Double Your Pleasure
and YHWH planted a garden in Eden Genesis 2:8
Eden – By the time Rousseau finished refurbishing the Garden of Eden, we all thought this Hebrew word referred to a tropical paradise filled with exotic plants and erotic delights. It’s time to leave all those images behind and look at the real word play involved in this verse. What we discover just might change your entire view of pleasure.
A little detective work reveals that ‘eden is a very unusual word. As you know, most nouns in Hebrew have gender. Just like French, Spanish and Latin, nouns are either feminine or masculine. Often this gender characteristic seems completely independent of the actual object the word refers to. For example, a full harvest is feminine but an angel is masculine (yes, that’s right, there are no blond, female angels, even for Charlie). This characteristic produces some strange (but important) insights. For example, the words describing Man (adam – masculine) as a “living being” are both feminine nouns (nephesh hayah). But ‘eden is really odd. It is both masculine and feminine. In Psalm 36:8, ‘eden is masculine. It describes the many enjoyments God gives us. But in Genesis 18:12, ‘eden is a feminine noun that describes intimate sexual delight. Of course, ‘eden is also the name of a place. So, when we read this text in Hebrew, a host of images come immediately to mind. God’s good gifts, sexual pleasure, luxury and pregnancy are all included in the word for the location of this Garden. Apparently the Hebrew language defines pleasure in much broader categories than our usual imagination about Eden.
There is something else we need to notice here. Eden was not created by Disney or MGM or the Las Vegas zoning commission. Eden is God’s place of pleasure. In other words, Man does not determine what will be his pleasure in life. God puts Man in the place of God’s pleasure. God tells Man what pleasure is – and what it is not. The pictograph makes the point. Ayin-Daleth-Nun is a picture of “experiencing the door to life.” God defines pleasure as that which gives life. And, of course, God, the author of life, defines what life is.
This hidden assumption is vitally important for us. What happens when we decide to define pleasure in our own terms? We take on God’s role. We act as though we are the source of life. We choose pleasure based on what satisfies us, what is good for us, what we find enjoyable. But we are not God. We do not own life. We are but fragile creatures completely dependent on His grace for our breath and bread. Who are we to determine what belongs in the garden? Eden is God’s realm and His design. Every time we choose to define pleasure based on our estimation of what is good, we eat from the tree that brings chaos, destruction and death. From the biblical perspective, I am not free to determine the nature of pleasure. God decides that for me. That’s why He planted a garden in ‘eden.
How desperately we need to learn the lesson in this simple Hebrew word play! In a culture that advocates redefining pleasure with every new stimulus, we no longer understand God’s Eden nor are we able to find it among the lesser gods of our own making. The pursuit of pleasure only takes us further from the truth. I don’t need to pursue what God has already given me. I just need to obey – and let His design become my delight once again.
Topical Index: Eden, ‘eden, pleasure, delight, sex, Genesis 2:8
Brother Skip …. oh so true …. nice message!
The submission to personal pride, in this instance determining and pursuing what is pleasurable, surely will lead to catastrophe. For decades I was guilty of pursuing the lesser gods to no good end!
I was always in need of more …. I was always seeking the next ingenious way to take life by the horns and wrestle it into submission. Oh don’t get me wrong by any means …. my flesh had enormous amounts of “fun” …. yet my very soul was lacking …. empty …. never content. I was in Biblical terms quite frankly a fool! 🙁
It took me a long time to realize what true idolatry was and that I personally was as guilty as the Israelites in the desert pressuring Aaron to produce a golden calf to worship. Praise ELOHIM Who is ever faithful and kept pleading with me to repent and turn back to HIM!
If someone told me ten years ago that embracing the ways of Torah and being obedient would actually be fun …. well I would have been rolling on the floor and laughing out loud. Buried deep within the wisdom of ELOHIM is the truth that in obedience we find contentment, joy, blessings and even … fun! 🙂
As Skip points out in today’s message …. pleasure is what gives life and obedience spreads HIS Kingdom and HIS Glory. Yeshua summed up this mystery for us ….
John 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 15:8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. 15:9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. 15:11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
Regarding the Gospel of Yeshua (Salvation and Grace) we must also keep in mind haTorah and obedience to the mitzvot! In the words of the legendary commentator Paul Harvey …. “now we have the rest of the story!”
-God defines pleasure as that which gives life.-
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. (Isaiah 55.11)
the words I speak unto you.. they are spirit and they are life. (John 6.63)
I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)
He has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. It is possible for us to live a life that is pleasing unto the Father? Is this our goal? Is this our purpose? Is this what we desire?
Now, -how would we know what is pleasing to our Abba? Do we delight to do His will?
I Elohim and His ways!
Pretty interesting what Dr. Moen share with us in this analysis. This information may me ask what happened at Eden that the first son of the couple borned outside Gan Eden. Why they never had sons and daughters while they were “inside.” Keep on sharing with us Dr. Moen what the text really says!!!!!
Shalom shabbat
“For example, the words describing Man (adam – masculine) as a “living being” are both feminine nouns (nephesh hayah).”
I noticed the other day that “soul” appears in English/American Bibles as a result of being an incorrect translation of “nephesh.”
And that “Hayah” is a Hebrew word meaning “I am” (how God refers to himself).
What I also read and found very interesting was that nephesh means “breath.”
So I’m wondering if the masculine man, Adam, has two feminine aspects?
A God like aspect (I am or “being”) and a Spirit like aspect (“breath”).
Now please bear with me and imagine the sound of taking a deep breath OUT with your mouth open:
“Yah”
Now please imagine the sound of sucking a deep breath in with your mouth open.
“Weh”
In my translation of Genesis, God is referred to as “Yahweh” God.
Now try the opposite way.
In:
“Om”
out:
“Bre”
Hombre is “man” in Spanish.
Muy macho 🙂
“
I must admit that you have a twisted sense of humor, and I thoroughly enjoy it. Sort of like the current YouTube video going around about Barak O’Bama’s name. By the way, YHWH isn’t hayah. It is a derivation of the Hebrew verb “to be” and what it actually sounds like is unknown. But you’re right about the English translations of nephesh. The translations are subtle shifts to Greek metaphysics.
“YHWH isn’t hayah. It is a derivation of the Hebrew verb “to be” and what it actually sounds like is unknown.
Hi Skip,
I’m a little confused here.
Maybe I was just unclear or maybe I don’t understand.
I looked up the definition of “hayah” and it said “I am” in Hebrew.
My understanding was that the meaning of YHWH was “I am.”
I actually thought YHWH meant “I am who I am.”
In any case, as you you know, “I am” is the first person, present tense of the infinitive form “to be.”
And although we don’t know what YHWH sounds like, some scholars use “Yahweh.”
And Yahweh sounds like “breath” to me.
So I concluded that “nephesh hayah” = “breath I am.”
And connected the words “man” and “breath” to Yahweh.
As I said I’m a little confused, and your clarification would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike
Let’s take another look. First, hayah is really Chet-Yod(doubled)-Hey. It is a noun in Genesis 2:7, not a verb. Notice the consonant structure is not Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey. In fact, there is no Chet in the divine name. Second, by changing the vowel pointing of Chet-Yod-Hey, we get the verb chayah, but the middle Yod is not doubled. This verb means “to be alive”. Now, if you look at Exodus 3:14, you see God’s self-revealed name as Aleph-Hey-Yod-Hey. This is the first person singular imperfect qal of the verb Hey-Yod-Hey. This is the verb “to be”. You can see that this is not the same verb as the basis of the noun chayyah in Genesis 2:7. The problem comes with the transliteration. Hebrew has letters that do not easily transliterate into English, like the Chet, which in English is like the German ach sound (the back of the throat rough sound not found in English), but is usually represented by the h with a line under it (something I can’t do in this blog format). So, when you looked up the definition of hayah, you were looking at a different verb, not chayah.
Finally, as you can now see, AHYH (in Exodus 3:14) isn’t quite the same at YHWH either, so the verbal form has to be converted to a noun in order to be a name. And that’s another problem. Scholars have quite a debate over the meaning of the YHWH – I am who I am, I will be who I will be, I am, etc. You might usefully consult the discussion in The Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, Vol. 111, pp. 379-381.
Okay. Thanks Skip!
The tzelem, demut of God is based in God revelation as Elohim. If we take time to analized what aspects of God are revealed in this name we can discover in what way we are image and likeness of God. It is pretty interesting how God made us at his/her image. It is not our body what made us image and likeness of God. The body exists already. Please take in consideration how the order is inverted when we are talking about the humans beings. God start with “Let us make” (v.26) and in verse 27 says “created” If we pay attention to this order when we talk about the rest of creation we can see that this order is no followed. In Genesis 1:1, “In the begginning God created” later in Exodus 31:17, we read: ” It [is] a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” Now the word selected is “made.” Please take few minutes to think in this reversed order when we are talking about Adam. Thank you very much!!!