[size=180]Creation Hymn[/size]
[size=85]Art Credit: The Brothers Hildebrandt[/size]
A Unique Retelling of Genesis 1-3
Researched & Written By Dennis M. Martin-All Rights Are Reserved.
This original work may not be duplicated nor transmitted, in part or as a whole, in any form whatsoever without the written consent of its author.
[size=150]Foreword[/size]
I like being human. It’s a good thing to be.
Sure, we have our limitations, but we also have imaginations; we create problems, but we also come up with solutions. We can be irritating and obnoxious toward each other, but we can also demonstrate compassion and empathy just as readily.
We think, and we know that we think.
We experience emotions and, we can capture a moment, a thought, or an idea—in so many different ways—and then share them with our fellow humans.
We imagine, incessantly, and then we build on that imagination.
We can agree, and we can agree to disagree, or be disagreeable, choosing to either hate, or to love, with consequences either way.
We can be pessimistic, yes, and optimistic, too—that choice is always ours to make.
And—for who we are—every ending introduces a beginning.
So, how did human beings come to be here, on a seemingly singular planet in an unimaginably vast Universe? And how did we come to be the kind of people that we are—people who know the difference between good and evil, and yet, for that knowledge, seem unable to realize the ideal that such knowledge incorporates into us?
Putting all speculation aside and considering the simple existence of the account written in Genesis, I perceive that Genesis is the only document we have that makes any attempt whatsoever to answer these questions. Thus, without it, all we have left to us is our speculations.
It is an ancient document, written, of course, in a compact style and it has survived, unembellished - and unremarkably so when one considers the tenacity of the Hebrew scribes - as it made its way to us through millennia of time. This has made it, “The Document To Be Dealt With,” when considering our origins. Some deal with it by dismissing it as myth, or just by simply ignoring it. And some deal with it by declaring it an allegory, or just incomprehensible, but—most certainly—not to be taken literally. Yet, some choose to deal with it by accepting it as a factual document; a fantastic, but still literal account, handed down with purpose; for it seems to describe to us a world that was lost, a world of which we would know nothing apart from this account.
All, then, who contemplate the origin of ourselves, must deal with this account, in some way, regardless. However, any choice made on how to deal with it will lead anyone to conclusions that are quite different from another’s, thus making this a controversial document.
Who wrote Genesis? No one knows for sure. But, I believe the first of the two accounts (Gen 1:1-2:3) was written by a human being who was very close to the story it tells: for it is a story, foremost.
Concerning the second account (Gen 2:4-4:26), I think it likely that it was appended sometime shortly after the flood, given the mention of rain, and that it came from an account written before the flood, during the time when the lives of human beings lasted hundreds of years and the life span of Adam & Eve made them accessible to all for most of the first thousand years. That world was very different from the one we know.
So, there is conjecture in this retelling of mine, but no artistic license, even though my imagination was employed in the writing process. That means that nothing I wrote is intended to either sustain, or contest, anyone’s preferred theological rumination. Rather it is written as conjecture derived from many long and careful considerations that led to several logically unavoidable conclusions as I allowed the story to unfold in my mind what it wished to convey. That is why it took me years to research and write because the questions that this story tasked me to find the answers for did not come easily, but they did come.
Regardless, then, my dear reader, of what your own preferred understanding of the Genesis story may be, I think you will find this retelling a distinctive one, at the very least.
I like being human, it’s a good thing to be; despite the difficulties we must currently endure because of where we are now and who we are now. And so, it is my wish that you, too, will discover the good difference made to hope that I have found in this very ancient document as I attempt to add detail to the story of how we got to be here and how we got to be who we are.
It is my wish that you will come to understand what I mean when I say, “Be good! It is, after all, what we were created to be!”
- —Dennis!*
[size=150]Creation Hymn[/size]
**[size=150]N[/size]**othing.
Once, there were no Things, and no one to share them with. It cannot be explained, but You are all that ever was. And all that is.
You did, long ago, create these Elohim, these other spirit-beings who are, “The Sons of Elohim,” some of which are Malawk, or, “Messengers,” and some of which are seated at Your Divine Council. But, now, because of the, “throwing down,” of the previous creation, those still with You have little to do besides standing at the ready, awaiting Your will; for these faithful ones are to become a benefit to something far greater than they have known before, they are to be a part of something that only You, the unique Elohim, The One Who is Plural, could imagine.
You feel it powerfully, this need that is in You. It’s a need as big as The Void just beyond this place; a void begging You to fill it. It is a Desire that permeates Your entire Being; the goodness of Your very existence demanding that there be others who can benefit from Who You are; others who will want to commune with You, willingly and gladly and, in turn, receive from You all the Good and Pleasurable things that are in You to give; others who, like You, will exist to the benefit of others; others to whom You can be God.
You have imagined these others as Children; Children that You will create to reflect the unity that You, Yourself, possess by integrating into corporeal bodies that which is unique in You. And for their possessing this, You intend that they will come into the expression of this sentient authority in a beautiful and wondrous place; a place filled with all kinds of whimsical, extraordinary and dangerous things; things that will respond with delight to their every attention and thus become a part of fulfilling the good desires You will give them to play, explore, create and learn.
This place will not only safeguard their existence and provide for them, but will evolve with them, growing and changing as they do, thus stimulating them to learn from the deeper things that You will hide for them to discover.
It will be a place designed to flourish for the work they will put into serving it. And so, it will become a place that will inspire them into self-expression; a place that will excite them with possibilities; a place that will gradually unravel to them Your heart and kindle in them an ever increasing admiration for You.
It will become a place where You can provide for them eons of time filled with joy and creativity, desire and need, challenge, fulfillment, adventure, and satisfaction.
**[size=150]Y[/size]**our heart races, now, as You and Your eternal companion, The One known as Wisdom, contemplate the new Universe that You will create to sustain their Home and them on it.
Your imagination soars as You meticulously plan out all the delicate and obscure details that will infuse every Thing You make with meaning; Things both near and far and large and small; things that will awaken Your Children to all of which You are aware. For You intend that they will become like You, knowing the difference between Good and Evil and delighting in doing good.
Then, once this virtue is established in them, they will be enabled to comprehend Your own heart of Loves and thus live together in harmony for knowing an internal, unshakable joy that comes from a mind that comprehends peace; a comprehension made possible for the accord that will exist between Body, Soul and Spirit. Thus awakened, their perceptions of Reality and Possibility will be raised far above the base understanding that the physical world they will dwell on can bring to them.
**[size=150]N[/size]**ow, at last, after an eternity of thinking and planning, You begin to lay, once again, the foundation for All Things New, re-creating that strange Reality You once conceived where Spirit and Substance can co-exist.
The Elohim watch spell bound now as You begin Your Work.
From the substance that was once, long-ago, created ex nihilo, when, “hydrogen,” and, “oxygen,” first bonded together upon the instant of their creation, a massive sphere of, “water,” holding a large, wasted and vacated sphere at its center, is, now, all that is left. It is from this that everything else will, again, come to be.
Your Spirit now hovers, vibrating around this sphere like a mother bird that will soon flutter around its nest. The sphere of water polarizes in response to Your energy, creating a powerful magnetic field through its center. And now, as these very intense, newly created lines of flux reach into The Void and encounter Your active Spirit, the sphere begins rotating. Slowly at first and then, as You gradually increase the energy in Your fluttering, it begins spinning faster and faster until it achieves a predetermined velocity. And in that instant, when the conditions are optimal, You call loudly into the sphere, creating a potent sound wave that pressurizes the sphere, igniting it:
[size=150]“LIGHT, BE!”[/size]
The Light begins to spread throughout this very great deep, illuminating the face of the sphere within and chasing out the darkness that can’t help but retreat as it comes face to face with its energetic antithesis: Light.
This intense energy, which can only be present at this beginning, has also created an, “inverted hole,” in the void that isolates the physical sphere, “inside,” of it from the physical events that will soon be taking place, “outside,” the hole, giving those events outside the needed duration necessary to correlate their maturing with the finalizing of Your creation.
A predetermined interval has now elapsed and You take a moment to examine what You’ve just called into being.
You name the retreating darkness, “Night,” and the advancing light You name, “Day.” You establish this division into a cycle, solemnizing this interval into an evening and a morning You call, “The First Day.” And satisfied that all is as You intended, You say to Yourself,
“This is all good!”
**[size=150]I[/size]**mmediately, as the first interval ends and the next interval begins, You speak to the water again, causing another kind of reaction deep inside this colossal, rotating sphere. This time a thin, spherical layer of metallic hydrogen that You call The Raquia, begins to form above and around the central sphere, while being held concentric to it by the very intense magnetic field that You are maintaining. And as this Raquia forms, it divides the waters into two layers, separating the waters, “below,” from the waters, “above.” You then name the place above this, “vault,” formed by The Raquia and spread out like an arch above the waters below, “The Heavens.” And as another interval, another evening and morning come to an end, You again pause to look with satisfaction on what You’ve made and say among Yourself,
“This is all good!”
**[size=150]N[/size]**ow, plunging joyfully back into Your work, You speak, once more, to the waters below The Raquia causing them to, “fly together,” to one place, thus uncovering, “The Dry Land.” The confluence of waters that is below The Raquia You now call, “The Sea,” and together with The Dry Land they comprise what You call, “The Earth,” with a gaseous atmosphere that is wholly contained and pressurized within this Raquia—this remarkable shell that will act as a shield and a filter to protect The Earth and it’s soon inhabitants, as well as playing an integral part in illuminating and reenergizing it.
At this point You no longer need to maintain Your prior energy output and so, because the magnetic field that originates from the now hot center of The Earth is sufficient to maintain The Raquia in place, You relax and the magnetic moment decreases rapidly to a level perfect for providing the energy needed to sustain the delicate work You can now undertake.
The inverted hole that was created and sustained by this energy now begins to collapse drawing the events, “outside,” the hole into synchronization with the events, “inside.”
Before moving on to the next step, though, You again pause to inspect all You’ve created and, again, You say to Yourself,
“This is all good!”
**[size=150]N[/size]**ow, while the still spreading light is giving its energy and illuminating all You’ve made thus far, You take the remainder of this day in speaking to The Dry Land causing it to sprout a great variety of herbs, with duplicating seeds in them, and fruit trees, with duplicating seeds in their fruit, each after its own kind. These will be the food for Your Children’s bodies.
You also create an almost innumerable array of tender grasses and delicate, flowering plants and shrubbery, and grand, massive trees, all designed to astonish, delight, comfort and inspire Your Children with their beauty and variety. These things will become the food for Your Children’s souls.
The pressurized water that is stored in the widespread network of underground caverns has now been heated sufficiently by The Earth’s hot core and is now seeping up through the land to the surface and forming a temperate mist that will keep moist The Dry Land of The Earth, thus keeping these plants and trees well supplied with water. And so, flourishing in these ideal conditions, these begin their unchecked, but coinciding and complimentary cycles of growth.
This Third Day now comes to its end and before another begins You again examine all that You’ve made and say among Yourself,
“This is all good!”
**[size=150]N[/size]**ow, as the next day begins, You turn Your attention to the water above The Raquia that is spreading out from the center of this new Cosmos. Light has realized that singular thing called, “Time and Space.” And so You begin this Day of work by stretching out this, “Space-Time,” tensioning it like a fabric.
You then make, from the water above, two very different, but singular sources of light, arranging the lesser light of the two to be reflecting back to The Earth the greater light of the other. You also make, from the water, a truly uncountable number of very powerful but distant lights arranging all these lights, as You place them on this fabric, so that they will not only provide energy and illuminate The Earth, but will assist those who will soon dwell here in marking the passage of that singular, illusory effect that will come to be known as, “Time.”
That unique inverted hole in which You are creating all this is shrinking exponentially in diameter. And, for this shrinking, it is now drawing the light from these stars rapidly toward the center where it will be available to The Earth when the shrinking reaches its perfectly timed vanishing.
Now, as The Fourth Day progresses to its end, Your Sons, who have been watching spellbound up to this point, suddenly erupt into a song and clap their hands with glee for seeing the beauty of the light in the Sun and Moon and all these stars, as well as these, “wandering stars,” each set into its place to maintain The Earth in its place, hanging upon nothing.
Happily, You receive their joy as once more You inspect all You’ve made and say to Yourself,
“This is all good!”
**[size=150]Y[/size]**our creative energy is flowing freely now as The Fifth Day begins and You excitedly direct Your attention to The Sea. You’re so delighted to finally be at the point where You can begin to utilize the chemistry that You put into The Earth to make all of the fantastic creatures You had dreamed of making as You were planning out this Creation.
Soon, The Sea is populated with all manner of life— from the gigantic whales and fishes and above them all, the awe-inspiring, fire-breathing, Leviathan, to the tiniest creatures that won’t even be seen.
You then turn Your attention to The Earth’s sky and, once more, You begin using the chemistry You put into The Earth to make, and then release into the sky, a vast number of fantastic birds as well as many types of huge, flying reptiles, creating them in pairs that You call, “Male and Female.” And so, feeling a great satisfaction for the work You have done thus far, You joyfully enable, by command, all the creatures that You’ve made in pairs as male and female— creatures that live in the ocean and fly in the sky— to reproduce and fill The Earth with life; each kind mating with its own kind; life from life joined.
Your Work is nearing completion as this day, too, draws to a close and Your satisfaction is tremendous as You pause, once more, to examine all You’ve made and say among Yourself,
“This is all good!”
**[size=150]A[/size]**nd so, The Sixth Day has now arrived. Excitedly You continue Your creative output by directing Your attention to The Dry Land— Here then, is where Your Children will soon dwell.
You begin this day by, once again, utilizing the chemistry of The Earth to make all kinds of wonderful, inspiring beasts, in all varieties of shape and all manner of sizes; from the massive, earth-shaking Behemoth down to all the tiniest and even invisible creatures, as well as an incredible variety of creeping things that will all co-exist in usefulness for Your Children. And so it will be that, even as all these creatures that You’ve made interact with each other, to their own mutual benefit, they will come to teach Your Children many of the things they will need to know about You, Themselves and The Elohim.
You sigh happily now as You pause from Your work for knowing what You plan to do next.
In six days’ time You have created a beautiful, incredibly detailed, finely-tuned and intricately balanced Universe, designed not only to sustain Your children for ages upon ages of time, but to engross them in discovery and inspire them into the eons that lay ahead of them with all the wonders and mysteries that came from You and Wisdom in creating it.
“So, here it is, at last!” You say among Yourself, “The time for completion!”
The final hours of the sixth day have come. The moment is right. Everything has been prepared as now, with great anticipation and a feeling of great excitement, You bring forth, also from the chemistry of The Earth, the singular reason for all of Your Creation, Your first human son…
He is so like You in every way, both inside and out; the very Image of You. And yes, he’s so handsome, so very beautiful. You heart swells with pride to see him lying there.
However, as yet he is unaware of his own existence. And for that, with Your emotions at their peak from anticipation, You impart to him— with love and companion joy in Your every Breath— a Rare and Incredible Gift, indeed; You give him of Your Own Spirit; You put into him Your Own Personal Life-Force— a Thing unknown to anything that You’ve ever made before.
He breathes deep now and stirs. And in him You see the deep desire of Your heart beginning to be fulfilled; in him You see the potential to, at last, have someone beyond Yourself who can receive all the goodness You have to give and whom will then willingly, and with gladness, choose to ahaba You and to appreciate You for Who You are and what You’ve accomplished in creating all this for them.
As his eyes flutter open, he sees You for the first time and, standing up, fully aware of Who You are, he immediately, joyfully, embraces You and Your heart thrills to feel his affection pouring out freely from his heart, like water, as You return his embrace.
You let the embrace linger, enjoying every second of it till Your heart begins to burst with the things You want to say. And so, breaking his embrace, You hold him at arm’s length, looking straight into his eyes, and begin speaking to him, letting the sound of Your emotions spill from You with every word.
“My son!” You say, Your voice happy and proud, “I am giving you your name: You will be called, ‘The Awdam!’”
“I give you this name because you were taken from the elements of The Earth and in you, by means of your blood-soul and My Spirit, Life and Self-awareness co-exist; You are truly a Living Soul!”
And, watching him as You speak, You see reflected in his face the appreciation and adoration he feels as awareness and comprehension become a part of him for this Precious Gift You’ve given—and You sigh, feeling deeply satisfied.
Your work is done. But it is not complete. The Universe and its Earth, as well as the reason for it all, The Awdam, exist. But there is still more to be done.
The canopy is dimming now, fading to the beautiful twilight that will endure till the sun rises again even as You and The Awdam, together, watch the end of The Sixth Day become the beginning of The Seventh. And grinning broadly You turn to him and, catching his eyes, You declare,
“This is all so good, so very good! Everything I intended to make is made! And as I look at it, I see that it is all very, very good!”
“Therefore, as this day comes to an end and a new day begins, I decree that this, The Seventh Day, is to be hallowed. It is to be a day set apart for all the eons to come. Six days you will work at tending this place, just as I will teach you, but, on The Seventh Day you will rest. Because, just as I took six days to create all of this, and am now going to rest from My work, spending this time of rest to commune with you, so shall you also do.”
Thus, You begin his tutelage, even as You take Your own pleasure in his fresh excitement over all You have made, including himself.
[size=150]~[/size]
**[size=150]Y[/size]**ou begin the dimmer, “night-time,” of this, The First Sabbath Day, by communing with his soul through the Spirit You imparted to him, and begin teaching him, in detail, the language he will, in turn, teach to the others. You are pleased to watch as his comprehension increases exponentially. Soon, he begins verbalizing his thoughts and asking You a never ending stream of questions, all of which You answer, tirelessly, while teaching him about how and why he was created.
The hours of the night pass into day-time as You and he continue Your exchanges until, finally, he yields himself to that exquisite exhaustion brought on from the intense mental stimulation that has engaged him, as well as from the emotional excitement he’s been experiencing, so that, by the end of the first Sabbath Day, with the sun setting and the canopy dimming, You smile at him as You watch him slip into his first sleep, delighted to be feeling Your pride in him; the deep, satisfying pride of a Father.
The Eighth Day has now come and You have something important to do. While he is still asleep, You turn Your attention to the eastern part of The Dry Land and, addressing Yourself to the free and chaotic growth, You execute your design for an inimitable, encompassed garden.
When You return, The Awdam, awakens and for feeling happy to see You again, he again embraces You. You return his embrace, gladly, as You say to Him, smiling broadly from the playful anticipation that You feel, “Come with me, The Awdam, I have something to show you!”
With the sun rising, the canopy above begins to brighten, filling The Earth with a diffuse, pink glow; a glow that enhances the beauty of everything it illuminates. And as You and he walk through the entrance of this garden together, You watch him as his eyes go wide with wonder. Pleased with his reaction You say to him, happily,
“I have created this garden, here, in the Eastern portion of The Dry Land just for you. All of The Dry Land I will now call, ‘Eden,’ for it sustains all of these delightful things I have made.”
And as You walk with him and talk to him, telling him all about the things in this place, watching him with joy in Your heart as he takes it all in— hungrily tasting and then eating all You bid him to— You guide him to where there are two exceptional trees growing near the lush and inviting bank of a crystal clear river that is flowing from a lake to the North; a lake that is, itself, fed from the heated, subterranean waters. This lake, thus fed, has become the source of a life-giving river that runs through the center of the garden.
It is the same river that, outside the garden, divides into the Four Rivers that run through the rest of Eden.
You watch him as he takes notice that each of these two trees has a fruit that is amazingly different from all else he has seen hanging from the branches of the other trees. As You notice his marveling, You get his attention and he listens intently to You as You speak,
“Son, this tree, here, in the middle of this garden, is the Tree of the Knowledge of the Difference Between Good and Evil. Next to it is the Tree of The Living.”
“Now, listen to me carefully; I have made all these things for you,” You say, waving Your arm to encompass the whole garden, “The fruit of the seed bearing trees and the herbs of the field are for your food, as well as being the food for all the other animated creatures I have created. You may all eat as much as you desire, for there will always be plenty.”
You pause here a second and draw a breath to emphasize the importance of what You are about to say. And as he turns from looking around at the garden to look at You, You meet his eyes and continue.
“But, of the fruit of this tree,” You say, pointing to one of the trees and punctuating the air with Your finger, “The Tree of the Knowledge of the Difference Between Good and Evil, you may not eat its fruit.”
You pause again, watching him, letting what You have just said fill his mind. And then, lowering Your arm, You continue.
“I can offer no other explanation to you at this time, than to say that in the day you eat of it you will cease to exist as you now are; for on the day that you eat if it, in dying, you will die.”
Wonderingly, he gazes at You and You see in his eyes that he has no intention of doubting You. Still, You wonder to Yourself if this trust is strong enough to endure…
**[size=150]R[/size]**eflecting, now, on this and why things must be done this way, You know that this fruit will do what You created it to do; it will impart to them the very knowledge You and all the Celestial Beings have of the difference between Good and Evil.
That is, it will create in them a conscience.
And thus, on the day that they eat of its fruit, their true but useless innocence will cease and they will no longer be who they now are. And for that, You also know that a time of testing is going to come, soon enough, even as You know of the jealousy that will be stirred in The Adversary when You give the dominion of this new creation to The Awdam, instead of he and the other Elohim.
But, what You don’t know is what is, of course, truly unknowable; and that is the answer to the question: Will The Awdam choose to trust You when tested, even as You intend and thus be allowed to eat the fruit, afterward, with Your permission, letting their newly acquired virtue work with the fruit in awakening them? Or will they choose to gain this knowledge in disobedience, adulterating the necessary work of the fruit as it does what it was created to do? It is a risky and uncertain thing You are doing because You know that there is no going backward once this question is answered.
Therefore, You must hide from him, for now, the great personal risk You are taking on Yourself through this process because You know that for them to become virtuous, even as You, their Father, are virtuous, they must be completely free to choose. For there is that Truth that has always been with You and exists because of You; it is that same Truth that built goodness into the Cosmos and is a Truth that All will eventually come to know and appreciate—this Truth is that, innate to possessing the knowledge of the difference between Good and Evil is the responsibility to choose to be Good.
Therefore, You know what they are yet unable to comprehend; that for truthful innocence to acquire virtue, first, apart from the knowledge itself, it must be given a genuine choice; it must be put to a test.
Will they, then, prove themselves virtuous, through trust in You, and thus be in concord with Your desires for them? Or, will they choose to distrust You, when tempted to distrust, and turn away from You and gain the desired knowledge on their own, thus disrupting the world You intend for them to know?
This, then, is the only restriction that needs to be placed on them in order to accomplish their completion. Therefore, it is a restriction that, if respected, will ultimately prove to be their awakening to an understanding of the Universe equal to Your own in creating The Earth for them. An understanding that will allow them to commune with You at that level and to be deeply appreciative of everything You have done for knowing, intimately, Your own heart. This is the ultimate satisfaction for You and one that will prove to be nothing but goodness for them into all the ages of time. For You intend, from the Ahaba(1) that You are, one way or another, to give to All of them, flowing out like a river, all the Pleasures You have at Your Right Hand for all of the ages to come…
**[size=150]Y[/size]**ou sense him watching You, waiting. And so, stirred from Your reverie, You smile warmly as You lead him away from there. For the rest of this day You and he continue talking while walking through the garden.
As his sharp, new senses feed his hungry mind, he responds joyfully to all the things in this place, touching, smelling and tasting while listening intently to all the things You are saying. It pleases You, in a way that is new to You, to see The Awdam so delighted by the variety of foods You’ve created as both You and he partake of the bounty together. You smile at your own thoughts as you imagine the delight it will be to share meals with The Awdam once they learn how to combine the food to make new tastes, as well as making other kinds of food.
Now, with You feeling satisfied, and The Awdam feeling full, You and he seat yourselves against a tree as the twilight of this day arrives. The Awdam grows quiet.
Oh, the joy You feel! As You watch him continue to smile from the joy of the day even as the desire for sleep overtakes him. When he is asleep, You sigh out Your own pleasure and whisper a knowing thought toward him: Sleep well, my son. Tomorrow is going to be even better!
**[size=150]A[/size]**s the sun rises, so does The Awdam. And, after he eats some fruit, You and he continue your walk through the Garden. He continues asking You questions—however, You are now answering his questions with questions as You watch him closely for the signs.
It pleases You to perceive that his comprehension continues to increase even as You notice, gladly, that there is also a kind of sadness creeping into him; for as he turns to introspection for examining his own body, and his own thoughts, he becomes aware that he was made for something much more than just to walk and talk and eat and learn. You know very well what he is feeling for You have felt it Yourself; a longing, long unsatisfied; a desire to share Yourself with another that doesn’t even yet exist.
“Father,” he says, “I feel alone.”
At last! Someone apart from You who feels as You do! Just as You had hoped! He has awakened to the desire You wanted him to feel! He knows what it’s like to be only one — to be alone!
But preparing him to receive what You have in mind to satisfy this need will take more than just another creative effort. So, sitting him down, You say, barely able to keep Your excitement from quavering the sound of Your voice,
“Yes Awdam! You are alone. It is not good for you to be alone. So I am going to make for you an, ezer kenegdo.”
You continue the awakening process by devoting the rest of this day to introducing him to all of the land animals and all of the flying animals. In their pairs, they come as You call. And as You present to him the first pair of land animals to arrive, blessing them to reproduce, You tell him to give each a name. The Awdam then begins to exercise his use of language and thought, creating a name that reflects what delights him the most about each of these blood-soul animals You present to him.
He becomes deft at this as You bring each pair to him and, as he gets to know them, he gives each a unique name derived from his perceptions. And so, the hours of this day fly by as the place becomes filled with lingering animals, surrounding him and delighting him, even as they are delighted to be close to their new master. But, the final hours of this day are closing, and as the Raquia continues to dim, You see that Ish is becoming tired.
There are many more creatures to name, but there is no hurry, So, You bring Ish some food while he continues enjoying his interactions with his new subjects. And, when he has eaten and is full, he slips easily into his needed sleep.
This part of the awakening process continues for several more days till You finally tell him that all the creatures have been named. And as You tell him this he remembers what You said at the beginning and looks at You questioningly.
“Father,” he asks, “You have created all these wonderful things in pairs, calling them Male and Female. You have made each with a mate that is fitted to the other. Yet I am made Male and I have no mate. Is this why I still feel alone?”
“Yes, it is!” You say, overwhelmingly satisfied with his response. “And now that you are aware of this and know that nothing now here is suitable to be A Strength Equal To You, you also know that I have always intended to create for you a Female to meet that need. I am now going to draw her from you and, from out of your own body, I will fashion for you your mate.
“Sleep now, My son and when you awaken you will discover the one I have in My heart to make just for you.”
You then cause a stupor to descend upon him and as he is lying on the soft grass, You take one from among his curves, healing to new the needed wound. Then, by closing flesh under her, You build the curve into a human Female— A singular being of unsurpassed beauty among all You’ve made.
**[size=150]S[/size]**he is Your daughter, yes, and ravishingly beautiful. But, she is also Your son’s sister. Therefore, she is, of truth, his Counterpart, that is, A Help Against Him; she is his well-fitted equal and his mate.
She is the final, dazzling act! The shining crown of glory on all of Your creation! A being of unparalleled grace and symmetry—soft to touch and rapturous to behold! She has an intellect equal to her brother, yet, with a perception that is the converse of and therefore, complimentary to his. Her inner heart and her outer beauty is inspiring. And will inspire, even as You intend.
You have also given into her soul the stronger desires. Desires that will impart to her an eagerness to please and to be pleasing, as well as creating in her a deep need to be known—desires that will lead them both to discover the emotions of pleasure that are intended to bond them together, intimately, even as You, their Father, are bonded together among Yourself.
For passed on through that curve taken from her brother, Ish, she has also received Your Breath, Your Life-Force, Your Spirit.
And now, as she begins to breathe on her own, she awakens and she, too, is fully aware of who You are and who she is. And, upon seeing You, recognition comes. She rises and pours out her affection in an all-enveloping embrace, which You joyously return.
Deeply satisfied now to see all You’ve planned and hoped for coming to fruition You reluctantly, but gently end the embrace and taking her by the shoulders, looking deeply into her eyes, You say, with a marveling sigh at the beauty of Your creation,
“My daughter… Such beauty—My daughter, there is someone I would like you to meet!”
You turn her gently around to see Awdam still asleep. When Your daughter sees Ish lying there, she gasps for recognizing him as one of her own kind, yet… different… and so she watches intensely as You step over to him and begin to rouse him from his sleep. She follows behind and standing behind You she watches, intent and silent.
Aroused from sleep he sees You first, as he awakes, and smiles for remembering Your words. Then, looking around while standing up, he finds this being similar to him, yet very different, standing behind You, but staring passionately at him.
Their eyes meet and suddenly his heart leaps!
And as she steps from behind You to take him in fully, eyeing him up and down, Ish, seeing, for the first time, that wide, appreciative look of admiration reflected in her eyes, recalls the words You spoke and exults, spontaneously, in a joyful and insightful double-entendre as You present her to him:
“This one, the once bone from the bones of me
and flesh from the flesh of me,
built into this one,
shall be called—Ishsha!
For from Ish she was taken!”
**[size=150]D[/size]**elighted now to see their joy You reveal to them all You have in Your heart.
“Now,” You tell him, “you are complete! This one you now call Ishsha, your sister, I give to you as your wife. She is fit well to you and will benefit you and complement you; she is your ezer kenegdo.(2)
“So, listen now, my son and my daughter, to what I have to say. I have split the Essence of Myself between you and between you have given you My ability to create new and Living Souls. Therefore, for the cause of this very powerful Sexuality I have created in you and in order for all things to be kept in order, your male children, when they come of age, must leave their father and mother and each man of you will take a sister to wife. And for his clinging in her they will become One flesh, knowing each the other.”
“I now give you two the reign over all I have created!”
“All the creatures in the oceans and all the creatures on the land and in the air are yours. Rule them well.”
“Learn about each other, and when the time is right, you will bear children. Fill The Earth, then, with your offspring and even now, beginning with your wife, my son, teach them well all I have taught you.”
You then watch as, naked before You, they embrace for the very first time freely and unashamedly finding themselves in an easy kiss.
You watch them proudly as each moment swells with joy. The happy sounds of the garden and the glad Celestial Music, like ethereal wind chimes, are all any hear as sight and touch and response become, for them, the focus of everything that needs to be known, right now.
The canopy is dim now, with evening coming on. Your own joy at the soul-satisfying wonder and beauty You’ve created mounts till it must be expressed. You break in on the new lover’s intense, arousing silence, beaming broadly with Your own expression of delight.
“This is all so good! Everything is as I intend! And as I see it at last before Me, I see that it is all very, very good!”
Turning at the sound of Your voice to look at You, with gratitude in their hearts for You and with love in their eyes for each other, You continue speaking to them.
“Go now and find sleep,” You say, admiring the look’s that are passing between them, “together.”
Begin your life, now, by learning from the pleasure I have created for you to know. I will be gone when you awake, but I will visit you, often. Go now and discover each other.”
[size=150]~[/size]
**[size=150]H[/size]**ere now, at the beginning, everything has started grandly! You peek in on them lovingly, like any proud Father, delighted as they begin their days together tending to the garden. Ish is teaching her what he has learned. But, he is learning still more from in himself for the insightful things that Ishsha shares from her heart, even as she, too, finds herself learning from the things in her own self that are responding to the things Ish shares from his heart. They laugh and giggle with easy delight at each revealed self-discovery, naturally responding to each other’s heart with an admiration that is uniquely their own, and which is emotionally satisfying, for both of them, in its expression.
The work is a necessary thing that they happily do, side by side, to keep things orderly, but, it is easy enough work and with its own inherent satisfaction; for everything—all the animals and all the trees and all the plants, each of them desiring their new master’s touch—is elated to be in their presence. The rest of their time each day is spent playing and swimming and resting, or experimenting and exploring, tasting all You have made and seeing that You are Good.
And just like it is that to be human means that play follows work, so desire follows touch. Thus it is often that they find themselves spending time learning what it means to be Husband and Wife as they eagerly and joyfully and with an increasing adeptness at each new joining, learn new ways of giving pleasure to and receiving pleasure from each other.
And as the days accumulate You begin spending even more time with them, most every day now, walking and talking with them, thrilled as You listen to them telling You of all the wonders they have found. You feel immense satisfaction to see their happiness as they share with You their excitement in discovery for investigating everything You made and learning from it till they are exhausted.
Feeling satisfied then, as the sun sets at the beginning of each new day, they lay next to each other, head on chest or holding hands, deeply in love and truly innocent and free as they watch, together, the beautiful, brightly lit, pink sky slowly dimming while the ever-bright stars come out to tell their story in the subtle twilight that will last till dawn.
They listen to the enchanting Celestial Music that filters through to them, mingling with the conversations of the evening creatures and filling the air everywhere with beautiful, ever-changing sounds as they turn, first the one and then the other, to see that the love they feel is reflected in their companion’s face. And gazing intensely into each other’s eyes, one thought following another as touch and response once more guides them on, they deftly arouse each other into ecstasy before, once more, falling asleep in the soft, comfortable grasses of the Garden of Delights that You planted right in the middle of the place You call The Earth, set, itself, as the center of an intricate and boundless Universe that You created just for them.
[size=150]~[/size]
**[size=150]Y[/size]**ou are aware that The Accuser, Your adversary, the one from among the Elohim that sit on Your Council, the same one who first tested Your authority in the Time Before, is on the prowl. You know of his hatred for You and of his jealousy for Your putting The Awdam in charge of this creation and, for that, You know that this will lead him to try to destroy what You have created in The Awdam by finding a way to tempt Your children to distrust You. A thing that You dread, but know must be allowed to happen.
Therefore, knowing that The Awdam will only have one chance at trusting You and thus reject the temptation to distrust, an act of faith in You that will come to sustain them and their eventual offspring in this place for all time, more aware than they can now imagine—You reflect, along with Wisdom, on Your Contingency Plan; a viviparous Plan that involves Yourself as its Key Player and Executioner; a Plan that will annul the work of The Adversary—should he succeed—and enable them all, one by one, to be completed, just as You intend them All to be from this, the beginning. It is wisdom to contemplate this Contingency Plan because You know that if The Awdam do succumb, they will All then be conceived and born incomplete and enslaved to Sin, unable—and unwilling—to do anything about it themselves.
Yes, that day eventually arrived, as You knew it would. And through the calculated deception of the enemy of their souls, they are put to the test… and fail.
[size=150]~[/size]
**[size=150]“W[/size]**here are you, Ish?” You call, while visiting them in the winded cool of this day… but there is no answer.
You call again.
“Awdam! Where are you?!?”
But still, there is no answer and You perceive that The Awdam are hiding. They’ve never done this before and so You begin to wonder if the time of testing had come. You keep on calling, knowing that they will soon have no choice but to show themselves; for You are not going away till they do.
When they do finally step from behind a tree into the glade where You can see them, You see immediately that something terrible has happened. The glow that emanated from inside of them is gone! And the pitiful thing of leaves that they have covered their thighs with arouses a sense of dread in You that you had hoped You would never feel.
“What is this you are wearing?” You ask, incredulously. “Why are you covering yourselves and hiding from Me?”
Your son hesitates as he answers. And as You witness the conflict in his pained expression You comprehend that he is experiencing, for the first time, a new kind of fear. Not the exciting adrenal-fear that comes from doing something dangerous or daring, which feeling, You have noted, Your son loves, but a fear of the Truth.
Does he want to lie? But, as he begins to speak with one answer to Your questions, his words coming forth painfully and slowly, You hear the awful but truthful answer that You had hoped You would never hear.
“I heard You calling… but… I am afraid… because… because I am naked.”
Only the work of the fruit, corrupted, could elicit this kind of response! He must have eaten it… If he did, then he is alive to knowing of the difference between Good and Evil. Which means his innocence is gone, dead and gone! But, instead of a powerful conscience possessing a powerful will to do good being created in them, as I intended, a deficient and corrupted conscience can only be, now, what he has to pass on.
And so You query him, as spontaneously as Your thoughts, hoping against what must be the truth:
“Did someone from among the Elohim instruct you that you were naked? Or—did you eat the fruit from that one tree that I instructed you not to eat from?”
You watch as your son’s face turns from frustration and shame to an angry simmer. And for this new kind of anger that is churning in him he finds that he’s not willing to admit anymore truth to You. So, turning to his left he points a finger at his wife and, with a low voice, terse and uncomfortable, he says,
“This… Ishsha that You gave to be with me, she gave me of the fruit that she plucked from the tree saying, “See! I didn’t die!” and then she ate of it… and then… she gave it to me…” His voice trails off and his hand slowly drops as he suddenly recalls, afresh, what Your exact words to him were, long ago. “And I… I… I took it from her… and ate it.”
Your heart breaks in two. Distrust has infected the work of the fruit and so Sin has been introduced into this Universe. Shame and guilt is what they will now know, not freedom and liberty. Your good intentions for them and their offspring will, now, not become fully realized till much has been sacrificed and several aeons have passed.
Sadly then, You turn to Your daughter and ask, gently, “Is this true what he says? Tell me, what have you done?”
Now, glaring at her brother, her husband and her lover, she is stung to the core of her being by the rejection she now feels. And experiencing, for the first time, fear from abandonment for having her guilt exposed like this, tears well in her eyes. And, answering You through these new kind of tears, bitter tears caused by these new and unpleasant emotions rising in her—emotions that are cutting her deeply for the helplessness she feels—she angrily refuses to allow all the blame on herself declaring, in truth;
“I was deceived! I told The Nachash what You said, that we were not to eat of the fruit, nor were we to even touch it, because You said that we would die on the day that we did! The Nachash then beguiled me with his words. Then, when I plucked one from the tree and didn’t die, I ate of it and held it out to Ish.” Then, turning to face her accuser she adds, icily, “He then took itfrom me and ate from it!”
Your heart sinks from the words You have just heard because now it is filled with heaviness from knowing what You must now do. The entire Universe and especially this Earth that You labored on with all Your heart, must now be sacrificed to their redemption.
The fruit has done its work.
They are no longer innocent but are now aware, even as You are aware of the difference between Good and Evil. But, sadly, they have acquired this knowledge without, first, acquiring virtue.
The final work then, that Your permission would have made pure, is now adulterated. They know that they cannot go back, and why they cannot go back, even as You do.
But first, for feeling a good, righteous anger arising in You from the frustration You now feel, You call to The Nachash, the accomplice and associate of The Adversary. He has been standing nearby, You noticed, with a look of triumph reflected in his eyes, watching gleefully as You discover his handiwork unfolding before him. And grinning widely from his success, he walks up to You, pleased and defiant.
You speak. And as You speak, Your son and daughter watch, horrified, as Your Word transforms him before their very eyes.
“Because you have done this,” You say grimly, and full of anger, “you are cursed above all the creatures I have created!”
The Nacash feels himself diminishing as the bright, shining glory of an Elohim vanishes, leaving him mortal. Its head and mind now shrink to less than a quarter its size and its legs and arms shrink to nothing, even as You speak.
“You will crawl upon your belly from now on!”
Its tongue, the thing that targeted the temptation to Your daughter, changes into a forked, slithering, grotesque caricature as You finish Your curse.
“And you will eat dust into the ages!”
And now, while watching this snake writhing under Your curse, You take a deep breath as You prepare to execute Your Contingency Plan.
Turning now to look at Your son and daughter, You catch their petrified gaze. They now stare at You, dumbfounded, as You look straight into their eyes while addressing Your words to the now slithering snake—as well as to The Adversary, whom You know can hear.
“HEAR ME!” You say, Your Voice loud and declarative, “I will put enmity between you and Ishsha and between your seed and her Seed. You will strike at His heel, but after, HE WILL TURN AND STOMP YOUR CURSED HEAD INTO THE DUST!”
“…Into the dust!” The words echo through the garden, fading into silence.
**[size=150]S[/size]**ilence. Unnatural, eerie, silence. For the very first time there is utter silence in the garden, as if the Cosmos itself were stunned to hear Your Word. And as You listen long to the silence, You force Yourself to relax and let Your anger dissipate as You breathe out a long, long sorrowful sigh, knowing full well what You have just committed Yourself to doing.
But, it’s not over. For now comes, for You, the hardest part.
With little tears welling in Your eyes that You don’t want to stop from trickling down Your cheeks for the sadness You feel, and that because of the terror You now see in Your children’s faces as they fix their wide-eyed gaze upon You, You begin to speak to them, pronouncing very hard, but necessary words over them, words that, ultimately, are for their own good and to their own benefit, given what they now are, uncompleted. For with these words You will inform them of what they can expect, from now on, as well as delaying—for now, till You can realize Your Plan—the outcome of their sinning that will likely lead You to have to lay waste to this Earth, also.
“My daughter,” You say somberly, “I am now going to enable you to conceive. However, because of what has happened to you, I must now greatly increase the difficulty you will experience in your pregnancies. You must now give birth accompanied by dreadful and anguishing spasms of pain. And, because of your turning, the satisfaction you sought for and found in your husband will now turn against you, frustrating you, because your desires are intimately linked to your husband’s needs and because of this, he will now rule over you.”
Sadly then, as You finish speaking these words, You and Ish watch as she puts her head into her hands and bitterly, uncontrollably, sobs aloud. It’s rending Your heart to watch the realization dawning on her for what she has done, but, You must maintain Your composure as You turn to Your son, who turns from looking woefully at his wife to look at You and say, when his eyes meet Yours;
“Because you did not listen to Me to do what I said, but listened to the voice of your wife, I am going to curse The Earth for your benefit. It will no longer be responsive to you but will, instead, frustrate you. You will have to extract your sustenance from it through hard, backbreaking labor for it is now become to you an adversary. You will therefore work hard all your life, just for you, your wife and your children to have bread to eat. And when you die, for you will now most certainly die, you will All return to the soil from which I made you.”
The necessary words now spoken, Your son hangs his head for understanding the bitterness he must now endure and You watch him, knowingly, as quietly, silently and secretly, he fights against his own tears.
Yet, even now… even now… with all that has just happened, You look at them hopefully as Ish embraces his sobbing Ishsha. And in a moment of tenderness, with love and sympathy in his heart for the realization of what these words will mean to his precious wife, he says, in a low and only slightly broken voice,
“Take courage, my love! For you now have your name. You will be called ‘Chava’; for from you will All Life Spring.”
Now, watching them and feeling optimism and purpose rise in Your heart for what You are witnessing, You allow the moment to pass before you must speak again.
**[size=150]“C[/size]**hildren!” You now say to them, sadly enough, as a command, “Come closer.”
At the sound of Your voice, reality comes flooding back on them and they raise their heads to look at You. And as they obey, breaking their embrace to walk toward You, they avoid looking at each other as they try, unsuccessfully, with one sad thought following another, to wipe their tears away on their own even as they realize, with despair, that they have only each other to comfort them.
They then see, as they approach, coming from behind You, two of Your most darling and innocent creations; two beautiful, soft, woolly rams. And as they pause and gaze at them a small smile plays upon their lips as their minds are filled with remembering the play they had, chasing them around the little hills… and when the rams decided to stop running and let themselves be caught, how wonderful it felt to bury their faces in the soft wool… and how their funny, bleating sounds made them laugh. They remembered also how sometimes they would lie next to any one of them, tired from a morning’s work, napping against their soft bellies…
“Watch me children, now and learn!” You say, unwilling to hide the harshness You hear in Your own voice for knowing what You must now do. As they obey and watch, You stoop down and dig up a large piece of flint. And finding a rock You strike at it repeatedly against another rock, till it has a sharp edge on it and a rudimentary handle. Your children continue watching You in unknowing anticipation as You walk up to the first young ram, which looks up at You, his Maker, trustingly.
You see your children’s eyes go wide and their mouths drop open in stupefied horror as they watch You drop down on one knee and quickly grabbing the ram’s head with one hand, You pull it back sharply while, in the same motion, You take the knife that is in Your other hand and with its terrible, jagged cutting edge, You quickly saw open wide the throat of the ram.
You then drop the knife and using both hands, You gently but firmly hold it close to You while holding its head back as it writhes, it’s precious, dark-red blood-soul silently spewing… then spurting, then bubbling out… staining, forever, the floor of the once pristine Earth.
When the blood-soul is drained and this ram is dead, You gently, with sorrow apparent in Your every move, lay it down and then, picking up the tainted knife, You walk purposely up to the other and do the very same thing to it.
And as this one’s blood-soul spills out onto the ground You tell Your children, grimly “I must be the One to make for you a suitable covering because you cannot adequately cover yourselves. Learn from this to sacrifice, for your sake, for the sins which you will commit.”
And taking the dead animals, You skin them as Your children watch, each now standing frozen in shock to see this bloody carnage while experiencing a gut-tearing, nascent guilt for knowing that they are to blame.
As they watch, You clean and fashion the skins into the needed girdles and handing them to Your son and daughter, You say, “This is what you need to wear from now on. Go and put them on.”
As they accept the skins from You, their bodies now responding mechanically to Your words, the reality of what they have lost begins to fully impact their minds.
And so You notice, after receiving the girdles, as they turn away from You, that they move apart from each other with each hiding behind a tree, seemingly grateful to be alone as they clumsily learn to put them on.
When they return, ugly in their unnatural coverings, they overhear You talking among Yourself and stopping nearby, but not to near, waiting subdued for You to address them, they listen intently as You talk.
“Yes,” they hear You say, “they are like Us now, knowing of the difference between Good and Evil… but, now, having been turned, if they should be allowed to reach for and continue to eat the fruits of the Tree of The Living and thus live throughout the ages…”
You then turn suddenly to them and say, “Children! You must leave this garden! You can never be allowed to enter it again!”
And as You walk deliberately toward them, noting surprise and… yes… yes… the look, also, of a new and virulent idea dawning in their faces for comprehending what they have overheard, You grab them each by a shoulder and turning them around, You push them ahead of You, driving them out. And as You pass out of the entrance to the garden, Mawlak guards suddenly appear and a terrible, wondrous, gleaming sword, turning every which way, appears also, blocking the entrance and striking tremendous fear into the hearts of Adam and Eve so that they and anyone else, will never dare to approach the entrance to this now forbidden garden and eat, again, of The Tree of The Living, for as long as this aeon must endure.
**[size=150]S[/size]**ilence is thick in the air as they stand before You with downcast eyes, occasionally turning to catch flinching glimpses of the now guarded entrance behind them. You watch them unwavering as they also raise their eyes to catch glimpses of You, seeming to hope in their quick expressions that You will just go away. You let the silence hang for their benefit, to give them time to let the realization of what has just happened settle fully into them.
Your own thoughts are reflecting on the great sadness of this day because Your intentions have been thwarted—just as You know they will be again—but, only to the furthering of the purpose for which You created Your Children. You turn that thought over in Your mind as You consider, once again, how You plan to use the predictable, hateful antagonism of The Adversary against him to annul the very work he accomplished here today and bring about Your Children’s restoration.
“This is not the end.” You finally whisper out loud among Yourself, breaking the silence.
They hear You and raise their heads to look at You and so You catch their eyes and speak to them through that great sadness that is lingering in Your heart for feeling the loss caused by this disruption of what You intended… and for what You must now do to reclaim their future.
“My Children,” You say as You begin to convey Your now realized intentions to them, “You have been awakened to knowing of the difference between Good and Evil. However, now you must struggle to heed this conscience that is in you so that you will do what is right. And so, remember and contemplate what I said to the snake and pass My words onto your children, teaching them to trust in Me and to resist sin and to make sacrifice, for their benefit, as a reminder, even as I have taught you. For without a blood-soul sacrifice, no pardon can be given for sin. And know this; you are aware of your own selves because of My Spirit within you, and so, through that same Spirit, and now, for your awakening, I can now know the thoughts in your heart and in the hearts of all of your children.”
“The eons were made for you to inhabit; All of you. And I will bring restoration. Know, then, that I am with you always—unto the end and beyond all of the ages that must now come to pass.”
“This is not the end.”
[size=150]~[/size]
Dedications and Acknowledgements
I dedicate this retelling of the very first story to my very good, “friends,” George MacDonald, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, who first got me thinking. And to my own precious wife, Molly, who encourages me and inspires me and pleases me—and counters me when its needed. God knows, I love you.
I also extend my heartfelt gratitude to Michael S. Heiser, professor of Ancient Hebrew. His writings provided the missing knowledge that pulled everything together when he introduced me to The Divine Council.
And to you as well, “Doc.” I am ever grateful for your taking the time to argue with me from your understanding and for introducing me to Dr. Heiser’s writings. I learned a lot from you.
Additionally, extra special thanks, with much appreciation, is given to Dr. Carl Baugh of the Creation Science Museum in Glenn Rose, Texas for his inspiring Creation in Symphony video series. His series provided much of the science background necessary to comprehend the beginning of all things.
Dr. Russell Humphreys, I humbly thank you, too, sir, for providing the amazing answer to The Question That Needed Answering The Most through your own unique understanding of Genesis which you eloquently explained in your beguiling book, Starlight and Time.
To Dena The Dangerous, who knows how to ask questions. My thanks are profound for your inspiring me to believe that there are answers. I miss you. To Tabitha R., who was the first, apart from family, to read this; I thank you deeply for the encouragement you gave into me through your heart-felt reaction to these words. To John Eldridge, who writes from the heart; truly you have understanding. My own heart is in your words. To my super-special Sis, Robin H., who just, simply, “gets it.” Thank you for… everything!
Be good, then, my friends, just as you were created to be!
-Dennis!
First draft completed October 5th, 2005. This revision completed February 9th, 2017.
size=85 “Ahaba” is one of several Hebrew words that were translated with, “love,” in the King’s English. I choose this word, in its feminine form, because Jehovah Elohim Himself often used it to describe His love for human beings. Also, it was reciprocally used by humans themselves, in many instances, to describe their love for Jehovah. I also choose it because its Hebrew meaning is correlated with that aspect of love that English labels with the words, “affection” and “fondness” and thus parallels the meaning John the apostle intended when he wrote, in Greek, “God is agape.”
Hebrew and Greek, unlike English, can assign a gender to nouns, with Greek adding a neutral gender choice. English is, unfortunately, a wholly gender-neutral language, and so there is an inherent loss of meaning for not being able to translate a noun into its original masculine or feminine or neutral form. Also, the word, “love,” does a lot of work in English and so its meaning is highly contextualized. This makes it far too unspecific when used in the translations of languages that have idea-specific words for any of the many aspects of love that English covers with that one word.
The Greeks have five words for, “love.” Biblical Hebrew uses nine words, with some words being derived from others. Thus, a writer in those languages can easily convey a specific aspect of love to the reader of that language that English would rely on context and familiarity to achieve. Therefore, when I contemplated this passage, I choose the Hebrew word for, “fondness,” and, “affection,” to accurately convey the heart of Jehovah for His creation, not only because I perceive that it is contextually correct to do so, but, also because it gave me a chance to explain its use in a footnote made necessary because of the limitations inherent in the King’s English; limitations that are responsible for many losses in meaning and many misunderstandings of both the intentions and of the personality of Jehovah; serious losses that began in the Latin Vulgate and were thusly carried over into the Geneva Version and then into the King James Version of Holy Writ.
(2) “Ezer kenegdo" is very difficult to translate into English. “A Help, meet for him,” with the Old English meaning for meet, that is, “precisely matched,” is the first English translation. But, even that is insufficient. Unfortunately, as time has progressed, the meaning has been further insulated from understanding because of modern translations rendering this phrase as, “A help-mate,” seeming to imply that the woman holds a somewhat inferior position. But, inferior is certainly not what Jehovah had created Ishsha and her sisters to be! The phrase has been translated by the ancient Jewish sage, Rashi, to read, “A help against him” He then explains this by saying, “If Adam is worthy, then she will be a help [ezer]. If he is not worthy, then she will be against him [kenegdo] for strife.” This ancient translation holds truth well while, at the same time, modern archeological work indicates that, “A strength (or power) equal to him,” is also an equally valid interpretation of ezer kenegdo.
The best single English word we have, then, that can sum up this remarkable creation is that she is his “Counterpart” with its dual idea that she is, “uniquely fitted,” to be both his, “complement,” and his, “foil,” an “Help” or an “Adversary,” benefiting him and herself, either way, simply by being herself. This was intended to hold true in all areas of their combined being; the spiritual, the intellectual, the emotional and most especially in the area where all these things intersect, the sexual.
The Woman is, indeed, a strength equal to The Man, but, nonetheless, it was she who was created for him, not the other way around. This fact makes the second part of the words pronounced over Chava by Jehovah Elohim to read more like a prediction. For when she and Ish allowed themselves to be turned by the words of The Nachash, which were targeted at her heart through what her adding to Jehovah Elohim’s words revealed about her thoughts, the good desire in her to be an ezer kenegdo for Ish was then turned into a dependency (which leads to frustration) on Ish, who is now, himself, a frustrated and fearful man with a very real curse to deal with on his satisfaction, The Earth.
One need only look at the fatal history of women, subjected by their desires to the contrariness of the equally sinful men in this world, as well as their own ages-old and livid response to their mistreatment, Feminism, to see how horribly distorted the beautiful reality has become of shared and equal rule that Jehovah Elohim intended for us to exercise, together, as Husbands and Wives, over each other and over Creation.[/size]
