The synonymous
words used for man.
There are four principal Hebrew
words rendered ‘man’, and these must be carefully discriminated.
Every occurrence is noted in the margin of The Companion
Bible, and they represent him from four different points of view.
1. `Ādām,
denotes his origin as being made from the “dust of the Adamah’’ ground (Latin Homo).
2. `Īşh, has
regard to sex, a male (Latin vir).
3. `Enosh, has regard
to his infirmities, as physically mortal, and as to character, incurable.
4. Geber, has respect to his strength, a mighty man.
But the one here which we are most interested in is `Ādām,
1. `Ādām, without the article, denotes man
or mankind in general…
(Gen 1:26; 2:5; 5:1,
Gen 1:26 And God said, “Let us make man in Our image, after our
likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the seas, and over the
fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over evey
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Gen 2:5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth,
and there was not a man to till the ground.
Gen 5:1 This is THE BOOK OF THE GENERATIONS OF ADAM. In the day
that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him;
(Followed by plural pronoun). With the article, it
denotes the man, Adam, (eth' Ha' adham') though rendered “man’’ in…Gen 1;27;
and Gen 2:7
Gen 1:27. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God
created He him; male and female created he them.
Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground,
and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; and man became a living soul.
With the particle (‘eth) in
addition to the article it is very emphatic, and means self, very, this same,
this very. See genesis 2:7 (first occurrence).
This man eth ha Adham was created for one purpose,
and that was to fulfil God’s plan of putting in place a bloodline from which
our Lord Jesus Christ would be born from; Adam to Jesse/Mary.
Matt.5:17-20: Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the
prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
18: For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass,
one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be
fulfilled.
19: Whosoever therefore break one of these least
commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the
Kingdom of Heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be
called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Satan; has from the very beginning
endeavoured to thwart God’s Plan by first tempting Eve, which started the whole
process of suffering; even up to today. If you have doubts as to the existence
of Satan, then read on and make up your own mind based on the facts which
follow.You will often hear people say, “If there really was a God why would he
allow all this suffering?” Many people know very little of God’s Word; Satan
and his followers have seen to that on a daily basis, but the Serpent does very
much exist but not for much longer.
The Serpent of Genesis.
In Genesis Chapter 3 we have neither
allegory, myth, legend, nor fable, but literal historic facts set forth, and
emphasised by the use of certain figures of speech.All the confusion of thought
and conflicting exegesis have arisen from taking literally what is expressed by
Figures, or from taking figuratively what is literal. A figure of speech is
never used except for the purpose of calling attention to, emphasising, and
intensifying, the reality of the literal sense, and the truth of the historical
facts; so that, while the words employed may not be so strictly true to the
letter, they are all the more true to the truth conveyed by them, and to the
historical events connected with them.
For example; Richard the Lionheart as
he was referred to; never had a literal heart of a lion, but the courage or
heart of a lion. So this conjures up images of a brave, courageous, fearless,
strong King, and leader. (The conflicting exegesis and resulting confusion
would be to state that Richard the Lionheart must have had a heart
transplant). But for the figurative language of verses in 14 & 15 in
Gen…
Gen 3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent,”Because thou hast
done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the
field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of
thy life:
Gen 3:15 And I
will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed;
it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.’’
No one would have
thought of referring the third chapter of Gen to a snake: no more than he does
when reading the third chapter from the end of Revelation 20:2 And he laid hold
on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a
thousand years, Indeed, the explanation added there, that the “old
serpent’’ is the Devil and Satan, would immediatley lead one to
connect the word “old’’ with the earlier and former mention of the serpent
in Gen 3: and the fact that it was Satan himself who tempted “the second
man’’, “the last Adam’’, would force the conclusion that no other
than the personal Satan could have been the tempter of the “first man,
Adam’’.
The Hebrew word rendered “serpent’’ in
Gen 3:1 is Nāchāsh (from the root Nāchāsh,to shine), and
means a shining one. Hence, in Chaldee it means, brass or copper, because of
it’s shining. Hence also, the word Nehushtān, a piece of brass, in 2 Kings
18:4. He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the
groves, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that moses had made: for unto
those days the children of israel did burn incense to it: and he called it
Nebushtān
In the same way Saraph, In Isa 6:2
& 6:6 means a burning one.
Isa 6:2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings;
with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with
twain he did fly.
Isa 6:6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live
coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the alter.
and, because the serpents mentioned in
Num 21 were burning, in the poison of their bite, they were called Saraphim, or
Seraphs.
But when the LORD said unto Moses,
“Make thee a fiery serpent’’ (Num 21:8), He said, “Make thee a Saraph’’, and,
in obeying this command, we read in verse 9 “ Moses made a Nāchāsh of
brass’’ Nāchāsh is thus used as being interchangeable with Saraph
Now, if Saraph is used of a serpent
because it’s bite was burning, and is also used of a celestial or spirit –
being (a shining one) why should not Nāchāsh be used of a serpent
because it’s appearance was shining, and be also used of a celestial or spirit-
being (a shining one)?
Indeed, a reference to the structure
of Gen 3 (on page 7) will show that the Cherubim (which are similar celestial
or spirit-beings) of the last verse.
Gen 3:24. So He drove out
the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims and a
flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
Require a similar spirit-being to
correspond with them in the first verse (for the structure of the whole chapter
is a great introversion.) [To turn in on itself] The Nāchāsh, or
serpent, who beguiled Eve (2 Cor 11:3) is spoken of as “an angel of light’’ in
verse 14. Have we not, in this, a clear intimation that it was not a snake, but
a glorious shining being, apparently an angel, to whom Eve paid such great
deference acknowledging him as one who seemed to possess superior knowledge,
and who was evidently a being of a superior (not an inferior) order?
Moreover in the description of Satan
as “the king of Tyre’’ it is distinctly implied that the latter being was of a
supernatural order when he is called “a cherub’’ (Ezek 28:14-16. Read from
verses 11-19). His prescence “in Eden, the garden of Elohim’’ (v13), is
also clearly stated, as well as his being “perfect in beauty’’ (v12) his
being “perfect in his ways from the day he was created till iniquity was found
in him’’ (v15) and as being “lifted up because of his beauty’’ (v17).
These all compel the belief that Satan
was a shining one (Nāchāsh) in Gen 3, and especially because the
following words could be addressed to him:-
“ Thine heart was lifted up
because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy
brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that
they may behold thee’’. (V17)
Even supposing that these things were
spoken to, and of, an exalted human being in later days (in Ezek.28) still “the
king of Tyre’’ is not compared to a being who was none existent; and facts and
circumstances which never happened are not introduced into the comparison.
There is more about “the king of
Tyre’’ in Ezek 28:11-19
11. Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me saying,
12. “Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of
Tyrus, and say unto him, ‘Thus saith the LORD God; ‘Thou sealest up the sum,
full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
13. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious
stone was thy covering,the sardius, topaz, and the diamond,the beryl, the onyx,
and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the
workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day
that thou was created.
14. Thou art the annointed cherub that covereth; and I have
set thee so: thou wast on the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and
down in the midst of the stones of fire.
15. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day thou wast
created, till iniquity was found in thee.
16. By the multitude
of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou
hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God:
and I will destroy thee, o covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of
fire.
17. Thou heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast
corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the
ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
18. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine
iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a
fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to
ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
19. All they
that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a
terror, and never shalt thou be anymore.”
Than was literally true of “the prince
of Tyre’’
Ezek28: 1-10
1. The word of the LORD came again unto me saying,
2. “ Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus Thus saith the
LORD God;. Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said I am a God, I
sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and
not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
3. Behold thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret
that they can hide from thee:
4. With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast
gotten thee riches, and has gotten thee gold and silver into thy treasures:
5. By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou
increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:
6. Therefore thus sayeth the LORD God; “Because thou hast
set thine heart as the heart of God;
7. Behold therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the
terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of
thy wisdom , and they shall defile thy brightness.
8. They
shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that
are slain in the midst of the seas.
9. Wilt thou yet say before Him That slayeth thee, I am God?
But thou shall be a man, and no God, in the hand of Him That slayeth thee.
10. Thou shalt
die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken
it saith the LORD God.’’
The words can be understood only of the mightiest and
most exalted supernatural being that God ever created; and this for the purpose
of showing how great would be his fall. The history must be true to make the
prophecy of any weight. Again the word rendered “subtle’’ in Gen 3 means
wise, in a good sense as well as in a bad sense. In Ezek 28:12 we have the
good sense…
“Thou
sealest up the sum, full of wisdom;’’ and the bad sense in Ezek
28: 17, “ Thou has corrupted thy
wisdom.’’ (Referring of course to his fall). So the word
rendered “subtle’’ is rendered “prudent’’ In Prov 1:4; 8:12; 12:2;,
14:8; and in a bad sense in Job 15:5, 1 Sam. 23:22, Ps 83:3.
The word “beast’’ also, in gen 3:1, chay, denotes a
living being, and it is as wrong to translate Zōa “beasts’’ in Rev. 4, as
it is to translate chay “beast’’in Gen.3. Both mean living creature. Satan is
thus spoken of as being “ More wise than any other lving creature which Jehovah
Elohim had made’’. Even if the word “beast’’ be retained, it does not say that
either a serpent or Satan was a “beast’’, but only that he was “more wise’’
than any other living being. We cannot conceive Eve as holding converse with a
snake, but we can understand her being fascinated by one, apparently “an angel
of light’’ (i.e. a glorious angel), possessing superior and supernatural
knowledge.
When Satan is spoken of as a
“serpent’’, it is the figure Hypocatastasis (Hypo-cata-stasis or Implication;
Matt 15:13 But he answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly
Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.’’
Matt 16:6 Then Jesus said unto them, “take heed and beware of the
leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.’’
An implied resemblance or representation.
It no more means a snake than it does when Dan is so called in Gen 49:17; or an
animal when Nero is called a “lion’’ (2 Tim 4:17) or when Herod is called a
“fox’’ (Luke 13:32) or when Judah is called a “lions whelp’’. It is the same
figure when “doctrine’’ is called “leaven’’ (Matt 16:6) It shows that something
much more real and truer to truth is intended. If a Figure of speech is
thus employed, it is for the purpose of expressing the truth more impressively;
and is intended to be a figure of something much more real than the letter of
the word. When it is said in (v.15,) “thou shalt bruise His heel’’, it cannot
mean His literal heel of flesh and blood, but suffering, more temporary in
character. When it is said (V.15) “He shall
crush thy head’’, it means something more than a skull of bone, and
brain, and hair. It means that all Satan’s plans and plots, policy and
purposes, will one day be finally crushed and ended, never more to mar or to
hinder the purpose of God. This will be affected when Satan shall be bruised
under our feet Rom. 16:20 and the God of peace shall bruise Satan under
your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. This,
again, will not be our literal feet, but something much more real.
The bruising of Christs heel is the most eloquent and
impressive way of fortelling the most solemn events; and to point out that the
effort made by Satan to evade his doom, then threatened, would become the very
means of insuring its accomplishment; for it was through the death of Christ
that he who had the power of death would be destroyed; and all Satan’s power
and policy brought to an end, and all his works destroyed.
Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and
blood, He also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he
might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil;
1 John 3:8 He that commiteth sin is of the devil; for the devil
sinneth from the beginning.
Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words
of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time
is at hand.
Rev 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and heard behind
me a great voice as of a trumpet.
What literal words could portray these literal
facts so wonderfully as these expressive Figures of speech?
It only shows the power of tradition, which has, from the
infancy of each one of us, put before our eyes and written in our minds
the picture of a “snake’’ and an “apple’’ the former based on a wrong
interpretation, and the latter being a pure invention, about which
there is not one word said in Holy Scripture. Never was Satan’s wisdom so
craftily used as when he secured universal acceptance of this traditional
belief: for it has succeeded in fixing the attention of mankind on the letter
and the means, and thus blinding the eyes to the solemn fact that the fall of man had to do solely with The Word of God, and
is centred in the sin of believing Satan’s lie instead of Jehovah’s truth.
The temptation of the “first man
Adam’’ began with the question “Hath God
said?’’ The temptation of “the second
man, the Lord from heaven’’ began with the similar question “If thou be the Son of God’’, when the
voice of the Father had scarcely died away, which said, ”This IS My beloved Son’’.
All turned on the truth of what Jehovah had said. The
word of God being questioned, led Eve, in her reply,
(1) (1) To omit the word “freely’’ (Gen 3:2 cp 2:16) then
(2) (2) To add the words “neither shalt thou touch it’’ (Gen 3;3 cp
2:17) and finally
(3) (3) To alter a certainty into a contingency by changing “thou SHALT
SURELY die’’ (Gen 2:17) into “LEST ye die’’ (Gen 3:3).
It is not without
significance that the first Ministerial words of the “the second Man’’ (Jesus)
were “it is written’’, three times repeated; and that His last Ministerial
words contained a similar threefold reference to the written Word of God.
John 17:8 For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest
Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from
Thee, and they have believed that thou didst send Me.
John 17:14 I
have given them Thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not
of the world, even as I am not of the world.
John 17:17 Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.
The former temptation succeeded because the Word of God
was three times misrepresented; the latter temptation was successfully defeated
because the same Word was faithfully repeated.
The history of Gen. 3 is intended
to teach us the fact that Satan’s sphere of activities is in the religeous
sphere, and not the spheres of crime or immorality; that his battlefield is not
the sins arising from human depravity, but the unbelief of the human heart.
We are not to look for Satan’s activities to day in the newspaper press, or
the police courts; but in the pulpit, and in professor’s chairs. Wherever the
Word of God is called in question, there we see the trail of “that old
serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan’’, This is why anything against the
true interests of the Word of God (as being such) finds a ready admission into
the newspapers of the world, and is treated as “general litrature’’.
This is why anything in favour of its inspiration and Divine origin and its
spiritual truth is rigidly excluded as being “controversial’’ This is
also why Satan is quite content that the letter of Scripture should be accepted
in Gen.3 as he himself accepted the letter of Ps 91:11.For He shall give His
angels charge over thee, To keep thee in all thy ways. He himself could
say “it is written’’ Matt 4:6 so long as the letter of what is “written’’ could
be put instead of the truth that is conveyed by it; and as long as it is
misquoted or misapplied. This is his object in perpetuating the traditions of
the “snake’’ and the “apple’’, because it ministers to the acceptance of his
lie, the hiding of God’s truth, the support of tradition, the jeers of the
infidel, the opposition of the critics, and the stumbling of the weak in faith.
This is connected with Christ’s exaltation as Head over
all things to His Church, which is His body, which is developed and
revealed more fully in the prison Epistles (letters) (Eph 1:21-23.
Phil 2:9-11. Col 1: 14-19). It not only involves the present glory of
Messiah, but includes the final defeat of Satan, the crushing of his head, and
the subjugation of all spiritual beings, be they powers, principalities,
authorities, dominions, or thrones etc.
Hence it is Satan’s great aim
now, at this present time, to blind the eyes of them that believe not, so that
they may not learn of his coming defeat, as foretold in Gen 3:15, and seen
fulfilled in Rev.20 .(see 2 Cor 4:4). Knowing his object, and being
“not ignorant of his devices’’, we know also what should be our own
object: viz. The making known this good news, which he would seek to hide;
and proclaiming “the Gospel of the glory
of Christ