From: "Scott McAliley" <scottanderin1 AT hotmail.com>
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [b-hebrew] Dying, you will die Gen 2:17
Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2007 13:49:39 -0500
Aaron and Harold,
Thank You for your help, and for your time, and your quick response. You
confirmed what I already knew -that I know nothing about Hebrew Grammar :)
and I now understand the passage a little better, grammatically. But from a
theological (or at least logical) standpoint, I'm not sure that my theory
that Adam and Eve were already dying before sin doesn't still have a little
life in it, even if the "dying,die" phrase doesn't add anything to it. If
eating from the tree of life after rebelling would have caused them to go on
living forever, then eating of it before sin would have as well. But it
seems apparent that they had not eaten of it, since barring them from it was
part of their punishment for sin, and we are told specifically that this was
done so they would not reach out their hands, take, eat, and live forever.
And what is something that will not live forever, but something that is
dying?
I know this would be drifting away from Biblical Hebrew slightly, but
would anyone like to discuss this or any other related garden topics?
I am doing a study of the entire Bible as it regards the innate
mortality or immortality of the human soul, and the garden seems to offer a
lot of answers. I am a Christian, but I do not hold to the traditional
teaching that all souls are immortal and eternal, because I can find no
evidence for it in the Old or New Testament. It seems plain from Scripture
that immortality is reserved for those who accept God's salvation, and
destruction(after judgement) is the destiny of those who do not. I would
love to discuss this with anyone on either side of the issue, if that is
allowed on this forum. It would be particularly helpful for me to do it
here, with people who understand Hebrew because that is inevitably going to
come into play.