A Little Change Here, a Little Change There (2)

You favor man with perception and teach mankind understanding. Grant us knowledge, understanding and intellect from You. Blessed are You, Adonoy, Grantor of perception.  Amidah  (Ashkenazi version)

Perception/ Understanding – Let’s summarize yesterday’s insights.  This version of the Amidah suggests that da’at was given to Adam, and that bina was taught to ‘enosh.  These are separate acts for separate persons.  ‘adam not only suggests that God gifts knowledge to men, it also reminds me of God’s initial, direct involvement in the existence and knowing capacity of the first man.  ‘enosh reminds me that whatever was gifted by God to Adam was later taught (with divine help) to all men.  Now we see why we need two different words to describe the recipients of this process.

Now we need to know what they received.  Back to the text:

תָּה חוֹנֵן לְאָדָם דַּֽעַת וּמְלַמֵּד לֶאֱנוֹשׁ בִּינָה: חָנֵּֽנוּ מֵאִתְּ֒ךָ דֵּעָה בִּינָה וְהַשְׂכֵּל: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה חוֹנֵן הַדָּֽעַת

Literally, the text reads “give to adam da’at and teach to enosh bina.”  da’at (דַּֽעַת) is the Hebrew word for knowledge.  It first appears in Genesis 2:17, associated with the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  It is a derivative of yādaʿ, a word with a very wide application.  Note TWOT’s comment:

This feminine noun is from the root yādaʿ “to know.” The root expresses knowledge gained in various ways by the senses. The noun occurs ninety-three times in the Old Testament, most frequently in the wisdom literature, with forty-one instances in Prov, ten in Job, and nine in Eccl. It is used forty-two times in the Qumran materials and is also used in Ugaritic and Akkadian.

daʿat is a general term for knowledge, particularly that which is of a personal, experimental nature (Prov 24:5). It is also used for technical knowledge or ability such as that needed for building the tabernacle and temple (Ex 31:3; 35:31; I Kgs 7:14). daʿat is also used for discernment (Ps 119:66). Both deeds committed unintentionally (Deut 4:42; 19:4; Josh 20:3, 5; bĕlîdaʾat) and mistaken opinions are “without knowledge” (lōʾ daʿat, Prov 19:2).^[1]

daʿat is possessed by God (Job 10:7; Ps 139:6; Prov 3:20), from whom nothing can be hidden (Ps 139:1–18). He teaches it to man (Ps 94:10; 119:66; Prov 2:6). It appears parallel with wisdom (ḥōkmâ) and understanding (tĕbûnâ), instruction (mûsār), and law (tôrâ).^[2]

daʿat is also used for moral cognition. Thus, the tree in the Garden of Eden was a tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:9, 17). By eating its fruit man came to know in a way comparable to the knowledge of God (see above). This important reference may also be taken as the figure of speech known as merism to indicate objective awareness of all things both good and bad. In this sense the sinful pain did become like God (Gen 3:22). Cassuto says, “Before they ate of the tree of knowledge, the man and his wife were like small children who know nought of what exists round them” (U. Cassuto, Genesis, vol. I, p. 112).^[3]

But the prayer says that God חוֹנֵן (ḥônân from nātan) to adam da’at, i.e., God gave da’at to Adam.  Was the Tree a “gift’?  We hardly think so (but we could be wrong about that).  First, we need to have a better grip on the verb nātan (to give).

Considering the extensive use of this verb, some 2,000 times (mostly in the Qal stem), it is not surprising to find a great variety of meanings given in translation. In addition to its basic and most frequent sense of give, we find in the KJV such renderings as set, commit, put, lay, fasten, hang, make (to be something), appoint, suffer (= allow), bestow, deliver, send, pay, turn, thrust, strike, cast (lots); passive uses adding be taken/gotten. . . The three broad areas of meaning of the verb nātan are 1) give, 2) put or set, and 3) make or constitute. The other terms used in translation are extensions or variations of these.^[4]

Let’s amend our translation.  “You give to adam da’at” might become, “You constitute da’at to adam.”  Or, “You allow da’at for Adam.”  Now, perhaps, we see more connections to the Genesis story.  God is the source of Adam’s da’at. Specifically, Adam’s personal and experiential knowing comes directly from God.  How else would Adam know anything at all?  The Tree represents personal and experiential knowing apart from God, but God put the Tree in the Garden, so in a sense, even the Tree (the possibility of self-initiated personal and experiential knowing) comes from God.  In this way, both the yetzer ha’ra and the yetzer ha’tov are God’s gifts.  Choice, that most human characteristic, is given, constituted, to Adam by God.  If we think of da’at as personal, existential, moral knowing, we realize that the Genesis account attributes the possibility of this kind of knowing to God’s creative act.  Without God allowing such a possibility (another sense of nātan), Adam would not have been human.  The fact that Adam acted on this possibility only serves to underscore God’s decision to make it an essential element of being human.

So, once more, let’s try this translation: “You give (constitute, allow) personal, experiential, and moral knowing to Adam (and to us in the way we are represented by Adam).”  Something quite special happens in the creation of Man, of Adam.

In contrast to man in our day, to the ancient Israelite it was a matter of astonishing reflection that he was brought into being through a mysterious embryonic process separate and apart from his own volition and help, and under conditions which were ordained by a Being wholly other than himself, in which he had no right to participate and against which he had no right to veto.  The OT emphasizes throughout that life comes within the limits of birth and death.  But man knows that he is dependent not only with regard to the basic structure of human existence, but also with regard to the possibilities which life offers and denies: he is weak and helpless.  There is no guarantee that he can determine his own destiny or think that his life will be prosperous by his own efforts and accomplishments.  Life has its own laws and an irreversible deterioration.  For the believer, however, it is not a series of meaningless accidents, but a divinely determined sequence of events which are full of meaning.[5]

The verb is in the present tense, so it’s not just an historical reflection.  God gives to each of us in a similar way what He gave to Adam, but Adam was the first recipient of God’s graceful giving, and in that sense, we are all caught up in the same Adamic process.  We are all given choice!  As Maass points out, the Hebraic concept of man is an “astonishing reflection that he was brought into being through a mysterious embryonic process.”  This is just as true for us as it was for Adam, and in Jewish thought, no less miraculous than Adam’s creation.  We are dependent, limited creatures.  In the end, what we know, if it is true knowing, must come from God because we simply do not have the ability to know beyond our dependent, limited boundaries.  What God gives isn’t just information.  It is truth—and only He can know it fully.  The Tree, and all that it implies, really is a gift.  Misused, but nevertheless, a gift—the gift of choice.  The da’at of the Tree represents what God knows, the entire scope of good and evil.  Had Adam trusted that God would provide all that he needed to know, not all that he desired to know, the Tree would have fulfilled its function without ever becoming a symbol of disobedience.  We may have often wondered why God would put such an object in the Garden because we focus on the results of the misuse of the Tree rather than on the possibility it represents.  The Tree wasn’t evil.  It was just the symbol of choice—a choice to trust God or not to trust God.  It was the choice that collapsed the relationship with God, not the Tree.  The Tree was simply a constant reminder that we are our choices, some of which are not good for us.  So, God gives da’at, in and through the Tree of da’at.  Choosing how we use that da’at makes us who we are.

But how does this connect us to the next phrase “and teach bina to enosh”?   Next time.

Topical Index:  knowledge, da’at, nātan, Tree, choice, gift

^[1] Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., Jr., & Waltke, B. K. (Eds.). (1999). Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., pp. 366–367). Chicago: Moody Press.

^[2] Ibid.

^[3] Ibid.

^[4] Ibid.

[5] Fritz Maass, TDOT, Vol. 1, p, 86.