A Daily Genesis

Genesis 3:21-24

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[B][COLOR=#ff0000]†.[/COLOR] Gen 3:21 . . And the Lord God made garments of skins for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.[/B]

The exact cut and design of their garments isn't specified, and the words [I]kethoneth[/I] (keth-o'-neth) and/or [I]kuttoneth[/I] (koot-to'-neth) just indicate a shirt, or covering; as hanging from the shoulder.

Modern shirts aren't long enough to provide an adequate covering of Man's body. Theirs were probably more like a knee or calf-length dress. A shirt implies that Eve's topless days were over; although that wouldn't necessarily rule out the possibility that she may have become the Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel of her day and created some interesting necklines.

The garments were for their sake rather than the Lord's. Undress per se isn't forbidden in the Bible, nor does God himself feel particularly offended by it. Exposure is forbidden during religious services like in Ex 20:26 and Ex 28:42; but that's not really for God's sake but rather for the worshippers. After all, God created Man totally disrobed; and that's the way Man lived for an unspecified time in the garden until he tasted the fruit and found himself inhibited with a humanistic sense of propriety.

The garments actually facilitated the people's association with God. They were unbearably uncomfortable around their creator in the buff and that was principally the reason they hid from the Lord when He came calling. However, fig leaves aren't very durable; they're merely an expedient. God showed them a much better way-- and actually, a way they would never have thought of all by themselves because nobody had ever killed an animal before and who would have guessed their skins could be used for clothing until God showed them how?

That day, humans learned something about the advantages of leather goods. Most leather is produced from cattle hides: calfskin, goatskin, kidskin, sheepskin, and lambskin. Other hides and skins used include those of the horse, pig, kangaroo, deer, crocodile, alligator, seal, walrus, and of late; python. Human beings have used animal skins for a variety of practical purposes since ancient times, and to this good day leather is still a useful material all around the world. Precisely what species of animal God killed in order to make Adam his first suit of leathers is unknown.

The point to note is that the clothing man's maker crafted for the Adams didn't cost them one red cent nor did they have to contribute even the slightest bit of labor in its design and manufacture. God slaughtered the animals, treated their hides, and fabricated the garments Himself; and gave the clothing to them for free, out of kindness; and free of charge. I believe God went to all that trouble because He didn't want anything coming between himself and Adam. In other words, Adam's felt-shame over undress was a barrier between him and his creator so God showed him a really good way to overcome it: a way much superior to Adam's limited experience.

[B][COLOR=#ff0000]†.[/COLOR] Gen 3:22a . . And the Lord God said: Now that the man has become as one of us, discerning good and evil,[/B]

The mystery of the pronoun "us" was touched upon back at Gen 1:26.

Man didn't become one of the us, he became "as" one of the us; in other words: human life became a race of gods.

"I said: You are gods" (Ps 82:6a)

Man's status as a god is problematic because there is only one true god (Deut 6:4, John 17:3, 1Cor 8:4-6). Therefore Man is a false god; and subject to the condemnation of idolatry-- in man's case, the idol is himself.

[B][COLOR=#ff0000]†.[/COLOR] Gen 3:22a . . discerning good and evil,[/B]

Isn't that what gods do? Yes; gods are judgmental; viz: they develop their own ethics in accordance with their own personal concepts of what they think should be right and be wrong. Talk about a clash of the Titans! From that point on, God and Man have been at odds with each other fighting over which of the gods is going to set the standards for everybody else: the god of heaven; or the gods of the earth? Well; gods are supposed to be eternal; but humans die like flies.

"I said: You are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High. Nevertheless you will die like men, and fall like all other princes" (Ps 82:6-7)

[B][COLOR=#ff0000]†.[/COLOR] Gen 3:22c . . what if he should stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever![/B]

The Old Testament Hebrew word translated "forever" doesn't always indicate infinity. Normally it just means perpetual as "in perpetuity" viz: indefinitely; which Webster's defines as: having no exact limits. In other words: it's not unusual for something said to be forever in the Old Testament to be subject to an end; for example the law of the Passover as per Ex 12:1-14. The Passover is to be observed by pious Jews until such a time as God says not to; and so far, He hasn't.

The tree of life didn't contain enough nutrients to give Adam eternal life. It couldn't even give him immortality. But the tree could have given Adam perpetual youth; but even then, only so long as he supplemented his diet with regular doses of it; for example: I have an under-active thyroid gland that if left untreated would eventuate in my untimely death. But so long as I continue to supplement my diet with a prescribed daily dose of a medication called levoxyl, I can expect to live to a normal old age.

However; I can't get by on just one dose of levoxyl, nor can I take a lifetime of doses all at once. Levoxyl has to be taken a little at a time on a daily basis. What I'm saying is: as long as Adam supplemented his diet with nutrients from that tree on a regular basis; he wouldn't die of natural causes; thus he had the potential to remain forever twenty-one. But that was not to be since God had already decreed that man must die for eating the forbidden fruit.

[B][COLOR=#ff0000]†.[/COLOR] Gen 3:23-24 . . So the Lord God banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the soil from which he was taken. He drove the man out, and stationed east of the garden of Eden the cherubim and the fiery ever-turning sword, to guard the way to the tree of life.[/B]

In order make the warning of Gen 2:16-17 a reality; all that God had to do was deny Adam access to the tree of life and let nature take its course.

The cherubim and the fiery sword didn't actually guard the tree-- they guarded the way to the tree. That's a curious situation and strongly suggests that there is but one route to the tree rather than a variety of routes.

The sword itself almost seems to be a sentient form of life, turning in every direction, threatening and warning all who dared approach. At night its eerie glow lit the sky, and in the daytime, passersby observed its eternal flame burning perpetually like the bush Moses saw in the desert. Brrrr. What a creepy sight that must have been.

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