The Eden Proverb 2004 by Gerry L. Folbré III Research The Root of Woman Revealed. Synopsis. The Study of Hebrew woman & Eden Narrative Continuity

Transcription

1 The Study of Hebrew woman & Eden Narrative Continuity The following synopsis illustrates the established narrative continuity from Genesis 2: 18 and the helper which God says He will make, to Genesis 3: 20 and the tent village that is regarded as the mother of all united families, and finally to Genesis 3: 21 where the human archetype is awakened from the deep sleep which was induced in Genesis 2: 21. Study שׁם The Hebrew masculine noun denotes a substantive : a noun, (the common noun of some thing); and the personal name of someone. Hebrew substantives are generally derived from verb stems and/or roots which contribute to their meaning, and so establish how they are used. The traditional etymology of the Hebrew feminine noun for woman is shown to be incongruent אשׁה with its application in the Eden narrative. The etymology of the masculine noun helper used in Genesis 2: 18 & 20 is עזר not analogous with the traditional אשׁה etymology of the feminine noun woman introduced in Genesis 2: 22 & 23. A new etymology of the Hebrew אשׁה woman feminine noun for is established and is shown to be congruent with its application in the Eden narrative. The new etymology of the feminine noun woman introduced in Genesis אשׁה 2: 22 & 23 is synonymous with the עזר etymology of the masculine noun helper used in Genesis 2: 18 & 20. In האדם Genesis 2: 18 the human archetype is said to be in need of a helper, and it is God who עזר will make said עזר helper. In Genesis 2: 19 God forms the beasts of the field and flying creatures of the heavens, and brings all these newly created נפשׁ חיה breathing being communities to the human archetype. 10-B- 1

2 In האדם Genesis 2: 20 the human archetype can only distinguish between carnivorous beasts, flying creatures, and herbivorous beasts of the field. At the conclusion of Genesis 2: 20 there is not found עזר a helper for האדם the human archetype. This signifies a wisdom riddle, thus, the Eden text would be a wisdom In האדם Genesis 2: 7 the human נשׁמת חיים archetype receives from God the life. breath of mortal חיים denotes mortal life in the Eden text. In Genesis 2: 9 the the life is introduced. In Genesis 3: 22 it is the which is said to enable one to live for ever. Thus, tree of עץ החיים life tree of the עץ החיים חי לעלם = החיים In האדם Genesis 2: 7 the human נשׁמת archetype receives from God the breath of mortal life and חיים becomes a נפשׁ חיה a breathing brute animal community ; an animal species. In האדם Genesis 2: 19 the human נפשׁ archetype recognizes all other breathing brute animal חיה communities, animal species, which נשׁמת חיים also received God s 21 & 22 breath of mortal life. Gen. 7: In האדם Genesis 2: 7 the human archetype becomes a נפשׁ חיה a breathing brute animal community. Elsewhere in the Old Testament the Hebrew enclitic phrase נפשׁ חיה is always used to describe brute animal species or types. Thus, in Genesis 2: 7 archetype is a the human האדם a breathing נפשׁ חיה brute animal community, and the brute animals in Genesis 2: 19 & 20 are each a breathing brute animal נפשׁ חיה community as stated at the conclusion of Genesis 2: 19. In האדם Genesis 2: 20 the human archetype is only mentally capable of distinguishing הבהמה the carnivorous beasts, עוף השׁמים flying creatures of the חית השׂדה the heavens, and herbivorous beasts of the field. But, at the conclusion of Genesis 2: 20, for the human archetype there לאדם was אל not מצא found a as opposite to כנגדו helper עזר it. There was no difference between the human archetype and the brute animals. 10-B- 2

3 Genesis 2: 21 begins by stating that God causes a תרדמה deep sleep to fall upon האדם the human archetype. The divine realm of תרדמה deep sleep is the realm of dreams and visions; the place where the divine and mortal intertwine. dream-time. is the תרדמה The Hebrew Eden Proverb then states: ויקח and ו he י קח summons one אחת מצלעתיו from מ sides The 3 rd צלעת his _יו person singular masculine suffix _יו his, is in reference to God not the human The feminine noun traditionally translated rib is.צלע Nowhere in the Old Testament is צלע ever used to designate a human rib. Furthermore, both male and female human rib-cages have an identical number of ribs: 24 אלהים The NAME of the plural God in the Eden Proverb is the Tetragrammaton The Hebrew Tetragrammaton.יהוה signifies the four directions north, east, south, west the four seasons winter, spring, summer, autumn the four times of a day night, morning, noon, evening. The feminine noun צלע is used most often in the Old Testament to denote side. The עזר most apt to be a יהוה side of helper would be יהוה אלהים God s thus, east, front, beginning side, קדמה יהוה אלהים the creative side of the It is this feminine, creative צלע side of he י יסגר God that יהוה אלהים flesh בשׂר closely joins to the סגר beneath, literally under, תחת תחתנה (as beneath the heavens), _נה feminine suffix, her. Thus, God closely joins the flesh that is beneath the eastern side of the 10-B- 3

4 Genesis 2: 22 then states that God builds with the side which was summoned on account of the human archetype, into a support, a fire This is the only place in the creation narratives, Gen. 1: 1 3: 24, that God s creative activity is referred to with בן apocopated,בנה the Hebrew verb to build. In Genesis 2: 22 God בן builds the strong helper, using His east side which is joined to the human flesh into a אשׁה a support which sustains, heals, and solaces. In the vernacular, one builds a support, and one also builds a אשׁה fire. אשׁה At the conclusion of Genesis 2: 22 God brings this support / אשׁה fire unto האדם.האדם now becomes one of two actors in a divine play. האדם now symbolically represents the consciousness of blood. דם of א ה In ה Genesis 2: 23 the א I (Latin, ego) [consciousness] of דם blood says, Now at last this one is עצם might עצמ my _י surpassing מ מעצמי might, ו ובשׂר and בשׂר tidings מ מבשׂרי flesh [sensations] surpassing י my בשׂר tidings shall be קרא he י יקרא called אשׁה (support, fire) [metaphorical] woman. Woman supports the species by giving birth to and nurturing young. Woman tends the hearth fire, sustaining the camp or village while solacing, aiding, and hli h ff i b t on account of מ מאישׁ for כי (the preformative 1 st person,אישׁ pronoun abbreviation א I is ישׁ prefixed to the verb substantive am, exist ). Thus, the creative intellect is what enables human beings to reach the conclusion: 10-B- 4

5 It is on the grounds of these condition, that it states in Genesis 2: 24, an אישׁ I am; an individual will leave his/its father and mother and will cleave אשׁת his/its _ו with ב באשׁתו for אשׁה creative intellect {metaphorical wife ) and they will become one Genesis 2: 25 : And the two of them were האדם aware sensible, ערומים ואשׁתו blood the consciousness of and his creative intellect ולא and not יתבשׁשׁו yet disturbed, confused, Having translated anew the final verse of Genesis Chapter 2, this study and so this, now focuses on the two verses which are pertinent to this section of study in Genesis Chapter 3, Genesis 3: 20 & 21. Genesis 3: 20 pertains to the שׁם חוה substantive chavah tent village (traditionally translated Eve ), and Genesis 3: 21 pertains to the wakefulness, עור with putting on, figuratively clothing them לבשׁם (traditionally translated skin ). Thus, the consciousness of blood and its creative intellect are awakened from the divine realm of תרדמה deep sleep. When Genesis 3: 20 is translated anew, what it conveys agrees with an ancient Hebrew grammatical tradition regarding the assigning of gender to certain nouns. That grammatical tradition reads as follows: 10-B- 5

6 Names of countries and towns [are usually feminine], since they are regarded as the mothers and nurses of the inhabitants. Genesis 3: 20 states, And the consciousness of blood calls his creative intellect tent village for she is to be the חוה mother of אם all כל חי kinsfolk, villagers, united families; i h bi The final act in the divine play is described in Genesis 3: 21. Here, the two actors are synthesized back into האדם the human archetype which denotes the human חוה or אשׁה species. There is no further mention of either verses of the Eden Proverb. The synopsis of Genesis 3: 21 reads as follows: in the remaining three Genesis 3: 21 states, And God עשׂ makes for the consciousness of blood, and for its creative intellect כתנות day tunics of awakening; skin; agitation; עור exposure and he clothes them. The opening clause of Genesis 3: 22 then states that האדם the human species has יהוה says, אמר he י and ו ויאמר age. come of ה האדם behold הן Elohim, YHVH אלהים כ כאחד become has היה humanity אדם the the like of אחד one מ ממנו from מנ a portion of ו us ל לדעת to דעת know 10-B- 6

7 Sumerian and the New Translation It is important to point out that the Hebrew words for woman and Eve are not mentioned again in the final three verses of the Eden narrative, Genesis 3: & 24. In ancient Sumerian the term Eve, tent village did not exist, but the term adamu meant settlement on the plain, 1 thus Hebrew adam, humanity. In Sumerian the term edinu, Eden, meant fertile plain, plain, steppe. 2 The idea that the Hebrew masculine noun adam, humanity, may also denote a settlement; village of unified families could explain why adam is said to live for nine hundred and thirty years at the conclusion of Genesis 5: 5. Whereas it is biologically unlikely to assume that an individual human being could live for nearly a thousand years, a settlement of humanity could very well exist that long. 1 Smithsonian Magazine; Has the Garden of Eden been located at last, by Dora Jane Hamblin, May The Jewish Publication Society s, JPS Torah Commentary, Genesis, by Nahum M. Sarna, 1989, pg. 18. See also The Anchor Bible, Genesis, E.A. Speiser, by Doubleday & Company, Inc. Preface 1962, pg. 16, B- 7