Our own cultural preconceptions tend to define how we think. It is hard to think out of the box because the box consists of all we know and think we understand. The best we can do is make our box bigger. When it comes to the book of Genesis it is our cultural preconceptions that often stand in the way of a truer understanding of the Genesis. We have all grown up coloring pictures of a man and a woman and this snake. In this sublime garden setting where the woman is tricked into eating this apple that releases all the bad stuff that happens. This is the book of Genesis, everyone knows it!
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This child like imagery has become our ultimate understanding. What does the Bible say about child like understanding? 1Co 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. In the 21 st. century it time to put away childish thought and look at the Genesis with open eyes, with the reality of the times we live, to see what the giants of the 1600 missed.
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G3516
νήπιος nēpios nay'-pee-os From an obsolete particle νη ne; implying negation and G2031; not speaking, that is, an infant (minor); figuratively a simple minded person, an immature Christian: - babe, child (+ -ish). Total KJV occurrences: 14 |
Man and His Soul
Gen 1:20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
Gen 1:21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Gen 1:22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
Gen 1:23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
Gen 1:21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Gen 1:22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
Gen 1:23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
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H5315
נֶפֶשׁ nephesh neh'-fesh From H5314; properly a breathing creature, that is, animal or (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental): - any, appetite, beast, body, breath, creature, X dead (-ly), desire, X [dis-] contented, X fish, ghost, + greedy, he, heart (-y), (hath, X jeopardy of) life (X in jeopardy), lust, man, me, mind, mortality, one, own, person, pleasure, (her-, him-, my-, thy-) self, them (your) -selves, + slay, soul, + tablet, they, thing, (X she) will, X would have it. Total KJV occurrences: 753 |
H5314
נָפַשׁ nâphash naw-fash' A primitive root; to breathe; passively, to be breathed upon, that is, (figuratively) refreshed (as if by a current of air): - (be) refresh selves (-ed). Total KJV occurrences: 3 |
The Hebrew word nephesh (H5315) is used in the KJV Bible 753 times. Most of the time it is translated to soul. You can find in the Strong’s definition means an individual (male or female) with a ghost or soul. These men of the waters populate islands and coastal regions settling the open ocean with little more than canoes. The Marshallese are one such group. There culture has existed on their islands for untold generations before European contact. Fishing is there way of life, drawing from the waters there every need with the abundance that only God can provide.
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Another Example of Men of the Water
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The Asian ethnic groups all seam to have a connection to the water in the deepest of ways. They also have a history that predates many other ethnic groups. There wheat is grown in the water (rice) with fishing providing meat for many millions of people. Some of the oldest writings come from China. There cultural sophistication was well developed while many of our ancestors were still chipping flint. Leading the world in the development of gunpower, paper, art, philosophy and even science of the time.
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God continues with the creation of man on the Sixth Day.
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Gen 1:24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
Gen 1:25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. H1254
בָּרָא bârâ' baw-raw' A primitive root; (absolutely) to create; (qualified) to cut down (a wood), select, feed (as formative processes): - choose, create (creator), cut down, dispatch, do, make (fat). Total KJV occurrences: 54 Gen 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Gen 1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. Gen 1:30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. Gen 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. The archaeological evidence of the sixth day creation of man is overwhelming. Homosapien seam to burst onto the global landscape. Just as homo Neanderthal submits to extinction. By 13,000 years ago a group of homosapien known as the Cloves culture had made it into what would become New Mexico. The Clovis culture was believed to be the direct ancestors of all the natives of the Americas. However, resent genetic profiles exclude them as the progenitors of the Native Americans.
However, this young woman is genetically linked to all natives of the Americas, making her the oldest known ancestor. She was found in a cave system in Mexico and dates from around 13,000 years ago. Her bones were found alongside the bones of many different animals, many of which are now extinct. With both cultures existing in the same geographical region at the same time.
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The Main Gallery Cave system in France
Image from the Main Gallery
Mammoth now extinct
Possibly the signature of the artists Homosapiens
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The Seventh Day
Gen 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Gen 2:4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
The Original Revolution
The first revolution of man was not fought with rocks and sticks, but with a plow. It is this one thing that alters the course of human development. Before the development of agricultural science humans had existed as serial nomads consisting of small bands working together in very efficient was to survive. When the revolution takes place the developmental path of humanity is forever altered. Domestication of animals represent the first branch in a wide range of occupational opportunity that soon develop.
The Eighth Day- New Beginnings
It is from this point forward the the Bible stops being about the history of mankind and becomes the history of one mans family, Adam.
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Gen 2:5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
Gen 2:6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed H3335 man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. |
H3335
יָצַר yâtsar yaw-tsar' probably identical with H3334 (through the squeezing into shape); (compare H3331); to mould into a form; especially as a potter; figuratively to determine (that is, form a resolution): - X earthen, fashion, form, frame, make (-r), potter, purpose. Total KJV occurrences: 62 |
Gen 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Gen 2:10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
Gen 2:11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
Gen 2:12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
Gen 2:13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
Gen 2:14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
Gen 2:11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
Gen 2:12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
Gen 2:13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
Gen 2:14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
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Gen 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
Gen 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Gen 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. Gen 2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field H7704, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. |
H7704
שָׂדַי שָׂדֶה śâdeh śâday saw-deh', saw-dah'ee From an unused root meaning to spread out; a field (as flat): - country, field, ground, land, soil, X wild. Total KJV occurrences: 333 |
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Gen 2:20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
Gen 2:21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs H4480, and closed up the flesh H1320 instead thereof; Gen 2:22 And the rib H6763, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. H6763
צַלְעָה צֵלָע tsêlâ‛ tsal‛âh tsay-law', tsal-aw' From H6760; a rib (as curved), literally (of the body) or figuratively (of a door, that is, leaf); hence a side, literally (of a person) or figuratively (of an object or the sky, that is, quarter); arcitecturally a timber (especially floor or ceiling) or plank (single or collectively, that is, a flooring): - beem, board, chamber, corner, leaf, plank, rib, side (chamber). Total KJV occurrences: 41 |
H4480
מִנֵּי מִנִּי מִן min minnı̂y minnêy min, min-nee', min-nay' For H4482; properly a part of; hence (prepositionally), from or out of in many senses: - above, after, among, at, because of, by (reason of), from (among), in, X neither, X nor, (out) of, over, since, X then, through, X whether, with. Total KJV occurrences: 7524 H1320
בָּשָׂר bâśâr baw-sawr' From H1319; flesh (from its freshness); by extension body, person; also (by euphemism) the pudenda of a man: - body, [fat, lean] flesh [-ed], kin, [man-] kind, + nakedness, self, skin. Total KJV occurrences: 270 Noun. pudendum virile (plural pudenda virilia) (medicine) A part of the male pudenda; the principal male organ of intromission and micturition; the penis.
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H6760
צָלַע
tsâla‛
tsaw-lah'
A primitive root; probably to curve; used only as denominative from H6763, to limp (as if one sided): - halt.
Total KJV occurrences: 4
צָלַע
tsâla‛
tsaw-lah'
A primitive root; probably to curve; used only as denominative from H6763, to limp (as if one sided): - halt.
Total KJV occurrences: 4
Gen 2:23 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.
Gen 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
Gen 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Gen 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
Gen 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.