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Genesis Framework

GF 25 Genesis 3.8 (1)
February 14, 2016
Part 25

NKJ Genesis 3:8
And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

Hebrew
And they heard the sound (voice - direct object) of Yahweh-Elohim walking (hithpael- intensive causative reflexive, to traverse)

Greek
And they heard the voice (sound) of the Lord-God while He was moving about in the paradise.

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking [thrashing about violently, hithpael 1.4%- intensive causative reflexive] in the garden in the cool [Spirit] of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among [amidst] the trees [tree singular] [in the middle] of the garden.

And they heard of the voice (direct object – the distinctive sound known to be that of the shepherd when calling His sheep together, this voice was accompanied by the divine theophany in the form of a strong wind of the Spirit-presence of God) of Yahweh-Elohim while
(in figure) trashing His hand tempestuously to and fro (hithpael –intensive causative reflexive, traversing, thrashing mightily a pattern among the trees to announce His coming) within the garden with regard to the day of the Spirit (advent for judgment), and the man (Adam)
together with his wife, withdrew himself frantically seeking (hithpael –intensive causative reflexive) a refuge where to hide (as in seeking a hiding place from an undesirable person or situation) (of all places) at the place of the tree in the middle of the garden.

One of the prominent aspects of theophany throughout the Old Testament is its distinctive sound. Often the sound is called “the voice of Yahweh” or “His voice.”

It is generally agreed that “the voice of Yahweh-God” in Genesis 3.8 is not that of the Lord’s speaking, as though He was heard conversing or calling in an ordinary manner.

It is rather the “voice” or the sound of the Lord’s coming that was heard.

What Adam and Eve heard was frighteningly loud, the shattering thunder of God’s advent in judgment.

Instead of attempting to recount each example of the distinctive sound the theophanic “voice” throughout the Old Testament, I want to make a comparison of our passage (Genesis 3.8) with a familiar passage from the Book of 1 Kings (probably written by the prophet Jeremiah).

Here he describes in poetic narrative what Elijah heard and saw on that Day of the Spirit (1 Kings 19.12) when the Lord descended upon the mountain in theophanic Spirit-Glory, in a manner most similar to that recorded by Moses of the Lord’s advent at Mount Sinai.

In the account from Elijah, we get a clear picture of the full effect of the “voice” of divine God making His presence known, by means of a entrance that terrorized Elijah who sought temporary refuge by remaining huddled in a cave.In the process of our examination, we will need also to learn how to make a distinction between what may be known of the general sound of movement of the various manifestations of the Spirit-Glory which accompany His approach, and the distinctive sound which identifies the personal presence of God, that He has arrived.

NKJ 1 Kings 19:11-13
11 Then He[God] said [to Elijah],"Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD."And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake;
12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
13 So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave.
Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

Traditionally we have heard of only one exception to the emphasis given to the theophanic voice or sound of God as “a very noisy encounter,” and that comes to us through a common understanding of interpretations of Elijah’s experience as recorded in 1 Kings 19.12; that what Elijah heard of the voice of God, was “a still small voice.” This has always been presented as a unique and atypical instance description of the sound associated with theophany.

The true nature of the idea I am attempting to present can be seen more clearly when we look at the ancient root of the Hebrew word used here for “voice” or “sound” ( qol, noun masculine singular).

We will heuristically seek to discover how the idea of the “voice of God” relates to the biblical notion of representing God as having human physical and emotional traits characteristic of man (anthropomorphisms) by which He is often depicted, and by which He is shown to relate interactively with mankind.

Based on my years of experience of exegetically dealing with notions that have been commonly treated as isolated exceptions to the vast body of text dealing with behavior and characteristics of the God of Scriptures; thus far I have discovered that there are no such actual
exceptions, only apparent anomalies that require more thorough examination.

So, I am always suspicious of any so-called exceptions to the general established rules within the historical accounting of the wide scope of Scriptural text.

We begin with the Hebrew word qol noun masculine singular meaning “voice, sound.”

But, just to be sure of something, let’s look back briefly at what the text says about the human means used by Elijah to detect the voice of God, and the place where the encounter transpired.

The place was Mount Horeb, the "Mountain of God". The mountain is also called the Mountain of Yahweh.

In other biblical passages, these events are described as having transpired at Mount Sinai.

Although Sinai and Horeb are often considered to have been different names for the same place, many are of the opinion that they may have been different locations.

The Protestant reformer John Calvin took the view that Sinai and Horeb were the same mountain, with the eastern side of the mountain being called Sinai and the western side being called Horeb.

The voice of God was detected by Elijah in two different ways.

First, after his arrival during a night in the cave…

NKJ 1 Kings 19:9
And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

The hyphen-like line (MAQQEPH binding) joins the two words together as virtually one word.

the speech-of Yahweh directed toward him (denoting motion to or direction towards, whether physical or mental, lit. Yahweh-speech)

Elijah does not speak of a terrifying experience while engaged in conversation with Yahweh-Lord of the Covenant.

Someone please read out 1 Kings 19.10.

The voice of God was detected by Elijah in two different ways.

Second, as he finally detected the distinctive voice-sound of the Presence of the Lord toward the end of all the physical manifestations accompanying the arrival of the full army of God upon the scene…

KJV 1 Kings 19:13 And it was so, when (as) Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, “as Elijah heard by perceiving by ear” and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said,
What doest thou here, Elijah?

Notice that in this second hearing from the Lord that day, it also came to Elijah in two stages.

The first stage was the type we are concerned with in our pursuit to understand the nature of the that Adam and Eve heard with their ears when God’s personal presence was coming to them in judgment following their encounter with the devil at the Judgment tree: “So it was, when Elijah heard it,”

The second stage was similar to the experience during the arrival night in the cave; similar in introductory wording, but different: the word or speech of the Lord, verses the voice or sound of the Lord.

Now let’s re-focus on the word used to describe the voice( sound) of God.

three letter word comes from the two letter root :

in ancient Hebrew pictographic form

Action: to gather

Concrete: shepherd

The pictograph is a picture of the sun at the horizon and denotes the gathering of light, as in at sunset light gathers, while at sunrise the gathered light of the sun is dispersed.

The is a picture of a shepherd staff representing authority.

Combined these mean “gathering to the staff”.

So, when the shepherd called the sheep they swiftly came to him because recognizing his distinctive voice they would be expected to answer him in responding by drawing near to his presence.

The staff of the shepherd was his tool of authority, with which he would direct, discipline, and protect the flock.

Combined characters constitute the root meaning of our word complete voice or sound.

Now we will begin to realize the value of all the previous effort.

By the addition of the third character the root idea is made more specific in meaning, such that while the root meaning is sustained or inherited from the parent root, action: to gather concrete: shepherd a new child-word is formed as an extension of the parent, which in turn focuses, or particularizes the emphasis of the meaning onto one aspect of the root meaning; namely, the concrete: voice.

The voice is translated variously in the Bible as; the sound of the shepherd, musical instruments, the wind thunder, voice, noise, sound, fame, etc. The call of the shepherd now brings in focus an emphasis that to the sheep who know him, he is recognized by the sound of his voice.

This is the sense in which Scripture describes the “voice of God,” as the sound of the shepherd that is recognizable to those that belong to His flock. This sound-voice is also to be distinguished from the sounds generated by the Spirit-Presence that
accompanies the arrival of theophany as it comes in full array for judgment.

What we will discover next week is that the traditional translation of the description of what Elijah heard as “a still small voice” is inadequate, so it needs to be re-visited in order that it might be better rendered.

Finally, this is nonsense, but it will help you remember how a distinctive sound without words made by someone can easily serves to identify him, and that sound can also be thought of as being his voice whether or not he utters words of speech.

Attila used to return home to his tent after a war campaign, often unexpectedly and at night, while his wife lay sleeping in an adjacent compartment. Hearing distinctive sounds of his moving about in the other side of the tent, she would confirm his presence by shouting out,

“Hun, it that you?”

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