Double Dipped
And YHWH Elohim formed Man out of dry, loose earth dirt Genesis 2:7a (my translation)
Dry, loose earth dirt – We found some unusual implications in the verb in this verse. When God formed Man, it seems that God had decision polarity in mind. But that’s not all. There is another odd construction in this part of the verse. It is the repetition of the concept of dirt. The Hebrew text contains the words afar and ha-adamah. Both words mean loose, dry dust or dirt. Why say it twice? Why not just say Man was formed from afar (dust)? Why add adamah? The answer is the connection between Man and the earth. God breathes life into Man, but Man is essentially connected to the earth from which he came in spite of this divine animation. Man is the in-between. Formed from the created order, he is tied to the stuff of the cosmos. But he is the bearer of the divine breath. There is something about him that is elevated above the rest of creation. Centuries later David recognized this double direction. “You have made him a little lower than God and You crown him with glory and majesty” (Psalm 8:5). We might be led to suggest that the yetser ha-tov is associated with the heavenly direction and the yetser ha-ra with the earthy pull, but that would make us Platonists and push us right back into the heresy of the corrupt body. We must recognize that the evil impulse is an essential part of what it means to be human, even the human being animated by God’s divine spirit. It isn’t the impulse that is sinful. It’s the use of that desire for its own purposes!
This helps us see why Hebrew repeats the connection to the earth. By using both afar and ha-adamah, the text tells us that there is no essential importance or ontological difference between the insignificant and ubiquitous “stuff” of creation and the makeup of a human being. We are dust and to dust we shall return. But wait! Hold that thought. We are also ha-adamah, “of the earth.” The linguistic similarity is deliberate. We are not simply a pile of dust like the dust found everywhere in the universe. We are “of the earth,” the deliberately created home of God’s living wonder. We are tied to this place. We come from it. We aren’t stellar dust mites or a billion years of carbon. We are the “first blood” (Aleph-Dalet-Mem) of the “revealed red (blood) beings.” We might even say that the earth (ha-adamah) is “earth” because of its immediate connection to Man. It is not simply a planet spinning away in the vastness of space. It is home. It is our home, and there is no other. This is the place we came from, the place where God is working out His purposes, the place where we belong. In the deepest possible sense, the earth is us and we are the earth. If there were ever a reason for stewardship of the planet, this is it. By caring for the earth, we care for ourselves.
Of course, this vital connection becomes an essential bit of background when we arrive at the punishment of Genesis 3. Harmony with the earth is broken. Thistles and thorns become part of our reality – both in the external world (the adamah) and in our internal world. How could it be any other way? We are the earth and the earth is us. This is why the sins of men also affect the ground. Restoration means a return to Eden, inside and outside. There is more to the phrase “heaven on earth” than we might imagine.
Being loose earth and dry dust means we cannot escape or deny our essential connection to this place. The theology that suggests we don’t belong here, that implies the world is soon to be abandoned, has not come to grips with afar and ha-adamah. We do belong here! This is where God will work out His will. This is where the plan will unfold. And we are invited to stick around and join in. We are invited to get our hands dirty, to walk the dusty roads, to look up at the stars and say, “Yes, Lord, You made me a little less than what You are, but just exactly what I need to be. I am here, right here, ready to do Your will.”
Topical Index: earth, dust, afar, ha-adamah, Genesis 2:7a
Yesterday I finished my course, The Philosophical Problem of Evil. Most of what I was given to read was from philosophers and I do not think they understand, nor would have understood today article. I wish I would have had this article a day earlier for it would have sharpened my response. Of course, I would have said. I live in a world that is good and evil, joined at the hip, so to speak. When I was a young lad, I knew that I was a “bad boy.” When I was older I made a decision that I no longer had to be bad by compulsion. What I experienced was that I was free to be good or bad. I did not just have to look good. I was changed. I now had the ability to decide. I am now still both good and bad, but more willing to give myself to the good, the earth without denying that I am also tied to the other side, the less savory. It is a choice that I make, day to day, moment to moment. Oh, life is so great!
What else can be said!!? If we, the body, would get this our world would change. That’s my prayer. AMEN!!
Excellent word today brother Skip. “And G-d breathed into man’s nostrils the Breath of life (the Ruach HaKodesh?) and man (me) became a living soul.”
Therefore we are His by right of creation. It is He who has made us and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. It is time for us to realize and recognize this “ownership.” The earth is the LORD’s and the fulness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. G-d is the Owner, and we “owe” Him the debt of love.
We are also His by right of Calvary. He has redeemed us unto G-d by His blood. We all “have been bought with a price” – the precious, holy blood of the Passover Lamb.
I predict that on May 21, 2011 at 6:00PM (in all time zones) life on Earth as we now know it will continue. You will still possess the capacity to reflect the Creator’s image/likeness and the prime directive to produce and serve will still be our corporate responsibility. The work will continue to be hard and offers no guarantees of return, but opportunities to return our world to the Creator’s design and order will abound. This world is our home and we’re not just passing through. We’re not going to God, He is coming to us; and we must be about our Father’s business to ready the Earth for the Messiah’s return.
thank you, Sir.
I’m believing much the same for July 21, 2012 and again in December 🙂
I hear what your sayin’ Roderick, but I hope it doesn’t continue “as we know it”. As a matter of fact, I’m sure it won’t because only God is unchanging. We move along one path or the other at our choosing and we are indeed coming to a new day. There’s a caution there however, The “day” in scripture starts not in darkness, but in the evening, when the light and dark are mixed. then it get’s dark, then the dawn, and only then, the Morning comes. What time is it? that’s the wisdom of the teacher, not to know that there is a time for every thing, but to know the right thing to do at the right time. The right thing and the right time have to be done in unison. The thing we can always do, the time, we can never get back.