s Plan but now man got more knowledge of it and had to bear the consequences of their actions contrary to the Will of God. Whilst at the beginning, man had not to fear volcanoes, they now came to fear them for their destruction. Instead of gaining the knowledge they had hoped for, becoming equal with or even higher than God they lost their innocence and their inner peace, coming not to see straight ahead what possible benefits such eruptions of volcanoes could have. Volcanoes are part of the earth’s carbon cycle, regulating temperature and carbon balance so that life can survive and flourish.

God had everything placed so nicely in His system, but man wanted to be master over their own system. Now they got it. Perhaps the Garden of Eden was such a sacred place where there would not have been any problem with the further development of the universe that the movement of the earth’s surface plates over-there would not have created deadly earthquakes and tsunamis. Spread out over the earth’s surface people had to find places to live which perhaps were not provide for such conditions at first, but with man moving to the wrong places, making the wrong decisions to live somewhere they came to suffer by those actions of the earth were the movement of these plates is also essential to life on earth and were the streams of water are also necessary for the development and fertilisation of the soil.

The God of order had everything in His ‘head’ and enclosed in His ‘heart’ and had everything foreseen for His human beings. The divine Creator is the One to Whom belongs Rulership and awe. Dominion and fear are with Him. He establishes order in the heights of heaven and He makes peace in His high places.

Job 25:2 NSB  »Rulership and awe belong to God. He establishes order in the heights of heaven.

Adam and Eve were created perfect. We do believe, unlike most trinitarian Christians, that God made His creation perfect and that Adam and Eve had everything to be and to stay perfect. God was not a cruel god who imposed laws he knew man could not keep. The Divine Creator did very well know that the Laws or Commandments He gave to the human beings could be followed by every human being. In case Eve had listened to God and not driven her own will, there would not have been any problem. Now she got judgement over her and got damned with suffering. With her the 1° Adam also was taken into to temptation and into the damnation of the fall. Man became consigned to perdition, being made from dust he was to return to dust again.

Gen 2:7 NSB  Jehovah God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. The man became a living being.

Gen 3:12-19 NSB  Adam said: »The woman you put here with me gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.«  (13)  Then Jehovah God said to the Eve: »What is this you have done?« The woman answered: »The serpent deceived me, and I ate.«  (14)  So Jehovah God said to the serpent: »Because you have done this you are cursed above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.  (15)  »And I will put enmity (hostility) (hatred) between you and the woman, and between your offspring (seed) and hers. He will bruise (overwhelm) (crush) you in the head, and you will bruise (overwhelm) (crush) him in the heel.« (Romans 16:20)  (16)  He said to the woman: »I will greatly increase your pains in childbirth; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.«  (17)  He said to Adam: »Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.  (18)  »It will produce thorns and thistles for you. You will eat the plants of the field.  (19)  »You will eat your food by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground. You came from the ground. For dust you are and to dust you will return.«

Job 34:15 NSB  »All flesh would perish and man would return to dust.

Psa 90:3-10 NSB  You turn men back into dust and say: »Return, O sons of men!«  (4)  In your sight a thousand years are like a single day, like yesterday, already past like an hour in the night.  (5)  You sweep mortals away in the sleep of death. They sprout again in the morning like grass.  (6)  In the morning they blossom and sprout. In the evening they fade and wither away.  (7)  Your anger consumes us. We are troubled by your rage.  (8)  You set our sins in front of you. You put our secret sins in the light of your presence.  (9)  Indeed, all our days slip away because of your fury. We live out our years like one long sigh.  (10)  The days of our lives are seventy or eighty years if we are in good health. But the best of them bring trouble and misery. Indeed, they are soon gone, and we fly away.

The God of order and love presented an ending to the suffering, an end to the misery by the end of life. But this end of life does not fit the Plan of god and therefore He provide a solution to return the consequences of disobedience in the hope more human being would come to obey His orders and be prepared to honour Him as the Only One God.

To help them to find the right way to restore the damaged relationship He continued to give His Word with the people in the world.

+

Preceding articles:

1. Necessity of a revelation of creation 1 Works of God and works of man
2. The very very beginning 1 Creating Gods
3. The very very beginning 2 The Word and words
4. Something from nothing
5. Means of creations
6. Coming to the creation of human beings in the image of God
7. Dignified role for the woman
8. Genesis – Story of creation 5 Genesis 3:1-12 Eating of the fruit-tree of knowledge
9. Genesis – Story of creation 6 Genesis 3:13-24 Enmity and curse
10. Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 1
11. Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 2
12. Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 3
13. Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 4

Continues with: Necessity of a revelation of creation 3 Getting understanding by Word of God

++

Additional reading:

1. Creation Creator and Creation
2. Creation of the earth out of something
3. Other stories about the beginning of times
4. Because men choose to go their own way
5. Taking care of mother earth
6. People Seeking for God 3 Laws and directions
7. Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #1 Creator and His Prophets
8. Different principle about the origin and beginning of everything
9. High Holidays not only for Israel
10. Tu B’Shvat, the holiday of the trees
11. Ember and light the ransomed of Jehovah
12. Altered to fit a Trinity or Ishtar the fertility goddess
13. Matthew 1:1-17 The Genealogy of Jesus Christ
14. Raising digression
15. Hellenistic influences
16. Politics and power first priority #1
17. Politics and power first priority #2
18. Entrance of a king to question our position #2 Who do we want to see and to be
19. A rebellious movement founded on a fake?
20. Eostre, Easter, White god, chocolate eggs, Easter bunnies and metaphorical resurrection
21. Easter: Origins in a pagan Christ
22. 14-15 Nisan and Easter
23. Peter Cottontail and a Bunny laying Eastereggs
24. When we love we do not need laws

+++

Related articles

• Reflect on how much idolizing happens
• God’s wrath and sanctification
• Being sure of their deliverance
• God’s wisdom for the believer brings peace
• Creator and Blogger God 5 Things to tell
• Creator and Blogger God 3 Lesson and solution
• Not following the tradition of man
• Vayikra after its opening word וַיִּקְרָא, which means and He called

• Ides of March: What Is It? Why Do We Still Observe It? (fromthetrenchesworldreport.com)
  Aside from its historical connection, the concept of the Ides of March would have resonated with English citizens in 1599, the year Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar was probably performed, Ziegler said.

  “This whole business of the Ides of March and timekeeping in the play would have had a strong impact on audiences,” she said.

  “They were really struck by the differences between their Julian calendar [a revision of the Roman calendar created by Caesar] and the Gregorian calendar kept in Catholic countries on the continent.”

  Because the two calendars featured years of slightly different lengths, they had diverged significantly by the late 16th century and were several days apart.

• Fisher: The coming of spring (themorningsun.com)
  Anxious people stop me on the street and at parties. I can tell by their expression that they are worried. I clasp their hand firmly in both of mine. “What is wrong, friend?” In a hushed tone they respond, “When is Easter coming?” “Why, the first Sunday after the first full Moon after the Vernal Equinox,” I assure them.

  We orbit the Sun every 365.24+ days each year. Think of a clock face, with the Winter Solstice at 12 o’clock, and the Summer Solstice at 6 o’clock. Our planet moves counterclockwise on the clock face. Earth is now very near 9 o’clock, the spring, or Vernal Equinox for the Northern Hemisphere. It will occur at 6:45 p.m. on March 20. (The Southern Hemisphere reverses these: they are entering their fall.)

  Cultures throughout history have celebrated the coming of spring, thanking the gods for delivering them from the miseries of winter. Sacrifices, feasts, wild parties and lots to drink were accessories to this time. It was important to understand when spring arrived so farmers knew when to plant their crops. The atmosphere was one of joy and rebirth.
  +
  Among the oldest such festival is Passover, April 3 this year, a Jewish celebration of Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. Christian Easter, the most important celebration in their calendar follows from this. Jesus was crucified after the Passover feast of Seder, in 30 CE. Easter is a moveable feast, which means that it does not occur on the same date every year.

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

A look at some articles on WordPress gives us an idea what people think about the reasons why God placed a Tree of knowledge of good and evil:

The Mystery Revealed who writes:

The reason why He placed the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden is because He wanted an honest and healthy relationship with Adam and Eve. He did not want to hide anything from them. He wanted them to know that in life they have a choice. God made Adam and Eve aware that they had a freewill to choose to believe God or eat the fruit.

God didn’t create the tree to tempt them with evil, God created the tree of knowledge of good and evil tree to show them what evil was. It is kind of like a parent who wants to teach their child about the ugly side of life so that they are not naïve about the reality of the world. {Why would a good loving God put a tree of knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the Garden of Eden?

The universe as we said in the previous articles has contrasts, like darkness and light, tranquillity and movement, to some activities it may look bad but is not really so bad, like the showers of God can be a blessing, though now not always felt as a blessing. At first those contrasts did not hinder or were not felt as something bad.

Man did not have to know what was evil or bad, but the elements had to be there, having braking chaos into order, and making elements into being. We do not think God ever intended for us to know evil.

A “revert” to the Catholic Church remarks:

There is nothing in tradition that claims the “tree of good and evil” was evil. In fact it wasn’t evil, it was good. The tree symbolized that it held the knowledge of what is good and evil. God told Adam and Eve not to acquire this knowledge of good and evil. The command was, “refrain from the experiential knowledge of good and evil.” {Did God Create Evil}

There are too many people who want to see the bad thing about such an element of knowledge, be it a book or a tree. We can have a library full of knowledge and in all those books can be hidden treasures, all sorts of stories, nice ones but also horror stories. Good and bad in a big collection.

Adam and Eve had already all goodness in front of them. They had no reason to go looking for the badness.

In order to know good from evil, one would have to know evil. {Good vs. Evil Part 2: Knowing Good from Evil

writes Exchanged Life Ministries which thinks like us that originally God intended for us to know and experience ‘good’ and to enjoy the beauty of the creation.

Because the fullness of God’s presence was on them, their souls were completely satisfied.

Lust was never an issue for them. {Good vs. Evil Part 2: Knowing Good from Evil

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

God gave us free will and allowed us to choose. Esther’s Crown does find a problem in this given liberty.

We think we can “choose” good from bad. We elevate ourselves above YHVH who has already defined Good from evil. {The Tree of Life}

That was the original problem, not the free choice, but the willing to be on the same line as God or even to be higher than the Divine Maker, willing to control everything oneself, not under the guidance of God.

Placing ourselves in the “choosing” business creates confusion because all we are really looking at are the “good and evil” choices before us from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. But, in reality, there is only one choice we are intended to make – choose obedience, choose life! Eat from the Tree of Life. Yeshua is Life. He is the Living Torah. It’s not about choice, it’s about obedience. If we obey Torah (YHVH’s instructions for Life) we don’t have to stress over “right from wrong” and there is no place for confusion in our lives. He has already defined it for us. A simple example is how He defines what was given for food in Leviticus 11. Just because something is “edible” does not mean it was meant for food, nourishing our bodies without harming it. {The Tree of Life}

We are easily distracted with trying to choose between good and evil. Much time and energy is wasted pursuing the “quest” and finding ways to justify our desires. {The Tree of Life}

We ourselves can not make the choice to eat or not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, (like she gives the impression), but we can ‘eat’ from the Tree of life. Those fruits are prepared for us. Jeshua did not cut the tree of knowledge of good and evil, neither did he cut the tree of the Law. Jeshua grew onto the tree of the Law and his fruit frees us from the original consequences of sin, which is death, but brings us back to the original Law of the Garden of Eden, God’s Garden with God’s commandments. Those commandments are there to be respected by those who come under Christ Jesus.

Our response should be to get away from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and run toward the Tree of Life. Torah teaches us what the fruit of the Tree of Life looks like. Don’t look to the right nor to the left. Stay focused on the Living Torah, Yeshua Messiah! He did not end that which He gave as instructions for life – He clarified its proper application. His sacrifice restores a right relationship with the Creator and brings us into eternal life. His resurrection empowers us to walk in life, not death. But, He defines what is right, healthful living, not us. {The Tree of Life}

Already very fast after the death of Jeshua (Jesus Christ) those in power wanted to nail the teachings of the Nazarene Jew Jeshua on the cross, the symbol of the god of evil Tammuz and get the people back on track of the Greco-Roman gods, with a plurality of gods and elements being worshipped.

Constantine and the early Church Fathers rejected the Torah and anything that resembled of Judaism. They cut off the Tree of Life from the people and planted the Church upon the roots of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Man now determined what is good and what is evil. They mixed and mingled it with pagan beliefs and traditions, mixing Biblical truth with false beliefs and idolatry, but calling it all good by putting a “spiritual” twist on it so we can feel good about the belief or action. {The Tree of Life}

We do not agree with her that

Perhaps the original intent was intended for good, using a cultural concept as a means to redirect thinking toward a Biblical truth, but sadly, the end result is always the same – a belief system built on partial truth. {The Tree of Life}

It was, according us, intentionally done and still preferred so,because than they would have the people on their hand and everybody could keep up to the pagan traditions, without feeling guilty or feeling on their own because of not joining in the pagan celebrations. But it is just there where we have to make choices today. It is there were it is all about being of this world or of being of Christ.

The ‘Divine spark within in us’ allows us to know right from wrong and the ability to choose between them, but not like the Presbyterian RevJanice believes we would be nothing more than puppets on a string or animals that have to follow their instincts.  We , like the animals have an instinct or inner feeling, but God gave us extra brains and abilities to do more than animals and plants. God gave the humans the right to order that flora and fauna. the reverend thinks

being given the ability to make choices has meant an immense amount of heartache for the world, because all too often we make the wrong choices.  But oh how wonderful it is when we make the right ones.  I know when I have made the right ones, because that is when I feel God’s presence wrapped around me like a warm blanket fresh out of the drier. {Knowledge and Life}

At a certain moment it was like Adam and Eve lost the presence of God in their midst and let their ideas wonder away from their Maker, tasting their own lust.

God had breathed the breath of life into the beginning of mankind and when the 1° Adam felt lonely He gave him a companion and helper that was needed.

 In the creation of the woman, God’s replication of His image and likeness was made complete.  In the creation of the woman, marriage was born. {Genesis 3:1-22 – Marriage}

With that action we can understand that God has an eye on the relationship between the elements in His creation.

Two become one in mind, body, and spirit.  The connection between a husband and wife is unlike anything else.  God is all about relationships, so we find strong and significant connections with many people in our lives.  {Genesis 3:1-22 – Marriage}

Though god was there in the garden, they did not want to take notice of Him, but preferred to listen to their own voice, the temptation from within, the creeping serpent by which evil came unto man.

Their failure to trust God and His love for them, led to their rebellious choice to eat of the tree’s fruit.

As a result, we are all keenly aware of evil as well as the great enemy: SELF.

Self is insatiable; it always wants something more or new and different.

Lust takes over and brings about sin, which brings about death.

{Good vs. Evil Part 2: Knowing Good from Evil

When they got to deep into their own thoughts of wanting to become as knowledgeable as God they lost their innocence and got cursed by their choice to go astray, not obeying God, who knows best for man.

From the beginning of times there has been made an hierarchy by the divine Creator, bringing division in the chaos. God spoke and it came into being and was placed in the phases of evolution (day 1-6) Between the elements and all the living beings there was a relation.  There is also one between God, man, and nature.

Before the Fall of man,  Adam and Eve were in a very close relationship with God.  Adam was basically God’s right hand man.  God told Adam to name all of the animals.  Adam was the middle man.  He represented God to nature, and represented nature to God. {Hierarchy of God, Man, and Nature}

The relationship between Eve and God might have been different than between God and Adam. Eve was made out of Adam, and therefore part of Adam, but if she was not to blame we would not say.

After the fall, Adam lost his position of being God’s representative.  He would have to instead work for nature.  Eve, would now be blamed for the bad things she did, also having to endure childbirth. {Hierarchy of God, Man, and Nature}

The relationship between man, plants and animals also changed when the relationship of man with their Maker got damaged so much that God had to take action and set an example. God was not giving up His position but was well aware that man doubted His position, so He did not mind giving them even more possibilities to govern the world. By casting them out of the Garden they where placed in a world were they would be able to arrange everything themselves, but had to feel the consequences of their actions.

Though god still wanted to get the relationship in good order and provided therefore a solution with the seed of the woman. But everybody had to know that the Most High Maker always shall be the Most High divine to be recognised and respected as the Ruler of everything.

It was because of our foolish act that we do not get to enjoy the wonderful times that Adam and Eve did with God. {Hierarchy of God, Man, and Nature}

writes Perissa, but she should know that we still can go to that marvellous relationship between God and us, and between God and the world.Now we are stuck with the many choices which pull us from one to the other site. Nobody can escape temptation. Like it was important how Eve was to deal with it and how Adam had to respond, so it is also important for us to make the right choice and choose the right way to deal with it.

We all deal with it in our own ways, but we all have it. Temptation in and of itself is not a sin, but all too often it quickly turns into sin through our indulgence. Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire, when that desire is allowed to continue it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death (James 1:14-15). We all have desires in our hearts that lead us down different paths. Unfortunately those desires are wrapped in flesh and if we are not careful they can lead us straight to sin. Have heart though because if you are with Christ you died with Him when you entered into the watery grave and we believe also that we live with Him upon being risen from the water, just as Christ rose from the grave (Romans 6:8). When Christ died he died to sin once and for all and we must also consider ourselves dead to sin and alive in Christ. We must not let sin rule in our body by obeying its passions, for sin no longer has control over us (6:10-14). {Temptations are common}

We all have the 2° Adam taken up his position so that we could be liberated. Everything been given to the world makes us living elements in that world to choose either to be of that world or to make the best of it living in it but like Jesus doing not his own will but doing the Will of his and our heavenly Father. We have to choose in which direction we want to go, either that of the world or that of followers of Jesus Christ and lovers of God, looking forward to a restored relationship with God. In any case we have the best mediator between God and man, Jeshua, Jesus Christ the Messiah.

Still the message from the Old Times is going, we having to be the mirror image of God, requested to be also ‘imitators’ of the divine.

It wasn’t God’s fault for putting the tree there. It wasn’t God’s fault for warning them. It was Adam’s fault and Eve’s fault for being disobedient.

And giving in to sin is still our fault today. If you went to see Fifty Shades of Grey, it’s not God’s fault for allowing the movie to exist. It’s not some Christian blogger’s fault for making you aware of the movie or warning you not to see it. It’s your fault. You were tempted. You gave in to sin. (The good news is that if you will repent, God will graciously forgive you.)

As Christians we are to be imitators of God. “Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” (1 John 2:6) That means that when we see sin that could easily ensnare our brothers and sisters, we don’t turn our heads. We don’t mind our own business. We don’t keep our mouths shut to be polite. We do the same thing God did time after time in the Bible. We run into the fray to rescue those we love. {The “Forbidden Fruit” Fallacy}

We would not say or agree with us

not to blame if there are those who choose to charge headlong into sin rather than heed the alarm we sound. {The “Forbidden Fruit” Fallacy}

We should try to open the eyes of others, getting them back on track. We should help others to see the direction signs or road signs to the Right Way again. And that Way is Jeshua the Messiah.

Rena of Esther’s Crown’s Blog gives us good advice:

I encourage you to consider the doctrines you allow to guide your faith. Shake them through the sieve of Biblical truth from Genesis to Revelation. Just try assuming for the test that Torah still applies to our walk and see how many Scriptures now make sense, and how many doctrinal issues fall through the holes of the sieve. Look to how Yeshua taught Torah was to be applied. He did not redefine or reject Torah. Instead, He rebuked how the Pharisees had redefined Torah and made it a burden for the people.

Matthew 5:17-19 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or tittle shall in no wise pass from [Torah], till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

Choose Life! {The Tree of Life}

 

+

Preceding:

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 cur

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

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 4

+++

Find additional articles by other writers and from other denominations:

1. Two Trees
2. A History of Trees: Genesis 6:9-22 (Sunday’s Sermon Today)
3. The Original Sin
4. The Sacred Trees in the Garden of Eden
5. The Mythical Serpent in the Garden of Eden
6. A story of two trees
7. Apples, Anyone?
8. Grumpy Old Git on Garden of Eden
9. The “Forbidden Fruit” Fallacy
10. Forbidden Fruit, by Tammy Cardwell
11. Where I could hide… on Forbidden Fruit
12. Abidanshah on How to deal with the forbidden fruit

+++

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

Gen 3:13-24 NHEBJE  Jehovah God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 

(14)  Jehovah God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock, and above every animal of the field. On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
(15)  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.”

(16)  To the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
(17)  To Adam he said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.  (18)  Thorns also and thistles will it bring forth to you; and you will eat the herb of the field.  (19)  By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

  (20)  The man called his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living.  (21)  Jehovah God made coats of skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.

  (22)  Jehovah God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he put forth his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever…”  (23)  Therefore Jehovah God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.  (24)  So he drove out the man; and he placed Cherubs at the east of the garden of Eden, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

*

 

Masaccio, Brancacci Chapel, Adam and Eve, detail. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 +

Preceding readings:

Genesis – Story of creation 2 Genesis 1:26-31 Creation of man

Genesis – Story of creation 3 Genesis 2:1-15 Story of Adam and Eve

Genesis – Story of creation 4 Genesis 2:16-25 Warning for Adam and Eve

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

+++

 

Related articles

• Original sin, the concept that man is born in a condition of sinfulness and must await redemption – True or False? (eagleman6788.wordpress.com)
  Eastern Orthodox tradition holds that the sword placed at the entrance to Paradise to prevent humankind from returning to the Garden was removed once Jesus was born.
• Reflections on Genesis 3:15 (gentlereformation.com)
  In one short statement the underlying theme and meaning of history is laid bare. Whatever one says about the history of mankind, therefore, whether they’re looking at the specks of some seemingly insignificant incident, or the grand movements of a mighty nation, if this overarching perspective is fundamentally absent from their thinking, the task of making sense of human experience, whether it be the past or the present or the future, will inevitably fail to reflect the deep currents of reality. As a result, the historian’s work of collating data into a meaningful whole will inevitably run astray.
  +
  The relationship between these two kingdoms will be marked with hostility. As God put it, “I will put enmity between you and the woman.”

  This enmity isn’t of a casual sort, as if the citizens of each kingdom are at a ballgame rooting for a different team. The antipathy and opposition will be nothing less than absolute, resulting in the shedding of blood and even the taking of life. It is warlike hostility (Rev 11:7, 12:7, 13:7, 19:11-19). It should be thought of in terms of swords and shields, not empty threats or an unwillingness to attend the same social event.

• Saturday, 14 February 2015 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Cyril, Monk and St. Methodius, Bishop, Patron Saints of Europe (First Reading) (petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang.com)
  I will make you enemies, you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.
• An offering for sin (dailymedit.com)
  In the Garden of Eden, the serpent, the devil, said all the right things to Eve, presenting himself as a good friends, who was only looking out for her. But it was coming from a “heart” full of poisonous venom. Jesus refused to commit himself to man because he knows what was in man (John 2:24-25).

  So if God wants to really change man, giving him a new set of rules and regulation will not do, it is changing his nature, the answer is a new creature (2Corinthians 5:17). And in Jesus old things have passed away and all things become new and that starts with who we are on the inside. Paul said that none by following the law will gain the favour of God because God still looks at the heart and not at appearance.

  A sacrifice is dead and Paul wrote that we have died with Christ nevertheless we live (Galatians 2:20). We have died to sin and the passion of the flesh and alive to righteousness. By faith, we identify with Christ in his death and in his resurrection life.

• Humble beginnings: a rib and an apple (annabelfrage.wordpress.com)
  The serpent undulated in happy figures of eight, weaving itself round her legs, up her legs, round her waist, and it was a very nice serpent, despite its legs, not at all cold and slimy, but warm and smooth to the touch. Gently, it urged Eve closer and closer to the tree, whispering that once she’d eaten, she would know as much as God, and why should a dude with a lot of hair and a matching beard call all the shots, huh?
  “Why not a pretty lady like you instead?” it hissed, and Eve definitely thought it was onto something here. Besides, she really, really wanted to know what Adam dreamed about each night. She rached for the closest apple. It fell, ripe and round, into her hand.
  “Yummy, yummy,” the serpent said, caressing her hips with his coils “And you know what they say, don’t you? An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
  “Doctor?”
  “Never mind. Once you’ve eaten it, you’ll get to know everything about doctors.” It snickered.”Good one,” it said to itself, attempting a high-five with its stunted little forelegs.
  +
  “You’re the woman, soon enough you’ll be the seductress that tempts Adam to taste. Cherchez la femme, as the French say.”
  Eve didn’t understand. But she did know it was right; she would tempt Adam, she had to, making them both equally guilty in the eyes of God.
• Choose Positivity (matheusyuhlung.wordpress.com)
  Today, if you meet ten negative people and one Caleb or one Joshua, I urge you to listen to them instead – the voice of positivity; as it is said I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

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

 

Gen 3:1-12 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.
(9) Jehovah God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” (10) The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

(11) God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” (12) The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

*

 

 

The Paradise (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

+

Preceding readings:

Genesis – Story of creation 2 Genesis 1:26-31 Creation of man

Genesis – Story of creation 3 Genesis 2:1-15 Story of Adam and Eve

Genesis – Story of creation 4 Genesis 2:16-25 Warning for Adam and Eve

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

 +++

Related articles

• Original sin, the concept that man is born in a condition of sinfulness and must await redemption – True or False? (eagleman6788.wordpress.com)
  Because Eve had tempted Adam to eat of the fatal fruit, some early Fathers of the Church held her and all subsequent women to be the first sinners, and especially responsible for the Fall. “You are the devil’s gateway,” Tertullian told his female listeners in the early 2nd century, and went on the explain that they were responsible for the death of Christ: “On account of your desert – that is, death – even the Son of God had to die.”
• Humble beginnings: a rib and an apple (annabelfrage.wordpress.com)
  One could argue that in creating man, God showed lack of judgement – or maybe we are testament to His faith – in us. Why else give us free will, lead us constantly into temptation, pollute our souls with the seven deadly sins, and gift us with sufficient intellect to question His existence. Not that all of us do, mind you. Many are the men and women through the dust-lined road of time who have fought and died on His behalf, professing with their dying breath that God exists.
• The Truth: Who Are You (a Must Read) (eyeopenerunity.wordpress.com)
  How was man made in the beginning(Adam & Eve)? Genesis 1:26 “And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth.”
• Servants of God (christopherjmoorewriter.wordpress.com)
  The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that original sin was committed by Adam and Eve when they chose to follow their own will rather than to be servants of God. In Genesis we read that Satan, disguised as a snake contradicted the consequences asserted by God should Adam and Eve eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. He said to them, ‘No! You will not die! God knows in fact that the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods.’ Genesis 3:4-6
  +
  Jesus was subjected to the very same temptation. After his 40 days in the desert, the devil lead him to the very pinnacle of the temple, and told to throw himself off so the angels would come and save him. This is the temptation – to put ourselves above God and thereby have no need of Him.
• The Rest of Your Story (christianmommameditations.wordpress.com)
  Adam and Eve knew no fear, no shame – only love and devotion to their Creator.

  And everything was going just fine until satan’s hand puppet – the snake – came into the picture.
  +

  No one is immune to bad decision making. It can be something little, like telling a white lie to get out of working at the school’s book fair to a much worse decision, like having an affair outside of marriage.

  But no matter the bad decision, once our spirit kicks in and we realize our sin, the initial emotions are typically the same – fear of what God or others will now think of us, fear that we will be found out, and shame that we ever made such a horrible choice.

• Kelly Gissendaner and the Consequences of Adam and Eve (unsettledchristianity.com)
  The immediate consequence was pain in childbearing for her and hard, unappreciated work, for him. The extended consequence was that the human race was now separated from God and thus dying. Sin had entered into the world.

  All thanks to Eve who ate the fruit and then forced/led/seduced/enticed Adam to do the same.

• The Blame Game AGAIN (supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com)

  Catholic theologians agree that if Adam had said “no” to Eve, the human race would not have fallen into Original Sin.

  Original Sin is traditionally called the “sin of Adam”. Why?
  Adam was the “head”, the first-made. He was “over Eve” in age, (one week it seems), strength, and so on.
  He could have said no and he did not. A Second Adam, Christ, had to come and undo the horrible damage chosen, yes freely chosen, by Adam. He put Eve’s approval before God’s.
  +

  One chooses to listen to the self, the world or the devil. Freely we choose sin and corruption. There would be no communism and Marxism without the decisions of Marx, Engels, Lenin. There would be no hatred among the Islamists for Catholics without the hadith and Koran written by individual men. There would be no radical feminist movement without the writings of Simone de Beauvoir, Margaret Sanger, Shulamith Firestone, Kathie Sarachild, Ti-Grace Atkinson, Carol Hanisch, and Judith Brown, among others.

  There would be no weak men without Adam, and the long line of couch potatoes, sports idolizing , game obsessed men who have given up all responsibility for their families and eschew commitment. Individuals sin and make movements.Just because the men are nameless, does not mean it is not yet another “movement” of weakness changing the culture one decision at a time.

  To blame a “movement” is to push blame onto nothing….some amorphous event in history. Of course, men and women decide to choose good or evil, thus creating the course of their own lives, that of their families and even nations.
• The Daily Gospel and Readings 13 February 2015 (prayersandmeditations.com)
  God knows well that the moment you eat of it
  your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods
  who know what is good and what is evil.
• A conversation in my head. (omharris.com)
  Adam was standing right there. He heard everything. He knew what God had told him, and he had no reason whatsoever to doubt God. He had the same relationship with God that Jesus did. It was an intimate communion, like what you see in a good marriage. It was what Enoch had, and if you do your homework, you will find that Enoch walked this earth at the same time as Adam. Prior to the flood, it is not recorded that anyone, other than Able, had that kind of relationship. I guess that Enoch asked Adam what that was like, and Adam told him. Enoch proceeds to live like that, and walks off the earth.
• Interesting Similarities (eisdoxan.wordpress.com)
  For his eleventh labor (Apollodorus Library 2.5.11), Heracles was commissioned by Eurystheus to bring him the Golden Apples of the Hesperides, which were a gift from Gaia to Zeus and Hera at their wedding. These apples were the source of immortality for the gods and, interestingly, were guarded by a dragon, itself the offspring of Typhon and Echidna.