Biblical Hebrew Forum

["K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Isaac:

On 12/3/06, Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu> wrote:
> 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

That is not a given. While it is true today, was it so prior to
Genesis 3? The context of the narration indicates that that is not so.

We should not take our situation and project it onto a situation other
than ours. The context is that rebelling would introduce death, an
action that did not exist prior to rebellion, as made explicit in the
understanding of the first century Jews who wrote the New Testament.

Karl W. Randolph.