There is so much in Genesis 2, perhaps a lifetime of learning. It is so hard to know where to go next. קרא seems like a good step. We mentioned last time that there seems to be more explanation of the language שׂפה in the investigation of cognate permutations for קרא than any other dissection/digestion done so far. And that does make sense, since one segment of the chapter is focused upon what the man names/calls קרא objects around him.
I believe we showed before the NKJV translation of Genesis 2. Here is one from LSB.
⦁ Genesis 2 LSB
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. 2 And on the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created in making it.
4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that Yahweh God made earth and heaven. 5 Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet grown, for Yahweh God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6 But a stream would rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then Yahweh God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and so the man became a living being. 8 And Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden, toward the east; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground Yahweh God caused to grow every tree that is desirable in appearance and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that went around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 Now the gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 And the name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that went around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is Tigris; it is the one that went east of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 Then Yahweh God took the man and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16 And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may surely eat; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
18 Then Yahweh God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” 19 And out of the ground Yahweh God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and He brought each to the man to see what he would call it; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20 And the man gave names to all the cattle and to the birds of the sky and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. 21 So Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22 And Yahweh God fashioned the rib, which He had taken from the man, into a woman, and He brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,
“This one finally is bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
This one shall be called Woman,
Because this one was taken out of Man.”
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
So, next our investigation of קרא cognate permutations.
(The red highlight is the “log” in the eye, re: log and speck we have previously spoken of – not for now, but another time.)
The point of sharing this list of related words in the cognate permutations investigation is for you to see how these words can be a description of the putting together and taking apart of letters, words and sentences. We have spoken of weaving together threads in Scripture. We have spoken of weaker letters and stronger letters, and in combination the making of weaker verbs, weaker letters may drop out. There are many connections. See ערך parallel; arrange items in juxtaposition, helping in the understanding of Hebrew poetry, parallelism. There are many important clues/hints her if you meditate on them. Notice references to water, liquids, and remember it is the teaching of God.
Two in particular I need to point out, with ירע restrict; limit space, and with יחר exceed limits; overbear, in conjunction with my exercises in going through the studies of Genesis 2, is that I do not yet know fully the span over which one can reach to bring letters together to form words. Here is what I wrote in the middle of one of my exercises, looking at occurrences of רגל “foot” cognate permutations. Notice in verse eight, there is a span of nine words to get the components of ר ג ל combined.
I am a student, as you are. And we learn as we go.
A comment about an approach to the study of God’s Word is to realize that there is far more than we can ever understand. The key is to simply relax and let God speak to us through it, rather than trying to force it. I share this from the Tikkun, The Torah Reader’s Compendium, the Kestenbaum Edition (ArtScroll Series), Mesorah Publications, ltd, Brooklyn, NY 2008, first from the Preface. Please read (and thanks to my friend Brenda for sharing):
And this is one image from a part of Genesis 2. The right hand column has the Masoretic vowel markings. The left has the “crowns” on tops of some letters. Also, you will notice that some letters are enlarged or changed in some way. Special markings are “jots and tittles” in the Greek Scriptures.
The point is that the Bible has teaching for us, no matter how much of a beginner we are, or have spent a lifetime at it. If we make ourselves available to God, he is always teaching. We are but gleaners, ones that gather the leftovers from those who have put all the labor into raising the crop. We are but dogs that eat the crumbs falling from the table.
So, back to קרא and Genesis 2. Remember, as always, treat as lectio divina. We are reading through slowly and are focusing on individual words. Read the more literal translation first, not considering the highlights. And then read what is highlighted. Time spent with the Scripture, meditating on what it is really saying, and what it speaks into your life, is what is important. Notice the cognate permutation meaning, “to direct efforts.”
I always try to pay particular attention to the individual words, the ones in bold. Some are obvious, but others tend to really lead to meditation, like here “beginnings.” It is when we are “called” by God that we have opportunities for new beginnings in our lives. “The fourth:” there are numerous places in Scripture that speak of “threes and fours,” which I’ve not yet fully digested. And I point out “naked” for three reasons. First is that it has the sense of exposure, being uncovered. Second is that in the very next verse, Genesis 3:1, a word from the same root ערם is translated as the “cunning” of the serpent. And finally, rather tying these two ideas together, with the idea of the two sides of the coin – you can see references to this in the entries shown below. Also in one of our upcoming entries related to learning the שׂפה of Scripture, we are going to focus on the idea of “the spectrum” that we are able to visualize by doing cognate permutations, and how that ties into strengths and weaknesses. Our greatest strengths are our greatest weaknesses. Of this we must become aware. In the garden there was an “exposing” of the “cunning” of mankind. Here are a few times we have already spoken about the two sides of the coin.
- R. David Fohrman recently shared on a podcast an opinion that it was possibly not the LORD’s (יהוה) intent that the prohibition from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was permanent, but it was a timing issue. He wondered if God’s intent was for mankind to eat from it at a later time. That is, of course a reasonable question, since timing is a very big topic in Scripture. Perhaps the couple were just premature in partaking, which would certainly fit with one direction we will discuss later. Another possibility, of course is that we just have to be very careful for the entire length of our lives in making judgments about good and evil because what is evil in our eyes may come to good from God’s perspective (one clear example Genesis 50:19-20. And see the two references in NKJV from Gn50:19 → Genesis 30:2 and 2 Kings 5:7. Are we in the place of God?)
- We shared a warning here in Blog 126, cautioning about looking for רע in cognate permutations, because, for one obvious example, the word for light אורincludes a cognate permutation of רע. Are we to consider light evil? Perhaps the one doing things he/she should not be doing doesn’t want them brought to light. But where would we be without light? Left in confusion. Another pertinent example in the current discussion is that קרא and every one of those roots in the cognate permutations box above includes a cognate permutation of רע. We cannot avoid its presence. We have to be careful not to eat from it, consume it, digest it. I’m getting abit ahead of myself here, but will repeat when we get to some discussion of Genesis 3. What the woman אשה tells the serpent/snake in Genesis 3:3 adds to what the LORD had told . She says, ”You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” From 2:17, we know the LORD (יהוה) said nothing about touching it, only not eating/consuming/digesting it. I am not saying my interpretation is right, and others are wrong, but what I am avoiding is doing a cognate permutation digestion/dissection of the words that would include רע, but still ”touching it” in regular usage. I only highlight those areas for your awareness, and you may consider the instructions not to consume not to include in your processing the two phrases highlighted in green below. It is for your choosing.
- Anyway, just to point out to you one potential interpretation could be to highlight the combinations that clearly point to רע, to see if there is a significance to those phrases. So, below I have put in a contrasting color phrases in the two verses speaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (vv.9 & 17) the קראphrase. You may see this from time to time in other word dissections/digestions (breaking into pieces and rearranging the “molecules). I do it for you to see whether there is any pattern. Pattern is a huge topic in learning from Scripture and will be a topic we will touch upon again. Pattern is how early mankind would have learned from the surroundings. Pattern is still how we learn today.
Wow! That is probably a “chewable chunk” for the day, especially if you did as requested, reading through and meditating. I do hope you read through the images from the Preface of the Tikkun, for many reasons, including the prayer/meditation part. But also, I hope you took particular notice of Solomon’s reference in Proverbs 3:18, “the tree of life.” I will leave you with just this thought. The Tikkun equated Torah with “tree of life (literally ‘lives’).” But if you read the context, you must go all the way back to verse 1 to see where it is talking about Torah (in your Bible likely “law”) – again Torah תורה is said to come from the root ירה p.110 cast; shoot;; limit activity (C40). ירה is one of the words on the קרא list above. But see also another perspective as
תו + רה. There is תוה p.284 mark; set bounds;; press to expand/weaken (D4) and רההp.240 fear;; shatter (E81). The teaching of Torah, as you see in Proverbs 3 is wisdom, AND sets bounds on our fears if we will only give it a chance. Luke 12:36
36 and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.
Allow your fears to have “set bounds;” keep listening and watching. Be prepared, not physically, but spiritually. Spend quiet time with God, in life, and in his Word. A knock comes. ((Much, much more to come,the good LORD willing.”)
Ⓒ Copyright LogAndSpeck October 2023. Please cite if copying.