How to Keep a Wild Snake From Hacking Your Brain Round 1

 

Round 1

Two Humans vs. One Snake

 

The story is introduced in Genesis 2:24-3:1b but it’s almost impossible to see because of chapter and verse breaks were that were inserted centuries after the Hebrew words were written. Below is our translation.

 

The man and woman were both ARUM and had not been shamed.

The snake was more ARUM than any wild animal of the field.

 

ARUM is a Hebrew word that means subtle, shrewd, clever, crafty, and cunning.[i] The question raised in the introduction is this:

 

Which will be more subtle, shrewd, clever, crafty, and cunning:

Two Humans or One Snake?

 

Those words set the stage for one of the most important stories in Christianity and Judaism, a story that has directly and indirectly affected billions of lives over the past 2,500 years. In order to understand it, there are some things you need to know first.

 

● Yahweh the god planted the trees in the garden, all of which are pleasant to look at and good for food.

 

● Yahweh planted two trees in the middle of the garden -- the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of TOV (good) and RAH (evil).

 

● Yahweh made the man, woman, and snake (a wild animal that stands upright and speaks the language of the humans) and placed them in the garden together.

 

● The man named the snake and the woman.

 

● The man knew the snake before the woman was created.

 

● The man is standing next to the woman the whole time in this story.

 

Yahweh gave the man the commandment below.

 

“Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;

but of the Tree of the Knowledge of TOV (good) and RAH (evil)

you shall not eat,

for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

 

I underlined “you” to make sure you know it is a singular that refers only to “the man.” The last thing you need to be aware of is that the previous story laid the foundation for learning the wisdom principles embedded in this story. The most important is the Creator’s vision for how humans are to live their lives.

 

Humans were created to protect lives, preserve lives,

make lives more functional, increase the quality of life

and be the Creator’s Co-Shepherds over all life on earth.

 

Now, with the above information in mind -- let the contest begin!

 

^3:1b The snake said to the woman,

“Has a god indeed said, ‘Ya’ll shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

 

When we compare the snake’s words to the information above:

 

● We know that the god was named “Yahweh;” it was not “just a god.”

 

● We know Yahweh said “you” (singular) not “ya’ll” (plural).

 

● We know there is only “one tree” in the garden that the man was told not to eat from.

 

Now I will throw in some 21^st century information about “brain hacking.” “Misinformation” is used to confuse the person targeted to “hack.” Accurate information is the best defense against hackers. So, let’s see how the woman responds.

 

^2-3 And the woman said to the snake,

“We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;

but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden;

a god has said, ‘Ya’ll shall not eat it, nor shall ya’ll touch it, lest ya’ll die.’”

 

Now it’s your turn to get involved with the story.

 

1. Compare the woman’s response to the information above.

 

2. How accurate is it?

 

3. Does anything stand out so far about any of the characters in the story – Yahweh, the man, the woman, or the snake.

 

Think about those things for a while. I will continue the story in the next email.

 

Shalom,

Jim Myers

 

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[i] A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerrushalmi, and Midrahic Literature: Volume I; complied by Marcus Jastrow; Printed in Israel; p. 1115a.