PARADISE AND THE FALL In this famous passage we possess a wealth of moral and spiritual teaching regarding God and man. The intention of the writer is evidently to give an answer to the question: How did sin and misery find their way into the world? As is natural among Orientals he put his reply int... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD GOD] Where Lord is thus printed in capitals in the English Bible it stands for the Heb. JHVH, the sacred divine name which was probably pronounced 'Yahweh.' In later times the word was considered to be too sacred to be uttered; the title Adonai (i.e. My Lord) was substituted in reading, and... [ Continue Reading ]
MIST] The kindred word in the Assyrian language denotes the annual inundation of the Euphrates; see on Genesis 2:8 and on Genesis 3:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
MAN] Heb. _adam_ as in Genesis 1. AV renders the word as a proper name frequently in Genesis 2-4; RV gives 'man' throughout except Genesis 3:17; Genesis 4:25. GROUND] Heb. _adamah._ A connexion is thus suggested between the two words, but the derivation of Adam is uncertain. FORMED MAN OF THE DUST O... [ Continue Reading ]
A GARDEN] LXX renders by 'Paradeisos' (a Persian word meaning 'a park'), hence the English 'Paradise.' EASTWARD] i.e. of Palestine, such as Babylonia would be. EDEN] The Heb. word _eden_ means 'delight,' but there is a Babylonian word _edinu,_ meaning 'plain,' and there may be a reference to the gre... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY TREE] The garden was planted with trees, like a king's pleasure park. The trees are specially mentioned, partly because they were to provide man's food, and partly because attention is directed to two of them for a particular reason. As life was to be sustained by them, so immortality was to b... [ Continue Reading ]
DRESS] i.e. cultivate. KEEP] i.e. protect (from the beasts).... [ Continue Reading ]
KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL] i.e. moral consciousness issuing in moral judgment; the power to distinguish between good and evil, not in act only but in consequence as well. This faculty is necessary, in order that man may reach moral maturity. The narrative implies that it would have come gradually t... [ Continue Reading ]
HELP MEET] This is not one word but two, the former being the noun and the latter the qualifying adjective on which the main emphasis lies. Man might have many helps; the vegetable and animal creation might minister to his welfare and comfort. But though these are 'helps,' they are not 'meet,' i.e.... [ Continue Reading ]
The giving of a name implies a power of discrimination and reflection not possessed by the lower animals. Even proper names in the Scriptures are usually significant and descriptive of some quality supposed to be possessed by the person who bears it. Cp. e.g. the importance attached to the 'name' by... [ Continue Reading ]
The symbolical account of the creation of woman teaches the close relationship of the sexes, and the dependence of woman on man.... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS IS NOW] Render, 'This time it is bone of my bones,' etc. It is Adam's cry of delight at finding a congenial, sympathising companion, after failing to find one among the animals (Genesis 2:20). SHE SHALL BE CALLED WOMAN] The similarity of the English words 'man,' 'woman' (wife-man) is also found... [ Continue Reading ]
See on Exodus 3:7.... [ Continue Reading ]