Biblical Hebrew Forum

["YODAN" <yodanco AT yodanco.com>]

I agree and this implied meaning is embedded in the meaning of the phrase in
question.  It's not an "idiom or a clumsy lie" - it's the essence of being a
human being. 

 

  _____  

From: Isaac Fried [mailto:if AT math.bu.edu] 
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 7:34 PM
To: YODAN
Cc: 'Peter Kirk'; b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Gen. 2:16-17 :: idiom or clumsy lie

 

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