The Noachian Covenant: A Temple Document

But I will establish my covenant with you (6:18).  This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I will set my bow in the cloud… (Gen. 9:12f.) The first time the word “covenant” occurs is Genesis 6:18. … Read more

Noah’s Ark as Temple

And God said to Noah … Make yourself an ark of gopher wood … For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth … (Gen. 6:13-17) Adam with Eve was to expand the borders of the Garden to the whole earth, filling it with offspring, subduing the wild regions as well as … Read more

Seth’s Line: Winning When It Feels Like Losing!

And the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.  Gen. 6:11. The Garden in Eden, as we have established, was a Holy of Holies, and Adam was its priest made in the image of God, to “cultivate and keep/guard” it in the splendor of the seventh day with Eve … Read more

Cain’s Alternative Culture

Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Gen. 4:16 God cursed Cain (4:11)! Nothing could be more serious! As we said previously, God did not curse Adam or Eve, for then the whole human race would be under divine curse. Cain was … Read more

Light from the Clerestory

I will put enmity between you [serpent] and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. (Gen.3: 15). When Adam had lived a hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. (Gen. 5:3). The picture painted in the last post … Read more

The Haunted House: “…I was afraid…”

Cursed is the ground because of you … thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you. (Gen. 3:14-19) As we have seen, when Adam the priest sinned, the cosmic temple was immediately affected, for there is a necessary link between humanity and creation. In the Bible, there is always a symbiosis between human morality … Read more

The Divine Incantation

Because you have done all this, cursed … Gen. 3:14-19 God is the first blesser. When something is blessed, like the original creation, it is empowered to function as God intended it to function. As surprising as it may seem, God is also the first curser. What we have in Genesis 3: 14-19 is a … Read more

The Nakedness Motif and the Fall

Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew they were naked; and the sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. Gen 3:7 The concept of nakedness is too deep for the human mind to unravel. What it was before the fall can only be guessed at. What it is now, both dark … Read more

Snaky Words

Did God say …? You will not die…! Gen 3:1, 4-5 God “spoke” all creation into being through “words.” The snake, who we have previously identified as a “demonophany,” the “dark side” of the Theophany motif in the Garden, attempts to undo creation by deceitful words. Since evil has no necessary existence independent of God’s … Read more

The Faces of Adam, Eve, and Evil

The story of Adam and Eve with the snake is disarmingly simple. We may dismiss it outright as ridiculously unscientific and impossible to believe or to take seriously. However, it refuses to go away. In fact, it demands to be taken at face value. The human race most certainly had an origin, and even though … Read more