Genesis Framework Part 38

Genesis Framework

GF 38 Genesis 3.22 (Part 3)
May 29, 2016
Part 38

NKJ Genesis 3:22
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” --

Mention

The result is the prepositional phrase “separated out from among us,” expressing the idea that man had become (denoting change) no longer an example of Us who have knowledge of good and evil, but an exception to Us; like one who is now separated out from us; where “Us”
represents God and those of His heavenly council who continue to retain knowledge of good and evil.

This word min, that is used as the preposition prefix, is comparable to the Greek word ek eks of which you are already quite familiar; as in exit, excommunicate, exile, exodus, extinguish, extort, extrapolate, export, exhale, exegesis, exclude, exception; denoting motion from the inside of a place to a place of separation outside.

A box with an arrow showing a red ball is outside of the box

For example, when Jesus was raised up as one out from among the dead ones, He had become no longer like a dead one, rather like one having life characteristics, separated out from among the dead ones.

When a person was excommunicated, he was subsequently treated as one individual separated out from among the membership of the community, therefore no longer a part of it.

To exit a building is to leave the building, in the sense to become as one separated from among those characterized as occupants of the building. When fruit is taken off from the tree it becomes as one individual thing existing apart from the tree; that is, no longer having the same association with the tree that it had previously.

NKJ Genesis 3:22b
And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” --

Here the translation is as a dependent clause.

In the original, it is a complete sentence.

And now, lest

At the beginning of the sentence, we discover that the word translated in the NKJ version as “and now, lest” is actually a word, at the minimum, meaning “beware,” and indicating always that some precaution is to be taken to avert a dreaded contingency.

In this instance the dreaded contingency is spelled out by God, as the likely possibility that mankind would take and eat of the fruit from off the tree of life in addition to having eaten of the tree of knowledge, with the result that he would live forever; implying that this sacrament
would seal him to his present state and he would continue to live in a fallen-state, an eternal state of death, having forfeited the opportunity to receive God’s future salvific provision for a redeemed eternal life in Christ.

The first word of Genesis 3.22b is pen.

It is grammatically attached by means of a maqqeph to the following word meaning “he might send forth.”

The function of the hyphen-like line called Maqqeph meaning “binding,” is to join two or more short words together so that they will be considered as being virtually one word.

Here is how we properly translate the two bound words…

“Beware, this is a turning point moment demanding action to avert facing a dreaded contingency that he (mankind) might send forth his hand…” The rest of the verse goes like this: “…and take, in addition (to the fruit of the other tree), off from the tree of the life, and he will have life of unending duration.”

Now, the idea that this is a turning point comes from our first little word pen.

mouth-seed sprout denoting “face continues”

Action: to turn
Concrete: a face

Literally meaning, the turning of the face, a turning point, a point where the face must make a turn!

It is closely related to the word meaning a corner, as a turning of the face toward another direction...

Action: to turn
Concrete: a wheel, as in a turning object

It is also the root in the word meaning a ruby… …as in a gem that glistens brightly when turned.

Grammatically, this Hebrew word is used whenever there is a need to issue a warning, having reached a critical point, in order to avoid a dreaded contingency; where the warning is to turn away from the present path, in order to avert the possibility of a dreaded outcome.

The Arrow with the red bAll pointing to an explosion with a null sign in it and below the red ball an arrow pointing down to the left

Comprehensive Translation

Genesis 3.22b
“Beware, this is a turning point to avert a dreaded contingency, that he (mankind) might send forth his hand and in addition (to having taken the fruit of the other tree), take off from the tree of the life, and he will have life of unending duration, in a state of death.”

Notice with proper translation this verse becomes a complete sentence.

It is Yahweh Elohim speaking, where the plural form for God (Elohim) points to the presence of the angel attendants of the heavenly council, customarily functioning as agents of God’s judgments.

NKJ Genesis 11:7
"Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."

At Babel He found man guilty of conspiring to carry out unlawful intentions to intrude upon the sanctity of God’s heaven, which He answered with the curse of dispersion, by frustrating their common speech and separating the bond of their communication.

…by frustrating their common speech and separating the bond of their communication.

After their disobedience, God exchanged the effect of His original command into a cause that would force the actual accomplishment of His original command. God commanded them to disperse and fill the earth. The effect of dispersion would have eventually been the
natural development of various dialects and languages. God inflicted them with various dialects and languages,which, in turn, caused them to have to disperse, thereby fulfilling His original command, contrary to their will.

NKJ Genesis 18:1,2
Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed
himself to the ground,

NKJ Genesis 19:1
Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground.

So, here in Genesis 3.22, Yahweh Elohim judged mankind to be defiantly intent on an illicitly taking hold of immortality for themselves, which He prevented by driving the offenders out into an exilic existence, a dispersion, yet with the command to populate the earth.

The tree of life was a sacramental tree, whereas the tree of knowledge was a judgment tree.

The two special trees in the Eden sanctuary were designed to function as symbolic means in man’s participation in two aspects of God’s glory; the tree of knowledge to function in the development of man’s judicial likeness to God, and the tree of life as the sacramental seal of man’s participation in God’s glory of immortality.

The very fact that God had pronounced a sentence of death upon man for his transgression, the tree of life would have possessed a special significance just by the suggestion of its name.

We should not suppose that it became the tree of life after man’s Fall, it had always been called by that name.

For whatever reason, man had not eaten of the tree of life prior to the Fall, since that fact seems to be implied in our verse, especially by the adverb “also,” denoting “in addition to.” “…and take also of the tree of life”

We are probably to assume from this that man had previously been informed of the symbolic importance of the tree of life and had realized that it was not this tree but the tree of knowledge that was the one specifically forbidden in this special testing, and that somehow his
partaking of the tree of life was apparently reserved for an appropriate future time and purpose.

The kind of life signified by the tree was not the kind or level of life bestowed on man in creation, but life to be consummated through eschatological transformation. The kind of life was more to be identified with a consummation unto an immortal Glory.

It was regarded as a sign and seal of everlasting life.

It’s significance was a life confirmed and perfected, in man’s consummate glory-likeness to God.

The tree was an earthly symbolic replica of the immortal Glory, of which we presently correctly perceive as the resurrection and life of God’s elect.

Because in the same sense, this truth appears in redemptive history in Jesus’ identification of Himself as the resurrection and life of His people.

NKJ John 11:24-26
24 Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
25 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again.“ Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
26 "And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

Those united to Christ will never die.

But to have partaken of the second tree, the sacramental tree of life at that time would have been a perversion of God’s intent, making it a sign and seal of everlasting death!

God does not respond favorably to acts of perversion of His established institutions…

NKJ 1 Corinthians 11:28-30
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the
bread and drink of the cup.
29 For he who eats and drinks
in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to
himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.

inappropriate manner
non-prescribed manner
perverted manner

(adjective used as adverb) meaning, in an improper manner

verb imperative present active 3rd person singular; to test, to examine; to interpret, to discern, to discover; to approve; to prove, to demonstrate

I am the resurrection and the life.

In John 1.4 we learn that this redemptive identity and function of the Son of God is in continuity with what was already true of Him as the Logos in the beginning.

NKJ John 1:4
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Red arrow angled up to the right Always wasAlways was

Taking all this into account, we see that the tree of life was, in figure, the Logos, the light of men, the life of men.

Recall also that as God the Logos was revealed in the theophanic Glory in Eden, so was God the Spirit revealed.

Theophany is always Trinitarian.

He that has seen the Son has seen the Father, and so in beholding the Glory-Spirit, man also beheld the Logos-Son.

If the trees in the garden were an earthly replication of the theophanic Glory, they were symbols of the Son as well as of the Spirit.

The Gospel of John in chapter 5, affirms that the Father has given all judgment to the Son to have life in Himself and to give it to whom He will (21, 36), so here we see the two features of the divine Glory brought together in Christ.

Judgment and Life

And then beyond, in the coming hour of the resurrection of life and the resurrection of judgment, comes the dual mission of the Son consummated in a judicial separation of good and evil (29)

By placing the tree of life in the garden sanctuary, man would come to realize that it is the Creator-Logos who will invite man to partake of the sacramental fruit, only coming in the worthiness of a keeper of the covenant, as Jesus says, “Take, eat; this is My life, offered to you.”

Originally, only obedience with regard to the tree of knowledge would qualify man to partake of the sacramental fruit at the invitation of the Logos-Life.

Now man is invited to partake in the Logos Tree of Life as the only qualification for man to partake of the sacramental fruit at the invitation of the Logos-Life.

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.

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