Involuntary Sin
And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?’” Genesis 3:1 NASB
Has God said – It’s time to re-read the serpent’s statement. In Hebrew it begins with af ki-amar Elohim. As David Fohrman points out, this is not a question, in spite of the English translation. Af is a conjunction with many uses, denoting that something is added with force. You can see this in Numbers 16:14. But in combination with ki, it takes on the meaning of “when.”[1] The Hebrew text says that the serpent agrees with God’s statement. God actually did say this. Of course, that isn’t quite right, but the point is that the serpent is not introducing doubt into the conversation. He is introducing something else – involuntary management.
Let me elaborate. Animals operate by instinct. They obey God’s directives involuntarily. They never have to think about moral choices. They simply do what they are designed to do. Obedience is never an issue. When Adam was formed, he was formed with a capacity for voluntary obedience. As the nexus of yetzer ha’ra and yetzer ha’tov, Adam is required to choose the direction he will follow. This is not the result of sin. This is the way he was made. But Adam without Havvah is still caught in involuntary obedience because he has only himself as his opposing option. Yes, he is accountable to God, but as a human being, there is no one else that he needs to consider. He literally chooses for himself. In this sense, he is closer to the instinctual behavior of animals than to the choices made with consideration of others. But once Havvah enters the picture, every choice has communal consequences. In fact, since Havvah comes from Adam, the essence of who he is as a person, not an individual, is wrapped up in the extension (and extraction) of himself outside of himself. She is who he is removed from involuntary individuality. She is Adam outside himself. And now, like it or not, he must deal with who he is no longer under his automatic, involuntary control.
The serpent merely suggests to Havvah that she can return to the place where choice in confrontation with another is no longer needed. In other words, while the serpent agrees that God has given an external commandment (that God is an outside voice), Havvah is able to operate on the basis of her own internal voice, the voice that every animal knows so well, the voice that does not require choices but operates entirely through involuntary self-reliance. Why concern yourself with conflict over what God desires when you can know within yourself what the true path really is? As Fohrman translates af ki-amar Elohim, “So what if God said.”
There is an enormous lesson here. The inner voice is treacherous. It is too easily concealed as the voice of involuntary assent to the yetzer ha’ra. It seems so clear, but in Scripture, it requires immediate, external verification. If the inner voice isn’t in alignment with the external command of God, it is the whisper of the serpent, even if it comes disguised as an angel of light (as, for example, “the Holy Spirit revealed this to me”). In the original design, God put Havvah in Adam’s way to prevent self-approval. Her goal is to insure that he follows God’s command. She accomplishes this by standing in his way – and thereby causing him to stop and think about what he is doing. She is the caution signal that prevents automatic self-approval. We would do well to pay attention to God’s design. I am not who I am when I alone make my choices. I am who I am when my choices come from the unity of reuniting with myself in “one flesh.” It isn’t good for man to be alone because man alone is the most dangerous spiritual animal on the face of the planet.
Topical Index: af ki-amar, has God said, choice, Genesis 3:1
[1] TWOT suggests that an alternative meaning of af ki produces an interrogative but the example is exactly the verse we are examining, so this suggestion seems to depend on a prior commitment to viewing the verse as a question.
“The inner voice is treacherous. It is too easily concealed as the voice of involuntary assent to the yetzer ha’ra. It seems so clear, but in Scripture, it requires immediate, external verification.”
Hmmm
In literature a common theme, especially in romantic literature, is the conflict
Between the “Head” and the “Heart”
Too much heart and too little head leads to foolish behavior (not good)
But too much head and too little heart leads to a mechanical man (bad)
I tend to think of the heart as the inner voice or child and the head as the internalized parent
In my view, there is a dynamic relationship between these two components of the personality
That creates the adult human being (Child + Parent + Adult)
A child has desires that are good and bad and the parent must teach him or her
How to reconcile these desires (inner voices) with the commands of our Father
No easy task IMO
Sounds a lot like Id, Ego, Super Ego.
But what if psychological conflict/pathology doesn’t arise from battling our basest desires, but from an ‘ouraged conscience’ which sees the disconnect between how we actually behave and who we were made to be.
“But what if psychological conflict/pathology doesn’t arise from battling our basest desires”
Hi Gabe,
I did not mean to imply that the psychology of I’m OK, You’re OK or S. Freud’s psychotherapy
Should replace Hebrew theology, regardless of Freud’s intentions
Or that pathology always arises from battling our basest desires
To oversimplify one could argue that Freud’s worldview is based on two basic desires
The desires for sex and aggression, which must be sublimated into civilized human interactions
In other words, as Jesus taught us long ago, we are not supposed to rape or kill our neighbors
We are supposed to learn to love them
IMO most psychoanalytic texts that I’ve read are a “reflection” of the Hebrew worldview
I didn’t think you were promoting Freud, but I’ve been thinking lately about the trickle-down effect his theories have had on my own thinking.
For example, if I wanted to abstain from a certain food, under Freud’s theory I could drive myself crazy from battling the desire. Parents pass around stories about kids who were denied sugar or something when they were young, and then “went overboard” with it later. But is this truth? If it were correct, then the ‘treatment’ would be to strike a healthy balance between indulgence and repression of the specific apetite. However, I am increasingly bothered by this model since it only seems apt in describing the UNconverted heart/mind/soul.
I’m no Scientologist 🙂 , but maybe modern psychology/psychiatry is most accurate and effective when applied to the human who is dominated by appetite and instinct. A man driven mostly by instinct is more predictable,… and more accurately described by cause and effect.
However, I am increasingly bothered by this model since it only seems apt in describing the UNconverted heart/mind/soul.
“But maybe modern psychology/psychiatry is most accurate and effective when applied to the human who is dominated by appetite and instinct.”
Hi Gabe,
I think of the two sets of concepts above as different “languages”
The concept of heart/mind/soul are metaphors in a kind of fiction whereas it is a fact
That animals, not humans, are dominated by instinct
Birds migrate because they have an instinct to migrate
If they don’t migrate, they cannot be held responsible, because they aren’t free
Something is wrong with them
On the other hand, humans have desires rather than instincts
I’m free to eat all the ice cream in the fridge and have a desire to do so
But if I want to be healthy I eat the broccoli and carrots 🙁
I believe that God works through the “human heart,” but there is no way to prove it
I think psychology is somewhere between science and religion
The object of knowledge of psychology is the mind/body
The object of knowledge of religion is God
Neither form of knowledge is based upon “hard” science IMO
But for me psychology and religion complement each other in an interesting way
“If the inner voice isn’t in alignment with the external command of God, it is the whisper of the serpent, even if it comes disguised as an angel of light (as, for example, “the Holy Spirit revealed this to me”). In the original design, God put Havvah in Adam’s way to prevent self-approval. Her goal is to insure that he follows God’s command…”
Skip – What place/role DOES the Holy Spirit play in our lives? How are we to interact with it? For instance, what if something is outside of a specific “command of God” – how are we to judge or respond? You seem to approach this subject with mistrust and even loathing. Why?
If the inner voice isn’t in alignment
What place/role DOES the Holy Spirit play
Hi Mark,
I think the Holy Spirit can come in the form of internal or external “voices” or actions
It is our responsibility to verify that it is the Holy Spirit and respond accordingly
A wife/husband is nice to have, but without one we’re on our own to “do the right thing”
Again, no easy task IMO
Agreed!
Oops! I meant to reply to Mark’s comment. 🙂
(OK, see below) – Agreed!
Thank you for pointing out this very important issue. This morning, as I was teaching my children, we just happened to talk about free will and why we aren’t flesh-and-blood robots preprogrammed to a certain behaviour pattern. Our wills are that part of us that gives us the knowledge that choices do exist, and that we can make those choices. The ability to have a choice was first created when God designed a universe in which the overriding law is that everything has an opposite. That is the very nature of choice. It’s not a question of selecting preferences, but that part of us that makes moral choices, to love God or not to love God, etc. Do I see it right that in our (4) dimensions of the universe, we have the principle of opposites, describing how our universe operates; that everything must have an opposite? If man had an inclination to do good(yetzer hatov), than man also had to have an opposite inclination to do evil(yetzer harah)? Otherwise the Tree of knowledge of Good en Evil wasn’t necessary at all. Without choice there can be no sin !! And without the Holy Spirit in us to direct the use of the yetzer hatov, then our motives will still be impure and wrong, and whatever good we possess can easily be turned into evil. It still remains difficult to explain this to your children……….in the end you don’t make the choice, its the Holy Spirit that directs you ? So we do not do it ourselves? And to which extent can we let the Holy Spirit guide us(to do good)? Do we have part in that choice or not? …………..our children do keep us fresh as they ask you of ‘those difficult’ questions. As do you, Skip. Thank you.
Still ‘chewing’ on last weeks Today’s words 😉
It’s kind of ironic that G-d put Havvah in Adam’s way to prevent self approval and that her goal was to insure that he followed G-d’s commands yet, one of her earliest relationship choices was to encourage her husband to DISOBEY G-d’s command. It doesn’t bode well for the human race does it?
Yes, and as I explain in Guardian Angel, she thinks she is doing something that enhances her ability to be what God wants her to be – and that is the danger.
So, we never really know as women do we??? It seems like a set up. We think we know, we trust out intuition. They think they know because they are to remember. But, they don’t always remember and maybe we are off sometimes…………life outside the garden!
What you and I learn from this Genesis story is the inadequacy of decisions without community. But the answer for Adam and Havvah was actually as straightforward as the answer for the children of Israel at Sinai. God said it – Go do it. You and I aren’t empowered to rethink what God said, but when we run into situations where there is no direct instruction, we better have our ears open to the community. Go ask the most godly person you can find.
Do we now know that “self” anything is sin?
The Illustration:
(as the fool would speak..)
I am in charge. I am the Master of my destiny. I am the captain of my fate. I am the eccentric (off-center!) center of the universe. All of history, all I know of the world revolves around me, the “self-made” man. (A legend in his own mind!) Everyone exists to serve me. I will exalt my throne above the heavens. I, I, I…
Do you “see” a problem here? Does this creature have an “I” problem? Doctor, my “I’s!” Self “anything” is a sin. Hear me out. Whether “self-pity” or “self-aggrandizement” EGO- or “self-centeredness” is sin. Why is this? I know it will be hard for many to grasp this, but “I” am not, I repeat, NOT the center of the known (or unknown) universe. (Gasp!) When did I discover this? – It certainly wasn’t when I was a ‘new bairn’ and one of the first words out of this toddler’s mouth besides “McDonalds”- (yuk!!) was “mine.”
These are my toys. My food. My clothes. My house. My things.. My, my, my…(ai,ai,ai!!) This little guy really needs an “I” doctor. He just cannot see clearly the log that has wedged itself in his eyeball- how is he going to see clearly to remove the speck in his neighbor’s eye? The little dude is blind in one eye and he cannot see out of the other!
EGO,- (without a doubt..) will Edge God Out. Oh Mr. Pride, are you listening? Folks, tell this wandering one, if you will.. What? (he inquired) was (and is) the original sin of Lucifer? (the light-bearer?). Do you remember? Do you know your Bible? What caused this glorious, shining, beautiful angel of light to fall?
May we review together? You said to your (stupid) self: ~ “I” will ascend to the heavens; “I” will set up my throne above the stars of God. “I” will sit on the mount of the gods’ assembly, in the remotest parts of the North.~ (Isaiah 14.13) Oh? Will you now.. Aren’t you a created creature? And who made you O (falsely) exalted one? Should we not give unto the LORD the glory due His Name? ~ For it is He who has made us and not we ourselves..~ And what do we have that has not been given unto us? ~
Friends, a man (or an angel) wrapped up in himself- makes a mighty small package..
~ And what, O man- (yeah, I’m talkin’ to you, Adam!) do we have that has not been given unto us? ~
I have an answer!! -Nothing!. Not one thing. Zero with the edges trimmed off. Angel (or Adam), are you listening? Good. ~For every good gift and every perfect gift is from Above and comes down from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning ~ But God, it is always “high noon!”
Now in answer to this statement or question.. “has God said..” or “as if God really did say that..” – it doesn’t matter because we who are alive and well and living today know full well- God’s instructions were plainly and simply to be.. “Thou shalt not..” – “Don’t do it..” – “You can’t touch this!!” The boundaries, the fence was put in place by God and for Adam’s sake. Adam, don’t go into the dynamite shack and start throwin’ matches around! Every time God says “thou shalt not”- He is saying- “don’t hurt yourself, kid..” and every time He says, “thou shalt..” – He is saying, “Help yourselves to happiness!”
I wasn’t there when all this “temptation” occurred, though I do think often about my “not so great” great grandfather, but this much I know… the Tempter’s tactics have not changed much over the centuries. There is nothing new (including our Adversary’s bag o’ tricks) under the sun. I am so thankful though, for the second Adam, because the first one messed up real bad. What did the original prototype do that the second ONE, (the perfect Man) didn’t? Or rather, what did Adam #1 NOT do that the second Perfect Man did?
When our Savior was tempted by hasatan in the wilderness, He was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. Inquiring minds (like me) have got to know- how did He do that? And the beautiful thing about this (very real) tempation is that our Savior, the LORD Jesus (who is the) Christ, defeated the Deceiver as a man, and any man, can do this. So, how (he inquired again) did He do it?
Two simple things. (too simple?) He remembered and He spoke, not once, not twice, but three times, Christ, the son of man and the second Adam, remembered and spoke the word(s) of God – ~it is written!! Can you imagine the Living Word of God speaking the written word of God? – I cannot come up with a “more gooder” or more authoritative combination than this!
But what about us? What can we “take away” from this encounter in the wilderness? May we also “remember and speak” the word(s) of God? – And what happens when we do? What happens when ~ the high praises of God is in our mouths and a two-edged sword in our hands? Isn’t our Bible referred to as a “two-edged sword?” Do you remember His words, His instructions,His counsel,? Good. Then speak them. And ~ Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, those whom He has redeemed from the hand of the Adversary ~ (Psalm 107.2)
For more on “victory over Self,” here is help: (31 Kings, Victory Over Self- AB Simpson)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6591377/31-Kings-Victory-Over-Self-AB-Simpson
~ He must increase, but “I” must decrease..~ (it is written!- John 3.30)
Wow, Skip, this should speak to us clearly and loudly, and why Ahdam and Havval disobeyed YHWH-when we stand alone and not be accountable to anyone but ourselves!
And then some presume the man is head of the household, therefore his wife is subjected to him, therefore has no voice, as they are ONE. But clearly it is seen here as stated in the Scriptures, we are accountable not only for ourselves and our own actions, but bring others into deception too, WHEN we stand on our own beliefs, without the counsel/aspects of others who may have a better understanding of what YHWH said to challenge us if we had heard rightly.
This is where humility plays a major part, to be willing to be in the spirit to comprehend what is being conveyed by others, and not be stucked in one’s lone perspective.
It’s almost like sharing about Torah, translated as LAW being done away with, to some believers, and keeping YHWH’s Feasts, would be very annoying to them having no ears to hear as the Scriptures say, and being rejected as fanatics or whatever for sharing such truths.
He that walks with the wise shall be wise. Pro 13:20
Such a good word; we do not get to hear what you have been sharing, from any one, anywhere else! May we have the right spirit to receive what you are trying to convey. Amein!
Thank you, Skip, for being such a blessing to us! You are so appreciated.
Shalom and blessings to you too, for the good work you are doing.
I am completing the bonus video for Lessons from Israel, Series 2. It is an interview with Moshe Kapinski in Jerusalem. In it he speaks about the difference between Jews and Christians on biblical interpretation covering topics like sacrifice, obedience, Torah, community and prophecy. It is SO GOOD. A wonderful reminder that our paradigms shape our view of Scripture. Moshe would agreed with everything you say here.
Thank you, Skip, I am so encouraged! And waiting, patiently :-), for the completion of the bonus video of these Lessons.
It is a joy to listen and learn/glean from our elder Yahudean brother/s from Israel, who has been faithfully keeping the Tanakh for the generations.
Those are very interesting topics. I’m sure there will be heaps to learn from him.
If you say it is SO GOOD, it must be so! You will inform us when the video and series are available, please?
Blessings and Shalom to you!
The bonus video is done, but there are upload problems that have to be sorted out. Hopefully by next week I will have the link to send to you.
Skip
So, the “serpent” was also an external voice wasn’t he? OR was he? I guess my question is- is it possible that the “serpent”, who represents our enemy, was really Adam in Midrash? As the progenitor of our adversary, could this serpent be synonymous with the yetzer hara of Adam speaking out loud? Is this why YHWH approached Adam first after the “devlish” deed? The only problem with this that I can see is the later pronouncement of the “curse” on the serpent as opposed to cursing Adam. And YHWH did not curse Adam or Havaah.
On the other hand, if the serpent is cursed for deception and leading Havaah to disobey YHWH, what does this mean for others who purposely teach others to do the same, irregardless of the revealed pleasure of our Father?
Just thinking out loud while at lunch. Shalom All!
An interesting idea that the serpent, who by the way appears much more like a HUMAN than a snake, should be the extension of Adam’s own yetzer ha’ra. There are problems with this as you suggest, but the idea leads us to see that not all external voices are correct. They must be compared with the external voice of YHWH.