Genesis Post 15 - More Ponderings on Cain (Chapter 4)

My last post examined the story of Cain and Abel. There are a few more details to the story that I want to ponder.

So where did Cain get his wife? Aliens?

The idea of incest is so off-putting to our culture today, we don't like to think about it.  Many have come up with alternatives to Cain marrying his sister, including the idea of aliens.  Or maybe you have heard about Lilith?

One theory is that Lilith was Adam's first wife, but she refused to submit to him.  According to the myth, she then left him and went on to have children by the devil, one of whom became Cain's wife.  But this is complete folklore, and cannot be backed up by the scriptures at all.  Lilith is a dark figure in mythology, and a hero of radical feminists and pagan goddess worshipers alike.  'Nuff said.

What do the scriptures say?

We were told in Genesis 3:20,
And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

Not some living... all living.  Back then, the genetic line was still pure, so there would be nothing wrong with marrying a sister.  Even Abraham married his half-sister, Sarah.  The practice was not prohibited until the Moses Covenant was given at Sinai.  I imagine that by then, significant genetic mutations had worked their way into human DNA.

Adam and Chava (Eve) had been commanded to go forth and fill the earth, and they were doing just that.  Jewish tradition says that they had 33 sons and 23 daughters.  Again, this is not scriptural.  Genesis 5:4 simply tells us that Adam had sons and daughters.  We don't know how many, nor do we know Chava's age when she went through menopause.  (600?  700?  How does that work when one lives to the ripe old age of 900 years?)

The second half of Genesis 4 gives us details about Cain and his descendants.  Cain's first child was named Enoch, and eventually this became the name of the city that Cain built when his wandering days were over (as mentioned in my previous post).

Scripture then records the names of Cain's son, grandson, great-grandson, great-great grandson, and then it pauses to elaborate on Cain's great-great-great grandson, Lamech, and his family.

Lamech, we are told in verse 19, had two wives. This is the first instance of polygamy recorded in the scriptures. The area was full of people, because Cain had built a city.

Lamech's wives names were Adah, and Zillah.  The meanings of their names are interesting.  Adah means ornament and Zillah means shade or shadow.  Did the second wife live in the shadow of the beautiful first wife?  It brings to my mind two wives - sisters married to the same man - who show up later in Genesis.

The people of Cain's city were quite accomplished.  His descendants invented metal tools and weapons, along with lovely musical instruments.  Today when we think of the iron age, the centuries of 1200-600 BC come to mind.  But here we see an ancient iron age, even before the flood.




The world took a while to catch up to this, because all was lost in the flood. Man had been advancing in the arts, science, and technology, but the flood caused a major setback to it all.  Perhaps if the flood hadn't taken place, there would have been computers and cell phones in the time of Yeshua.

I can't really figure out what is going in in verses 23 and 24. Obviously, Lamech had killed somebody who hurt him, and it seems that he then made up his own curse (like God did for anyone hurting Cain).   However, Lamech made his curse 70×7 if anybody killed him.  Was he suffering from a case of one-upmanship over his great-great-great grandfather?  There is no mention of God being involved in Lamech's oath.

Genesis wraps up with Adam and Chava bearing a son named Seth as a replacement for Abel.  Seth then had a son, and we are told that at this time, men began calling on the name of the LORD.

This idea of calling on the name of the LORD:  there are two basic viewpoints on this; one good, and one bad.

We are told in other places of scripture that we are to call on the name of the LORD.  This is a very good thing to do, if we are seeking after Him with our whole heart.

But there is evidence that people began to call on the name of the LORD in a negative way, profaning His name.  Jewish interpretation of this verse says that men began to profane the name of the LORD, although the word profane is actually not in the original Hebrew.

The Jews teach that this antediluvian (fancy talk for pre-flood) iron age was a time of statues and idolatry. That’s why they say that the name of the LORD was profaned. And scripture does indeed continue with an account of the increase of wickedness prior to the flood.

Even today, the Jews do not pronounce or write the YHVH, the name of the LORD.  The most common title for God that I hear from Jewish people today is HaShem, which literally means The Name.  They also eliminate the vowel when they write out the word God or Lord as a sign of reverence.  Perhaps you've seen this - L-rd or G-d.  The practice goes back to this verse in Genesis.

So how do we handle this contrast as believers? Let’s do both. Let us call on the name of the LORD. And let us never, ever profane the name of the LORD.

For the next post, click here.

Genesis Post 14 - Cain and Abel (Chapter 4)

We now move on to chapter 4, and the story of mankind continues. Chava gave birth to her first baby. Genesis 3:16 said that in childbirth she would have pain, and indeed, in pain she had Cain.  (Why does the song The Rain in Spain come to mind here??)

Genesis 4:1 is loaded with goodies that we don't see in the English, only the Hebrew.

The first thing that I noticed is that the covenant word ET is used three times! ET - spelled aleph tav - is the very signature of the Messiah, which I have addressed previously here.

My version reads thusly:

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.”

The meaning of the Hebrew translates something like this: I have acquired a man with YHVH, or I have acquired a man - YHVH.

Cain means acquire. Chava understood the LORD's promise and believed that her firstborn was the fulfillment of the that promise back of Genesis 3:15. She thought that Cain was the promised seed, the redeemer, the Messiah. She knew that the promised redeemer would be both human and divine, and therefore believed that she received the child with the LORD. She had no reason to believe that YHVH's story would be thousands of years in the unfolding. She simply believed that it was time for it to happen, just as promised.

In fact, Chava was so sure that Cain was the Messiah, that she named her next son Abel, which means vanity. In other words, the first one is acquired with God, but the next one is vanity. Talk about "mom always liked you best"...

Abel also means temporary, as in his life would be short.

We know the story. Sadly, Chava would soon find out that Cain is not the God-man, the promised Messiah.

The kids grew up. Adam taught them about the LORD. And then one day, scripture tells us that they made an offering to the LORD.

These two sons offered two different sacrifices, and we see two different responses by God for these offerings.

And then we have a murder.

Abel was a shepherd. Cain was a farmer and grew vegetables. He was working the cursed ground that was filled with thorns. He brought in an offering from that cursed ground, and he had worked very hard to provide that offering. But Abel brought a firstborn lamb from his flock.

Let me pause for a moment and ponder why Abel was even a shepherd in the first place. Humans did not become meat eaters until after the flood. Yes, the sheep provided fleece for clothing. But I also believe that Abel was raising sheep for the purpose of sacrifice to the LORD. A reminder of the necessity of bloodshed for atonement.

The LORD accepted Abel's offering. The Hebrew means that he gazed upon or regarded it. Cain's offering was rejected - the LORD did not gaze upon or regard his offering of grain that he worked so hard to provide. 

At face value, this doesn't seem very fair. But there is an underlying truth here. Our own works don't save us. It is the blood of the firstborn Lamb that provides our atonement, or covering. We saw that same truth depicted when Adam and Chava tried to cover themselves with fig leaves, but the LORD intervened and covered them instead with animal skins.

When Cain's offering was rejected, the Hebrew tells us that Cain's face glowed with anger. He was red-faced mad, and his countenance fell. God asked, “why are you so upset? If you do the right thing, you’ll be fine."

Cain most likely knew that his offering was wrong. Adam had probably taught him the proper way to worship YHVH. He should have obtained a proper offering from Abel. He knew what was right, and did not do it.

Then the LORD told Cain, sin is crouching at your door, and desires to rule over you (the same word given to Chava in Genesis 3:16, when her desire would be to rule over her husband) but you must master it (rule over it), meaning that effort must be made on Cain's part.

Again, we see choice offered to man in the Bible. This is the first choice that is demonstrated after the tree fiasco in the garden. The whole Bible is about choices. You are not a robot, you have a choice.

The Holy Spirit empowers us to make right choices. You can’t say, God made me do it, or the devil made me do it. In the end, you’re responsible, and you did it.

What about this idea of sin ruling over us? We cannot serve two masters. Either we allow sin to rule over our lives or we allow the Holy Spirit to rule over our lives and our sin nature. And in doing so, we develop the fruit of the Spirit... love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It is a lifelong process.

Cain did not heed the warning to master his sin. Verse 8 says that Cain talked with Abel his brother, and then they went out to the fields, where Cain murdered his brother. His sin had mastered him. The Hebrew suggests that Cain coaxed Abel out to the field for the very purpose of murder.

So the Lord came to Cain and said, "Where is your brother?" Now we have the first lie in scripture… "I don’t know. Am I my brother's keeper?"

Verses 10 and 11 continue: 

And He (the LORD) said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

What does blood crying out from the ground mean? I believe it is figurative; a cry for justice, just like the souls under the altar in Revelation 6:9 (I don't believe the vision is depicting actual beheaded people under a literal altar in heaven).

Cain becomes the first cursed man. Remember, Adam and Chava themselves were not cursed in the garden, but the snake and the ground were cursed. And now Cain was cursed from the very ground that received Abel's blood from Cain's own hand.

The LORD continued with Cain's punishment, telling him that the ground would no longer produce food for him; he was to become a wandering vagabond on the earth.

God rejected Cain's offering, now the ground would reject Cain's work. Cain was told he would be a wanderer. Farmers do not wander.

Cain, who just had murdered his brother, then had the audacity to complain to the LORD that his punishment was too severe!

So God put a mark on Cain so that nobody would kill him. So why didn’t God kill Cain? An eye for an eye?

We have here an early picture of God‘s mercy. If Cain received God's grace and mercy, so can you.

Whatever mark God gave to Cain, it worked because Cain lived. God even promised a seven-fold vengeance to anyone who would kill Cain.

Someday in the near future, believers on earth during God's wrath will also be marked, and they will live, according to Revelation 7.

Cain was sent to the east, to Nod, which means wandering. But then he built the city, and named it after his son Enoch. Enoch means dedicated. Enoch's sons started naming their own sons with a reference to God. They end in EL, a shortened version of Elohim.

It seems that Cain stopped wandering when he became dedicated to the LORD, and he build a city. The curse was broken. He taught his children about God.

The same basic story will be eventually played out later on with Joseph and his brothers, and with the nation of Israel as well.

Cain was detached from his land, and was sent away but protected. Joseph was detached from his land and sent away and preserved as well. In 70 A.D., Israel was detached from her land and sent away. Israel was preserved even though the world continually tried to kill them.  And today, the people of Israel are back in their land.

No one has been able to wipe out Israel, because they have the mark on God on them as well.

This whole account between those early brothers depicts Abel as a type of Messiah. He was a shepherd, hated by his brother. He did not die a natural death, but was killed by his brother. And Abel's blood was innocent in the circumstance in which it was spilled. Sound familiar?

Hebrews 12:24 refers back to Genesis when describing the blood of Yeshua and the better covenant:
to Yeshua the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Genesis is filled with Bible truth in seed form! It's so awesome to watch these seeds of truth grow and develop throughout the scriptures.

Stay tuned!  You can click here for the next post.

Genesis Post 13 - Kicked Out... to a Life with Thorns (Chapter 3)

We are at the point now where sin and death has entered the world.  Chapter 3 wraps up with Adam's punishment.

Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:

“Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”

And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.  (Covered in my previous post, Naked! regarding blood atonement/covering.  Pun intended.)

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Adam and his wife were booted from Paradise.

They were driven out of the eastern entrance, because that is where the angelic guards were set up, to keep them from re-entering the garden.  The LORD in His mercy was actually protecting Adam and Chava from eating the tree of life, so that they would not live forever in a fallen state, disconnected from Him.  Something had to be done to restore that relationship before that could happen.

So eastward they went, to scrounge a living from the thorny ground.  Remember, Adam himself was not cursed, but the ground was.  Scripture often gives pictures of blessings and curses, and quite often that concept is tied to the directions of east and west.  I have written about this before.  You can click here if you feel like a bunny trail, but suffice it to say that in Yeshua, our sins are as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:2, which was ironically a part of my Bible reading for today).

The one thing that keeps jumping out at me in this section is the thorns.  I keep a garden, although not a very good one.  I am not very adept at keeping out the weeds and the thorns.  Thanks, Adam.  I don't have to plant the weeds and thorns, they just show up on their own.  But I do notice that good things, like tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and okra (yes, okra is good), do NOT show up on their own... they must be cultivated.  It is hard work!

What a picture of good and evil.  Evil is just there, lurking.  It shows up on its own, and we have to root it out.  Conversely, we need to intentionally sow and nurture the good and righteous things.    

Psalm 1 is a good illustration of this truth:

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

(standing, walking, and sitting come naturally, but fighting off the yucky stuff requires action)
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.

(See the intentionality here?)

He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Trees by rivers have deep roots

In other words, stay connected to the LORD of the universe!  Make time for Him.  Talk to Him, read His word, and meditate on those words.

It is interesting to note that things like chaff, thorns, and thistles show up frequently in scripture.  They are a picture of fallen creation.  

When the LORD appeared to Moses, He appeared in what our Bibles tell us is a burning bush.  But what most translations don't mention is that it is actually a burning thorn bush.  Thorns are a picture of sin and decay and fallen man.  God is showing up as an all-consuming fire, and yet, thorny and sinful man is not consumed.

There's the gospel again!  God making a way so that we are not destroyed.

It is no coincidence that Yeshua was arrayed with a crown of thorns at His crucifixion. Through His death and resurrection, He overcame sin, death, and the fallen creation.

Hallelujah! He wins! But I am getting way ahead of the story.  Stick around!

The story continues here.

Genesis Post 12 - The Fall (Chapter 3)

Today is an in-depth look at chapter 3 - the very chapter that the rest of the Bible seeks to remedy.

I have already touched on chapter 3 in previous posts.  The snake deceived Eve, Eve offered to Adam, Adam ate.  God meted out punishment accordingly.  They became naked and ashamed.

And even though it was the woman who ate the fruit first, Romans 5:12 tells us that sin entered the world through Adam!  In other words, the woman was deceived, but Adam knew exactly what he was doing.  Was he just being dumb?  No.  He is a foreshadow of our Messiah, and here is why.

Eve was his wife and he loved her.  When he saw that she was a goner, he willingly took the fruit and ate.  He didn't love the fruit, he loved his wife.  What a picture of the Messiah, Who loved His bride so much that He took on the cross.  He took the fall for us, just as Adam did for his bride.

It is not good for man to be alone.  And it is not good for God to be alone.

Yeshua is even called by the name Adam.  1 Corinthians 15:45 goes back to Genesis and links Yeshua to Adam when it says this:
And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

Just like Adam, the Messiah knew exactly what He was doing when He went to the cross.  He loved His bride and willingly took her punishment.  And in doing so, Yeshua reversed the curse that Adam brought to the world, reversing death and bringing life.  God would not have to be alone, without His beloved creations.

Moving on, I want to pause and talk about 3:15, a very key verse in scripture.  The LORD is addressing the devil.

And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”

This is the first promise of a coming Redeemer.  There will be enmity between the offspring of the devil and the woman, and also the devil's seed and the Seed of the woman (ultimately the Messiah Who would be born of a woman of Israel).  Biblically, the woman is Israel; the one chosen to bring about God's plans for the world. And boy, has there been enmity between the devil and Israel.  

Scripture elaborates on this enmity in Revelation 12:1-9:

Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.

Why does the woman have the moon under her feet?  Under the feet is a symbol of something being conquered.  What is the moon a symbol of?  It goes back to the false religious system invented in Babylon.  Its ultimate fulfillment shows up today as Islam.  All mosques have a crescent moon on them.  Remember the spiritual warfare that was prophesied in Genesis 3:15?  The seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent.

And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.

And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.  So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Satan has tried so many times to wipe out the Jews throughout history, but he will never succeed.  Yeshua's return depends on the presence of the Jews and of Israel.

A popular T-shirt in Israel contains a warning to the world

Revelation 12 wraps up with a reminder of the devil's secondary target: Christians.

And the dragon was enraged with the woman [because she was supernaturally protected], and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

This has always been God's pattern - the Jew first, and then the nations.

Going back to Genesis 3:15, it is interesting to note the use of the word heel, or Ya'acov (Jacob). Do you remember the meaning of the name Jacob?  It means deceiver, or more literally, one who grabs the heel.

And later in Genesis, the name of Jacob would be changed to Israel, which means struggles with God, and also prince of God.  Even in the account of God wrestling with Jacob, we can see Genesis 3:15 being played out.

Jacob went from being a heel-grabber/deceiver/supplanter to a God-chaser by the name of Israel.

The devil, however, is the original deceiver and the Father of Lies, and he will remain so until his destruction.

So the Father of Lies will nip at the Messiah's heel, but the Seed will crush the devil's head.  The Seed of the Woman is the promised Messiah, and He will utterly vanquish the devil in the end.

In the punishment that He meted out, God cursed the serpent, and He cursed the ground.  But take note: He did not curse the people.  Yes, they were punished, but then they were given the first covenant of the Bible.  (Are you familiar with the seven covenants?  If not, click here for this very important framework of the Bible).

Adam and Eve tried to cover themselves with leaves; a picture of us trying to cover ourselves with our own good works.  But God had a different idea.

Enter death.

Adam and Eve must have been horrified at the sight of the first bloodshed, which provided the animal skins that would then cover them.

Leviticus 17:11 says that without the shedding of blood, there can be no remission of sins.  Once we understand this foundational Biblical principle, we can clearly see the promised Redeemer right there in Genesis. This same theme of blood atonement will continue throughout the rest of the scriptures.

Buckle your seatbelts!  God is just getting started with His story!

Click here to continue to the next post.

Genesis Post 11 - Naked! (Bridging Chapters 2 and 3)

The very last thing that the scriptures mention before sin entered the world is this:

And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

My next post will elaborate a lot more on the fall of man, but today's post will simply cover (pun intended) one concept: nakedness.

It is very telling that the LAST THING mentioned before man's fall into sin was the idea of naked and unashamed, and the very FIRST THING that was mentioned after the fall was naked and ashamed.

Because of how it is set up in scripture, there HAS to be a great spiritual truth here.  Let's compare scripture to scripture and see what we come up with. 

First, the Hebrew word for naked or nakedness:  AROM and ERVAH (same root word).  Let's look at a few of the places where these words show up.

But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.
Genesis 9:23

They spend the night naked, without clothing,
And have no covering in the cold.
Job 24:7

Then the Lord said, “Just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder against Egypt and Ethiopia, so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as prisoners and the Ethiopians as captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
Isaiah 20:3-4

All her idols I will lay desolate,
For she gathered it from the pay of a harlot,
And they shall return to the pay of a harlot.”
Therefore I will wail and howl,
I will go stripped and naked;
Micah 1:7-8

The most courageous men of might
Shall flee naked in that day,”
Says the LORD.
Amos 2:16

Lest I strip her naked
And expose her, as in the day she was born,
And make her like a wilderness,
And set her like a dry land,
And slay her with thirst.
Hosea 2:3

“Therefore I will return and take away
My grain in its time
And My new wine in its season,
And will take back My wool and My linen,
Given to cover her nakedness.
Hosea 2:9

Then Saul’s anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?
1 Samuel 20:30

Your nakedness shall be uncovered,
Yes, your shame will be seen;
I will take vengeance,
And I will not arbitrate with a man.”
Isaiah 47:3

When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine,” says the LORD God.
Ezekiel 16:8

Thus says the LORD God: “Because your filthiness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your harlotry with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children which you gave to them, surely, therefore, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved, and all those you hated; I will gather them from all around against you and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness.
Ezekiel 16:36-17

She revealed her harlotry and uncovered her nakedness.
Then I alienated Myself from her,
As I had alienated Myself from her sister.
Ezekiel 23:18

They will deal hatefully with you, take away all you have worked for, and leave you naked and bare. The nakedness of your harlotry shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your harlotry.
Ezekiel 23:29

“Behold, I am against you,” says the LORD of hosts;
“I will lift your skirts over your face,
I will show the nations your nakedness,
And the kingdoms your shame.
Nahum 3:5

Also, Leviticus chapters 18 and 20 use the word over and over, as a euphamism. You can go check it out if you'd like.

Have you had enough yet?  The the Hebrew scriptures link nakedness to shame, idolatry, and being away from the LORD. Our sin has made us unclothed before our God, and we are ashamed. We need His covering!  The clothes we wear today are a picture of that scriptural truth.  This is why the first thing God did was allow animals to die so that Adam and Eve would be physically covered, while conveying a spiritual truth - the promise of His covering.  When we run around exposing so much of ourselves, are we saying to God, I don't need any covering??

The appointed Biblical holiday Yom Kippur  means day of atonement. But what is atonement? The very word means covering! He is our covering. Today Jewish men acknowledge this by wearing a kippah on their heads. It comes from the same word as Kippur, or covering.

Let's look at a few New Covenant examples:

Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.
Romans 13:14

I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed
Revelation 3:18

Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.  For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:  whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.
Phillippians 3:17-19

This last scripture does not speak of nakedness specifically, but we have already linked the concept of shame to nakedness.  Today, people definitely glory in their shame as they let it all hang out.  (This scripture also makes mention of those who make a god of their belly... ouch, now that one hits close to home for me.  I am always fighting the monster of gluttony.)

Throughout human history, people have generally covered themselves up, right up to the last century (and I know there have been exceptions, such as jungle people unexposed to the world around them).  

Following World War I, something happened called the roaring twenties.  Courtship disappeared and the dating scene began.  For a clear example of the dating progression, just read Cheaper By The Dozen by Frank and Ernestine Gilbreth.  

During this era, people began exposing so much more of themselves than ever before.  As an example, check out this progression of women's swimwear during those transitional years between the 1800s and 1900s:

I'll stop at 1927, because you can go to any beach to see just how far we have regressed even since then.  (Perhaps our progressive nakedness is a sign of the last days?)

I've heard the argument by Christians...  "Our bodies are beautiful, created by God."  Yes, that is true. 

But our nakedness is not something to flaunt proudly to a gawking world.  It is something that should only be revealed before our Creator, who is our covering, and our spouse - who is our earthly picture of our heavenly husband.

I will finish with a passage from Revelation 7, where we see the saints beautifully arrayed in white linen. 

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,  and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”  All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom,
Thanksgiving and honor and power and might,
Be to our God forever and ever.
Amen.”

Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?”

And I said to him, “Sir, you know.”

So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

 It is comforting to me to know that we will never go back to the nakedness of the Garden of Eden.  When God restores, He does it to the uttermost!

Click here to continue this series on Genesis.

Genesis Post 10 - From Good to Bad (chapters 1-3)

In today's post, I want to back up one more time to chapters 1 and 2, for a big picture moment before moving on.

Six times in chapter 1, God uses the word good by itself, or tov in Hebrew.  Then, in the last verse of chapter one, the word tov is used a seventh time, only this time, the word is paired with me'od, or very good.

Tov

Tov

Tov

Tov

Tov

Tov

Tov Meod

Creation was not called tov me'od until it was completed.  And what completed the creation?  The formation of woman from man.  In chapter 2, Adam had been given the job of naming the animals on day six, and God brought to our attention that Adam was alone.  He then said, It is lo tov (not good) for man to be alone.  When woman was created, lo tov became tov me'od.  Not good became very good.

The LORD put Adam under anesthesia and took flesh out of Adam's side, thus creating Chava (Eve), which means life or living. And we know that she became the mother of all living.

Verse 24 says: Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.  Something supernatural happens when two become one.

God gives us an amazing truth with the creation of woman from and for man.  Love.  It is the reason He created us, His bride, for Himself.  All of human history hinges on this.  He is coming back to restore all things and to claim His bride!  Remember, the Bible begins and ends with marriage.

God created man for fellowship with Him.

So how long did tov me'od remain tov me'od?  We don't know exactly, how long Adam and Chava blissfully lived in the garden before they disobeyed God, but it doesn't seem like it was very long.  (We do know that he lived 930 years, and that he fathered Seth at age 130, and that Seth was born after Cain killed Abel.)

Adam was told in chapter 2 that he was not allowed to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Adam had only one rule.  Easy, right?  God was giving Adam a test to see if Adam, out of love, would obey Him.  Verse 17 says,

but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

The Hebrew actually reads, dying you will die.  There will be instant death and gradual death.  Hold that thought; I'll come back to it.

The command was given to Adam before the woman was created.  But Adam must have told Eve about the command, because she repeated it to the serpent in chapter 3, and even adding that they may not even touch it.

Did God tell them not to touch it?  The narrative does not say that He did or did not.  Commentaries differ in their conclusions.  My opinion is that God must have said it at some point during His fellowship with Adam, otherwise Eve committed sin by adding to the Word of God.

Anyway, chapter 3.  This is the chapter that the rest of the Bible seeks to repair.  In Hebrew, it is tikkun olam - the healing of the world.  Today all of creation groans toward this very end (see Romans 8:22).

The chapter starts with the serpent, the nachash.  It was the craftiest, the most cunning of all the animals, which is why the devil probably chose it to do his nasty business.

Somehow, the devil took on the form of that serpent and deceived Chava.  (Where did that devil come from,anyway?  Hold that thought, and let's come back to that...)

"Has God really said...?"

With those words, he inflicted doubt upon the mind of Chava.  The Father of Lies began his career right here.  He wasn't blatant about what he said to Chava, but sneaky.  If he had come out with an outright lie right away, she probably would not have bitten.  He continues with his crafty ways today, which is why we must be DILIGENT!

Chava went on to assure the snake that God really did say that, and then she added the comment about not even touching it.

In verse 4, the devil/serpent replied with a lie that is still being believed today:

Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.

I must stop here and address this verse.  Most of Christendom teaches the immortality of man's soul; that we are eternal beings.  This Greco-Roman thinking infiltrated the church around the fourth century.  I've written about these things before.  You can click on the tab that says "Judgment" on the right if you want more bunny trails on that subject.

The truth is, only God can be eternal, with no beginning and no end.  Man definitely had a start point.  I believe that Adam was created as an immortal being, meaning he was not subject to death or decay when he was created, but that it was his sin, his failing the test of obedience, that rendered him into a mortal.  Adam was created as a complete being:  mind, body, and spirit.  His sin subjected ALL parts of him to death.

And we were all born with that sin nature, that mortality of Adam on us, for it is only faith in Yeshua that offers us immortality.  And I believe that this immortality will be given to us at the resurrection, as written in 1 Corinthians 15.  Here are some excerpts from that chapter, but I encourage you to go and read the entire thing.

For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. 

For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.  So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” (From Isaiah 25:8)

The devil continued with Chava and appealed to her pride, telling her she would be like God.  She ate, and then Adam ate.

In an instant, they experienced spiritual death.  They were severed from that spiritual connection to their Creator, and they knew it.  This is how death came instantly - the spirit of man died.  The process of bodily death began at that moment, too, as well as the depravity of the mind.

At the instant of their spiritual death, they perceived their nakedness, and were ashamed.  They threw together outfits of leaves. We will come back to this subject in my next post.

The LORD showed up immediately in verse 8 - most versions say something like in the cool of the day.  But that word for cool is ruach, the same word for spirit.  It can mean breeze, wind, and spirit.  And the couple hid themselves from His Spirit, for His spirit in them had died.

Then the LORD questioned them, asking them how they knew they were naked, and if they had eaten from the forbidden tree.  Of course, the question is rhetorical.  He already knew the answer.  But because He still desired a relationship with them, He engaged them in dialogue about it.

Did you notice... God still called out to them in their fallen state.  He still calls out to us today.   God is always the one that breaks the silence because man, being spiritually dead, is unable.  Hallelujah for that great love!

The first man and woman immediately began playing the blame game.  

Adam:  This WOMAN that YOU gave me...

Chava:  That SERPENT made me do it...

(Anyone with more than one child knows that this particular fallen trait of Adam and Chava is alive and well today.)

It is interesting that the serpent is suddenly silent.  

The LORD then starts at the bottom in meting out punishment.  

• First, the serpent/devil in Genesis 3:14-15.  He is told that his head will be crushed by the Seed of the woman.  Did you catch that?  Crushed by the Seed of the woman?  The Redeemer would someday be a son of Chava - meaning, He would be a human!  And as we will see in an upcoming chapter, Chava fully believed this.  (Genesis 3:15 is the foundation of the Messiah, and a declaration of  the spiritual war that will last through the end of Revelation.  More on this soon.)

• Then, Chava in Genesis 3:16.  She will have sorrow, pain in childbirth, and she will want to rule over her husband, but she won't get to (even though she and I and most women who ever lived will give it their best shot. See Genesis 4:7 for the same concept of sin desiring to rule over us.)

• Then, Adam in Genesis 3:17-19.   Because of his sin, the very ground itself will be cursed.  He will  have to work very hard to provide for himself and his family.  And God also gave Adam a reminder that he will suffer the punishment of sin:  death.  The LORD told him that he will return to the dust from which he was created.

Following the instant spiritual death which Adam and Eve experienced, we see that all of mankind will then experience physical death, but it is a process.  When sin entered the world (which God had  declared tov me'od), entropy (decay, order to chaos) began in that instant.  All that was previously declared good was suddenly not so good.  Adam and Eve and all their offspring would eventually die physical deaths, too.  Dying they would die.

So where did this evil tempter come from?  We know he showed up in the garden in the form of the snake. But what was his origin?

Let's look at what we know.  Job 38 tells us that the sons of God (the elohim:  those created beings in the heavenly realm) shouted for joy when God laid the foundations of the earth.  So we know that God created the spiritual realm of elohim before He created the physical world.

The angels rejoiced over God's creation

Later, Yeshua tells us in Luke 10 that He saw the devil fall like lightening from heaven.  What caused that fall?

Ezekiel 28 begins with a proclamation against the king of Tyre, but then morphs into a proclamation against the devil himself.  We are told he was beautiful, covered in splendid jewels, full of wisdom, and the embodiment of perfection, until iniquity was found in him.  We are told that he was in Eden, the garden of God.  There is evidence that he was a lead worshiper.  But then he became prideful, sinned, and became filled with violence, and therefore God cast him out of His mountain.  (God's mountain is Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, which is why I surmise that the Garden of Eden was there as well).

He then showed back up a bit later in Eden, disguised as a snake and ready to cause major trouble.

We can draw a couple conclusions here.  First, we can see that the members of the heavenly host were given a measure of free will.  This hasn't been something I've often thought about.

Second, the devil rebelled at some point between the creation of the world and the fall of man.  Aha... the true gap theory!  Scripture does not tell us how much time passed between the devil's rebellion and when he deceived Eve.  (I don't believe it was too long of a gap... Adam was formed on the sixth day, and he was 130 years old when his son Seth was born to replace Abel, which was well past getting kicked out of the garden.)

So what made the devil prideful and angry?  Was he angry that God created beings that had something that he didn't?  The very image of God upon them?  Was he annoyed that dominion of the earth was given to man and not him?  We can only guess, but my opinion is that the devil became jealous of God's treasured creation - man.  He rebelled and took about a third of the elohim with him.

We know that the heavenly host was vast in number, according to Hebrews 12:22.  And one-third of a vast number is still probably a vast number.  But praise God that the devil and his minions are outnumbered by God's faithful messengers!  Keep this in mind as you engage in spiritual warfare.

Ok, moving on.  There was a drastic change when sin entered the world.  My next post is going to address how the first two people went from naked and unshamed to naked and ashamed.

Stay tuned if you dare.  And click here to move on.

Genesis Post 9 - The LORD of the Sabbath (Chapter 2)

My last post touched on day seven, but today I want to look at the seventh day in more detail.

Ahhh, the Sabbath.  Scripture tells us that on the seventh day, God rested from His work.

It is interesting to note that day seven does not end with the mention of erev and boker, evening and morning.

God's creative work was done.  He had brought order out of chaos (secondary meanings to erev and boker).

Genesis 2:2-3 says, And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

Since Genesis is the home of all biblical truth in seed form, what is the meaning of this special seventh day that God blessed and sanctified?  (Sanctified means set apart, or made holy).

The concept of the Sabbath is developed throughout the rest of the scriptures.  It not only points to a concept, it points to a Person.

In Exodus 20, the Israelites were given the ten commandments, which included a command to refrain from work on the seventh day.  But even before God gave the command to Moses on Sinai, He was already setting it up in Exodus 16 with the provision of manna for them in the wilderness, enough for each day.

Some people did not put their trust in God and tried to gather extra manna during the week.  The following day, they found it to be wormy.  But then on day six, the LORD told them to gather extra, to have enough for day seven.  Some people, remembering the worms, did not do it, and because of their disobedience, had nothing to eat on the Sabbath.

What is this about?  It was about trust.  Would His people trust and obey Him in the procuring of their bread?  It all points to Yeshua, our Bread of Life, in Whom we are to trust... even when the instructions do not make sense.

The Sabbath became the pinnacle of the Sinai Covenant.  Exodus 31:16 says,
Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.  Ezekiel 20:20 confirms that the Sabbath would be a sign between the LORD and His people.

It has been said that throughout history, it wasn't so much that the Jews kept the Sabbath, but that the Sabbath kept the Jews.  It is one of the main things that has set them apart as a people since their sojourn in the wilderness.

Jews welcome the Sabbath as one would welcome a King

When you visit Israel today, you can see just how important the Sabbath is to the Jewish culture.  Nearly everything shuts down in the land, starting late Friday afternoons.  Public transportation ceases, including the national airline, El Al, which does not fly on the Sabbath.

There have been many rules and regulations that have been attached to the Sabbath outside of what is written in the scriptures.  For example, every hotel in Israel has a Shabbat elevator.   So that a person can avoid having to press a button and "light a fire," the elevator simply stops at every floor.

Yeshua got in trouble with the legalistic rulers of His time, being accused of breaking the Sabbath by picking grain in a field and by healing people.  But Matthew 12 explains that Yeshua is the LORD of the Sabbath.  In Mark 2, He told those rulers that the Sabbath was made for man, no the other way around.  The leaders had made the Sabbath into a burden, missing its point completely.

This brings us to the ultimate point of the Sabbath.

In Matthew 11, Yeshua declares,
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Hebrews 4 elaborates.

For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said:
“So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest,’
(From Psalm 95, speaking of those who went astray from the LORD and did not trust in Him)
although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.  For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.”

His rest is also alluded to with the coming of the seventh millenium of human history.  For six thousand years, man has worked and toiled by the sweat of his brow.  But we are on the cusp of the seventh millenium of rest, with Yeshua ruling as King from Jerusalem upon His return, per Revelation 20:4.

Yeshua, the Lord of the Sabbath, our Bread of Life, our Coming King, has BECOME the Sabbath.  It is in Him that we find our rest, both now and forevermore.  The very word sabbath is based on the Hebrew number seven, or sheva, which means completion.  We can rest in His finished work.

Click here for the next post in this Genesis series.