INTRODUCTION

This is Sabbath Thoughts and Reflections 2—A Discussion of Genesis 2:4-3:24—Parashah 2 in our 3-year Torah Reading Cycle. Since the rabbis did not have a hand in naming the individual Torah Readings in the 3-year Reading Cycles, for the sake of reference, I’ve named this discussion: “Who is to Blame for the Sins of the World? Adam or Eve?”

There’s a lot of content to draw from this reading. So much so that a full in-depth study of this passage would take hours upon hours to conduct. There’s just so much. In-depth study of each passage/verse would entail one looking at each of the various concepts; topics; issues; conducting word studies; examining the Hebrew wording; lexiconal studies; etc. Our purpose here today is not to conduct an in-depth study of this Torah Reading, but rather, conduct an overview of what happened here during the early days of humanity.

Indeed, this reading contains a number of themes that we could spend countless hours discussing. But for our purposes, we want to only touch upon just a handful of salient points of interests in our discussion from which you may be led to conduct your own in-depth study.

The other thing I need to point out before we launch into today’s discussion is that we must always keep in mind that each of our Torah Readings ultimately point us to our Master Yahoshua HaMashiyach. Thus, whenever we discuss and study Torah, we should be compelled to look beyond the rote and see Mashiyach’s ultimate purpose and work on behalf of humanity. This is one of the things that separates us from our Jewish cousins when it comes to our focus of Torah.

I will be reading from the Robert Alter Translation of Torah.

2:4—This is the tale (some English translations render tale as generations) of the heavens and the earth when they were created (or rather, this is how the heavens and the earth came to be).

Generations=towledah {to-led-aw}=course of history. History=CJB; story=NAB; NIV, NAS, NET=account; YLT=births

Something to consider here at the outset of our reading is: From whom did Moshe receive this accounting of creation? Obviously, Moshe was not present to witness the Creation that he was inspired to record by the Ruach of Elohim. Which leaves the answer being: From the Words of Yehovah (Heb. 11:3). YHVH certified Moshe and we by faith believe this account.

2.5—On the day YHVH Elohim made earth and heavens, no shrub of the field being yet on the earth and no plant of the field yet sprouted, for YHVH Elohim had not cause rain to fall on the earth and there was no human to till the soil,

It is suggested here that Yah created/recreated the earth to be tended to by his human creation.

2.6—and wetness would well from the earth to water all the surface of the soil,

2.7—YHVH Elohim fashioned the human, humus from the soil (I.e., “human,” from the soil, “ ‘adamah”), and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the human became a living creature.

Yehovah formed (yatsar as opposed to ‘asah, which means to make) Adam (or man) from the soil of the ground.

YHVH breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul/creature/being/person.

The Targum Onkelos renders=breathed upon Adam’s face the breath of lives, and it became in Adam a discoursing (a speaking) spirit.

The Targum Onkelos is the official Aramaic translation to/of Torah. It is accepted as an authoritative translation of Torah and thought to have been written in the early 2nd century C.E. The content of this work stems back to Ezra’s time. However, it was later forgotten by the Jewish nation. It was re-recorded by Onkelos, a famous convert to Judaism (~35-120 C.E.).

Interestingly, we find in Jasher–1:2—Elohim forms man from the ground, blows into him the breath of life, and man becomes a living soul that is endowed with speech.

So, there’s this underlying emphasis in the Jewish mind that Adam is a formed being who is gifted with speech.

Part and parcel of Adam being the imager of YHVH was his imputed speaking or discoursing spirit. The concept of imaging YHVH stems back to our STAR 1 discussion of Genesis 1:26-27.

From the “mean materials” of the earth the Creator was able to form a truly remarkable human structure that the Psalmist described aptly:

I will give thanks unto thee; For I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Wonderful are thy works; And that my soul knoweth right well. (Psa 139:14 ASV)

From the moist ground man was formed by Yehovah. The passage at this early juncture of our reading sets the stage for what would become one of Adam’s created purposes or divinely ordained tasks. Yah makes man from the moist soil of Eden and relocates him to the Garden which is in Eden proper. It is there in the Garden that Yah tasks the man to tend/till/dress and guard the Garden (2:15).

2:8—And YHVH Elohim planted a garden in Eden, to the east, and He placed there the human He had fashioned.

So, it appears evident from this verse that Yehovah did not create or form Adam in the Garden of Eve. Yah in fact established, or as the text is interpreted in most English translations Yah planted a garden in Eden. The Garden was a self-contained place in Eden. The actual physical location of Eden has been a subject of great controversy and mystery for centuries and many self-professing scholars and experts have persuaded many that they indeed know the location of Eden or the Garden. But the truth of the matter is that no one truly knows where Eden is, if it is in fact a place that still exists here on earth. It does seem evident, however, that the Garden where Yehovah placed the man and his woman, was a place where Yehovah would train, commune and even test His human creation. I would go so far as to propose that the Garden of Eden, if not the whole or portions of Eden proper, hosted a manifestation of the Kingdom of Elohim. For where Yehovah’s presence dwells, there we find His Kingdom. For we find Yehovah is described as walking in the garden in the cool of the evening to commune with Adam in 3:8. Nevertheless, it is safe to presume that Eden existed at some point in the vast regions of Mesopotamia. And the interesting thing about Eden likely existing in Mesopotamia is that ancient Babylon also existed in that region of the world. Clearly, the enemy is about counterfeiting the works of Yehovah wherever they possibly can. For if Eden was conceivably an extension of Yehovah’s Kingdom here on earth, Babylon, located in the same general region of the world, would be the earthly birthplace and headquarters of the Kingdom of Darkness. I just found that to be interesting.

In the Ancient Book of Jubilees–There is a sense of the garden being a holy place; a dwelling place of Yehovah. Thus, only the pure could enter and remain (3:13). There is also a sense that certain angels were given instructional charge over the couple in the Garden (3:16).

2:9—And YHVH Elohim caused to sprout from the soil every tree lovely to look at and good for food, and the tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge, good and evil.

The only thing we’re told about the Garden in terms of its composition is that it hosted every type of tree that was pleasant to look at and that bore good fruit, as well as the centrally grown trees of “The Tree of Life,” and the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.” And like so many of the elements surrounding this story, the spiritual significance of these two trees could certainly occupy our minds for a number of discussions. But we’ll save that discussion for another time Abba willing. I will say, however, that the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil could be viewed as a test element for Yah’s human creation. The one thing we know about our Elohim is that He often tests those who would be His. He tested Avraham a number of times throughout Avraham’s lifetime; as well as Abba tested Yisra’el throughout her wilderness sojourning.

Now, I get it that some take umbrage with the thought that Yah tests His human creation. Well, from a humanistic standpoint, it of course would appear that when Yah puts His human creation to a test He is setting her up for failure. But that’s not the case at all. To begin with, we know that Yehovah is sovereign, and He is privy to deal with His creation anyway that His holy and righteous character leads Him. Secondly, Yah respects humanity’s freewill. He will not force Him or His Ways on His human creation. So, He gives humanity the freedom of choosing whether or not they will adhere to His instructions and keep His Ways.

Thirdly, Yah provides His human creation the opportunity to prove its allegiance—its obedience to and total dependence upon Him and His Ways. And in so doing, Yah will graciously engage His human creation in a relationship. The process by which Father certifies whether an individual is suited to enter into a relationship with Him is by searching their heart and ascertaining their intent: Jeremiah 11:20; 17:10; 20:12; Rom. 8:27; 1 Sam. 16:7; Psa. 139:23. In the case of Adam and Eve and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the couple was faced with an easy choice: To stay within the confines of the relationship they enjoyed with the Almighty, or seek to alter the parameters of that relationship. Turns out that the serpent (aka, the nachash) had figured out that the couple would most certainly entertain becoming something other than that which Yehovah had originally established in and for them (e.g., abandoning their created purpose as imagers of Yehovah in the earth). They chose to be like the gods (i.e., the angels or demigods of the earth). And thus, their (and by extension all unconverted humanity’s) hearts are not suitable for the covenant relationship Yehovah seeks to have with them.

In the midst of the Garden, the Creator established two trees: (1) The Tree of Life, and (2) The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. (Interestingly, the Targum Onkelos renders the title of these trees as the Tree of Lives and the Tree of whose fruit they who eat know between good and evil. The LXX renders the second tree as the tree of learning the knowledge of good and evil.) As our story progresses, it would seem that these two trees, in the midst of a Garden that was filled to overflowing with every conceivable and inconceivable food for the couple to enjoy and subsist on, would serve as elements to test the spiritual resolve of the couple (I.e., the obedience of the couple; the couple’s willingness to remain entirely dependent upon Yehovah as their sustainer and sovereign).

I often wonder whether the Tree of Life provided the couple the means by which they would be physically sustained indefinitely. If so, this would clearly support the contention that humanity was not designed in its physical form to live forever without the nutrients provided by the Tree of Life. In other words, it was Yehovah that would provide the couple indefinite life through this tree if they remained in covenant relationship with Him. For their life was not inherent in their being—in their make-up.

Interestingly, one of the great prophesies found in the Book of Revelation entails of this same Tree of Life in the World Tomorrow, providing sustenance and healing to the nations; a feature of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 2:7; 22:2, 14).

2:10—Now, a river runs out of Eden to water the garden and from there splits off into four streams.

2:11—The name of the first is Pishon, the one that winds through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

2:12—And the gold of that land is goodly, bdellium is there, and lapis lazuli.

2:13—And the name of the second river is Gihon, the one that winds through all the land of Cush.

2:14—And the name of the third river is Tigris, the one that goes to the east of Ashur.

2:15—And YHVH Elohim took the human and set him down in the garden of Eden to till it and watch it.

Here we read of Yehovah placing Adam in the Garden. There is a hint of the Garden being a sacred place—a set-apart place in the earth. I would go so far as to suggest that the Garden at that time was an iteration or manifestation of the Kingdom of Yehovah. It’s conceivable that it was here that Adam learned specifically how Yehovah was to be worshiped and communicated with by His human creation. Some commentators have suggested that Adam was a priest unto Yehovah in the Garden. (Something to think about.)

So, in addition to His tending/dressing/tilling and guarding of the Garden, I would suggest that Adam and Eve (aka Chavah) would have engaged in worship of Yehovah accordingly.

The other thing to bear in mind here is that the Garden belonged to Yehovah, not to the man and his woman, despite their being given dominion of the rest of creation (Gen. 13:10; Eze. 28:13).

2:16—And YHVH Elohim commanded the human, saying, “From every fruit of the garden you may surely eat.

2:17—But from the tree of knowledge, good and evil, you shall not eat, for on the day you eat from it, you are doomed to die.”

The first recorded Torah commandment given to humanity with a prescribed penalty (which turns out to be the prescribed penalty for all sin), which is of course death—both physical and spiritual death.

2:18—And YHVH Elohim said, “It is not good for the human to be alone, I shall make him a sustainer beside him.” (The phrase Alter uses as “sustainer beside him” is from the Hebrew phrase “ ‘ezer kenegdo”, which denotes more accurately a counterpart that comes alongside the man to actively work with him as well as work on his behalf.)

2:19—And YHVH Elohim fashioned from the soil each beast of the field and each fowl of the heavens and brought each to the human to see what he would call it, and whatever the human called a living creature, that was its name. (Take note the importance Abba places on naming and names.)

2:20—And the human called names of all the cattle and to the fowl of the heavens and to all the beasts of the field, but for the human no sustainer beside him was found. (Note how Alter’s translation emphasizes not just the naming of the animal creation, but also the fact that Yehovah had made His animal creation to exist in pairs or groups. The “sustainer beside him” is repeated once again to emphasize the reality that the man was alone without a sustainer beside him at this stage of creation.)

2:21—And YHVH Elohim cast a deep slumber on the human, and he slept, and He took one of his ribs and closed over the flesh where it had been,

Here’s something to ponder: Why did Yehovah use a rib from the man to build the woman? Many have surmised and speculated. But the text does not provide any clear answer to this question.

2:22—and YHVH Elohim built the rib He had taken from the human into a woman and He brought her to the human. (Note that YHVH, as He did with the man, fashioned, or built the woman. Humanity was the one element of the Eternal’s creation that He personally formed and fashioned. It stands to reason that man is uber special to the Creator.

A special note as it relates to this verse: We find in The Ancient Book of Jubilees–3:8—that Eve was formed in the 2nd week of Creation history.

2:23—And the human said: “This one at last, bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, This one shall be called Woman, for from man was this one taken.”

The bringing together of the man and his woman in the Garden was viewed by our Master as the divine institution of marriage (Mat. 19:4-5; Eph. 5:28) [Reference my teaching on marriage and divorce series].

The formation of the woman comes about during and in response to the animal naming project that the Creator gave to Adam to perform. It is the first time during this creation period that Father recognized something was amiss; that “it was not good” for man to be alone. Recall that throughout the creation week, Abba recognized that His creation/re-creation was “tov,” or good. And on the sixth day of creation, after He had made man, the Creator acknowledged that His creation up to this point was “me-od tov,” or “very good.” In other words, everything that Yehovah created/re-created was as it should be; it was in its proper place and fulfilling its respective, created purpose; and this would include Adam. Indeed, order had displaced the chaos of Genesis 1:1-3.

However, we see here that Father recognized that Adam was not able to complete His divinely given purpose alone (2:17-18). The man in fact required an equal partner, or as the KJV describes or titles, a “help-meet.”

Thus, the woman was formed from the rib of the man. And when the Creator brings the woman to Adam, he responds with poetic approval. For it was provided unto him by Yehovah, from this point moving forward, a being with whom He could engage in discourse; with whom he could be at oneness with; with whom he could work with to keep and guard the Garden; with whom He could worship Yehovah in ways that he alone could not achieve (reference my post on Biblical Marriage).

2:24—Therefore does a man leave his father and his mother and cling to his wife and they become one flesh.

2:25—And the two of them were naked, the human and his woman, and they were not ashamed.(Note the fact that the text emphasizes to us that the two were both naked and neither of them were ashamed, highlights the innocence and purity that existed in humanity at this pre-fall juncture of human history. Like young children who are not conscious of their nakedness at bath time for instance, the purity and innocence of little children is the state of being that Yahoshua is calling us back to in order for us to be admitted into the Kingdom of Heaven (Mat. 18:3). I’m not talking about nakedness, but the innocence and purity that children bring to our lives. We are thusly called to Teshuva: Back to that place of innocence our first parents had in the Garden before their fall.

Yehovah declares that is was not good for Adam, the man, to be alone. And we see here at this juncture of our reading that Yehovah is an Elohim of completeness. Adam initially was not paired with a like being, as was the animal creation. It’s possible Yehovah up to this point was preparing the man for proper social interaction with his soon coming help-meet. It’s not entirely clear in the text.

The Targum Onkelos of this passage describes Adam/ the man as having or possessing a “discoursing spirit”—a character trait that yearns for interaction and social connectedness; companionship. The man no doubt observed the animal creation in terms of companionship within the framework of their respective species. The man’s discoursing spirit facilitates his naming and classifying/cataloging the animal creation. Then when the woman is brought to him, he would be prepared to have meaningful interactions with her, no doubt just as He had with the Creator in the cool of each day. I guess the only question I have to this theory is: How would Eve have been prepared for her side of that social interaction with Adam? Did she come into their marriage relationship inherently possessing that interactive ability; or would Adam have had to teach her how to interact and communicate with not only him, but Elohim. Seems this is a likely possibility. But again, we can only surmise from what we have before us in our text.

3:1—Now, the serpent was most cunning of all the beasts of the field that YHVH Elohim had made. And he said to the woman, “Thought Elohim said, you shall not eat from any tree of the garden—”

This creature, materially a serpent according to the text, has the capacity to converse with Eve. Whether or not Yah’s animal creation at the time had the capacity to converse with Yah’s human creation is not evident in this text. However, in the Ancient Book of Jubilees, there is mention that Yah’s animal creation possessed the ability to speak (Ancient Book of Jubilees 3:28). I won’t mention any more on that, other than to say that it would seem this creature was the instrument of a higher spiritual power, most likely that of hasatan; Lucifer (Joh. 8:44; 1 Joh. 3:8; Rev. 20:2). I believe this is the most important thing as it relates to the serpent as we move further along in our discussion.

We certainly see the same MO (motus operandi) of the enemy being employed here in our text, as was repeated in his tempting of our Master in the Judean wilderness—Matthew 4:3: The asking of a question that challenges the integrity and veracity of the Word(s) of Yehovah. Since Yehovah had fashioned just the two-humans, unlike the form the tempter took to test our Master in the Judean wilderness–he (hasatan) had few options to manifest himself as, which no doubt led to his choosing to use the most cunning—the most subtle, in the Hebrew “ ‘aruwm”—of Yah’s creatures to effect the deception.

Given that Yehovah is all knowing, He would have known this would or was going to happen. He in fact allowed it to happen; the using of a member of His animal creation to effect the transgression.

The crafty serpent directly approached Chavah as opposed to Adam. Why? Most likely due to the woman’s diminished sophistication. For all we know, the serpent may have previously attempted to sway the man but was unsuccessful. We just don’t know, other than the fact that he successfully beguiled the woman. (As a dear friend of mine in the Faith is so fond of saying, “we don’t know what we don’t know.”)

The serpent brings into question the Creator’s righteousness—The Creator’s intent—The Creator’s integrity. Isn’t that how the enemy works even today in each of our lives? Does he not set out to convince us that that which we desire for ourselves that is contrary to Yehovah’s will for us is okay for us to have because in the end, Yehovah is going to give us a free pass into the Kingdom, right? He seeks to convince us that we deserve that thing we lust for; the evil behaviors and baggage we cling to; the evil thoughts and feelings we keep going back to; the bad relationships and enterprises that we seek to enter into and maintain and that beset us; that if we are to be truly happy in this life, we must rely on ourselves and have those contrary things that prop up our depraved lives. For life in Messiah, according to the voice of the enemy, is truly not a happy one. And so, the enemy targets those weak points in each of us that cause us to be susceptible to his and his seeds’ wiles—their tactics—their methodia. That’s why Shaul taught his Ephesian readers to put on the whole of Yehovah’s armor so that we may effectively ward off the attacks of the enemy (Eph. 6:10).

3:2—And the woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the garden’s trees we may eat, (Alter’s translation gives a sense of a statement being put forth by the serpent to the woman that the woman effectively cuts off in mid-sentence. It’s as if the woman wanted to correct the serpent right at the start of the questioning, as if she was correcting the serpent’s understanding of the situation. This would give credence to her understanding of Yehovah’s commandment surrounding that tree. Or does it?)

3:3—But from the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden Elohim has said, ‘You shall not eat from it and you shall die.’” (Many commentators have gone to great lengths to point out that the woman added to Yah’s commandment, which we know from Torah, is a no-no in and of itself. If this is indeed the case, the woman was already dead, as she would be proved wrong by the serpent in short order.)

Could Chavah (aka Eve) have had a diminished understanding of the prohibition surrounding the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; that there may have been some altered understanding, such that she believed the tree and its fruit were deleterious (even physically poisonous) to the wellbeing of the couple? Remember that she described the prohibition or commandment in such a global sense, that they weren’t even able to “touch the tree lest they die.” Such a thing does not change the fact that the couple was prohibited from eating of the fruit of that tree in the first place. But the text does lend to a sense that Eve possessed a diminished understanding of the tree and its prohibition; or at the very least, since Adam had been around longer than she, he knew more than her about the tree and prohibition surrounding it.

And so, in my mind, it stands to reason that the serpent demonstrated to her that the tree was physically safe for her to partake of its fruit. And we can see how a diminished understanding to the prohibition could certainly lead to her transgressing the command, albeit, more accurately, she being deceived. Which by extension offers us the lesson that our understanding of Yehovah’s instructions in righteousness might be lacking in some areas and places in our respective walks. But we are still responsible for adhering to that which we know to be true; to stay the course until such time we are informed of Yehovah otherwise.

3:4—And the serpent said to the woman, “You shall not be doomed to die.

Seems to me that Eve possessed some degree of an understanding of what it would mean for them—or any human for that matter—to die.

It seems rational to conclude that in order for the couple to understand the implications of transgressing the commandment not to eat of the forbidden tree, they would surely have to understand what it meant to die. So, at some point, it would seem that the couple was taught this concept of death and dying, either by Yehovah Himself or a messenger—an angel maybe. Knowing the consequences of transgressing this commandment would certainly put to the test the couple’s hearts and their loyalty to their Creator. And for the couple to risk everything they possessed by transgressing the Almighty’s commandment regarding the Tree, we will see here in the next in a couple verses that Eve (and possibly Adam) developed a level of trust in the serpent. It’s quite conceivable, at least to me, that this creature was a regular guest or visitor of the Garden. The serpent no doubt had studied and gained an understanding of its target–what drove them; what inspired them; what they knew and what they did not know. I would venture to even submit that the creature had regular conversations with the couple leading up to this point in the story. Indeed, there’s a lot of information we don’t have here. And for all we know, this leaving certain bits of information out of the text was intentional on the part of our Elohim.

3:5—For Elohim knows that on the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will become as gods knowing good and evil.” (Who are these gods the serpent is referring to here? Is it possible that these so-called gods were elohim or angels that the couple routinely saw transiting about the Garden from time-to-time? If indeed the Garden was an extension of the Kingdom of Elohim, the transiting of these beings were likely a source of great curiosity for Eve. So, it stands to reason that Eve understood what the serpent was trying to sell to her by virtue of her knowing what gods were. And when the opportunity was put forth to her to be like them simply by taking of the forbidden fruit, it was no doubt a done deal in her heart and mind.)

The enemy assures his victim that she and her husband would not be punished as the Creator had warned—the serpent basically calling the Creator a bold-faced liar—and more so, the serpent entices the woman by extolling the benefits they as a couple would enjoy if they partook of the forbidden fruit; such that their eyes would be opened and they would be like the elohim or the gods (conceivably the angels the couple no doubt became used to seeing during their time in the Garden).

3:6—And the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and that it was lust to the eyes (desirable) and the tree was lovely to look at, and she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave to her man, and he ate.

Yah did not, as the serpent erroneously put forth to Eve, set out to keep the so-called knowledge of the gods (I.e., elohim) from the couple. Obviously, knowing what we know of the character of our Creator, this illusive knowledge would come to the couple and their descendants in due time as Yah saw fit to do so. But at this juncture of human history, it was not Yah’s will for that information to be had by the couple, nor was it hasatan’s to give.

Interestingly, it was the belief and warped position of certain first-century Jewish Gnostic sects, that Eve was the heroine of humanity, and thus she was to be worshiped as a goddess of sorts. For Eve, according to these gnostics, was able to see through the Creator’s deceptive ways with the serpent’s help (I.e., Yehovah sought to withhold the knowledge of the universe from His human creation out of jealousy and fear). These contended that such knowledge rightfully belonged to humanity. This evil doctrine was obviously a nascent—an early form of “humanism” (I.e., the worship and exaltation of humanity).

The Ancient Book of Jubilees’ accounting of the beguiling of Eve is somewhat restrictive, focused on Eve as the reason for the season. The serpent approached her and tricked or beguiled her into transgressing Yah’s instruction. She ate and saw she was naked, covered her nakedness, and she afterwards gives Adam the forbidden fruit, which he ultimately eats, realizes he’s naked, sews himself an apron of fig leaves and covers his nakedness (3:21-24).

3:7—And the eyes of the two were opened, and they knew they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves and made themselves loincloths. (Question: Did the fruit cause some biological reaction within the couple to cause their eyes to be opened to the fact that they were naked and that they were in a heap of trouble? Some contend this to be the case, while others like me are not so sure. The text does not in any way provide an answer to this probing question.)

Here’s something to ponder: Was this Garden experiment more a test for Eve or for Adam? Because obviously Eve was not as sophisticated as Adam. She was in what I would describe a vulnerable state. She was prime for being deceived; beguiled. That being the case, it could be said that she ended up being a steppingstone by which Adam would transgress the commandment of Yehovah. Hasatan will use the very people in our lives to cause us to fall; to slip up. From time-to-time we may find ourselves in a vulnerable position where the people we know and love the most are used by the enemy to trip us up and lead us to yield to a temptation and transgress Abba’s instructions in righteousness. Thus, I believe the target in this case was Adam, more than Eve. It was Adam that transgressed Yehovah’s commandment, whereas Eve was deceived (1 Tim. 2:13-14).

I would think it is something to consider the relationships we have in our lives and what significance we place in those relationships in comparison to our relationship with Yehovah. It was Master who told His followers that if they weren’t willing or able to give up competing relationships in their lives (priority-wise) to follow Him, then they would be unfit to be His disciples (Luk. 14:26).

Now, Master wasn’t saying to abandon spousal and family relationships. We cannot walk away from our marriages or close families because we’ve entered into a covenant relationship with the Almighty, unless we are faced with extreme situations that threaten our peace and our walk with Messiah (1 Cor. 7:15). Father still holds us responsible for fulfilling our family obligations. And this is not just fulfilling those obligations begrudgingly. We must fulfill those obligations with sincere loving kindness (Col. 3:19; Tit. 2:4). We have to learn to biblically prioritize how we walk out those relationships in association with our relationship with Yah. You see, we have a problem when we put human relationships ahead of our relationship with Father and our Master, whereby those human relationship become priority in our lives. We’re required to give up everything for Yehovah and our Master Yeshua, while at the same time loving and taking care of our families. If we are walking in a biblically-based marriage or family relationship, our covenant relationship with Yehovah will have us die to self, such that we seek to love and serve Yehovah first and foremost, and then also seek to love and serve our family members in accordance with Yah’s Ways. We cannot allow, however, our family members to dictate to us how we serve, worship, and obey our Elohim.

This story shows us that Adam elected to put His woman before Yehovah. His doing so led to dire results, not just for Adam and Eve, but also for the whole of humanity. We men must learn from Adam’s transgression and listen to and obey Yehovah. None of this is to say that we shouldn’t serve our spouses or parents or whoever as is our responsibility as Godly-husbands and Children of Yah. But when a loved one demands we not do something Yehovah has directed us to do, we must learn to lovingly handle that situation and do that which we’ve been instructed to do by the Eternal.

3:8—And they heard the sound of YHVH Elohim walking about in the garden in the evening breeze, and the human and his woman hid from YHVH Elohim in the midst of the trees of the garden.

3:9—And YHVH Elohim called to the human and said to him, “Where are you?”

3:10—And he said, “I heard Your sound in the garden and I was afraid, for I was naked, and I hid.” (Note here that the man did not confess nor ask for immediate forgiveness of his transgression. He instead framed a convoluted admission that there existed a problem: that he was afraid being found by the Creator without clothing—being found naked.)

3:11—From the tree I commanded you not to eat have you eaten?”

3:12—And the human said, “The woman whom you gave by me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” (Note here the blame game is learned and played. Was this an effect of the forbidden fruit?)

The pair gave the Creator an evasive confession of their transgression. There was no true repentance of their transgression. Instead, when the Eternal questions the pair for purposes of fully unpacking the details of their transgression, the evasive confession turns into a blame-game.

The man blames Yehovah—”the woman you gave me…” (3:12). Interestingly, Adam was willing to save his own neck by throwing his beloved under the proverbial bus: She’s the one who caused me to violate your commandment. We see clearly spelled out here that Adam was not inclined to come to the defense of his woman, by taking responsibility for his role in the transgression.

3:13—And YHVH Elohim said to the woman, “What is this you have done? And the woman said, “The serpent beguiled me and I ate.”

Conversely, the woman turns and blames the serpent who apparently was too arrogant or foolish to flee the scene before the Poh Poh arrived.

The physical creature that was the serpent was consigned to a perpetually loathsome state on the earth; no doubt a significant reduction from the elevated original state of being, to a state of crawling/slithering about on the ground and poetically, eating the dust of the earth upon which it moved. The spiritual entity that fueled the physical serpent to perpetrate the deed against Eve would ultimately lose his exalted and powerful state and die like humans, through the agency of the seed of the very subject of his assault—the seed of the woman that would bruise its head (cf. Psa. 82:7).

3:15—Enmity will I set between you and the woman, between your seed and hers. He will boot your head and you will bite his heel.”

There would arise a particularly nasty war between the enemy (hasatan) and the woman. No doubt women throughout the whole of human history have had to especially endure perpetual tribulation at the hands of men (some of whom actually use this passage and text to justify their heinous and evil treatment of women). And let me also include children in this equation—the woman’s seed—are the two classes of humanity that are most pursued, attacked and assaulted and tribulated against by the serpent (the nachash) and his seed (both the spiritual and human). The penultimate seed in this prophecy is of course Yahoshua Messiah and those who would, through Mashiyach, become sons of the Most High (reference the dragon being enraged in the end times and setting out to destroy the woman and her seed—Revelation 12:17).

The enemy, ignorant of the precise details of the Eternal’s Plan for Salvation, Redemption and Restoration, would bruise—afflict Mashiyach’s physical body (at the execution stake), but ultimately the seed of the woman (haMashiyach) prevails/conquers death and the grave by the agency of the Creator’s Rauch HaKodesh—that same powerful agency that brought order out of chaos and re-created the earth and all therein. And once and for all the seed of the woman will defeat the enemy and humanity will be restored to the state and purpose in which it was originally created for (Rev. 20:10)! Praise Yah!

3:16—To the woman He said, “I will terribly sharpen your birth pangs, in pain shall you bear children. And for your man shall be your longing, and he shall rule over you.”

This signaled an end to the man’s pleasurable tilling and tending duties in the Garden, and the beginning of a laborious, arduous, and even painful life of turmoil; the man having to battle against thorns and thistles in order to grow and gather enough food to sustain him and his family. And this penalty would persist until the time when man would return to that which he was made—the ground.

At that time, Adam and Eve began the moderately slow, be certain process of dying. Interestingly, the Ancient Book of Jubilees gives an interesting perspective on this. The writer notes that 1,000-years is as a day to Yehovah and the court of heaven, and vice versa. Well, turns out that Adam died at the age of 930, just 70-years shy of 1,000-years, or rather, a day in Yehovah’s eyes (Jubilees 4:29-30; Gen. 5:5). And so, it turns out that Yehovah was right on the money when He described the couple’s death as being in the day they partook of the forbidden fruit that they would surely die (2:17). They were, thereafter, denied access to the Tree of Life, which if they had access, would have resulted in a whole host of issues and concerns that extend beyond the confines of our discussion here today.

It is here, however, that we have before us, a foretaste of Yehovah’s saving grace: The promise of the Mashiyach that would restore all of creation to its original state, with humankind being restored to the “cool of the day fellowship and relationship with the Creator of the Universe.”

The one who was deceived and who introduced sin and death to the human equation, would ultimately bring forth reconciliation and whole life to humanity (1 Tim. 2:15).

3:17—And to the human He said, “Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree that I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat from it,’ cursed be the soil for your sake, with pangs shall you eat from it all the days of your life.

3:18—Thorn and thistle shall it sprout for you and you shall eat the plants of the  field. (Note here that Abba was effectively establishing a vegan diet to humanity until such time that He would reverse His prohibition on the consumption of meat (Gen. 9:3). It is quite conceivable that Abba needed the population of clean animals that could be consumed as food by His human creation to multiply to adequate levels before giving the couple and their descendants the go ahead to start eating meat. Just a thought.)

3:19—By the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread till you return to the soil, for from there were you taken, for dust you are and to dust shall you return.” (Note: a sobering reminder of whence we all come. A stark contrast to the translated body we will receive when our Master returns and establishes His Millennial Kingdom here on earth. We will be like Him (Rom. 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18; Phi. 3:21; Col. 3:4; 1 Joh. 3:2)

3:20—And the human called his woman’s name Eve, for she was the mother of all that lives.

Thus, as she would ultimately be the mother of the life-giver, Yahoshua Messiah, these would be those who would become sons of Yehovah and enter into life everlasting.

3:21—And YHVH Elohim made skin coats for the human and his woman, and He clothed them.

3:22—And YHVH Elohim said, “Now that the human has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he may reach out and take as well from the tree of life and live forever.” (Note here the fascination Father had with his human creation’s capacity to imagine and do. There was genuine concern that the couple would develop enough sophistication to know they had to partake of the Tree of Life to stave off death. The thought of humanity living forever in their depraved state is the epitome of the return of chaos to the world.)

3:23—And YHVH Elohim sent him from the garden of Eden to till the soil from which he had been taken.

3:24—And He drove out the human and set up east of the garden of Eden the cherubim and the flame of the whirling sword to guard the way to the tree of life. (Note: Yehovah employed one of His Cherubim to do the job that Adam failed to do, which was to guard the Garden.)

These being the same species of creatures that guard Yehovah’s heavenly throne (Eze. 10).

Overview Thoughts and Reflections

One of the central themes of this Torah Reading has to do with “willing dependence.” Independence is a by-product of the human heart: The earnest desire to be independent of Yehovah; willing and able to make its own decisions and its own way. This is common to the sinful mind, heart and soul. The pursuit of independence by Yehovah’s human creation flies contrary to the purpose by which Yehovah created us. We cannot fulfill our original purpose as imagers of Yehovah in the earth if we are bent upon being independent.

It is a common practice for us to train our children, for instance, to become independent of us, their parents, so that they may survive and make a way for themselves in the world and not be dependent upon us as their providers and sustainers. This is indeed a Hebraic concept that is endorsed by Yehovah:

The writer of Proverbs counseled that one train up their children in the way they should go so that when they become adults, they will not depart from that way (Pro. 22:6).

The Hebrew way of training up one’s child is holistic in nature: You train the child in the family trade/business/skills/etc. (e.g., the apostle Shaul was trained in his family’s trade of making goat-hair tents-Act. 18:1-3) in association with daily training in Torah and the ways of the True Faith once delivered. What this holistic approach to training children would ultimately lead to is a child that would grow up being able to engage in a career that would provide income for his/her family, all the while cognizant that one’s sustenance and increase (I.e., income) comes only from the one who grants him/her the strength/power to make wealth (Deu. 8:18).

We see manifested in Yehovah’s punishment and edicts handed down to the fallen couple, His mercy and His righteous judgment. As it related to Yah’s righteous judgment, Yah sentenced the man and his descendants to work for their sustenance—I.e., by the sweat of his brow would man physically subsist/live—until they died. The mercy of Yah is manifested in His (1) not outright killing the couple for their transgression; (2) providing a means by which they could sustain themselves outside the garden; and (3) a way back to the relationship the couple enjoyed in the Garden with the Creator, which would ultimately be accomplished through the personal ministry of Y’shua HaMashiyach.

In each of these manifestations of Yehovah’s mercy, and even in his righteous judgment, Yah would provide Adam and his descendants the perpetual reminder that their lives are always dependent upon Him. Humanity in and of itself is incapable of sustaining itself (Psa. 121:2).

Idolatry at its core seeks to disassociate humanity from its connection—its dependent relationship with the Creator, and redirect that dependency and repurpose that relationship with something or someone else. In the case of Adam and Eve, that dependency would be upon themselves—being wise and knowledgeable as the gods—the demigods (I.e., elohim). The relationship, by necessity, would also have to change with the change in dependency. The relationship would be one that would no longer be one of a Father and His Son, but one of equal beings; equal partners; independent partners if you will. Worship would transition from that of the Creator of the Universe to that of humanity; worship of self; to that of worship of knowledge; to that of worship of other entities.

The other problem associated with the couple’s transgression was the introduction of and acceptance of the falsehood that Yehovah is a liar; that He is deceptive; that He does not have the best interest of His human creation at heart. And this is part and parcel of the great lie that leads to humanism and paganism: The belief that Yehovah is holding something back from us and that that which He has declared will not come to pass. (Recall that we talked about this in our post “Let God be True and Every Man a Liar—A Messianic Discussion of Romans 3:3-4—this underlying belief in sinful man that Yah is not faithful nor is He Just and Righteous in His Ways.) This my friends is part and parcel of the very core of idolatry that so many have fallen for over the centuries. And this is why, in great part, we have denominationalism: The belief that man knows better than Yehovah, and thus man determines how He will worship the Eternal and how our relationship with the Almighty will look.

Thus, Adam became humanity’s representative in the earth. Interestingly, responsibility for sin in the world rests at the feet of Adam. Shaul informed the Roman Messianics that death came to humanity through the one man Adam, but life potentially comes to humanity through the one man Y’shua Messiah (Rom. 5:12-21). Therefore, it is Adam who ultimately holds responsibility for humanity’s depravity and desperate need for a savior.

Now, why was Eve not given the dubious distinction of being the progenitor of the human condition? I see it in light of Shaul’s clarity of Chavah (aka Eve) being deceived (aka, having been beguiled) by the serpent’s craftiness. I likened this perspective to the scenario whereby many seniors today fall victim to certain scams and financial schemes and are bilked of their life’s savings. Younger, more savvy individuals do not fall for these scammers’ schemes. Generally, the seniors that fall for such schemes aren’t sophisticated or knowledgeable enough of certain false business practices to ward off such criminals. So, these are prime for being beguiled or deceived by these crafty scammers. Conversely, the younger, more sophisticated population are aware of the risks associated with the scammers’ proposals and will generally resist the temptation to partake in their schemes. However, there are, from time-to-time, those of the more sophisticated lot who, for reasons usually associated with greed, will hedge their bets and go in with the scammers.

Now, we know that Adam was created first, then later came Eve. Shaul stated that Eve was deceived, not Adam (1 Tim. 2:14). It would seem safe to conclude that Adam was at least at a journeyman’s level of competency as it relates to understanding the full extent of Yehovah’s commandment regarding the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, while Eve could be described as being at an apprentice-level of competency. Thus, the fullest responsibility for the transgression, or at the very least, knowing better, falls to Adam. Again, Eve fell victim to the serpent’s craftiness. Adam, on the other hand, was not deceived (2 Cor. 11:3). He was just stupid. Yehovah rightly accused and convicted Adam for listening to his woman over that of the Words of Yehovah, His Creator (3:17).

The deception of Eve consisted of a small handful of elements: seeing that the forbidden fruit was actually good to eat; the forbidden fruit was appealing to the senses; and the forbidden fruit would ultimately make her as wise as the gods or elohim.

Adam’s transgression comes on the heel of Eve offering the forbidden fruit to him and then him eating that fruit. Turns out that Adam was present (”imah”) at the time the serpent was spinning his deceptive trap at Eve (3:6). Yet, Adam apparently remained silent, nor did he fulfill his Yah-given duty of guarding the Garden—maybe guarding the Garden from intruders like the serpent here. Ultimately, Adam capitulated and took of the forbidden fruit. Whether or not the man put up any resistance to any of this is not at all mentioned in the text.  But suffice to say, something within him (I.e., his heart) was not circumcised enough to resist his woman’s agenda that he eat of the fruit, or to obey Yehovah over the instructions of his woman.

Yehovah no doubt knew what had transpired between the serpent and the first-couple. Yet Yehovah came searching for the couple, no doubt as He customarily did, in as the text describes, the cool of the day (3:8). Clearly, this act on the part of our Elohim has so many facets and tremendous spiritual implications associated with it. The fact that Yehovah came in search of the couple, not in an aggressive, but rather in a loving manner speaks volumes to the love that Yehovah has for His human creation. Certainly, the Creator could have spoken and put an end to humanity the moment the couple partook of the forbidden fruit, but He didn’t. Instead, the Eternal came with opportunity in hand. He came and offered the couple an opportunity to explain what, why and how. In essence, the Almighty came to the fallen couple with the opportunity for redemption.

Soon thereafter, Yehovah slays an innocent animal and clothes the couple with suitable attire to cover their nakedness. This act, in and of itself, of course, speaks untold volumes in what I would describe as a prophetic shadow-picture of the sacrifice that our Master Yahoshua HaMashiyach would eventually make on behalf of fallen humanity; whose sacrifice—whose blood—would cleanse us from all unrighteousness, covering us so that we would not face the ultimate penalty for sin which is death (1 Joh. 1:9; Rom. 6:23). Despite the first Adam’s disobedience resulting in the depraved human condition, the last Adam’s obedience results in redemption and salvation and restoration for humanity (Rom. 5:19). And then in the Eternal’s passing of judgment upon each party of the crime, He prophecizes that although the woman being deceived launched this whole human depravity thing, humanity’s salvation would come via a woman’s conceiving/conception of Mashiyach (3:15). That same Mashiyach in addition to restoring humanity to its proper, original place of “me-od tov,” His ministry will destroy the serpent, the serpent’s seed and the serpents anti-Elohim agenda once and for all. Praise Yah!

The transgression in the Garden by the first couple resulted in a perpetual disruption of two levels of relationships: (1) The relationship humans would have with the Creator of the Universe; and (2) the relationship men would have with their wives. Indeed, with the fall, the chaos that existed at the start of creation, returned with a vengeance. And just like we saw played out in the creation overview of chapter one, only Yehovah can return order to these elements of chaos.

Sin is at the heart of the relational chaos that ensued when the first couple partook of the forbidden fruit. The beautiful, intimate relationship the first couple enjoyed with Yehovah—and we can only speculate as to the depths and heights that relationship took during the couple’s time in the Garden, was terminated. Sin would always get in the way and even inhibit such a relationship in the future. Because the heart of man is deceptive and desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9), Yehovah cannot and will not have that degree of relationship with human beings. It is only through the personal ministry of Yahoshua HaMashiyach that that level of relationship is at all possible.

Also, the intimate, pure and righteous relationship the man and the woman enjoyed as a married couple was also perpetually damaged. Even in the seemingly best, most healthy marriages, there always exists some degree of strife. Issues of control and domination are always being played out and combated in one way or another. The man and the woman, in order to enjoy that original marriage oneness, must overcome their selves; they must in effect die to self, whereby they are willing to serve Yehovah first and foremost, and then serve their mate without concern for themselves. That dying to self comes only through Yehovah’s Ruach HaKodesh operating in each of us.

In Mashiyach we become new creations and are privileged to walk in the newness of life (Rom. 6:4; 2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15). Thus, in Mashiyach, selfish, controlling and fearful agendas are removed and a sold-out couple in Mashiyach can worship Yehovah as one, and in a manner that as individuals, they could never achieve. Their individual and combined love for Yehovah and for one another will be beyond that of human understanding (Eph. 3:19).