Tag: serpent

Great

Posted on by jovial_cynic

And I will make you into a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing;
Genesis 12:2 (NASB)

In Genesis 12, God mentions this word “great” twice to Abraham, and if you’ve been following along, you know this means we should look more closely. Perhaps there is something here.

God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.
Genesis 1:16 (NASB)

The very first time this word shows up in the Scriptures, it also shows up twice: the two great lights. And there is a mention of governing. Ruling. Something you expect a great nation to do well. So this feels related.

And God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind; and God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:21 (NASB)

But in the same chapter, this word comes up again. The great sea creatures. Or perhaps great sea creature, which the rabbis suggest is the Leviathan: the great trouble of God’s people. And yet… given greatness. Authority. Like a kingdom of the sea. Or of darkness.

So we have these links between greatness and authority, and that all makes sense, although some will scratch their head at the Leviathan, unwilling to accept that the Serpent was also created by God. That’s fine.

But it’s the next instance of great that caught my attention.

Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great to endure!
Genesis 4:13 (NASB)

Cain murdered his brother, and God assigned a punishment: the ground will no longer yield fruit. You will wander forever.

The verse says: וַיֹּאמֶר קַיִן אֶל־יְהוָהגָּדוֹל עֲוֺנִי מִנְּשֹׂא

“My punishment is too great to endure!”

We read this in English, and it feels like a complaint: “You are too harsh!” And then it appears that God provides a protection over Cain, to prevent anyone from killing him.

The rabbis see something else here. Something greater.

The word “punishment” is an odd translation choice. It is the Hebrew word עָוֹן (“ah-vone”), which means “iniquity.” It is almost always translated that way in the rest of Scripture.

So in actuality, it reads: “My iniquity is too great to endure,” and in these words, the rabbis see a question, not a statement.

Cain is not saying that it is too great for HIM to bear. He is asking God: “is my iniquity too great for YOU to bear?”

Cain knows the story: his father Adam brought death to ALL humanity through disobedience, yet God covered him. He continued to bless him. He continued to loved him.

So Cain asks God: Is my sin too great? Can I not also be redeemed?

And in response, God covers Cain, this time with a mark to protect him from death.

Perhaps this is God’s greatness: Even though Adam brought death to us all, God has authority over death to redeem. Even though Cain brought death to his brother, God has the authority to restrain death from seizing Cain.

You have not met someone God cannot redeem. He can save you. He can even save me.

Sin and Sin-Offering

Posted on by jovial_cynic
I have a belief about Genesis 4 that is hotly controversial. Every time I’ve brought it up, there are folks who acknowledge that my view is absolutely life-giving and hopeful, and folks who think that I’m pushing back against thousands of years of traditional interpretation. It’s fine. It’s just a possible view.

If you have followed me so far, you know that I’m quick to acknowledge my errors, and that my posts aren’t made from a boastful understanding of the Hebrew language, or tied to any claims of moral or theological superiority. I just have a lot of questions. I think we all do.

The question that Genesis 4 presents us with is this horrifying, theologically problematic, guilt-inducing, burden-laying rendering of Genesis 4:7.

Sin is crouching at your door; it’s desire is for you, but you must rule over it.
Almost all of them

Nearly every translation says it similarly (with the notable exception of Youngs Literal Translation (YLT), which is what started me on this journey!)

But let’s think about this statement that God is making to Cain, and how it applies.

SIN is CROUCHING at YOUR DOOR, and it DESIRES YOU, but you must MASTER it.

What is this saying? And why would this message be God’s instruction to Cain?

What doctrine is this?

Now, think about the sin in your life. Think about your own moral failings, and personify them for a second. It says sin desires us. Odd. I mean, I desire it more, but maybe God is telling me that sin is “alive” in some way. It is a thing that crouches and desires me.

So we are given this picture of a creepy, crouching thing that wants to… eat us? Is that what this “desire” is? Are we pointing back to the serpent, with an implied message that the serpent’s intent is to consume us?

Maybe? Sin is bad, so… sure.

But then…

“but you must master it.”

What the works-based-salvation messaging is this? We must MASTER it? Rule over it? I mean, this might point back to “dominion over all the earth,” and include the serpent, but what is this saying? That we must… save ourselves?

For anyone who has wrestled with true spiritual bondage in their own lives, being told “you just need to stop and master your sin” is a death blow. Because it is impossible.

Unfortunately, we KNOW people who defeated addiction and bad behavior. “I did it. Why can’t you?”

But this response from them doesn’t help. It makes it so much worse at times, and it’s often from this pit of despair that we finally cry out to God. We learn that only God can deliver us. And then we read the Exodus and see: only the hand of God could free His people. We learn that it’s only by faith, and not our works that we are saved.

Our entire walk with Jesus teaches us to depend not on ourselves, but on him and what he did on the cross, and through the empty tomb. This is our hope. He is our salvation.

That’s the premise of our entire faith.

So why does God tell Cain that he must “rule over” his sin?

I don’t think God did. Or at least, I think the Hebrew text might be written in a way to understand the message another way. The key is in this word “sin.”

It is translated two different ways in our Bibles:

SIN… and SIN OFFERING

(Sin: 182x; Sin Offering: 116x)

The only way to know which way to translate it is through context. In the next usage of the word, it’s quite clear that it can ONLY mean “sin,” because “sin offering” would make no sense here:

And the Lord said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.
Genesis 18:20 (NASB)

In fact, if you ONLY read Genesis, you’d think that the word could only be translated as “sin,” but note that each time, it’s connected to the word “offense” or “outcry.”

And the Lord said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.
Genesis 18:20 (NASB)

Then Jacob became angry and argued with Laban; and Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin that you have hotly pursued me?
Genesis 31:36 (NASB)

‘This is what you shall say to Joseph: “Please forgive, I beg you, the offense of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong.”’ And now, please forgive the offense of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
Genesis 50:17 (NASB)

But when you get to Exodus, AFTER Israel’s deliverance, when God teaches Israel how to sacrifice and worship rightly, we have these renderings of the SAME word. The context is what gives you the right meaning.

But the flesh of the bull and its hide and its refuse, you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.
Exodus 29:14 (NASB)

Each day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement, and you shall purify the altar when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to consecrate it.
Exodus 29:26 (NASB)

However, Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year; he shall make atonement on it with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once a year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.”
Exodus 30:10 (NASB)

So let’s go back to Cain, and see another problematic word. This time, it’s DESIRE.

I said earlier that a serpent desiring to eat you is a fine picture for sin. But that word “desire” is not used to describe the desire of a predator in the scriptures.

It’s longing. It’s love.

To the woman He said,

“I will greatly multiply
Your pain in childbirth,
In pain you shall deliver children;
Yet your desire will be for your husband,
And he shall rule over you.”
Genesis 3:16 (NASB)

“I am my beloved’s,
And his desire is for me.
Song of Songs 7:10 (NASB)

So now let me paint this picture for you.

Cain has just been rejected. His heart wasn’t right. He was filled with pride of his own work, and that isn’t an acceptable offering.

So God tells him, “if you do what’s right, you’ll be favored. But if not… ”

“… then see that I have placed a sin-offering at your door. It longs for you. It’s a lamb that knows nothing except love for you, but… you have to grab hold of it. You have to bring it to the altar, as your brother did.”

God tells Cain that a sacrifice is available.

This passage is NOT saying we have to overcome our own wickedness. That is impossible. It’s saying that, just like for Abel, an offering was made available for Cain. An offering he did not work for. He did not earn. It’s there FOR him, just like for Abel.

It is always God who provides. It’s the same message Abraham understands when he tells his son Isaac, “God will provide a lamb.”

That has always been the message. It is the only answer to sin. It is the only thing God requires: a sacrifice HE gives us to offer.

Connected by Dust

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Dust connects the serpent and the man in the weirdest way.

Then the Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all the livestock,
And more than any animal of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And dust you shall eat
All the days of your life;

Genesis 3:14 (NASB)

By the sweat of your face
You shall eat bread,
Until you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.

Genesis 3:19 (NASB)

Serpent

Posted on by jovial_cynic
The word “serpent” in Genesis 3 is rooted in another word that is noticeably… spiritual. It means a hiss, or whisper, and it suggests another path towards enlightenment and the knowledge of hidden things.

This is forbidden for God’s people. Always has been.

serpent, snake
serpent
image (of serpent)
fleeing serpent (mythological)

H5175: נָחָשׁ

to practice divination, divine, observe signs, learn by experience, diligently observe, practice fortunetelling, take as an omen
(Piel)
– to practice divination
– to observe the signs or omens

H5172: נָחַשׁ

Because You Did This

Posted on by jovial_cynic
So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.

Genesis 3:14 (NIV)

To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.

Genesis 3:17 (NIV)

God doesn’t say this to the woman. Unlike with the Serpent and with Adam, God does not appear to assign blame to her.

Ish and Isha

Posted on by jovial_cynic
The big question in Scripture I’ve chewed on for years is this: Why does shame not enter the world when Eve eats the fruit? Their eyes are not open and they don’t realize they are naked until ADAM eats.

Every answer I’ve heard has been untenable.

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Genesis 3:6-7 (NIV)

The structure of the answers often start with this: “Adam was told the instruction before Eve existed.”

From this starting point, we get answers like this:

Eve was deceived. Adam should have told Eve & stopped her, but Adam was tempted by Eve.

It’s gender/marriage focused.

In this view, Adam failed in his responsibility, so men must take charge and lead. However, we’re still stuck with a question: If Adam didn’t eat, what happens? Why is there no shame yet?

But also, in the absence of sin, how does Adam “fail?”

This is a broken answer.

Another view suggests this is not a gender/marriage story at all. It’s a story of those hear God’s words directly vs those who don’t. Those who know the rules are accountable; those who don’t get more grace. But we all experience the consequence of the former’s disobedience.

In this view, Eve isn’t accountable; she didn’t hear the words from God directly; she only heard second-hand. The explains why she might have added to the law (“nor shall you touch it.”) It’s ignorance, and while it’s not sin, it makes you more vulnerable TO sin.

But…

While this view is more palatable (it helps answer “What happens to those who never hear the Gospel?”), it only roughly aligns with certain spiritual/religious views of the world, but NOT AT ALL with our lived reality: ignorance doesn’t prevent a consequence. It can cause it!

So both of these views, although interesting, are unsatisfactory. They fall out of alignment with the rest of scripture and our perceived reality, so I’m forced to reject them and keep studying. And in my studying, I’ve noticed a few things that are hard to ignore.

At the end of Gen 2:24, the text says something important: “… and they become one flesh.” They are ONE. In the Gen 1:27 creation account, it says the same thing.

(NIV breaks the translation and says “them” in both places, but it’s IT/HIM and THEM. It says they are one.)

וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הָאָדָם בְּצַלְמוֹ בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים בָּרָא אֹתוֹ זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה בָּרָא אֹתָם׃
H853: אֹתָם (‘ēṯ)

So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:27 (NIV)

And while they are one, they don’t have names. I know you think Adam & Eve, but early in Genesis, Adam is actually “the adam/human” and is called by a noun and NOT a name.

In the Hebrew, Adam isn’t used as a name until Gen 3:17. Eve isn’t given a name until Gen 3:20.

For both, they don’t have names until after they both eat the fruit. Until then, they are the ish (אִישׁ – man/husband) and the isha (אִשָּׁה – woman/wife).

In Gen 2:23, the ish doesn’t say that the isha is simply a female version of him. He says the isha is FROM him.

“In the image of God He created him (the human).”
“Male and female He created them (the individuals).”

Despite now being split (ish/isha), they are still… one. And while we want to view them as a literal man and literal woman, there’s something else to see here.

Immediately after the text shows us the isha, it tells us what she is like in Genesis 3.

She…
hears/speaks to the serpent.
knows/speaks WHAT IS TRUE
builds a fence around the Law
sees FRUIT
shares FOOD
desires WISDOM & being like God
gives to the ish

This feels… spiritual.

And this is interesting: The Spirit (רוּחַ) of God in Genesis 1:2 is a feminine noun.

And “Wisdom’s desire” of Proverbs 8 sounds familiar:

Feminine (v1)
Knows the truth and can speak it (v6)
Knows good fruit (v19)
Shares food (v5)

What I see is that “the isha” of the human being is /like/ the Spirit of God; she is built with similar characteristics.

Let me be clear: I’m not making a statement about /women/ or /Eve/. Remember: at this time, the ish and the isha are ONE. One flesh. Of the same thing.

…but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
James 1:14-15 (NIV)

If the isha represents the part of humanity that is in tune with the spiritual world, able to see and hear the serpent/temptation and to know how to interpret and even safeguard the law (“nor shall you touch it”), perhaps the isha is our spirit. Perhaps the ish is our flesh.

In that, perhaps Genesis 3 is not merely a “how sin entered the world” sort of story, but it’s also a “how sin enters the world always” sort of story.

This way of framing the human condition also gives another message of hope from back in Genesis 2.

“It’s NOT GOOD that the man is alone.”
“In the day you eat of it, you will surely die.”

God doesn’t say “if.” It isn’t a conditional statement. The man will eat it. He will die. The only way to save him is to split him in two. The flesh WILL die, but the spirit will live.

The isha was built so the human could live.

When Adam gets a name, God tells says “to dust (‘adam’) you will return.” You will surely die.

When Adam names his wife, he calls her “Eve,” which means LIFE. This is why there is hope in her, and why her curse carries a promise.

Finally, their definitions (that is, the flesh and the spirit) are established, they have names, and God covers them in skin.

Going forward, it’s a story about a MAN, Adam and a WOMAN, Eve. Prior to having a covering, perhaps it was a story about our spiritual selves.

Most Crafty

Posted on by jovial_cynic
There is a ranking of cleverness in the creatures God created.

The serpent (a creeping thing) is more crafty than the wild beasts, but not described as more clever than the cattle/livestock.

God said, “Let the earth bring forth every kind of living creature: cattle, creeping things, and wild beasts of every kind.” And it was so.
God made wild beasts of every kind and cattle of every kind, and all kinds of creeping things of the earth. And God saw that this was good.
Genesis 1:23-24 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild beasts that God יהוה had made. It said to the woman, “Did God really say: You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?”
Genesis 1:23-24 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

Some translations render this as “more shrewd than all…”

The Name of the Creeping Things

Posted on by jovial_cynic
In Genesis 3, we’re going to be introduced to the Serpent. He’s a “creeping thing,” unlike “wild animals” or “livestock.” All three are listed specifically in the creation account of Genesis 1.But when Adam names in the animals in Genesis 2, notice what’s missing. It’s the “creeping things” of Gen 1:24-25.

Why?

And out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.
Genesis 2:19-20 (NASB)

I’m not sure, but perhaps it’s tied to this:

Now concerning everything which I have said to you, be careful; and do not mention the name of other gods, nor let them be heard from your mouth.
Exodus 23:13 (NASB)

The creeping things point to the serpent of Genesis 3. The serpent points to all the false gods.