Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>]

Adam's fate is sealed in Gen 4.1: And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she  
conceived, and bare Cain. The power of procreation is a sure sign for  
a certain demise. Where there is birth  there is death---it can not  
be otherwise.
---Isaac Fried
On Dec 3, 2006, at 10:41 PM, George Athas wrote:

> If we read this text in the context of the larger narrative, we get  
> to Gen
> 5, where we read the continuous refrain "And then he died". The  
> text leaves
> us certain that the man, and his descendants (excepting Enoch), all  
> died. As
> such, from the point of view of Gen 5, we can't read God's threat  
> in Gen 2
> as a clumsy lie -- the man did die. One could go so far as to say  
> that the
> ridiculously long lifespans listed in Gen 5 are evidence that God  
> was rather
> kind in not following through with the threat immediately. The  
> irony of Gen
> 5 is that it conveys both the blessing and the curse of the early  
> chapters:
> blessing of fertility, and the curse of death.
>
> In short, although we may be temped (excuse the pun) to think that the
> threat is a lie, the plot at Gen 5 does not finally permit us to  
> see it as
> such. The threat was made and it was carried out, albeit with nearly a
> millennium of grace in between.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> GEORGE ATHAS
> Moore Theological College
> 1 King St, Newtown 2042, Australia
> Ph: (+61 2) 9577 9774
>
>
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