BIBLE LESSON GENESIS 3

In and out of the garden or bad little brats

Did anyone notice in Genesis 2: 4 that reference to the Almighty changed from God to the Lord God? Later in Genesis 4:1 it changes again to just the Lord. Later it alternates from one to the other chapter to chapter. from God to the Lord. I wonder if this is any significance. Maybe too many scribes had their hand in transcribing all those scrolls they later burned. I still cannot understand that suspicious act of destroying the documents they worked from. But then, I'm just and ignorant heathen. Okay, let us get on with the show.

Genesis 3

1; We are in the garden with a subtil serpent. I had to look this word up. It is a different spelling from subtle. I found it in the KJV Dictionary Definition: (subtil: Sly; artful; cunning; crafty; insinuating; deceitful and treacherous) were some of the definitions. The talking snake is asking the woman what God said about eating fruit from certain trees. Does anyone think it odd that a snake could talk while no other animals could? Personally, I believe it points out that these stories are merely fables, not actual events.

2 and 3: The naked young woman told him they could eat from all except one tree in the middle of the garden. If we ate of that tree we would drop dead right then, even if we just touched the tree.

4: The serpent said, "No, naked lady, that ain't so. He was pulling the wool over your eyes."

5: "He knows if you eat of that fruit you will know what he knows and you will be as a god too."

6: The naked lady saw that the tree was indeed pleasant looking with tempting fruit, so like most curious gals, she tasted of it. It was so good she slipped one to her hansom husband noticing a new glow about him.

7: Now both stood there observing each other with a fresh knowledge. They quickly grabbed up some fig leaves to cover themselves. They did not want the serpent getting an eye full of their nakedness.

8: Of a sudden, they heard the booming voice of their Lord God thunder out as he stomped through the garden. They quickly dove into the bushes.

9: The Lord God called, "Ad'am, where are you?"

10: "I'm hiding in the bushes, because I didn't want you to see me naked."

11: "Who told you, you were naked? Did you eat from the Tree I ordered you not to eat?

12: "This naked woman you made for me gave it to me."

13: "What have you done, Woman?" Their Lord scowled at the shivering, naked woman.

The naked woman clutching at her fig leaf and said," That silly serpent charmed me, the sly devil." she pointed to the serpent who was trying to conceal himself behind a limb of the forbidden tree.

14: The LORD GOD cursed at the serpent. "You are the lowest of all animals and you shall slither on your belly and eat dirt for all the days of your life, and the nights too.

15: There will be much hatred between you and the woman, your seed and her seed, and she will stomp on your head and you will bite her heel.

16: And you young lady, you are going to be sorry, especially when you give birth. You will greatly desire your husband get pregnant many times and it's not going to be easy for you. Your husband is the boss over you.

17: Ad'am," he said, "Because you listened to your wife and have eaten the fruit of my special tree, the one I commanded you not to eat of. I curse the ground you walk on and you will be sorry and eat off it all your life.

18: There will be many thorns and thistles in your garden and you will have to eat the herbs in the fields.

19 For all your sweat, you shall eat much bread until you return to what you came from; just a piece of dirt."

20: Adam named his wife Eve, because she was the first mother.

21: God killed a couple sheep and make his second-rate subjects coats of skins to cover up their nakedness.

22: "Okay, since man knows what is good and evil as well as us, let's put them out of the garden before they eat of the tree of life and live forever," he told his associates. Maybe he thought he could not put up with the two hellions for that long. We all know the answer to that.

23: Therefore, he chased man from his lovely garden, sent him to grow plants from the same poor soil he made him from. It does not say, but frail Eve must have followed Ad'am with her head bowed as she pulled at the uncomfortable animal skin scraping on her delicate skin.

24: After he drove the scallywags out, he made a fence of flaming swords to keep them from getting to the tree of life. Wow, he must have been really pissed. You know, if this is an example of how to treat you kids, I no longer feel so guilty about sending my kids packing when they became of age.

I think some basic instructions before he turned them loose in the garden might have been beneficial instead of threats of death for not obeying. This was not a very nice god in the beginning. It seems to me, he punished his subjects for his poor designs. His little ant farm got off to a bad start.

Keep in mind; these are only the thoughts of an ignorant hillbilly. Even I have a right to my beliefs.(Beliefs- acceptance by the mind that something is true or real, often underpinned by an emotional or spiritual sense of certainty) I like this definition I found in the Encarta Dictionary. I am getting better. I only have to look up every third of fourth word now.

Thank you and have a pleasant day.

Ray

BIBLE LESSON 2

GENESIS 2

Here again is my interpretation of what the Bible is saying. My numbered paragraphs correspond with the Bible's verses.

1: This simply states that the heavens and the earth and everything in them were finished as stated in Genesis 1. Most of this chapter is repeating what was in the first.

God finished creating the earth, the heavens and all the living things on them, i.e., the earth and the heavens. I surmise now he populated the earth mainly for humans and the heavens for himself and his group, a nice place where they could look down on man to make sure they did what they were supposed to do. That was to populate their world and take care of the beasts, fowls and all the creatures of the sea. How disappointing this must have been. We have been too busy waging wars as taught us, filling our glutinous guts with the meat from the mistreated animals entrusted to our care.

Day Seven

2:-God ended his work and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, that indicates he did some work on the seventh day and then rested from all his work. When on that day did he stop to rest? Some say this is the eighth day. If God is a spirit, what need did he have to rest? Resting is for a physical being to rest his muscles. God had no form.

3:-This is where many get the idea that the Sabbath is ment to be holy, a day of rest. I never took it as a day of rest, not even when I was at the height of my religious spell back in the sixties. I wonder how many actually observe this. There is some controversy about this, but I will not go into that. That comes up in Exodus.

4:-I guess we are going back to the beginning again. These sounds like an interjection from the author reiterating what took place.

5:-more of the same and God forgot to water the garden so he conjured up a rain shower. It must be on the sixth day again. He had not jet created man. I guess he needed some water to mix with the dirt he used to form man.

6:-So now, it is watered.

7:-Now he is forming man, giving us more details. I assume this is the same man he created in Genesis 1;-7 when created both male and female in his own image.

8:-He left the newly formed man laying there in the dirt while he went east of E'den to make a special garden. I guess E,den is where everyone else he/they created lived.(Let us make man in our image.) He wanted to build a special garden just for his creation of A'dam. Then he put the man there.

9:-Here is where God plants all his favorite trees and his two special touch-and-you-die trees. The ones he uses to tempt his newly created man and woman. Thus far, he created everything including A'dam out of the dirt.

Gen:10-14, I believe this is merely an attempt to confuse and yet temp the greedy. Some of these rivers are nonexistent or lost in time. There is too much controversy for this ignorant hillbilly to attempt an explanation. Of what interest would a couple have in precious metals, stones and such? Other than buying some clothes or adorning their bodies with gold studs and pretty stones, they have all they need.

This is a case where the author is putting in too much unnecessary information.

15:-For the second time, God put man in the garden and told him to care for it.

16:-Eat freely of any tree in the garden.

17:-In my opinion, God tells an untruth. Just do not eat from my special trees for you will die on that day. At the least, it is an idle threat.

18:-I guess God felt bad about telling Ad'am a story so, he decided to give him a playmate, which he said two or three times already.

19:-First, he created fowls that fly and beast of the field and brought them so Ad'am could name them. He must have gotten tired of naming them all in his original creation.

20:-After Ad'am practiced his speech naming all the animals, because it would have taken a long time to name all the animals of the world, he must not have liked any of them for a help meet.

21:-So, God hypnotized Ad'am. As he slept, God removed one of his ribs. That is a neat way of explaining why men have one less rib than women do. After he made everything including Ad'am out of dirt, why did he use a part of Ad'am to make a female? Is this another way of belittling women? They are but a insignificant part of a man. One must admit God had little regard for women. They are mere helpmates, for man, playthings to do his biddings, to bear his children. Throughout the Bible, they are ridiculed and belittled.

22:-He made a woman from the rib and gave her to Ad'am. Here is your playmate. have fun now.

23:-Now this poses the question, does this make her his sister, his daughter or what? Ad'am not only has no mother, he had to sacrifice part of his body to gain a wife of questionable parentage. He called her Woman, which is nicer than what some men call their wives these days.

24:-This is an illogical statement and seems out of place at this point, or a poor example. Neither the Man nor the Woman had a mother. That is if you consider God Ad'am's father then Ad'am is Eve's father. A couple of orphans right at the beginning.

25:-Of course, this is a setup for the downfall of the first couple. We must take this for what it is a sign of innocence gone corrupt. Okay, that is the beginning of the end. It's all downhill from here on.