Genesis 3:22 - 4:1

I.    God’s recognition of a problem and solution Genesis 3:22-24

1.     Genesis 3:22 – And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

a.      Who is God speaking to? Himself? The angels? “Us” indicates plural meaning Himself and others, yet we know God is One.

b.     Why would God not want “the man”, His creation, to live forever?

2.     Genesis 3:23 – Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

a.      Now there is a man to till the ground from 2:5

b.     Note that he is to till the ground “from whence he was taken” which was westward of the garden (remember 2:8), he was not taken from the ground in the garden, but outside the garden (and outside of Eden for that matter)

3.     Genesis 3:24 – So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

a.      Were these Cherubims those whom God was speaking to in 3:22?

b.     What is the flaming sword?

     Hebrews 4:12 – For the Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit.

I.                 Eve Delivers Twins? (Genesis 4:1-2)

A.    Genesis 4:1 – And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said “I have gotten a man from the Lord.”

1.     This is the first birth recorded in scripture

2.     Wife – אשה 'ishshah, woman, wife, female (woman and wife and interchangeable translation and based on context, this word is translated to wife 425 times and woman, 324 times)

3.     Conceived - הרה harah, to conceive, become pregnant, bear, be with child, be conceived, progenitor

4.     Cain – קין Qayin – possession or spear

a.      Whose possession?

b.     Names in the Bible, especially the OT tend to have an indicative meaning of the nature of that person similar to Native Americans.

5.     “I have gotten a man from the Lord” (possession?)

a.      Interesting choice of words, for this word is used man is איש 'iysh which is used for a mature male, rather than a baby or a child.  Many scholars render this as “man-child”

b.     “Through the Lord” – Jerome

c.      “I have obtained a man from the Lord” – Calvin

d.     “I have the man, the Lord” - Luther

e.      Many scholars agree that he desired meaning of this text is not readily forthcoming and is the source for much contention and debate.

f.       Matthew Poole’s Commentary – “…which showed Cain to be of that wicked one, of the serpent’s seed: so early was such seed sown, and so ancient the enmity between seed and seed.”

g.      Matthew Henry Commentary – “Many suppose that Eve had a conceit that this son was the promised seed, and that therefore she thus triumphed in him, as her words may be read, I have gotten a man, the Lord, God-man. If so, she was wretchedly mistaken…”

h.      Samuel was also mistaken when he stood in front of Eliab, son of Jesse, thinking this must surely be God’s chosen

·       I Samuel 16:6 - So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, "Surely the LORD's anointed is before Him!"

6.     Aramaic Targums – Aramaic Targums are basically ancient commentaries in Aramaic on the Hebrew Torah, there are several Targums with manuscripts dated from 2^nd century to 7^th century.  They are not on the same level as scripture, but they can certainly be used to help us understand scripture.

a.      Targum Pseudo-Jonathon Genesis 4:1 – Adam knew his wife Eve who had conceived from Sammael, the angel of the Lord.

·       Also translated as follows: “Adam knew that his wife Eve…”

b.     Palestinian Targum Genesis 4:1 - And Adam knew his wife Eve, who had desired the Angel; and she conceived, and bare Cain; and she said, “I have acquired a man, the angel of the Lord…”

c.      Targum of Jonathan Genesis 4:1 - And Adam knew his wife Eve, who was pregnant by the Angel Sammael, and she conceived and bare Cain; and he was like the heavenly beings, and not like the earthly beings, and she said, I have acquired a man, the angel of the Lord.”

7.     Tertullian, Patience Chapter 5:15 “…that impatience which was conceived by the seed of the Devil with the fecundity of evil gave birth to a child of wrath and instructed its offspring in its own arts…”

8.     Are the manuscripts complete?  Are there other examples of scripture being incomplete?

a.      I Samuel 11:1 starts out with Nahash the Ammonite besieging Jabesh-Gilead, but why? No background is given as to what he was doing so far from his territory.  It wasn’t until a Dead Sea Scroll fragment 4QSam-a was discovered that light was shed on what led up to this siege of Jabesh-Gilead. …Read I Samuel Chapter 11, then read the DSS excerpt from Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls, Hershel Shanks, pg. 161

·       Missing section – Nahash king of the children of Ammon, sorely oppressed the children of Gad and the children of Reuben, and he gouged out all their right eyes and struck terror and dread in Israel.  There was not left one among the children of Israel beyond the Jordan whose right eye was not put out by Nahash king of the children of Ammon; except that seven thousand men fled from the children of Ammonand entered Jabesh-Gilead.  About a month later…

·       The point here is to show that though we state that the original Autograph is without err, the copying and translating over thousands of years have left us some flaws in our current versions.  Nonetheless I believe the Holy Spirit reveals truth as required.