GENESIS REVISISTED (3): MERCY GRACE LOVE

​With Christ in us being the beginning and end of glory, I begin to have a new and fresh perspective of God’s relationship to man in Genesis Chapters 2 and 3.
 
Genesis 2: 7-9 reads “7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”[1]
 
Genesis 2:15-17 states:“15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat[2] of it you shall surely die.”[3]     
 
The original Hebrew words translated as surely die is מֹות תָּמֽוּת׃[4]
muth[5] thmuth[6] [7] having the literal meaning ‘in dying, you die’[8] or dying you would die. 
In the Septuagint, the Greek words are “θανατω αποθανεισθε - thanatō[9] apothanḗisthō[10] literally ‘dying, you shall die[11]’or ‘by death you shall die’[12].
 
In Leviticus 20:9,10,11,12,13,15,16 the words מֹֽות־יוּמַת
muth מֹֽות־ iumth יוּמַת[13] meaning “dying, he shall die”[14] is also recorded seven times.
 
Julia Smith Translation Leviticus 20 – relevant verses:

1. v9 “When a man, a man who shall lightly esteem his father and his mother, dying, he shall die: he lightly esteemed ha father and his mother: his blood is upon him.
2. v10 “And a man who shall commit adultery with a man's wife, who shall commit adultery with his friend's wife, dying, he shall die, the adulterer and the adulteress.”
3. v11 “And a man who shall lie with his father's wife, uncovered his father's nakedness: dying, they shall die: they two their blood is upon them”
4. v12 “And a man who shall lie with his daughter-in-law, dying, they shall die, they two: they did profanation; their blood is upon them.”
5. v13 “And a man who shall lie with a male in a woman's bed, they did abomination: they two, dying, shall die; their blood is upon them.”
6. v15 “And a man who shall give his bed with a quadruped, dying, he shall die: and ye shall kill the quadruped.”
7. v16 “And a woman who shall come near to any quadruped to lie down with it, and didst thou kill the woman and the quadruped; dying, they shall die; their blood is upon them.”

 
In all instances in Leviticus quoted above, the words “muth מֹֽות־ iumth יוּמַת[15] ‘dying, they shall die” connotes and describes a life, which is in a process of ‘dying’, being prematurely terminated by being put to death by an external intervention.
 
I submit that the words מֹות תָּמֽוּת׃[16] muth thmuth,[17] “in dying, you die”[18] in Genesis 2:17 also carries the same meaning. This is because man, as a created being, was from the onset of creation, subject to creation’s process of decay and death. Only if the fruit of the tree of life was eaten could Adam and Eve live eternally: “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—”[19]. Until and unless they ate of the fruit of the tree of life they were living in the process of decay and death. They will eventually die.
 
Therefore, when God told Adam “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it” “in dying you die or in dying you would die,” what is meant that Adam’s life (which is in the process of decay and dying), would prematurely be ended ‘in the day’ that he ate of the fruit. Here, the fruit and the eating will initiate the external intervention that would prematurely end life, within the day of its occurrence.
 
The narrative in Genesis 2 and 3 has no record of either Adam and Eve dying or more accurately having their lives prematurely ended ‘within the day’ of their eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Instead the narrative records that they were driven out of the Garden of Eden, lived for hundreds of years and had many descendants.


[1][1] ESV

[2] footnote ESV ‘when you eat’

[3] ESV

[4] Parsing ‘מוּת muwth’ Stem Qal  Aspect Infinitive - Infinitive Construct is used as a verbal noun corresponding to the English verbal noun ending in “-ing”. Strong’s H4191
Parsing ‘תָּמֽוּת׃ thmuwth’ Stem Qal  Aspect Imperfect -It is used to describe a single (as opposed to a repeated) action in the past; it differs from the perfect in being more vivid and pictorial. The perfect expresses the "fact", the imperfect adds colour and movement by suggesting the "process" preliminary to its completion. Strong’s H4191

[5] See footnote 5

[6] See footnote 4

[7] Scripture4all.org Hebrew Interlinear Bible (OT) Westminster Leningrad Codex with vowels

[8] exeGeses Companion Bible

[9] See Strong’s G2288

[10] See Strong’s G599

[11] The Septuagint with Apocrypha Greek and English Sir Lancelot C L Brenton

[12] Charles Thompson Translation

[13] מוּת muwth Stem Hopal  Aspect Imperfect Hophal is the "passive" of Hiphil

[14] Julia E Smith Parker Translation

[15] See footnote 13

[16] See footnote 4

[17] See footnote 4

[18] See footnote 8

[19] Genesis 3:22 ESV

​The traditional approach usually held by Jews and Christians is that: מֹות תָּמֽוּת׃[1] muth thmuth,[2] “in dying, you die” or “dying you would die” just means that Adam would ‘inevitably’ die. My objection to this is

1. All the instances in Leviticus 20 9-13, 15-16 does not support this understanding. Furthurmore, ‘תָּמֽוּת׃ thmuwth’ has a Qal Stem and a Imperfect Aspect  used to describe a single (as opposed to a repeated) action in the past; it differs from the perfect in being more vivid and pictorial. The perfect expresses the "fact", the imperfect adds colour and movement by suggesting the "process" preliminary to its completion. As such, ‘by death’ suggests the process of Adam’s life from creation and ‘you die’ means the premature ending of life in death. The words do not have the meaning that “if you eat of it, you shall eventually[3] (after hundreds of years?) die.”
2. Some Christian circles espouse that spiritual death occurred when the fruit[4] was eaten. My objection to this is that there is nothing in the Genesis narratives here that even suggest that this was so. If we take this position, then it would imply that the humans that walked out of Eden only has soul and body with no human spirit(zombie or half- zombie?), the human spirit having suffered spiritual death..
3. Others espouse the view that death means separation from God because of the sin of disobedience. However, this is also not supported in these narratives. Instead, God was looking for them after they went into hiding. God spoke to them after the event. God continued to speak to them even after they left Eden. God was always with the humans that He created in His image and likeness. What separation was there from God?

 
The thread of commonality that runs in the views canvassed above is the presumption that since God had said that “in the day that you eat of it, dying you die” :
1.death must have happened or
2. will happen or
3. was happening
to show that what God has said has come to pass. For the presumption is that whatever God says must come to pass.
 
However, two humans walked out alive, in body, soul and spirit, from Eden, when they should have died. So, they must have died in some way, the reasoning goes.
 
I submit that that premature deaths for Adam and Eve did not materialised because Yahweh(יְהֹוָה)'elohiym(אֱלֹהִים)[5] showed mercy, grace and love to Adam and Eve. For mercy is always above judgement, even as then mercy seat[6] is above and covers the tablets[7] of the commandments of God in the Ark of the Covenant. For Yahweh(יְהֹוָה)'elohiym(אֱלֹהִים)’s has great and much mercy[8] and Yahweh(יְהֹוָה)'elohiym(אֱלֹהִים)’s mercies endures forever[9].
 
The Lord God also exercises mercies, judgements and righteousness on earth, for in these the Lord God delights[10]. The Lord God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy and compassion on whom he will have compassion[11]:
Exodus 33:19 states: “And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”[12]
Exodus 34:5,6 records: “The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness”.
 
As stated in my last post, “And if it has always been the eternal will and purpose of God to bring together all things into one in and through Christ, the human Jesus, then there is nothing, neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to prevent this from happening.” Mercy, grace and love because of Eternal Son is the basis for this.
 
Adam and Eve through wilfulness, disobeyed Yahweh 'elohiym’s command not to eat of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The consequence for them, in their mortality, was to die in the day that they did so, as pronounced by Yahweh 'elohiym[13]. However, that does not prevent Yahweh 'elohiym forgiving them for their disobedience and exercising mercy in pardoning them from the consequences of their wilful actions.
 
I see this in the Genesis 3 narrative, Adam and Eve did not die within the day that they had disobeyed and ate the fruit. The fact that they did not die and could walk out of Eden, to me is all about forgiveness and the mercy of God towards them. For the purpose of Yahweh 'elohiym concerning the mystery of His will in eternity before the creation of the cosmos had yet to be realised[14]. If Adam and Eve were to dying die within the day, this purpose and will would have been thwarted.
 
One, out of the seven occurrences of ‘dying, you die’ in Leviticus 20 was actually brought before Jesus for his consideration and response. It had to do with Leviticus 20:10. The occurrence concerned the woman caught in the act of adultery found in John 8:3-11;
“3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
 
According to Leviticus 20:10, the adulterer and adulteress were both to be put to death. In this situation, only the adulteress was before Jesus and according to Leviticus 20:10, her life was to be terminated prematurely -“dying she dies”.
 
I note that Jesus did not dispute the sin[15] of what she did. And though there was no one around to condemn her, he still could carry out the requirements of the Law in Leviticus 20 and terminate her life. Yet, notwithstanding that the Law was broken, and according to the commands that God had given, she was to be killed, Jesus showed mercy when he said: “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
 
Here, as man and as the Incarnate Son, God made flesh, he showed mercy and forgiveness when God’s law or commandment required death.
 
The Lord did the same for David in 2 Samuel 2:9-13, when David despised the commandments of the Lord and did evil. Instead of being killed, the Lord showed mercy and put away his sin that he might not die[16].
 
Hence, I submit that in Genesis 2 and 3 after Adam and Eve sinned, Yahweh 'elohiym showed them mercy and forgiveness, else they would have died there and then. They would not have been able to walk out of Eden, lived for hundreds of years, be fruitful and multiply and participate in fulfilling the mystery of Yahweh 'elohiym will – Christ in us, the hope of glory.
 
As such, the mercies, goodness and grace of God continually endures, from everlasting to everlasting.
 
Embraced within the will, wisdom and fullness of Yahweh 'elohiym, before creation, throughout creation and into a new creation in Christ, the narratives in Genesis 2 and 3, is but an initial foretaste of the mercy, grace and love of God for humanity, culminating in fullness, in the person of Incarnate Son, the man Christ Jesus
 
No wonder the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 8:4 “What is man, that you remember him? - and the son of humanity, that you visit him?”[17]
 
For the great mercies, grace and love of Yahweh 'elohiym to humankind is from eternity into eternity, grounded in the Being of who Eternal Son was, now is and ever to be. And through this one man, the man Christ Jesus, we are ever enabled and favoured, through Spirit, to continually receive these eternally.
 
The Lord God bless and be with you.


[1] See footnote 4

[2] See footnote 4

[3] ‘After hundreds of years?’

[4] Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil

[5] Genesis 2:5

[6] Exodus 25:17, 21

[7] Exodus 25:21 Deuteronomy 10:2-5    See also Hebrews 9:4 where according to tradition, two other items  were kept in the Ark –Aaron’s rod cf Numbers 10:5,8,10 and the golden censer.

[8] Psalm 145:8  Psalm 100:5  Psalm 103:17

[9] Psalm 136

[10] Jeremiah 9:24

[11] See Romans 9:15-18

[12] ESV

[13] Genesis 2:16,17

[14] I refer to my last post concerning this.

[15] John 20:11 sin no more

[16] 2 Samuel 2:13

[17] exeGeses Companion Bible