Skip to main content

Created to Learn How to Be Equals

 

A few days ago, I wrote about the stories of the “Two ADAMS” in Genesis 1 & 2 (CLICK HERE). “ADAM” is the transliteration of a Hebrew word that appears in both stories, but the meanings in the stories are different.

 

ADAM #1 is a human collective -- one male and one female human. They are created at the same time, equals in the eyes of God, and both blessed by God together. The blessings empower the humans to live as God wants them to live. That is unbelievably valuable wisdom for members of the ancient audience.

 

ADAM #2 is one male human. He was made by God, but not blessed by God. After being made, God left him alone and went to Eden. God planted a garden in Eden and then went came back to the man. Then God took the man to the garden in Eden and gave him a commandment about how to not die. The man would be the only human alive until after God created the animals.

 

The story of the creation of the female in the second story is in Genesis 2:21-22.

 

● God caused a deep sleep to fall on the ADAM.

 

● ADAM slept.

 

● God took one of his ribs and the flesh closed up.

 

● God built the rib into an ISHAH (woman).

 

Then God brings her to the man, just as He brought each of the animals after they were made – for the man to name them. Pay close attention to the man’s words as he looks sees the woman for the first time.

 

“This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called ISHAH (woman),

because out of ISH (man) she was taken.”

 

How did he know that? He was asleep when God built the woman. Did God tell him? ISHAH is the feminine form of the word ISH. They are “creatures that are equal to and adequate for each other” -- counterparts designed to work together.

 

Both stories teach the same wisdom about what humans are,

but the types of information they were given makes them different.

 

In a previous email I wrote about the meaning of the Hebrew word translated “wisdom” (CLICK HERE). A person who has acquired wisdom is skilled in technical matters, clever, shrewd and experienced. The humans in the first story were given instructions about impulse control and self-disciple -- and helping each other do those things. They were taught to be God’s Co-Shepherds over all lives.

 

Genesis 2:25 and 3:1 contain a wordplay that cannot be duplicated with English words. The translation below reveals the underlined words in the wordplay.

 

The man and woman were both clever and shrewd;

they had not been shamed.

 

The serpent was more clever and shrewd

than any wild animal of the field which God had made.

 

This raised the question below in the minds of the members of the ancient audience:

 

Which has the most wisdom --

the two humans acting together as equals,

or one wild animal acting alone?

 

Those words introduced the encounter that is about to take place between the humans and the serpent. It is a lesson about acquiring wisdom. As you will see in my next email, the serpent is a creature ahead of its time -- skilled at using “misinformation” to “hack human brains.” Humans must learn how to act together as equals and develop skills for using the Creator’s TOV Standard in real life situations.

 

Do what protects lives, preserve lives, makes lives more functional,

and/or increases the quality of life.

 

Guard against anything that destroys lives, harms lives,

makes lives less functional, and/or decreases the quality of life.

 

Please share this with others and discuss it. Thank you for exploring biblical heritages with us.

 

Shalom,

Jim Myers

 

PS - Click Here to donate and help us do this work. Also, please “Like” our Facebook Page (Click Here).


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why did they lay their coats at Saul's feet?

The witnesses, laying their coats at the feet of Saul, were the men that would cast the first stones at Stephen in Acts 7. Why did they all lay their coats at Saul’s feet? The Talmud contains a very interesting account of the act of stoning that may provide the answer. “When the trial was over, they take him [the condemned person] out to be stoned. The place of stoning was at a distance from the court, as it is said, ‘Take out the one who has cursed.’ [i] A man stands at the entrance of the court; in his hand is a signaling flag [Hebrew   sudarin = sudar , ‘scarf, sweater’]. A horseman was stationed far away but within sight of him. If one [of the judges] says, ‘I have something [more] to say in his favor,’ he [the signaler] waves the   sudarin , and the horseman runs and stops them [from stoning him]. Even if [the condemned person] himself says, ‘I have something to say in my favor,’ they bring him back, even four of five times, only provided that there is some substance to what he
Post a Comment
Read more

Are Saul and Paul the Same Person?

There has always been some confusion over whether Saul and Paul is the same person. The confusion begins in the Book of Acts. ● “Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul . . . he brought him to Antioch . . . for a whole year they taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called ‘ Christians ’ in Antioch .” ( Acts 11:25-26 ) ● “ Then Agrippa said to Paul , `You almost persuade me to become a Christian .’” ( Acts 26:28) ● “ Then Saul , who also  is called   Paul . . . ” ( Acts 13:9a ) Based on the three verses above, we would assume they are references to the same person – but is he the Paul we read about in the Epistles? The name “ Saul ” doesn’t appear in the Epistles. In order to answer that question we must examine the stories of the “ conversion experiences ” of Saul in Acts and Paul in Galatians . Pay close attention to the time periods and places mentioned in both accounts. Saul’s experience is found in Acts 9 and it took
Post a Comment
Read more

Rabbi Stephen S. Wise’s Sermon at Synagogue on Jewish Jesus Causes a Storm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Samuel_Wise#/media/File:Stephen_Samuel_Wise.jpg Rabbi Stephen S. Wise gave this sermon in late December 1925 and it set off a storm of protests in Jewish communities.  Before you read the article, it is important for you to be aware of some of the accomplishments of Rabbi Wise. ● a founder of the New York Federation of Zionist Societies in 1897 ● first vice-president of the   Oregon State Conference of Charities and Correction in 1902 ● appointed Commissioner of Child Labor for the State of Oregon in 1903 ● co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) ● founding of American Jewish Congress (AJCongress) in 1918 ● founded the   Jewish Institute of Religion, an educational center in New York City  in 1922 ● founding president of the World Jewish Congress in 1936 (created to fight Nazism) ● co-chair of the American Zionist Emergency Council in WWII ● held press conference
Post a Comment
Read more