The second approach I want to introduce to this text is what I refer to as "backward interpretation" as opposed to "forward interpretation" (my personal terms). Forward interpretation is probably more traditional. This is when you interpret the story as a historical documentary so that the first events are used to inform later events. First events are oftentimes difficult to explain using this method because there is no interpretive model on which to rely. For example, using this method we could ask; what was the blessing that God gaves to Abel? The text does not say and we cannot assume anything from the ongoing text because this blessing was first in order. Backward interpretation on the other hand uses the entire text as a reference for interpretation. So back to the example question; what was the blessing to Abel? Lets find an interpretation from the text itself, or even from the culture from which the text was taken. The story is treated less like a historical documentary and more like a cultural documentary that speaks to the people for which it was written, in a way that reflects their own cultural heritage. This approach is a little more difficult because we are not ancient Israelites (or Judahites) but it is a much better approach than treating it as a historical documentary devoid of cultural (and even political) influence. So in upcoming discussions I will atempt to answer the example question using the method of interpretation I am outlining here.
There are some specific themes that resurface throughout the book of Genesis that should be considered (as we "backward interpret") when reading the Genesis 2 3 4 story.
- Separating: the ability to divide things according to purpose. This is especially true for the people of God. This is an important part of judgment, separation of the one from the other. The Law of Moses carefully explains how preists should separate sacred from profane and sick from healthy. Examples: Adam is separated from the earth and again separated from the land outside the graden and placed in the garden. Abraham is separated from Babylon (he is called out of Ur). Israel is separated from Egypt and placed into the promised land.
- Naming: the ability to name something shows several things. First, it is a demonstration of wisdom in being able to order the cosmos by naming something correctly, according to its proper place or kind. Second it signifies authority over that particular thing. Lastly, naming acts as a prophetic utterance, declaring a kind of destiny or fate. Examples: Adam names the animals, Adam names Eve, God renames Abram to Abraham and Jacob to Israel.
- Family and Marriage: First, Claims from genealogy: generations are carefully charted in order to distinguish the righteous (blessed) from the unrighteous (cursed). The righteous are tied back to the mother of all, Eve, and the intended image of God. The unrighteous are only physically tied to the mother of all, spiritually they belong to the serpent. Marrying outside the family creates risk with respect to a preserved familial culture, religion and the established inheritance pattern. Second, choosing a wife: As the woman (Eve) was taken from the man (Adam) so the proper bride, given to the son who receives the promise, throughout Genesis comes from his fathers relatives. The woman literally comes from the man. As well, when in a proper covenental relationship the two act as one reunified individual, being seperate individuals but one will. Examples: Isaac and Rebekah (as opposed to Ishmael), Jacob and Rachel/Leah (as opposed to Essau).
- Faith: God (the Israelite God) alone is provider. This is more than just an acknowledgment of Gods presence, it is a deep trust that He will do what He says and He will provide the means to achieve it which is central to the covenant between God and Israel. Submission to the will of God. Sometimes bad decisions and mistakes are made, even sinful behavior, but these pale in comparison with parting from the covenant or from the fate God has planned. Examples: Adam without knowledge of good and evil must trust God, Abraham leaving his fathers house (inheritance) and going to a land he has never seen before, Jacob returning to his fathers house and confronting Essau
- Inheritance: Cultural inheritance patterns (a double portion of the fathers house is given to the first-born son, the rest is divided among the other sons) are subject to the approval and judgment of God. Time and again God chooses (rather than the biological father) the younger over the older to inherit the first-born blessing (a double portion) because He has judged between the two of them (sometimes even before birth). This is a one time event and is irrevocable. Examples: Abel over Cain, Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Essau, Ephraim over Manasseh
- Blessing: The blessing is not the inheritance. The inheritance pattern described above is assumed, considered a "right". The blessing serves a couple of other important purposes: first, it is the fathers way of giving his full assent (agreement). Second, it passes on his authority (right to rule), recognizing the chosen leader (father) of the household. Lastly, it acts as a form of prophesy, directing fate, establishing purpose and properly ordering the household before he dies.
Genesis 2 3 4 (NKJV)
2 4This is the history (genealogy) of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 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 being.
8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 19 Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
23 And Adam said:
“This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
3 1Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”
16 To the woman He said:
“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
In pain you shall bring forth children;
Your desire shall be for your husband,
And he shall rule over you.”
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:
“Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”
20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
21 Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
4 1Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain (meaning: attain, acquire), and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” 2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell(naphal).
6 So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
8 Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?”
He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. 11 So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”
13 And Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! 14 Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.”
15 And the Lord said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.
16 Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. 17 And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech.
19 Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah. 20 And Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute. 22 And as for Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.
23 Then Lamech said to his wives:
“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
Wives of Lamech, listen to my speech!
For I have killed a man for wounding me,
Even a young man for hurting me.
24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold,
Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”
25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.” 26 And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.
No comments:
Post a Comment