We study the Torah according to the triennial cycle every Sabbath. (Why?)
We must understand the paragraph divisions in Torah, which are inspired by the Spirit and preserved by Moses and the Jewish scribes (but discarded by the English translators), are key to help us understand what God is trying to tell us. He wants to be understood, and has provided these helps to aid us! We must also understand how the Spirit teaches through Torah by common theme.
Today is the 2nd Sabbath of the triennial cycle: parashah (Torah portion) Toledoth / Generations, Gen 2:4-3:21. (Read at Bible Gateway or the Hebrew Bible in English.)
Additional readings for this week:
Prophet: Eze 28 / Psalm: Ps 2 / History: Job 3-4 / Gospel: Mat 4:1-11 / Apostolic: Rom 5
The first teaching device which the Holy Spirit placed in Torah are His paragraph divisions! In Torah scrolls, copied without change from the original which Moses wrote on Sinai, there are two different types of paragraph divisions - a strong division and a weak division. Last week we learned about the first paragraph division, the strong paragraph division. This week we will learn about the second paragraph division, the weak paragraph division, marked by the Hebrew character stumah. (I mark the ends of these paragraphs in my English Bible with a penciled- in “s”.)
Gen 2:4-3:15 ends with a parsha (paragraph) stumah, a weak paragraph division.
Every portion of Scripture that ends in a stumah division indicates a continuation of a theme or topic.
That such a long passage ends with a stumah, means that God considers the entire passage from Gen 2:4-3:15 a single paragraph with its own main idea - and that the paragraph is a sub theme of a greater topic.
Gen 3:16 ends with a stumah.
This means God considers this single sentence its own paragraph, teaching its own sub theme of a greater topic.
Gen 3:17-21 ends with a parsha p'tuchah, a strong paragraph division.
This means that God considers this section to be its own paragraph with its own sub theme; furthermore, that the entire passage from Gen 2:4-3:21 is teaching an overarching theme, with three sub themes (as the end of Gen 2:3 was where the last p'tuchah was found).
Right away in the beginning of this Torah portion, there is the establishing of a new pattern, which is different from the pattern established in the previous section. In last week's Torah portion, every time God is mentioned, the Hebrew word used is Elohiym, a masculine plural noun meaning Supreme Being; i.e., He who created the heavens and the earth. This name reveals Elohiym’s plurality of being, His might and creative power, and His character of righteousness, justice, and sovereignty.
But in this week's Torah portion, in almost every place that God is mentioned, it is translated as LORD God. The Hebrew for this is YHVH Elohiym. We are introduced to the four letters, the tetragrammaton, the personal name of Elohiym, meaning “I AM,” the self- existent One; also He was, He is, and He will be, or the eternal One. The personal name of Elohiym is pronounced Yehovah or Yahweh.
So why the change? Last week we saw that the second teaching tool God uses in order to instruct us is to establish a pattern in His Word (the first tool is the paragraph divisions of p'tuchah and stumah). This week we see a third teaching tool God uses in His Word - breaking a pattern previously established. Whenever we see a break in a pattern, we should ask ourselves, “Why the change?” Because the change is there deliberately; God is trying to tell us something!
My theory is that there has been a change of author. In Gen 2:4, “This is the account of the heavens and the earth,” the word “account” is the Hebrew toledoth, meaning generations, or history, or even, book. That this section of Genesis is a very ancient written record, and not an oral record until the time of Moses, has been proven by clues embedded in the Torah scroll. Who was the one who wrote it down? Well, the only man alive to witness the events recorded in this section was Adam. He is the author, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (thus it still remains the Word of God).
That begs the question, then who wrote last week's Torah portion, from Gen 1:1-2:3? The answer must be, logically, the only one alive to witness the events recorded therein - God. He gave the history from Gen 1:1-2:3 to Adam, and Adam, beginning in 2:4, added his own eyewitness account, or toledoth. This is why the creation account in Gen 2 seems to differ from the creation account in Gen 1. They are not contradictory, but just the same events witnessed from two different perspectives. God relayed His account chronologically; however, Adam relayed his account according to a different criteria - thematically. We get in trouble when we expect every narrative in Scripture to be chronological. Understanding this eliminates half the charges of contradictions in the Bible out there. :)
Back to the paragraph stumah from Gen 2:4-3:15. What is the point of this paragraph, the main idea? Whenever we are faced with a section of Scripture bounded by the Lord's paragraph markers, we should ask ourselves, “Why is this section a single paragraph?” What is the point God is trying to get across, by including all these verses (or limiting to these verses) in this paragraph? There is no right or wrong answer. The Holy Spirit will reveal things to us as we seek Him and ask (Joh 16:13).
The topic that I came up with, is that Disobedience to YHVH's Command is the definition of Sin. For it is this incident, the Fall of Man, by which Sin is introduced into God's perfect Creation (as we can see by reading the Apostolic portion of Scripture that accompanies this Torah portion). Notice that God does not end the paragraph, however, until He has given the promise of the Seed of the Woman, who will crush the head of the serpent! Even now, at man's worst moment, God is extending grace and hope to him!
The theme of the paragraph stumah from Gen 3:16 is the curse on the woman. The theme of the paragraph from Gen 3:17-21 is the curse on the man. The word translated “pain” for the woman in verse 16 and the word translated “toil” for the man in verse 17 is the same word in Hebrew: itstsabon. They received the same curse as a result of their sin: toil, or work. The woman's work, I believe, is moreover lifelong, just as the man's is. Her work is in not only bearing children, but rearing them, in making the home for her and her husband and her children to dwell in. His work is in provision - he goes out from the home, and procures by toiling the food (or material things) necessary to sustain himself and his family.
Notice that in the woman's curse, she is also placed in submission to her husband. In Torah portion Bereisheet, both the man and the woman were given equal dominion over the creation. Neither of them were subservient to the other. Now God creates a hierarchy: man, then woman, then creation. Creation is still subject to the man and the woman, but woman is now subject to her husband (not just any man). Who is the man subject to? YHVH, and all mankind and creation is also subject to YHVH through the man's dominion. He exercises dominion in order to bring his wife, his children, and the creation into obedience to YHVH.
The men and women (and children) who understand God's authority, order, and plan, and who order their lives in cooperation with Him and not in opposition to Him, will bring blessings upon themselves (see Psalm 1 from last week)!
So now that we have main ideas for the weak paragraphs, let's see what the main idea is for the strong paragraph, from Gen 2:4-3:21.
Gen 2:4-3:21 ends in a p'tuchah.
a. Gen 2:4-3:15 (stumah) Sin is disobedience to God's command.
b. Gen 3:16 (stumah) The curse on the woman - work (painful toil).
c. Gen 3:17-21 The curse on the man - work (painful toil).
What comes to my mind for the main idea of the entire section is that Sin Brings the Curse of Work. Can it be that sin brings the curse of works on mankind as well - working in order to earn righteousness before God? And here is another instance of the Lord's grace: He established the seventh day as a day of rest, holy to YHVH, before sin, the curse, or work ever entered God's perfect world. Yes, we have been cursed with work as a result of our disobedience. But every seventh day, God lifts the curse of work on our lives, and allows us to rest from our painful toil, as we remember that YHVH is our gracious and loving Creator, to whom we owe worship; to whom we bow the knee!
Finding Messiah in Torah
This week Messiah leaps off the page. He is the Seed of the Woman promised in Gen 3:15, who crushes Satan's head and restores mankind to the perfection, communion with God, and rest we experienced in the Garden before the Fall of Man. He erases the effect of sin on His perfect Creation! There is an entire book in the fact that God chose to represent Messiah as the seed. In fact, my Hebrew teacher, Brad Scott, did write a book about it: The Principle of the Seed. It is fascinating and life- changing and I recommend it!
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