Genesis Framework

GF 23 Crisis at the Tree Pt 1
January 31, 2016
Part 23

LXT Genesis 2:16

And the Lord God commanded in behalf of Himself (middle) to Adam saying, from every kind of tree within the garden you will consume (eat) in behalf of yourself (future middle) by means the outcome of chewing with your teeth.

LXT Genesis 2:17

but (emphatic) from the tree of the to presently know of good and evil you will not (closed and locked) consume (eat) for yourself (future middle) from it; to the contrary, [shift to plural] contingent for the day you (plural) might in a single act consume (eat) from it, you (plural) will bring yourselves (plural) to face death by means of death.

LXT Genesis 3:1

Now the serpent always was shrewder than every kind of wild animal of those upon the earth which the Lord God had made, and the serpent said to the woman (wife), Why has God said you (plural) should not (mh used with ouv for emphasis or solemn assertion) consume (eat) from
every kind of tree in the garden. This is a direct negation of the God’s commanded words!

LXT Genesis 3:2-3

And the woman said to the serpent, from tree fruit of the garden we will consume (eat) for ourselves but from of fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden God has said, you (plural) will not (closed and locked) consume (eat) for yourselves from it, you should not even (closed) take hold of ( ) it for yourselves in order that you (plural) might not die.

LXT Genesis 3:4

And the serpent said to the woman you (plural) will not (closed and locked) bring yourselves (plural) to face death by means of death. This statement is expressed here is also a direct negation of the exact words commanded earlier by God!

Basically, the temptation and Fall was a satanic maneuvering of Adam out of his position of primary responder to Satan, and a leading to defy and subvert the authority structure God had appointed for the human family.

In summary, here is what the tempter did:

-he conveyed a false interpretation of the situation.

-he intruded where he did not belong.

-he should have been on the defensive since he had been brought there to be judged by God’s priest-king.

-he seized the offensive.

-he confused Eve so that she struggled in apologetics to defend both man and God.

-he assumed the role of judge himself.

-he he used the judgment tree to make false charges against the heavenly Judge.

-he used diversionary tactics to turn attention away from the positive requirement of the tree as the “judgment tree."

The first family began with breaking the covenant with their sins of omission, then both Eve and Adam followed up with their own overt violation of the special covenant responsibilities.

Again, what was the priestly-cultic expectation for Adam as guardian of God’s courts?

The faithful priest must hallow God’s name by defending God’s sanctuary.

For comparison, here is the typical obligation of the vassal-king in the ancient international treaties:

If the vassal hears seditious talk spoken against his suzerain, he must report this and take military action against any rebellion discovered to be underway. So, as we understand this, and as I have mentioned before, man in the garden should have promptly opposed and denounced and expelled the blasphemous tempter.

Look at this, even by the order of creation, the serpent as an animal was not superior among men, neither so among the orders of creatures as well. Viewing the serpent as his peer, and especially as an authority contrary to God, was a failure to exercise man’s mandated dominion over the subhuman creatures. Another abdication of proper royal authority was that Eve did not turn to her husband as the primary authority and responsibility in the crisis produced by the serpent-tempter in the sanctuary, and Adam’s culpability in this same regard.

When you really think about what transpired that day, Satan’s challenge to God’s authority prompted man to choose between two masters.

Satan managed to convince them both of a false image of God, and to convince them that Satan was actually the great benefactor who had man’s best interest at heart, more so than even God.

The woman’s response to the tempter must be faulted for the things she left undone and unsaid, and for things that she did and said. Gen 3.2,3

If we play the role of psychologist, our examination in light of her lapse of loyalty to the Lord might warrant detecting an inkling of revolt in the words of her response.

Even though she corrected Satan’s words which stated that the prohibition extended to all the trees, she then expanded the divine prohibition herself by adding the restriction about not to even take hold for themselves of the fruit of that central tree.

Some day I want to give you lessons on common fallacies in thinking, how to recognize them, and how to avoid or confront them.

This sounds very much like the woman was venting a harbored personal feeling of resentment that the special prohibition was arbitrary and unfair, which actually betrayed a false assumption on her part, that she had rights the Creator had not sufficiently respected.

Apparently Satan detected her resentment and used it to his own strategic advantage, because he pressed this issue by shifting his attack from addressing the stipulation of the covenant to an attack of its sanctions, the threatened penalty for disobeying the law stipulated by God.

He moved from questioning God’s principles with regard to the present, to challenging God’s interpretation of what would happen in the future.

Let me explain.

Satan contradicted God head-on, by coming against His warning that there would be deadly consequences in the future, for disobedience in the present Gen 3.4. This tree functioned as something which restricted man in the exercise of his royal-authority and privileges, and
compelled him to acknowledge the limitation of his own kingship to that of servant-vassal-king, and to the world as his only in stewardship.

The effect of this special probation was to confront man face-on with the reality of God’s absolute authority, and to bring man’s covenantal loyalty to a decisive test.

To discover the true significance of the probation-tree we begin with its proper name, “the tree of the knowledge (or knowing) good and evil.”

the tree (neuter noun acc., a different kind of tree, a symbolic tree, direct object of God’s action having sprouted it up out of the ground in addition to all the other kinds of trees) of the (purpose) to experientially presently know (perfect infinitive form of ) what thing can be known by abstraction of (adjective neuter acc.) (of knowing the difference between) a generally good quality thing and of a specifically evil quality thing in action.

Gen 2.9
God (subject) sprouted up (active verb aorist) in addition (adverb) out from within the ground every kind of tree (acc. direct object) [that is] a pleasant thing into [lit.] the result of use of the eyes and a generally good thing into [lit.] the result of use of the teeth to chew and the tree of the life in the middle of the paradise and...

the tree neuter noun acc.

a different kind of tree, a symbolic tree, direct object of God’s action having sprouted it up out of the ground in addition to all the other kinds of trees pleasant to the sense of peering eyes and chewing teeth.

perfect articular infinitive form of which only appears in the Scriptures in a perfect-tense form.
of the (symbolic purpose) to experientially presently know

The articular infinitive is used here to make the expression descriptive of the tree more specific, to express its purpose.The perfect-tense implies a process, but always views that process as having already reached its consummation and as existing in a finished state.

The point of completion is always antecedent to the time implied or stated in connection with the use of the perfect, so that the emphasis may be on either the existing state of completion of the action or on the existence of the finished results of the action, but never in the sense of its
potentiality or of its inception. Therefore, the verb-form denotes a present possession of the knowledge described as follows as having already been fully acquired by man.

As to the kind of knowledge being referred to…

substantive neuter adjective, object of the infinitive, beginning of noun phrase which describes the kind of knowledge already acquired. The neuter-gender of this substantive was by the author’s choice, and indicates intent to use the word to denote the idea: what thing can be known by abstraction of judging the difference between a generally good quality thing and of a specifically evil quality thing in action.

In a simple summary terms, this is a tree symbolic of abstraction of the knowledge having been given by God to man to equip him with the ability to evaluate a thing or an action and to abstract from it the duty to act as servant-judge in behalf God deciding forensically between
a quality of good or evil based on God’s standard of definition.

In full summary term, this was a judgment tree, which symbolized the abstract idea of judgment, and marked the location where this judgment was intended to have taken place.

In this designation good and evil action are viewed as opposites between which a choice is to be made on the basis of the existence of prior experiential knowledge known to man, as an aspect of his likeness to God and angels.

The probations tree was a tree of judgment, symbolic of man’s readiness to judge both men and angels.

At the appearance of the satanic agent at this judgment tree in the garden of God, man would be expected to find himself compelled to discern between good and evil as a priestly guardian of the sanctuary and to enforce the demands of God’s exclusive holiness against the unholy intruder.

Think about this again.

The judgment tree signified something to do as well as something not to do.

Man was obliged to not partake of its fruit but was obliged to perform the work of judgment expressed in its name as the tree (symbolic) of the “to experientially know what can be known of general good and specific evil in action.”

So it appears that the name of the tree pointed not so much to something man would acquire as to something he must do.

It certainly did not refer to some kind of knowledge he might gain, but to knowledge in action, knowledge intended to be used in the pronouncement of judgment.

Adam, representative of mankind, was commissioned to fulfill the probationary assignment; he must perform the “one meritorious act of righteousness.” The act was to have the character of a victory in battle. An encounter with Satan was a critical aspect of the probationary crisis turning point for each of the two Adams. To enter into judicial combat against the enemy of God and to conquer him in the name of God was the covenantal assignment that must be performed by the servant of the Lord as his “one act of righteousness.”

This brings us to having to deal with the subject of divine justice. When God sets the terms of the covenant, revelation of its stipulations properly define God’s justice.

Since this is true, Adam’s obedience would have properly merited the reward of eternal life and not a grain of grace would have been involved. If we are not willing to take God at His own word as a standard of justice, we could be guilty of making our own standard of justice, even believers must be careful not to fall into this trap.

And the winning of this victory of righteousness by the one would be imputed to the many as their act of righteousness and as their claim into the consummated kingdom as stipulated in the covenant.

That which Adam failed to do in our behalf, Jesus did perfectly, and He imputes His accomplishments to every believer for eternity.

Many will be surprised on the Day of Judgment when they discover that it was just as the Word of God says; only the righteousness of Christ is able to save you.All men are sinners and no one can save himself. God is just, so He must punish sin; but He is also merciful, moreover gracious, and offers His Son as the perfect sacrifice in order to purchase a place for you in heaven, which He offers to you as the free gift of eternal life. As we continue to examine man’s earliest duties with regard to the covenant of works, although they can be categorically divided into two distinct types of classes; one in relationship with God, and the other in relationship with fellow man, all covenant stipulations are expressions of the will of the Lord. The law of the covenant is the law of man’s image-sonship.

Jesus is God Incarnate

In order to pay the debt of our sins, He came from Heaven, having been sent by the Father, where He lived a life of perfect obedience to the Father even unto the shameful death upon the cross in order to pay the debt of your sins.This gift must be received by faith, believing that Jesus’ perfect life and Cross Work was His complete and necessary Atonement for your sins, in your behalf.Faith is a gift that comes by the Power of God the Holy Spirit working in a person’s innermost being. The Holy Spirit has the authority and power to quicken your dead spirit, to make it come to life. If you have not done so before this moment, ask Jesus to forgive you your sins, tell Him you’ve stop trying to be your own savior, and ask Him to come into your life right now, and to give you eternal life. Then, in faith believing, thank Him for the gift that He is giving you, the one He paid for in full in your place, in Jesus’ name,AMEN

 

Copyright January, 2016
Rev. Jim Craig
All Rights Reserve