Genesis Framework

GF 34 Genesis 3.20-21 (Part 1)
May 1, 2016
Part 34

This message covering Genesis 3.20 and 21, is dedicated first to the glory of God, and second to Lt. Col. Ret., Shawn Brower, US Army Special Forces, now serving as pastor of a congregation in Weston, FL.My sincere hope is that this message will somehow be an
encouragement for him to seek to develop a life-long commitment to the study and use of the original languages of the Scriptures, and to make them the primary source material for his teaching.

Genesis 3:20-21
20 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.

Genesis 3:20

The waw marks the beginning of verse 20 as one unified clause. Just as the ancient Hebrew pictographic of the waw is a “tent peg,” it designates the function of a peg to which things are connected, such as ropes when used to stabilize nomadic tents, which also must be
moved outward whenever a tent is enlarged to accommodate adding members to the family; so it denotes the functions “and, to add, and to connect.”

The maqqeph, on the other hand, is a hyphen-like device used when two or more short words are closely associated in meaning, so as to join them together grammatically that they be considered as being virtually one word (more…).

tent peg And he called
Translation item- Adam’s act of “calling” was not casual, it was an official( officious) declaration.

[YAHOO yet another hierarchical officious oracle]

the man (Adam)

The definite article always functions as a pointer element; here it points to the identity of “the man” as being the responsible agent in the naming of Eve.

In the Bible, God sometimes calls the name to a person prior to their birth; and the meaning of that name is often highly informative from a prophetic perspective, indicating the basis for the name that corresponds to some future function or destiny prescribed by God in keeping with His purposes. Also, in the Bible, we are introduced to the divine practice of “name-changing”. While initial “name-proclaiming” of an individual is a big deal in Hebrew culture, as well as many other cultures, “name-changing” is an even bigger deal.

You will recall that all along we have been referring to Adam’s wife as Eve; but did you realize that the name Eve does not actually appear in Scriptures prior to Genesis 3.20? Furthermore, the name Eve only appears twice in the Old Testament and twice (as Heu'-ah meaning "life") in the New Testament.

(Q) So, does the account of Genesis 3.20 present Adam’s first naming of Eve, or does this event constitute a “re-naming” of his wife?

Let’s go back and check it out…

Genesis 2:18-25
18 And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him."
19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.

… to see what he would call them…

If this seems like it was a test from God; it was.

The naming of all the animals was a big deal responsibility which God had delegated to man; and God was apparently pleased with Adam’s insight in coming up with reasonable and suitably descriptive names for all the animals.

God indicated His approval of Adam’s works by affirming all of Adam’s name choices; effectively, God added His Amen to Adam’s proclamations( calling of names).

Implication- Man’s relationship with God at that earlier time was good, healthy, productive, organized, cooperative, etc.; God made them, Adam named them.

Gen 2.20-23
So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.
22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
23 And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man."

Notice, Adam named her Woman (Whoa-man!).

This is all Adam has to say, then God picks up the dialogue...

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Implication- God presupposes a future of multitudes that will break away from one covenant (marriage, family) and enter into another covenant of their own (marriage, family), and that the covenant of marriage will constitute the joining into an invisible, but effectual total
union of two unto one flesh in covenant.

Implication- this was the first marriage ceremony.

Notice the idea of two becoming one as a unique joining process of man and woman affirmed by the heavenly action of having taken woman, from man, and joined her unto man in covenant.

Considering the formal definition of marriage, should the joining process be described as an intersect or as a union?

           

 

tent peg
And he called

the man (Adam)

name
And Adam called the name of his wife Chav-vah'

wife of him

Chav-vah'

“life” or “living” = Eve

(the closest, but corrupt sound is, Evah)

 

Implication- amazingly, Adam is suddenly back into the “naming business;”

No! Moreover, he is in the “re-naming” business, which is an even greater delegated responsibility than that which he had before the fall!

Notice that this re-naming function is once again “in cooperation with God’s approval.”

This event represents a significant change in the process of God re-establishing fellowship with mankind in a Post-Fall world.

Implication- God is presently engaged in a rescue/ salvation mission designed to restore to some degree, a fellowship relationship with Adam and Eve; but not with them functioning as priests.

Back to Adam’s re-naming process…

because

she (added for emphasis)

[This word is pronounced “he”, and means “she”; another word is pronounced “who” means “he”.]

she became
perfect tense, the tense of completed action

mother of all-living-ones

“strong water” = function( glue)

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

In Hebrew thinking, an action is regarded as being either completed (perfect tense) or incompleted (imperfect tense).

Hebrew, therefore, knows of no past, present, or future tenses per se; the context always defines the particular shade of time implied by the action qualified as either “completed” or “incompleted.

Implication- Adam looked forward in faith to what God promised she would become (incompleted action) to

I call this kind of faith-relationship recursive.

Recursion is the process of repeating items in a self-similar way, potentially approaching a limit of infinity.

For instance, when the surfaces of two mirrors are exactly parallel with each other, the nested images that occur are a form of infinite recursion.

Disney World’s longest bar…

They are similar/ identical reoccurrences such as, Russian Dolls, fractals of fern…

We will see that Genesis 3.21 is a narrative of how the Lord responded to Adam’s confession of faith by strengthening and instructing that faith to a greater extent in a recursive operation through a symbolic transaction in which God reaffirms His redemptive purpose.

The back-and-forth operation of recursion can only take place in a parallel or face-to-face encounter (just like two mirrors); thus, fellowship is implied.

By analogy; decree-pronounced- promise, understood- accepted-acknowledged, accepted-pleased-strengthen faith, faith received-faith acted on- represents a step in salvation process…

Advertisement for Droste cocoa, c. 1900.
Wikipedia

Here is a visual form of recursion known as the Droste effect.

The woman in this image holds an object that contains a smaller image( similar) of her holding an identical object, which in turn contains a smaller image( similar) of herself holding an identical object, and so forth… ad infinitum.

Hooah is military slang referring to or meaning "anything and everything except 'no'".

Used by soldiers in the U.S. Army, which accounts for the vast majority of the usage of the word.

One popular usages of hooah expressed in three letters; HUA means: "Heard, understood, and acknowledged"

When God is one of the individuals in a relationship involving a HUA exchange, the back-and-forth-ness of it produces a recursive condition characterized as having eternal significance… a spiritual, resounding echo!

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 imzage-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 May, 2016
Rev. Jim Craig
All Rights Reserve