ATTENTION: The following does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of ETH

(By Jeff Roberts) The difference between looking at a subject in Hebrew or modern day English should be the same as most Christians will say that the Bible will not be changed. Where do Christians get that idea from? Well the answer is a misquote from Matthew 5:18 “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. This is quite interesting considering the Greek word used for law is “nomos”. What law is Matthew discussing? The Mosaic Law.

If you ask a Christian why do we live in such a fallen state? They will tell you because Adam and Eve sinned. When asked what the sin was these people will claim that they disobeyed YHWH. Is that really all that happened? If you asked a Jew they will tell you what happened in the Garden, what happened in Genesis 6 and what really occurred at the Tower of Babel.


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Genesis 3:1 starts off telling us that “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. א  וְהַנָּחָשׁ, הָיָה עָרוּם, מִכֹּל חַיַּת הַשָּׂדֶה, אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים; וַיֹּאמֶר, אֶל-הָאִשָּׁה, אַף כִּי-אָמַר אֱלֹהִים, לֹא תֹאכְלוּ מִכֹּל עֵץ הַגָּן.  The serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field. Let’s look at the word for subtle. It’s H6175 which can mean subtle or shrew but the root of the word is arom which means very cunning or crafty. The term beast is not referring to wildlife or animals. It’s referring to anything living as its root word means life. Here is the most important part. What was Eve deceived by? A serpent? Serpents do not talk. That being said every Hebrew verse has four meanings.

When someone tricks us or deceives us what do we call them? A Snake. This term was never meant to be taken literally. The word for serpent is H5175 “Nachash” but has other meanings as well. Genesis 3, Isaiah 14, and Ezekiel 28 seemingly involve Satan, a Nachash, or some type of angelic or spiritual entity. The Hebrew root is the basis for noun, verb and adjective. The verb form means to practice divination, deceive or sorcery. The noun form means the diviner, deceiver or sorcerer. The adjective means bronze or brazen or bright shine. In the noun for it would mean the shining one or illuminated one. This is normal in Hebrew to address divine being in scripture.

So when the “Serpent” speaks to Eve he is obviously in close proximity and also apart of YHWH’s Divine Counsel and living with YHWH in Eden. It is a divine being associated with the Divine Council who freely chose to oppose God’s plan for humanity by prompting the humans to disobey God so they would either be killed or removed from God’s council and family.  Genesis 3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent: ‘because thou hast done this, cursed art thou from among all cattle, and from among all beasts of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. Now YHWH could be referring to Sheol but Satan is not in Sheol as he is the Prince of the Power of the Air. Nor does the serpent need to eat dust to sustain life. YHWH is simply saying that he is the lowest of the low and eventually spend eternity in the bottomless pit.

So what really happened? Eve was commanded by God to not to eat or touch the fruit that was in the midst of the garden. The Serpent’s response is paramount to understanding the story. He said that you will not surely die BUT that God knows that if you eat of the tree then your eyes will be open and you will know all good and evil and be as gods. The Hebrew word eyes is “Ayin”. This is referring to spiritual sight. The same symbol of the all-seeing-eye is about obtaining spiritual knowledge. The Hebrew word for know is “Yada”. It might be worth noting that word means to know someone intimately as well. So not only did Adam and Eve disobey Gods commandments they wanted to be just like God or be equal to him. When the Messiah died on the cross he said “it is finished”. What was he referring to? The name for Jesus in Hebrew also means “The Hand That Destroys The Establishment of The Eye. TO BE CONTINUED