The Pharaoh Syndrome

Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.  Numbers 21:6  NASB Sent – The Hebrew verb šālaḥ has three different linguistic domains.  The first is the way we typically read a verb like “send,” i.e., compelling or transmitting someone or something from one place to another. …

Enoch’s Mortality

And I put sleep into him and he fell asleep.  And I took from him A rib, and created him a wife, that death should come to him by his wife, and I took his last word and called her name mother, that is to say, Eva (Eve).  1 Enoch 30:16 Death should come to…

Apopis

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”  Genesis 3:1 NIV Serpent – Some years ago I shared a lecture session with Michael Heiser, author of The Unseen Realm: Recovering…

Who Are You?

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” Genesis 3:1 NASB Serpent – “No language is used in 3:1 to suggest that the snake is…

Cosmetic Surgery (Revisited)

“For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  Genesis 3:5 NASB Like God – The serpent doesn’t tell Havvah that she will be God.  He doesn’t even tell her that she will be like God.  He only says…

Seduced!

But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.  2 Corinthians 11:3  NASB Led astray – “Everyone’s human.  I just made a mistake!”  That might be the conclusion we draw from the translation “led astray.”  After…

Agendas

For it is written, “He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness.” 1 Corinthians 3:19 (citing Job 5:13) Craftiness – When rabbi Sha’ul cites Eliphaz’s comment in Job 5:13, he certainly recalled another use of a similar consonant stem (Ayin-Resh-Mem).  Craftiness is the supreme characteristic of the serpent (Genesis 3:1). We wouldn’t…

Vowel Problems

To the woman He said, “I will greatly increase your sorrow and your conception – bring forth children in pain. And your desire is for your husband, and he does rule over you.” Genesis 3:16 (SRI) Greatly Increase – Perhaps we have become so numb to this story that we just don’t ask any questions…

One Leads To Another

And the man called the name of his wife, Eve, because she became the mother of all living.  Genesis 3:20 Eve – Of course, we know that the name Eve is a corruption of the real text.  The man did not call her Eve.  He called her by the Hebrew name Havvah.  Why is it…

Speechless

Moses made a copper serpent and mounted it on a standard; and when anyone was bitten by a serpent, he would look at the copper serpent and recover.  Numbers 21:9 Copper Serpent – Many people believe that the common symbol of medicine, two serpents on a cross, originated with this event.  But a careful reading…