Tag: plants

Seeds in the Dirt

Posted on by jovial_cynic

And the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your [a]descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.
Genesis 12:7 (NASB)

[a] Lit seed

I’m charmed by the imagery of “seed in the land” that ties us back to the third day of creation.

Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit according to their kind with seed in them”; and it was so.
Genesis 1:11 (NASB)

After the water was separated from land, plants began to grow.

Yes, “seed” refers to descendants and offspring, but the word choice gives us an echo.

Eat what God has Provided

Posted on by jovial_cynic
In Hebrew numerology, you know that three and seven are important. This make multiples (3 x 7 = 21) stand out as well.

So I find it amusing that in the Garden, the word “eat” is stated 21 times in the Hebrew in Gen 1 and Gen 2.

And “eating” is tied to the greenery.

Interestingly, similar to the way the animals in Genesis 1 are described in triplicate (livestock, creeping things, wild animals), we are shown three kinds of plants: grass, herbs, and trees.

In Genesis 6 and 7, the text is specific: God brings all three types of animals. But there’s no mention of the three types of plants. It is only hinted at in this phrase: מִכָּל־מַאֲכָל (mi-kol ma’akhal). This phrase means “of every food.”

You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.
Genesis 6:21 (NIV)

I used to wonder why humans and animals were vegetarian before the flood. Perhaps it’s linked to atonement: the Ark is a grand parable of humanity being preserved.

The three animals are a metaphor for all people, and people should not devour one another. God has provided every food we need.

Plants or Humans First?

Posted on by jovial_cynic
I mentioned before that Genesis 2:4 tells me that the order isn’t the point, so I’m comfortable with the order of Genesis 1 (plants before man) not being consistent with Genesis 2:5, where the plants do not seem to exist when God creates man. However, there is another approach.

when no shrub of the field was yet on earth and no grasses of the field had yet sprouted, because God יהוה had not sent rain upon the earth and there were no human beings to till the soil, but a flow would well up from the ground and water the whole surface of the earth — God יהוה formed the Human from the soil’s humus, blowing into his nostrils the breath of life: the Human became a living being.
Genesis 2:5-7 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS, 2006)

The key is in the word “טֶרֶם” (terem). Some bibles translate it as “before,” but the Rabbis say that this word gives us a tension of “almost, but not quite,” like the way one waits for the green signs of life to break through the surface of the ground. There, but not yet.

טרם יהיה בארץ WAS NOT YET IN THE EARTH — Wherever טרם occurs in the Scriptures it means “not yet” and does not mean “before.” It cannot be made into a verbal form, saying הטרים as one says הקדים (verbal form of קדם) and this passage proves that this is the meaning and not “before” as well as another (Exodus 9:30), כי טרם תראון “that ye do not yet fear the Lord.” Therefore you must explain this verse also thus: “No plant of the field was yet in the earth” at the time when the creation of the world was completed on the sixth day before man was created, and וכל עשב השדה טרם יצמח means “and every herb of the field had not yet grown.”
Rashi on Genesis 2:5:1

In this reading, God “brings forth” plants in Genesis 1, which points to seeds breaking open below the surface, waiting until someone can till the ground in Genesis 2, or perhaps as early as day 6 of creation in Genesis 1. This view is perhaps helpful for anyone who needs reconciliation between the timelines of the two chapters. It seems to work.

Green

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Did you know that GREEN is the first color mentioned in the Bible?

I don’t have a particular theological point for this, other than it happens to be my favorite color, and it makes me think of life.

And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground –everything that has the breath of life in it– I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

Genesis 1:30 (NIV)