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Bereishit - Genesis - Chapter 1 & 2,

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  • Bereishit - Genesis - Chapter 1 & 2,

    27And God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
    28And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the sky and over all the beasts that tread upon the earth. "


    Question is on, "subdue it and rule over". “v’chib’shoo’ha,” and subdue it [the earth]. The meaning to this? In order to subdue or rule is the idea of law or to delegated the authority? To rule over creation - being that we are to be the stewards of the earth, correct? The word subdue doesn’t have to imply violence or mistreatment. It can mean “to bring under cultivation".

    • The first human beings, Adam and Eve, are instructed by G-d to observe only a single mitzvah. In Genesis 2:16-17, G-d declares: “Mee’kol aytz ha’gahn, ah’chol to’chayl. Oo’may’aytz ha’dah’aht, tov v’rah, lo to’chahl me’meh’noo,” Of every tree of the garden, you may freely eat. But, from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, you shall not eat. The Midrash Rabbah, Genesis 19:11, cogently proclaims that the first human beings had only one single solitary mitzvah to keep, and they blew it.


    When both Adam and Eve were tempted, wasn't it on the fact of how they were to rule God's creation? The temptation was in the knowing/knowledge of good from evil? Wasn't the temptation about the differences between what was acceptable and unacceptable (good from evil) accordingly to man (mankind) versus what was termed good and evil by God - who created the heavens and the earth. Remembering at the end of every verse in Genesis .....31 And God saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good, and it was evening and it was morning, the sixth day.

    When we read on the giving of the Law at Sinai - would there be a comparison? When we read, 13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.

    15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

    But then reading more into this: (which these two scriptural passages point towards two good explanations & arguments)


    The Law and Sin

    7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”b 8But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

    13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

    14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
    Last edited by Marta; 09-25-2016, 09:39 PM.

  • #2
    Here is one thought:


    "And finally, let us take those laws of the Torah which are expressly declared to be the embodiment of the thought, and consequently a symbol,or, to use the modern expression, a "form"e.g.,Shabbath, festivals, sacrifices, etc. The character of all these laws makes it obvious that the name "religion" does not fit them at all; for in these laws what is called "form" stands forth a something essential, original and eternal.

    Religion in general relates to the thoughts of man which find their expression in symbolic actions: in any system of religion, therefore, the thought is the original, important and essential element, while the external, symbolical expression of it is of secondary importance. But, unlike, "religion," the Torah is not the thought of man, but the the thought of God, expressed in Divine laws which are to be carried out by man as symbolic actions."

    Again, - and this point to the heart of this post, The Torah is not the thought of man but the the thought of God "Expressed in Divine Laws" which are to be carried out by man.

    We are the stewards of this earth - we were to subdue it and rule it, what again would this mean for us without the law?


    Reference:

    Samson Raphael Hirsch, "Horeb" A philosophy of Jewish laws and Observances - pg. xlvii
    Last edited by Marta; 09-25-2016, 09:54 PM.

    Comment


    • #3
      [QUOTE=Marta;371258]27And God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
      28And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the sky and over all the beasts that tread upon the earth. "


      Question is on, "subdue it and rule over". “v’chib’shoo’ha,” and subdue it [the earth]. The meaning to this? In order to subdue or rule is the idea of law or to delegated the authority? To rule over creation - being that we are to be the stewards of the earth, correct? The word subdue doesn’t have to imply violence or mistreatment. It can mean “to bring under cultivation".

      • The first human beings, Adam and Eve, are instructed by G-d to observe only a single mitzvah. In Genesis 2:16-17, G-d declares: “Mee’kol aytz ha’gahn, ah’chol to’chayl. Oo’may’aytz ha’dah’aht, tov v’rah, lo to’chahl me’meh’noo,” Of every tree of the garden, you may freely eat. But, from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, you shall not eat. The Midrash Rabbah, Genesis 19:11, cogently proclaims that the first human beings had only one single solitary mitzvah to keep, and they blew it.


      When both Adam and Eve were tempted, wasn't it on the fact of how they were to rule God's creation? The temptation was in the knowing/knowledge of good from evil? Wasn't the temptation about the differences between what was acceptable and unacceptable (good from evil) accordingly to man (mankind) versus what was termed good and evil by God - who created the heavens and the earth. Remembering at the end of every verse in Genesis .....31 And God saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good, and it was evening and it was morning, the sixth day.

      Secrets of the Heart

      It is a foundation of our faith to believe that God knows all our deeds as well as everything else that occurs in the universe.

      God is therefore spoken of as being omniscient. He fills all creation and gives it existence, and therefore, He is aware of all that takes place in it. God thus said, "Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I will not see him?… Do I then not fill heaven and earth?" (Jeremiah 23:24). It is likewise written, "God's eyes are in every place, beholding the evil and the good" (Proverbs 15:3).

      God knows man's thoughts, as it is written, "God probes every heart and perceives every urge of thought" (1-Chronicles 28:9). It is likewise written, "[God] knows the secrets of the heart" (Psalms 44:21).

      Since God exists outside of time, He knows the future exactly as He knows the past. This precise concept is expressed in His words to His prophet, "I call the generations from the beginning; I, God, am the First, and with the last I am the same" (Isaiah 41:4).

      No matter how great the number of simultaneous events, it is nothing for God's infinite knowledge.

      >>>>>>>>>>>>>

      With that whole thought - What was the basis for the temptation in the garden? To know good from evil? Eve picked of the forbidden fruit and gave it to Adam - and what was the phrase from the serpent, " and you shall be god-like, knowing good and evil"

      In his book In the Beginning, Ratzinger writes:

      "We must have the audacity to say that the great projects of the living creation are not the products of chance and error. Nor are they the products of a selective process to which divine predicates can be attributed in illogical, unscientific, and even mythic fashion. The great projects of the living creation point to a creating Reason and show us a creating Intelligence, and they do so more luminously and radiantly today than ever before. Thus we can say today with a new certitude and joyousness that the human being is indeed a divine project, which only the creating Intelligence was strong and great and audacious enough to conceive of. Human beings are not a mistake but something willed; they are the fruit of love. They can disclose in themselves, in the bold project that they are, the language of the creating Intelligence that speaks to them and that moves them to say: Yes, Father, you have willed me."

      Ratzinger argues that the appeal of Christianity in late antiquity was precisely its capacity to unite the desire of philosophers for a rational worldview based on perception and knowledge, as opposed to the irrational poetry of the gods, with the deepest longings of the human heart for truths about human existence. To allow a positivist philosophy of evolution to dislodge Christianity, he insists, would not be a victory for enlightenment, but ultimately the triumph of irrationality.

      He makes this case in Truth and Tolerance:

      "The question is whether reality originated on the basis of chance and necessity and, thus, from what is irrational; that is, whether reason, being a chance by-product of irrationality and floating in an ocean of irrationality, is ultimately just as meaningless; or whether the principle that represents the fundamental conviction of Christian faith and of its philosophy remains true - In principio erat Verbum - at the beginning of all things stands the creative power of reason. Now as then, Christian faith represents the choice in favor of the priority of reason and of rationality."

      God's knowledge is identical with His infinite Essence, and it is therefore also infinite. It is thus written, "[God's] understanding is infinite" (Psalms 147:5). God can therefore know what is happening to every single atom in the universe at every given instant. No matter how great the number of simultaneous events, it is nothing compared to God's infinite knowledge.

      >>>>>>>>>>>>

      Again, reading in the context - was it based on knowledge - and if so, then reasoning?

      >>>>>

      25 One day an expert in the Law stood up to test Him. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26“What is written in the Law? Jesus replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

      "Rabbi Hillel replied, "What is hateful to yourself, do not do to your fellow man. That is the whole Torah; the rest is just commentary. Go and study it." (Talmud Shabbat 31a)." Love and Brotherhood

      The whole of the law was based on two concepts - 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

      37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

      Wasn't it the fact that Jesus came to enlighten us about the law - the reasonings and the knowledge? As well.................."It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth."
      Last edited by Marta; 10-02-2016, 03:20 PM.

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