Home |
|
Genesis 3:1 - 3:6
In
the last study on Genesis Chapter 2, God revealed to us that He put a specific man in the
Garden of Eden, the 'eth'Ha'adham', meaning a 'specific' man named 'Adam', to
keep and dress this same Garden. We also discovered from The Word that God formed animals
'after' this man Adam was formed, and that God brought all of these animals to Adam to see
what he would name them (Gen.2:19-20). After this act, God took the 'curve' (translate the
word 'rib' in Gen.2:21-22) out of Adam and made Woman, Eve.
And we learned that since this 'woman' was made from Adam,
we were told why he should be head over the woman, and that they both should become
'one flesh' in marriage. As Paul and Peter the apostle would teach, it is necessary
for the man to be in Christ in order to properly be serving as head of the family. For
this reason also, a man should treat his wife as he would want to be treated. Both spouses
in Christ make for a strong bond on earth, and in the Spirit which is impossible for the
world to break, even when husband and wife are apart from each other temporarily.
Disruption of the marriage can only be caused by the husband and wife not listening and
trying to follow God's Law, and following things in the world instead. Many sources of
media and spiritual influences exist today to purposefully destroy the institution of
marriage. Don't listen to them. These influences can range from the various popular
women's magazines and TV shows which teach ideas of free 'lifestyles' like fads, much like
putting on a new dress, and much of this type of media is aimed at the young teenage girl
early on so as to twist and condition that teen away from the true ideas of sexuality and
marriage taught within The Word.
It's no different in a man's world either. There are just as
many traps to temp you away from the wholesomeness of a true relationship based upon
commitment to love and cherish your wife only, instead of wandering astray from her to
another. It seems that in today's world, when a man or woman sticks to God's Plan
concerning marriage, preserving the 'flower of their youth' until marriage, they are
treated as being 'old fashioned'. Don't concern yourselves with that label, because the
status quo of the majority is seldom correct, and they can't live the marriage for you.
We also learned in Genesis 2 that the 'River' which split
into four heads was in the same sense as the River which will be set up in God's eternity
that emits from 'the Throne of God and The Lamb.
We now begin Chapter 3 of Genesis, and we ask a Word of
Wisdom from Jehovah, in Christ's Name, Amen.
Gen
3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD
God had made. And he said unto the woman, "Yea, hath God said, 'Ye shall not eat of
every tree of the garden'?"
This is all taking place within the Garden of God, Eden. If
you'll remember back to Gen.2:9, God made trees to grow in the Garden also, the 'Tree of
Life' which is symbolic of Jesus Christ, and is the food of the eternity (see Rev.2:7; 22;
Ezekiel 47). This other tree also in the midst of the garden is the 'tree of knowledge of
good and evil', which represents Satan, and is the opposite of the 'Tree of Life'.
Allow me to give insight for your 'spiritual' mind about the
teaching of these 'trees', and their 'fruit', and how they relate to 'Light' and
'darkness'. Again, it is important to not let your flesh reasoning get in the way of
understanding how these 'trees' can be symbolic of Christ, and of Satan. The 'Tree of
Life' and Its fruit will apply again when? When Christ returns to set up His Kingdom on
this earth. Well, what kind of body will we 'all' have after Jesus
returns? A spiritual body, not the flesh (I Cor.15; II Peter 3:10; Psalms 97; Nahum 1;
Zechariah 14; Phil.3; 1 Thess.4). It's this 'Tree of Life' Which will sustain our
spiritual body, not the flesh. It is in the same sense, the 'manna' from heaven
which fed the Israelites during the forty years in the desert, but different (see John
6:47-58). Well can it sustain the flesh body also? Yes. And I ask, can a spiritual body
eat man's food? Yes (see Gen.18; Luke 24). So this should give us a clue as to how that
spiritual body can live upon this earth, without flesh. As God stated in Isa.45:18, He
created this earth to be inhabited, and it will be in His eternity. This time of Adam and
Eve in the 'garden' is similar to 'paradise' upon earth in the eternity. Since the
Israelites could eat 'manna' from heaven, the angel's food, Adam and Eve were
also able to eat from both of these 'trees' in the Garden of Eden while in the flesh. I'm
not saying that Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of Life also at this stage while in Eden, but
It was there, which represents Jesus Christ and that spiritual Food of the eternity.
Now let's go a little deeper still. These 'trees' are
spiritual. They are not in the same sense of the flesh, so while we are trapped in this
flesh body, we will not be able to fully understand exactly how the following events with
the sin of Eve took place. Paul was teaching in 2 Cor.12, about how he knew a man once
(more than likely, that man was Paul), how he was caught up into the 'third heaven',
and heard unspeakable words which are not lawful for man to utter. In other words, what he
heard and saw in that vision of the eternity (third heaven age), while in the spirit,
flesh man could not fathom within the limits of the flesh mind. With this same mindset, we
are not to overuse our reasoning of the flesh concerning God's Ways, for His Ways are not
man's ways (Isa.55:8). For what is to follow, I ask for the student to keep in mind two
major, but unrelated events recorded in God's Word. First, the idea of the Holy Spirit
causing Mary to bear Jesus Christ in the flesh, and second, the idea of how the 'sons of
God' (fallen angels), or spirit beings caused flesh women to bear the 'gibbor',
or 'giant' race, also in the flesh.
Most people living day to day lives upon this earth
haven't really had any major experience regarding the existence of the spiritual realm.
Others have had experiences which none can account for in the flesh realm, and thus a
spiritual existence is very real for them. Many Christians can give witness as such, but
they can not prove it to anyone else, unless others were there also with them (much as
Christ striking Paul down on the road to Damascus, where others present heard but did not
see. [Acts 9]).
Continuing with Gen.3:1... Is this serpent a real snake here
talking to Eve? This word 'serpent' in the Hebrew is 'nachash', and it
means 'a snake', but, in Numbers 21:6 and Deut.8:15 we have 'fiery serpents'.
These 'fiery serpents' are 'saraph nachash' in the Hebrew, meaning 'shinning,
or burning ones' (Strong's nos. 8314 & 5175). They were shinning spirits, not
literal snakes as we know in the world of flesh. God doesn't leave us guessing, for He
makes it very clear who this 'serpent' of Genesis is. Turn with me to Rev.12:9:
Rev
12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old
serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the
whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Here we have it. Satan is 'that old serpent', 'old'
being used in the sense of the time of his rebellion (first earth age) and, this reference
in the Garden of Eden. Don't let anyone tell you different, for Satan naturally wants you
to think that this 'serpent' in the Garden is a reptile in the flesh sense, for
he is the father of religious 'animism' also, which involves the worship of animals as
gods.
Satan is twisting God's Words around just a little with this
verse in Gen.3:1. God told Adam and Eve that "Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat
of it: ..." Gen.2:16-17. Satan did not properly quote our heavenly Father. Eve
should have noticed this, for it is one of Satan's methods of deception. Don't be naive in
thinking this same style of misquoting God's Word isn't still going on today. I assure
you, it is, and on purpose by some. Eve is going to be lured into misquoting God next:
Gen
3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the
garden, God hath said, 'Ye shall not eat it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye
die.'"
God
said nothing about 'touching' this tree. Eve added the words 'neither shall ye touch
it'. What's more, Gen.2:17 has a figure of speech in the Hebrew called a Polyptoton,
where 'thou shalt surely die' has special emphasis on it, meaning in the Hebrew: 'dying
thou shalt die'.1 Eve also misquoted God by not including this
'figure', but instead saying 'lest ye die'. So it seems, the stage is set, by
both Satan, and Eve not taking God at His Word. This is the condition when we as humans
think ourselves smarter than God, believing we can figure things out for ourselves,
without Him. Remember, Satan and Eve are supposed to be 'directly' quoting God here.
That's why the quotation marks are even supplied by the King James translators.
So what's this word 'touch' that Eve added to God's
quote? The word 'touch' is 'naga' in the Hebrew and it's from a "primitive
root; properly, to touch, i.e., lay the hand upon (for any purpose; euphemism, to
lie with a woman)" (Strong's no. 5060). A euphemism is the usage of a
nicer word to describe a more serious act, such as when a child may ask where their uncle
is who died, they might be told, "He passed away", instead of, "He's
dead". Even the part of the definition for this Hebrew word 'naga' given by
Dr. Strong from the Hebrew is a sort of euphemism, with 'to lie with a woman',
instead of 'sexual intercourse'.
Some can keep to the traditional understanding of this act
in the Garden concerning the 'apple', but the word apple is not there either in the King
James, or the Hebrew manuscripts. If you still wish to choose a lighter meaning behind
this word 'naga', like touching with the hand only, so be it, but you probably
won't understand many other deeper messages within the rest of God's Word either.
Those of God's people understanding the deeper Word, and
the outer material flesh understanding of The Word also, which most Christians see, should
not be bothered by criticism from those who only see with 'flesh eyes'. God hid many
deeper messages in His Word which put together the Whole Plan for those who love Him and
study His Word in 'spirit and truth', not in the flesh reasoning. There also is no
guarantee the deeper messages will be understood with much study only. God makes the
decision who is to see, not us. Well, am I possibly putting myself above my fellow
Christian brethren? Not at all, for I shall never feel worthy of His Grace as a sinner. I
see spiritual gifts from God in the sense of 'responsibility', not prestige, power or
status. I have no authority of my own self, but am as 'filthy rags' to God, even at my
best. The one given many gifts by God has the greater responsibility as a servant to all.
This idea of responsibility to service, given high positions of authority,
such as Senate, President, etc., transfers over in the material world also. Do you
remember what Jesus told Pilate about his position and authority? (John 19; also see
Daniel 4).
There are more clues in God's Word that this sin Eve was
lured into by Satan involved more than just eating fruit off a tree. Turn to 2 Cor.11:
2 Cor
11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused
you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to
Christ.
This
is in the spiritual sense, as the Christian is espoused to Christ spiritually. Thus, the
analogy of a 'chaste virgin' and 'husband' Who is Christ.
2 Cor
11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve
through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the
simplicity that is in Christ.
Paul
intends this corrupting in the spiritual sense also, concerning the Body of Christ being
deceived into believing on 'a spurious messiah', which is Satan who comes before Jesus
does.
Notice that Paul is giving a little remembrance dealing
with that serpent in the Garden and the act of Eve being 'beguiled'? This word 'beguiled'
in the Greek (we're in the New Testament) is 'exapatao'. It is made up of two
Greek words, 'ek' and 'apatao', and it has only one meaning in the
Greek, that is 'to seduce wholly' (Strong's no. 1818). All occurrences of 'exapatao'
in The New Testament Greek refer to the original sin caused by Satan in the Garden with
Eve, either directly as in 2 Cor.11:3; 1 Timothy 2:14; Romans 7:11, or indirectly with
Rom.16:18; 1 Cor.3:18; 2 Thess.2:3. All other instances of 'deceive' in The New
Testament are from the Greek words 'planao', 'plane', 'planos',
or 'apatao' which all mean to 'roam from safety, truth, or virtue', or to be an
'impostor'. This is just another clue within God's Word about what the act in the Garden
really was. There will be more clues as we progress through these first few Chapters of
Genesis.
Gen
3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, "Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall
be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."
This
'serpent' (Satan, the 'saraph nachash') just went directly opposite to
God's Commandment, so who are you going to believe? This is just as important for today as
that time in the Garden of Eden, for Satan also has his 'ministers' disguised as
Apostles of Christ supposedly teaching God's Word (2 Cor.11). In Rev.6 and 1 Cor.15 we are
given the word 'Death' as a proper name. It is another name for Satan. It is he
who brought 'death' into the world, and it is he whom Christ defeated on the cross. This
is why 'death and hell', along with the 'dragon' (Satan) will be cast into the 'lake of
fire' at the end of this world age, ushering in God's eternity (Rev.20 & 21).
Satan was also telling Eve that her 'eyes shall be
opened' with this act. Well just which 'gods' is the serpent talking about
here in Gen.3:5? Remember the 'sons of God' (fallen angels) who came before God's Throne,
along with Satan, in Job 1? These false 'gods' are Satan and the 'fallen angels'
of Gen.6. Since Adam and Eve were created 'innocent' and placed in the Garden, their
memory, as it is today, of the spiritual existence was taken away. In innocence is no sin,
therefore they were not ashamed because they did not retain knowledge of the spiritual
realm while in the flesh. The 'giant' race offspring from the 'mating' of the fallen
angels and flesh daughters did produce an offspring in the flesh which retained spiritual
knowledge of the heavenly realms, and this is why God destroyed that hybrid race. These
are where we get ancient Babylonian, Greek, Egyptian, and Roman mythology and paganism,
which is their 'word of gods', babel, i.e., confusion.
This is also why anyone attempting to unravel the meaning
of the mythologies without believing and understanding God's Word will fail. Those myths
are about real events that happened in Genesis, twisted into folklore masked by these
ancient priests, in the sense that most all of these ancient mythologies accounted for
these events in God's Garden, the murder of Abel by Cain, etc., supplanting the Truth with
various names. Even today, many teachers of God's Word would rather believe these myths
rather than the record of events in Genesis, just because of the existence of Babylonian
cuneiform tablets that are older than the time of Moses, who put down The Word from God in
Genesis. These unlearned even base their false assumption that Moses got the creation
story from these ancient Babylonian tablets.
The word 'trees' as used in these verses dealing
with 'the tree of knowledge of good and evil', is the Hebrew word 'atsah', and
means 'to shut or close the eyes' (Strongs nos. 6095, root of 6086, 'ets').
So this serpent who is Satan, is even lying about the 'eyes being opened' and becoming 'as
gods'. Hey, it's nothing new; Satan's children are still trying to push these ideas today.
So what's the main lesson from all of this? It is this: God caused all to be born of woman
one time in the flesh (except Satan and his angels) to find out whether we would follow
God, or Satan. When we go it alone, without God in our lives, we may get some knowledge on
our own that aligns with His Word, and most likely after messing up a bunch, in pain and
misery. That is the 'hard way' to Truth, and is this 'atsah', or 'closing of
the eyes'. When we choose to come to our Heavenly Father, and sincerely listen to Him
through His Word Jesus Christ, seeking His guidance and direction in our lives, we have
the 'victory' over this flesh. The 'price' Christ paid already for us. We will be tested
however, but not to worry, for "... If God be for us, who can be against
us?" (Rom.8:31).
Gen
3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it
was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he
did eat.
These
descriptions here all refer to the bodily pleasures of the flesh. Here's some more
parallels to these in God's Word:
I Jn
2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
Gen
6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and
they took them wives of all which they chose.
You
should notice that Eve looked upon a 'tree', not fruit, or apples. Further, how can eating
an apple make you wise? I know a lot of people who love apples and...well, maybe I better
leave that one alone. I hope you did some homework back in Genesis 2 around verse 9 in my
second Letter on Genesis, where I gave many Bible references on various meanings of
'trees' in God's Word referring to people.
I'm going to give you something else to ponder concerning
this 'serpent', who is Satan, and this 'tree of knowledge of good and evil',
meaning Satan was once a good Cherub (Ezek.28), but became evil. Many mystical systems
handed down throughout the centuries teach about traversing levels, up, in a snakelike
spiral fashion, back to the path of ultimate wisdom. This was the main goal of the
'mysteries' of various pagan temples. This 'serpent' represents the 'path' to that goal.
The only problem is, the ultimate wisdom sought for on that 'path', is not Jesus Christ or
God, but truly 'that old serpent', who is Satan. This is why you will see the
symbol of 'that old serpent' in pagan symbology, and at other times as a dragon.
Keep in mind that these are merely symbols for something of spiritual evil and very real,
i.e., Satan. These systems began in Babylonia with Sargon I around 3800 B.C., who in my
opinion, and the opinion of others based upon Assyrian history, was Cain. The Assyrian
records dating back to that time even names this Sargon I as 'the son of the devil'.
No worries if you are in Christ, for we have been given
power through Christ over Satan and his host of fallen angels, and their representatives
on earth (Luke 10). They are preparing to make a return back to earth, as written in God's
Word (Rev.12), and God's prophets of old knew it, and would have liked to have been here
during our time, so let God be your 'fear'; reverence Him, not the things of this world.
Peace unto you in Christ
Jesus,
Dave Ramey.
Footnotes:
1 The
Companion Bible. Kregel Publishing, Grand Rapids, MI., 1990, p.6.
All references to
"Strong's nos." are from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, PC Study
Bible, Biblesoft, 1993-1996.
(top)
Next
»
|
|