Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Humans Before Adam And Eve

It really looks as if everything was done before Genesis 2 started ... except for modern humans.


Gen 2:1
וַיְכֻלּ֛וּ הַשָּׁמַ֥יִם וְהָאָ֖רֶץ וְכָל־ צְבָאָֽם׃

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.


Gen 2:2
וַיְכַ֤ל אֱלֹהִים֙ בַּיֹּ֣ום הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔י מְלַאכְתֹּ֖ו אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֑ה וַיִּשְׁבֹּת֙ בַּיֹּ֣ום הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔י מִכָּל־ מְלַאכְתֹּ֖ו אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשָֽׂה׃

And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.


Gen. 2:3
וַיְבָ֤רֶךְ אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־ יֹ֣ום הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔י וַיְקַדֵּ֖שׁ אֹתֹ֑ו כִּ֣י בֹ֤ו שָׁבַת֙ מִכָּל־ מְלַאכְתֹּ֔ו אֲשֶׁר־ בָּרָ֥א אֱלֹהִ֖ים לַעֲשֹֽׂות׃

And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.


Gen. 2:4
אֵ֣לֶּה תֹולְדֹ֧ות הַשָּׁמַ֛יִם וְהָאָ֖רֶץ בְּהִבָּֽרְאָ֑ם בְּיֹ֗ום עֲשֹׂ֛ות יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶ֥רֶץ וְשָׁמָֽיִם׃

These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,


Gen. 2:5
וְכֹ֣ל שִׂ֣יחַ הַשָּׂדֶ֗ה טֶ֚רֶם יִֽהְיֶ֣ה בָאָ֔רֶץ וְכָל־ עֵ֥שֶׂב הַשָּׂדֶ֖ה טֶ֣רֶם יִצְמָ֑ח כִּי֩ לֹ֨א הִמְטִ֜יר יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהִים֙ עַל־ הָאָ֔רֶץ וְאָדָ֣ם אַ֔יִן לַֽעֲבֹ֖ד אֶת־ הָֽאֲדָמָֽה׃

And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.


Gen. 2:6
וְאֵ֖ד יַֽעֲלֶ֣ה מִן־ הָאָ֑רֶץ וְהִשְׁקָ֖ה אֶֽת־ כָּל־ פְּנֵֽי־ הָֽאֲדָמָֽה׃

But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.


Gen. 2:7
וַיִּיצֶר֩ יְהוָ֨ה אֱלֹהִ֜ים אֶת־ הָֽאָדָ֗ם עָפָר֙ מִן־ הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה וַיִּפַּ֥ח בְּאַפָּ֖יו נִשְׁמַ֣ת חַיִּ֑ים וַֽיְהִ֥י הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְנֶ֥פֶשׁ חַיָּֽה׃

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.


Gen 2:8
וַיִּטַּ֞ע יְהוָ֧ה אֱלֹהִ֛ים גַּן־ בְּעֵ֖דֶן מִקֶּ֑דֶם וַיָּ֣שֶׂם שָׁ֔ם אֶת־ הָֽאָדָ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר יָצָֽר׃

And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.


Gen 2:9
וַיַּצְמַ֞ח יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהִים֙ מִן־ הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה כָּל־ עֵ֛ץ נֶחְמָ֥ד לְמַרְאֶ֖ה וְטֹ֣וב לְמַאֲכָ֑ל וְעֵ֤ץ הַֽחַיִּים֙ בְּתֹ֣וךְ הַגָּ֔ן וְעֵ֕ץ הַדַּ֖עַת טֹ֥וב וָרָֽע׃

And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.


So ..... modern humans were formed, then the first humans were formed via evolution, with Adam being uum, the first "prophet" if you will. It would seem to me that evolution allows humans to evolve in a group and it provides an answer to where Cain got his wife from.


I know this is out of the realm of science, but I think the Garden of Eden is another dimension, for reason that we'll get into later in Genesis. When you are talking about religion it's ok to speculate this way. lol

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

"I know this is out of the realm of science, but I think the Garden of Eden is another dimension, for reason that we'll get into later in Genesis. When you are talking about religion it's ok to speculate this way. lol "

You too, huh?! I've always thought this about just about everything mythos. I've told Thadd that I think the stories of the Gods really did happen, just not *here*. He likes the idea of a trans-dimensional time warp thing going on.

SJ said...

The Jewish rabbinical tradition for how polytheism started is that people started to venerate angels and then it turned into worship later in time.


The Christian view takes it further and says that Satan took a gang of angels and rebelled against God.


Maybe the "gods" are some kind of real entities just not how polytheists expect..... O.o

Anonymous said...

Ummm, no.

Polytheism is the oldest religion on the planet/ in history. It's more like one particular god doesn't play well with others and didn't learn the word "share" or "play nice".

Your god never denies the existence of my gods, he just doesn't want you worshipping anyone but him.

Mine are just as real as yours with just as much divinity, sacredness, and worthy of devotion. The difference is, some one cannot handle competition
;)

Are you aware that there's some speculation that the ancient Hebrews once worshipped a Goddess? I don't know too much about this idea, but I've heard about it over the years.

Imagine that ;)

SJ said...

Deuteronomy 4:35- Unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is non else beside him.

Isaiah 46:9- Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me.

1 Chronicles 16:26- For all the gods of the people are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.

Ahavah said...

Warning: Heresy to follow!

Historical and Archaeological evidence, along with modern interpretation of the Biblical Text, seem to indicate that El Shaddai was the original "goddess" - a feminine manifestation of Elohim (plural-indicates the totality of the Deity, all forms combined). Her "womb" was the void created by the Ain Sof in which creation was made and she was the mother of all things, metaphorically speaking. This is how earliest mankind knew God. Other feminine forms include Binah (wisdom), and the Shekinah (presence). But for whatever reason God stopped appearing in the El Shaddai form and instead went for the paternal warrior look, renaming himself YHWH - a masculine manifestation. This is how he "appeared" from Egypt onward.

I have seen it speculated that perhaps goddess worship got out of hand and turned into rampant paganism, so God discarded that form. The Ain Sof itself, outside of space and time as we know it, has no gender, obviously, but most other manifestations of God do. It's interesting to me to keep in mind that when God tells Moshe that he appeared as El Shaddai to the patriarchs, he's referring to a feminine form. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (and Noach and Shem, we can presume, at Jerusalem even after the Deluge) knew God primarily as a feminine being.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Ahavah Gayle. That is very enlightening.

SJ, still your quotes just show a god who doesn't like to share. :P

Shalmo said...

"I know this is out of the realm of science, but I think the Garden of Eden is another dimension, for reason that we'll get into later in Genesis. When you are talking about religion it's ok to speculate this way. lol "

Indeed. You might as well switch to mormonism or scientology

....

@ Cora you may wish to read Robert Goldenberg's book, "The Origins of Judaism".

He lays out a succint summary for how the jewish god developed, using the Bible to shows its evolving god. From polytheism came monolatrism/henotheism, the worship of one god while not denying others exists. The whole Torah is very henotheistic, you see where YHWH says he came to bring judgement against the gods of Egypt, to not worship other gods, etc. Overtime the hebrew scribes increased YHWH power as the books of the bible developed, soon rather than being restricted to Israel, YHWH has power over all the nations and was superior to their gods, until finally he became monotheistic. He was the only god, and others simply did not exist.