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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Gen. 2:16-17 :: idiom or clumsy lie

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  • From: Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
  • To: YODAN <yodanco AT yodanco.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Gen. 2:16-17 :: idiom or clumsy lie
  • Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 22:34:23 -0500

The Torah is short and concise. Only seventeen pages separate creation from Abraham. Not to mince words it uses this literary device of delivering the most profound ideas ensconced within an apparently childish, almost incoherent, short story. So, one should not quibble with such stories but rather concentrate on looking for their implied meaning, grand objectives and cosmological implications.

I see two monumental ideas implied in the story of the tree of knowledge:

1. Man was not perfectly created but continued, after being given the gift of life, to evolve mentally and emotionally, an idea that precedes Darwin by at least 2500 years.

2. Knowledge (science) will never solve the riddle of life and find a way to prevent death. Death is part of the divine order and will be with us forever.
Isaac Fried





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