Ezra 3:10-11 recalls, "When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD, according to the ordinance of David king of Israel. And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD."
Is it easier to praise God in the good or the bad? When things are good I sometimes forget to thank God for all that He has done. However, when things are too good, I find I want to hold onto the moment for fear it will not come again. God, forgive me for this fear as it does rob me of your joy!" I find when things are really tough, I get to praying. Why does this matter? It matters because "walking with the Lord" is to acknowledge God in the small and the big - the hard and the easy times in our lives. It is borne out of gratitude in all situations and in acceptance of whatever or wherever God needs us to be. It's talking to Him or just sitting at His feet.
Each of us has talents. Some are very obvious, some are behind the scenes - thank you for our unsung heroes!!!
I used to get upset and feel guilty that I could not contribute or donate to some organizations. Hear me on this - GOD does NOT want us to be stretched so thin that we are ineffective and grow to be burnt out. The priests wore linen at God's commandment because He wants his people to not sweat. He wants us to be renewed and refreshed. God renews our cups if we let Him. He doesn't want us as doormats taken for granted, aching because our own needs are not met (notice I said needs), and our families broken to serve God. I really don't think this is at all what God wants. So, what am I saying or asking?? Everyone goes through different trials, tribulations, hardships, and joys. All of us are unique and when all of us are responding to others' needs from our hearts we can experience real connections. Our experiences can bring someone else hope, encouragement, and even a reminder that God loves each of us as we are each His. Sing of God's praise and with a grateful heart be ready to share or go where He needs us to be.
Just Who Is Adam and Eve?
To understand who Eve is, we must start with Adam which is at the very beginning of the Bible.
High Level:
Adam is the very first man created after God spoke into existence all of creation in Chapter 1 of Genesis. In chapter 2, God creates the very first body of mankind from the clay of the earth:
7 Then Adonai, God, formed a person from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, so that he became a living being.
Adam literally breathed because God breathed into his nostrils! Considering CPR today, this is not a cold, impersonal creator. This is an intimate scene between the Lord and Adam. This is a warm, involved, personal creator who wants to bring His creation to life! And, God wanted him to live so He planted the garden to both feed Adam’s physical body and his mental well-being. Everything was given to Adam except for the fruit from the tree of life:
8 Adonai, God, planted a garden toward the east, in 'Eden, and there he put the person whom he had formed. 9 Out of the ground Adonai, God, caused to grow every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
15 Adonai, God, took the person and put him in the garden of 'Eden to cultivate and care for it. 16 Adonai, God, gave the person this order: "You may freely eat from every tree in the garden 17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You are not to eat from it, because on the day that you eat from it, it will become certain that you will die.”
The next thing God does is create wildlife and brings them to Adam to be the caretaker and partner over creation:
18 Adonai, God, said, "It isn’t good that the person should be alone. I will make for him a companion suitable for helping him." 19 So from the ground, Adonai, God, formed every wild animal and every bird that flies in the air, and he brought them to the person to see what he would call them. Whatever the person would call each living creature, that was to be its name. 20 So the person gave names to all the livestock, to the birds in the air and to every wild animal. But for Adam there was not found a companion suitable for helping him.
From above, we see that God is concerned that the man does not have a suitable companion. Out of all wildlife, it is God that creates the perfectly suitable companion by taking a rib from Adam and creates from that rib Adam’s wife:
21 Then God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the person; and while he was sleeping, he took one of his ribs and closed up the place from which he took it with flesh. 22 The rib which Adonai, God, had taken from the person, he made a woman-person; and he brought her to the man-person. 23 The man-person said, "At last! This is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. She is to be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." 24 This is why a man is to leave his father and mother and stick with his wife, and they are to be one flesh. 25 They were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed.
The reason they were not ashamed is that they knew not guilt or shame for guilt and shame are borne from sin. However, that’s all about to change. The serpent asks Eve a question which draws her curiosity in instead of shutting the devil down:
Chapter 3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any wild animal which Adonai, God, had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You are not to eat from any tree in the garden'?"
Now the woman answers the serpent instead of runs or tells the serpent to flee. The serpent then answers her with a half-truth. Spiritually, Adam and Eve will die from sin which is why our physical body dies. Further, it’s interesting to note that while Adam was here with Eve, he did not interject, intervene or tell the serpent to leave. Instead, we see Adam as a willing participant. After eating from the forbidden tree, their eyes were opened to their shame in that they were naked. Adam and Eve to cover up their shame then sew fig leaves together as clothes.
2 The woman answered the serpent, "We may eat from the fruit of the trees of the garden, 3 but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, 'You are neither to eat from it nor touch it, or you will die.'" 4 The serpent said to the woman, "It is not true that you will surely die; 5 because God knows that on the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it had a pleasing appearance and that the tree was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her; and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked. So, they sewed fig leaves together to make themselves loincloths.
Attempting to further cover their shame, Adam and Eve hide in the garden from God, as if that was even possible. In these verses below, God asks the questions hoping for Adam and Eve’s repentance from sin. Adam, instead of admitting his guilt, blames Eve while Eve admits her mistake in verse 13.
8 They heard the voice of Adonai, God, walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, so the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Adonai, God, among the trees in the garden. 9 Adonai, God, called to the man, "Where are you?" 10 He answered, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself." 11 He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I ordered you not to eat?" 12 The man replied, “The woman you gave to be with me — she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate." 13 Adonai, God, said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman answered, “The serpent tricked me, so I ate."
God then punishes the serpent in verse 14 to always live off the ground and eat dust which is why the devil is often portrayed as a snake.
14 Adonai, God, said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all livestock and wild animals. You will crawl on your belly and eat dust as long as you live.”
In verse 16, God tells the woman that as she bore sin into the world by eating the fruit, so she will be the one to bear children into the world through the pain of childbirth. God also tells the husband he is to rule over the woman, thereby removing the equal companionship between man and woman.
16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pain in childbirth. You will bring forth children in pain. Your desire will be toward your husband, but he will rule over you.”
As for Adam, God reminds him of his failure to take responsibility and curses him to labor for a living.
17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to what your wife said and ate from the tree about which I gave you the order, 'You are not to eat from it,' the ground is cursed on your account; you will work hard to eat from it as long as you live. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat field plants. 19 You will eat bread by the sweat of your forehead till you return to the ground — for you were taken out of it: you are dust, and you will return to dust.”
It’s interesting to note that it is after God’s statement that Adam names his wife “Eve” which means life. While Adam is to labor to make a living, Eve is to labor to bring life. Then God, Himself, that makes the first blood sacrifice as God in all His mercy and grace provides Adam and Eve with proper clothing to cover their shame.
20 Adam named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living. 21 Adonai made clothing out of skins for Adam and his wife. It was God that provided for their need to clothe themselves.
Next, God sends Adam and Eve away from the garden of Eden and puts cherubim angels to block them from returning as God does not want mankind to become immortal. While this may sound harsh, this was actually very kind. If Adam and Eve were to become immortal without reconciling their relationship through the forgiveness of all sin, then mankind would forever be spiritually lost without God.
22 Adonai, God said, “Since man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.” 23 So Adonai, God, sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove man out and stationed the cherubim and the flaming, whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life.
Middle Layer:
Adonai, or Lord God is the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ. Even before Jesus came to deliver the world from sin, He was involved with us, had a personal relationship with us, and loved us from the beginning. Adam, the first man, represents mankind. In the garden, the first creation was mankind followed by wildlife. Likewise, God asks us to put God first. When we do not, and we take others' advice without coming to God first we miss the mark and introduce sin. And we often do not immediately “come clean” and ask for forgiveness but try to justify the reason for the sin as Adam and Eve did. Also, it is Jesus Christ as Immanuel that was the new Adam. Thank goodness for God’s mercy because just as a tree took away our spiritual life, so a tree will be used to reconcile us back.
Deeper Level:
Out of everything I have read, please take the time to read Rabbi Daniel Baron’s article The Meaning of Adam. It is a wonderfully insightful explanation from the Torah. I have included it here for convenience. The rest of this article is from Rabbi Baron’s article.
The first human ever to walk the earth was named Adam. The Torah explains the name. The Hebrew word for earth is adama. God formed man from the dust of the earth, and on the simplest level, that connection with adama, earth, is the basis for man's name. Once Adam sinned and ate the forbidden fruit, he introduced death to the world and was sentenced to once again return to the earth from which God created him.
The mystics pointed to various deeper meanings within the name Adam, providing layers of insight that can make our own existence more meaningful. The name Adam does indicate one's lower earthly nature. But are we really nothing more than the complicated mammals?
The Earth's Potential
In addition to the adama being a low place in the world, there is another aspect of the adama which is perhaps its defining feature. The earth is a realm in which we can plant and yield fruits, giving rise to new life which was not there beforehand. Man's kinship with the ground, therefore, hints to his greatest potential.
Man's kinship with the ground hints to his greatest potential.
Before creating Adam, God said, "Let us make man" in the plural. With whom could God possibly partner when creating humankind? According to one approach, He consulted with His ministering angels and asked them what they thought about creating man. A fierce debate ensued.
Some of the angels argued against creating man and others were in favor. For example, the angel representing kindness was for man's creation, for man bestows kindness. Truth opposed man's creation since humans are full of lies. God heard these arguments, and finally seized the angel representing truth and hurled it onto the ground, as it says in the verse, "and He threw truth to the ground" and created man anyway. The other angels protested. How could God abandon truth, which is known as His signature? God responded "may truth rise from the ground" and our Sages then cited the verse, "truth shall grow from the ground."
The whole dialogue in the heavens appears bizarre at first glance. Why did God need to consult with His angels before creating man? Why did He reject truth in order to create Adam? Were the angels negotiating with Him? How did they convince Him to revive the angel of truth? Did He really change His mind? A core tenet of Jewish consciousness is that when the rabbis tell stories like this one, they really mean to convey a deeper message hidden deep within the parable.
The Maharal of Prague explained that throwing truth to the ground was by no means a rejection of truth. It was an investment in truth. The proof is in the verse our Sages used to explain the revival of truth: "truth shall grow from the ground." God never rejected truth; instead, He planted in the ground.
The metaphor of the ground and its centrality in man's name is no coincidence. The simple act of planting a seed is a powerful symbol of man's potential. Recall that day in kindergarten where you might have planted a bean in a plastic cup so that it would grow into a plant for Mother's Day. Every day you checked to see whether anything had grown. At first, you were disappointed as you watched the seed. It looked like it was falling apart and rotting. You wanted to throw it out, but your teacher insisted that you wait. One day, a green shoot appeared from amidst the smelly decay. It continued to grow and grow, until there was a beautiful leafy plant, with the potential for an infinite number of new plants.
Therein lies the secret of God's sowing truth. There is a very physical side to every human, and often it brings us to places of rot and decay, places in which we can wreak more havoc on creation than the most destructive animal. Yet we also have the ability to transcend that downward pull and grow from the earth into something greater with almost unlimited potential.
There were angels that opposed man's creation. The angel representing truth argued that humans lie, and they have the potential to destroy the world. In contrast, angels are perfect. An angel is the manifestation of God's will and is completely unable to deviate even an iota from that will. An angel has a name that reflects its mission since that is all the angel is. Angels cannot choose to disobey and have no minds of their own.
Like the ground, man can produce a virtually unlimited bounty of fruits.
Humans, however, have free choice. Every person has the ability to decompose and succumb to the earthly pull or to defy the gravity of physicality and elect to follow more spiritual pursuits. Like the ground, man can produce a virtually unlimited bounty of fruits. Man's decision to live on a higher plane is infinitely more meaningful than an angel's spiritual existence since it is the result of man's choice and rejection of his lower self, or his channeling it to a higher place. We all have ups and downs, but we can choose the realm with which we most identify and whether or not we will bounce back after we have fallen.
Control or be Controlled
The name Adam alludes to man's ability to transcend on an even deeper level. The word Adam is comprised of the letter aleph, followed by dalet and mem, the letters that spell the word dam which means blood. We need blood to sustain physical life, but it reflects the lower aspects of man. Blood has long been associated with hot temperament and loss of self-control. Shakespeare described one of his quick-tempered characters as "governed by a spleen," an internal organ containing a reservoir of blood. The lowest aspect of one's soul, an aspect of soul common to every animal, resides in one's blood.
In the name Adam, the word dam is preceded by the letter aleph. The letter aleph is also a word which means to teach or inculcate. It similarly indicates leadership, as implied by the related word aluf which means a general or tribal head. God created man with many base desires that reside in the blood, but he also gave us the means to assert our control over them and be an aluf over the dam. By being in control instead of subject to the dominion of our impulses, man, who is created in the image of God, resembles God. In this connection, the name Adam also alludes to the word adameh which means I will liken myself, indicating one's ability to emulate God.
From Eternity to Death and Back
Adam himself represented man's colossal potential, as well as how far he could fall. Adam's understanding of the world was vast, and his dominion complete until he ate from the forbidden fruit. God created Adam to be immortal, something that remains true of the soul, but not of the body. Adam himself succumbed to the dam in his name and failed to rule over his inclination. He introduced death into the world, something which had not applied to human beings before that point in time. Yet although he shrank in stature, elements of the higher Adam, the potential for accomplishing greatness, remained.
By confronting our lower aspects and overcoming them, we can accomplish things that no angel can.
The name Adam is therefore revealing. It describes our lower side, the tremendous downward pull and animal instinct within each of us. But it also alludes to our ability to become great -- not in spite of our physical side but because of it and through our resisting its desires. By confronting our lower aspects and overcoming them, we can accomplish things that no angel can. Through our earthy nature, we are planted and have the opportunity to produce fruits through rising from the decay and becoming more than we were beforehand. The choice is ours. We can be governed by our blood impulses, as was Eisav in the Torah who killed when he did not get what he wanted and was therefore called Edom, red, alluding to his being controlled by blood instinct, or we can become stronger and loftier, remaining in control of our destinies as we always subjugate the dam in Adam to the aleph that precedes it.
Upright posture distinguishes humans from other beings, and that characteristic reflects more than just an anatomical difference. Unlike other mammals that look naturally down and connect to only their instinctual and physical nature, humans stand up straight and look ahead. We can choose whether to look up, to grow from the ground, or look down and sentence ourselves to a life dominated by our lower side. Each one of us is created in the image of God with unbelievable potential, and the name Adam alludes to the pitfalls we must avoid, and the tremendous growth we can experience.
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