According to the bible’s story, God commanded Adam to subdue and rule the land (Gen 1:28). God also commanded Israel to subdue and rule the land (Num 32:22, 29, Josh 18:1). Which command came first? Most people believe the command to Adam came first. It didn’t. The command to conquer Canaan came first. It was expressed later in Genesis as a recapitulated narrative. How do we know this? Because terms, imagery and themes in Genesis are found in texts that predate Genesis by hundreds of years.
For example, the oldest occurrence of the phrase “heaven and earth” comes from seventh to eighth century BCE text of Deuteronomy (Campbell, Antony F.; O’Brien, Mark A. (2000) Unfolding the Deuteronomistic History), whereas Genesis in its finished form, according to Peter Enns, was penned in the fourth to fifth century BCE (Enns, Peter (2012). The Evolution of Adam). Other texts that utilize creation language and imagery found in Genesis, such as Isaiah and Ezekiel, were penned in the seventh to eighth century BCE (Sweeney, Marvin A. (2010). The Prophetic Literature. Abingdon Press.). In other words, the term “heaven and earth” was being used to describe the old covenant religious system and temple community hundreds of years before the fourth to fifth century BCE Persian post-exilic period in which Genesis was penned.
Indeed, most evangelicals, Catholics and other bible-believing people consider Genesis 1 to be the beginning of a redemptive narrative that began with Adam being the first man of all humanity, that he was made from dirt, that his wife was formed by one of his ribs and that she ended up deceived by a talking snake. However, a closer examination of the text itself simply doesn’t support such beliefs being grounded in reality…and for three good reasons. All our experience and knowledge argue against a literal interpretation of the creation account. The imagery of man being made from dirt and talking snakes are highly mythological in nature. And as we will see, the text itself argues against it.
Genesis is neither the first book in the bible that was penned, nor is it the beginning of a story that involves anyone today. It’s a post-exilic text, penned relatively late in Israel’s history, as late as the sixth century Babylonian captivity or shortly thereafter. The creation account in Genesis is a retelling of ancient Israel’s history, not the creation of the universe, the dirt under our feet and all animal life. As a whole, Genesis chapters 1-11 are the story of Israel, its creation, temple community, the relationship Israelites had with their god, the promised land, their failures and captivity.
In this presentation, we will see that the land God prepared in Gen 1:2-2:4 and in Gen 2:5-14 was the land that was promised to Abraham’s descendants. We will see Adam was Israel, Adam in the story of Mt Sinai, in the story of Noah and in the story of Abraham. And we will see the link between the creation narrative and the building of the tabernacle.
East Or West?
Cain departed from his father and went east. Israel was exiled from the land when they were punished by their god and went east. In Gen 11:1-2, the whole earth (HEB erets, a term used to describe Israel’s land but here figuratively for a people) moved eastward. The farther east they went, the farther they were from a garden-like state of fellowship with their god. The garden is planted “eastward” in Eden (Gen 2:8). When Adam and Eve were banished from the garden, cherubims were placed “east of the garden” (Gen 3:24). Noah’s descendants settled in territory that extended from “Mesha in the direction of Sephar to the hill country to the east” (Gen 10:30 ESV). The eastward movement eventually ends up in “the plains of Shinar” (Gen 11:2). The movement away from the garden parallels Israel’s movement away from the promised land. (this section, from Adam As Israel; Seth Postell, pg 88)
In contrast, Israel’s story begins with Abraham called out of Babylon (where Israel had been in captivity) and takes him westward, a symbolic picture of returning to the promised land.
Genesis provides an explanation for why the Israelites were in captivity as well as an eschatological hope of redemption later. In the beginning, God created heaven and earth (Gen 1:1). In the end, heaven and earth pass away (Mat 5:18, 24:35, Mk 13:31, Luke 16:17, 21:33, Rev 20:11, Rev 21:1) with only a believing remnant of Israelites sealed, saved and redeemed by the end of the story. This fits hand-in-glove with the recent Covenant IO (Israel Only) view, which shows from the scriptures that from beginning to end, the entire bible’s redemptive narrative pertained only to those under the law, Israelites. If Covenant IO provides the end of Israel’s story, then Adam Was Israel provides the beginning of their story.
The creation narrative also borrows terms and concepts that are only associated with Israel. In this presentation, we will see how familiar terms like “heaven and earth”, “earth, “waters of the deep”, “land” “creature” and other important terms are part of a retelling of Israel’s history and not the creation of the universe, sky and dirt under our feet.
The Adam Was Israel view employs a consistent hermeneutic:
We will see how scripture defines terms according to how those terms were used by the original author. For example, the term “heaven and earth” is used throughout the bible to describe the old covenant religious system and temple community. We can verify this by seeing how the term “heaven and earth” was used in other scriptures that were penned before Genesis.
Another example: When the Genesis creation account informs us that the earth was without form and void (Gen 1:2), we can look elsewhere to discover exactly what earth it’s talking about.
(Jer 4:23 NASB) I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light.
In its context, Jeremiah 4:23 is not talking about the planet. It’s part of a description of Judah’s spiritual desolation. Also…
(Jer 4:27 NASB) For thus says the LORD, “The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.
Clearly, the earth being “without form and void” and heavens having no light is referring to the desolation of a people, not some chaotic state in earth’s early formation. To arbitrarily exclude Genesis from this hermeneutic is to give it special treatment for personal or philosophical reasons. Extending a reliable hermeneutic used in earlier Old Testament texts to Genesis is part of how we can get a better understanding of what the Genesis creation account is about.
This principle of allowing scripture to define terms is eminently the most reliable, informative and least subjective. Though this writer finds dictionaries and lexicons useful, the fact remains that ancient Israelites did not consult with a Strong’s, Thayer’s or Vine’s. It pains me to see a scholarly work quoting extensively from modern dictionaries and lexicons followed by long-winded discussions about possible explanations when the text itself provides a contextual application of the term.
Ancient Israelites thought and interpreted their world very differently than we do today. Many words we use literally would have been used quite symbolically or metaphorically by ancient Israelites. We think in the logical, Greek manner. Israelites thought in the symbolic, Hebrew manner. The hermeneutic used here is to simply let the ancient Israelite author define terms according to how they were used according to their worldview, not ours.
Adam as Israel in the beginning:
We can see amazing parallels in the scriptures that show Adam and the fall narrative is describing Israel, the garden of Eden being the promised land, Adam in the story of Noah, the events at Mt Sinai and parts of the story of Abraham. In this writer’s view, these parallels are too many and too exact to be mere coincidences but instead, are indicative of the author of Genesis putting Adam in different sub-narratives that illustrate Israel’s expulsion from the promised land.
Israeli Prof. Tvi Erlich, in his “The Story Of The Garden Of Eden in Comparison to the Position of Mt Sinai and The Tabernacle”, makes the following astute observations that…
Adam was placed in a location once desolate, dark and chaotic but later, to a lush, fruitful garden.
Likewise, Israel was moved from a desolate desert to the promised land with abundant fruit. (Gen 2:15, Deut 3:20, 30:3-4, Josh 1:13,15, Jer 27:11; Ezek 36:34, 37:14,21; Isaiah 14:1).
Adam committed spiritual adultery by departing from God’s commandment and believing Eve.
Israel committed spiritual adultery with pagan nations, foreign gods, and animals. (Gen, Acts 7:41-43, Romans 1:21,24-26)
Adam was given the law (Gen 2:16-17).
Only Israel was given and was under the law. (Ps 147:19-20, Deut 4:8, Rom 9:4)
Adam had a covenant relationship with God (Gen 2-3)
Israel had a covenant relationship with God (Exod 19-34)
Adam’s sin involved a relationship with a woman (Gen 3)
Israel’s sins often involved relationships to seductive women. For example, Solomon’s wives (1 Kings 11:4-13), Jezebel (1 Kings 16:31-33), Delilah (though not really an example of Israel, but still included in Israel’s redemptive narrative) (Judges 16:4-14), foreign wives (Ezra 9:2, 10:1-3) and the whore of Babylon (Rev 17:1-18).
Adam and Eve’s nakedness is covered (Gen 3:21)
Israel is commanded to cover nakedness in worship (Exod 20:26)
Adam was banished from the land and his relationship with God suffers (Gen 3).
Israel was banished from the land and returned later amid a spiritual renewal and return to prosperity.
Clearly we can see parallels in Adam to Israel, so many and so specific as to rule out coincidence. The rest of the creation narrative provides more information that shows it was a recapitulation of Israel’s history. Even specific language used in other passages that pertain to Israel are also used in the creation account.
At the start of the Genesis narrative, “the Lord God formed (יצר; yatsar) the human” (Gen 2:7). Similarly, speaking of Israel, Isaiah declares that God was the one who “formed (יצר; yatsar) you, O Israel” (Isa 43:1).
When the people of Israel go into exile from their land, God states, “Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out (גרשׁ; garash)” (Hos 9:15 NASB). At the end of Genesis 3, the text says that God “drove out (גרשׁ; garash) the human” from the Garden of Eden (3:24 NASB).
In Jeremiah, God speaks to the people through the prophet, saying, “I brought you into a plentiful land to eat (אכל; achal) its fruit (פּרי; peri) and its goodness (טוֹב; tov), but when you came in, you defiled my land” (Jer 2:7 NASB). This prophetic description of the nation mirrors the moment when Adam and Eve see that the forbidden “fruit” (פּרי; peri) is “good” (טוֹב; tov) for food and “eat” it (אכל; achal), thereby transgressing God’s command (Gen 3:6 NASB).
After the exile, Isaiah tells his people, “The Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will rest them (ינח; yanach) in their own land” (Isa 14:1 NASB). The prophet’s language to describe Israel’s return from exile echoes what God does after forming the human: “The Lord God took the human and rested him (ינח; yanach) in the Garden of Eden” (Gen 2:15 NASB). (source for this portion is unknown)
The Garden As The Promised Land
The land plays an important role in Israelite thought and religious life, and the creation narrative must be examined closer to see what land is being referred to. To be in the land was to be in right standing with God. In the beginning God created the “heavens and the earth” the old covenant religious system and temple community. God also created the garden, the land prepared for Adam. Adam was placed in the garden and could remain there if he obeyed God’s commandments. Adam failed to obey, was expelled from the garden and this led to an eventual captivity of God’s people in Babylon. Israel’s story begins with Abraham coming out of Babylon, eventually leading to Israelites finding their way to a new, promised land, the Adamic story reversed, as it were. Like Adam, Israel was expelled from the land because of sin.
Throughout Israel’s history, there were multiple failures, expulsions from the land and returns to the land followed by spiritual renewal and a return to prosperity. At the end of the story, Israelites were gathered out of the nations they had been dispersed to and the final, end of the age judgement came. Through Israel gaining entrance into the new Jerusalem and a new, heavenly country, the garden-like relationship with their god was restored.
First Things First: A brief examination of some important terms
(Gen 1:1 NASB) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
As mentioned earlier, “heaven and earth” was the old covenant religious system and temple community. How do we know this? The New Testament use of the term “heaven and earth” came from the Old Testament, and Genesis’s use of “heaven and earth” came from other texts that were penned before Genesis. For example…
“And I have put My words in your mouth; I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, That I may plant the HEAVENS, and lay the foundations of the EARTH, And say TO ZION, ‘YOU ARE MY PEOPLE.’” Isaiah 51:16
The heavens and earth he planted were his people. We also see heaven and earth as Israel in….
(Isa 66:22) “For as the NEW HEAVENS and the NEW EARTH that I make shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your offspring and your name remain.
Isaiah 66 was a second temple era passage, illustrating Israelites return from captivity, restoration in the land and renewed religious community.
In Deuteronomy 32:1, in the song of Moses, God is talking to Israel when He says: “Give ear, 0 ye HEAVENS, and I will speak; and hear, 0 EARTH, the words of my mouth” (Deut 32:1 KJV)
In the song of Moses, God is depicting the fate of Israel when He says:
“For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the EARTH with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains” (Deut 32:22 KJV).
Was “God” talking about burning up the earth? No, he was talking about bringing judgment upon Israel. He had already told them the type of judgment they could expect. “The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand” (Deut. 28:49 KJV).
In the song of Moses, God is telling his people that he had delivered them from the oppressor, but that if they became disobedient he would bring all sorts of trouble upon them. It was a song of deliverance, but also a song of warning.
In Revelation 15:2-3 we see the saints singing the song of Moses, and also the song of the Lamb, after they had gotten their victory over the beast. But apocalyptic and symbolical language is used in the song of Moses in describing the judgment of God. When Israel is finally destroyed, it is as though heaven and earth are burned up.
In Isaiah 51:13 God said that he had “stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth”. Is God speaking here of the literal heavens and earth?
Read on in this same passage to verse 16:
“And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.”
If one held to a literal interpretation of the Genesis creation account, this could not be talking about the formation of the literal heavens and earth, for that would have taken place more than 3,000 years before. So, what is he talking about? The verse explains itself. He is talking about “Zion.” He is talking about “my people”. In other words, he is talking about the formation of Israel.
In Isaiah 1:2 (KJV), God begins to give predictions of coming invasions and captivities of His people. He says…
“Hear, 0 HEAVENS, and give ear, 0 EARTH: for the LORD hath spoken, and I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.”
To whom is he speaking when he addresses, “O heavens” and “0 earth”? He is talking to Israel. This shows very clearly that “heavens and earth” are symbolical language for Israel. In this passage he went on to say:
“Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.”
God was not speaking to Sodom and Gomorrah, for they had been destroyed many years previously. But the rulers and people of Israel were likened to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, and it was to the “heavens and earth” also that he was speaking. The “heavens and earth” and also “the rulers of Sodom and Gomorrah” referred to Israel as a nation.
In Isaiah 24 we have a picture of God’s promise of judgment on Israel through the Assyrians. But Israel is spoken of as the “earth” Read in particular verses 1 and 19-20:
(Isa 24:1 NASB) Behold, the LORD lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants.
(Isa 24:19 NASB) The earth is broken asunder, The earth is split through, The earth is shaken violently.
(Isa 24:20 NASB) The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard And it totters like a shack, For its transgression is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again.
In Jeremiah 22:29 God says…
(Jer 22:29 NASB) “O land, land, land, Hear the word of the LORD!
(Jer 22:30 NASB) “Thus says the LORD, ‘Write this man down childless, A man who will not prosper in his days; For no man of his descendants will prosper Sitting on the throne of David Or ruling again in Judah.'”
“0 earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.” And in verse 1 (along with verses 11, 18 and 24) we had read that the words were for the people of Judah, concerning the time when they would be taken “into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans” (vs. 25). It was not the whole physical earth God was talking to, but the people of Israel.
If the dissolving of heaven and earth were to be taken literally in all the passages of the Old Testament where such language is used, it would necessarily mean that the heavens and earth were to be destroyed numerous times. If this were so, we wouldn’t be having this discussion today. The language has to be figurative.
Isaiah 13:13 says…
(Isa 13:13 NASB) Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, And the earth will be shaken from its place At the fury of the LORD of hosts In the day of His burning anger.
Some, who take the literalistic interpretation approach to all prophecy, might apply this to the end of the world’s history. But prophecies like this actually applied to spiritual things – the passing away of the old, and the transformation of things into newness of life.
Haggai 2:6 says…
(Hag 2:6) “For thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land.
This passage applies to the change of things which were brought about by the passing away of the old and the introduction of the new. Christ made this great change possible. This change would involve the passing away of the old Judaist system with all its ceremonies, rites, rituals, sacrifices, etc. As the writer of Hebrews said, as he borrowed words from Haggai 2:6, “Whose voice then shook the earth; but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.”
“And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved …” (Hebrews 12:26-28 KJV).
In Haggai 2:21-22 God said…
(Hag 2:21 NASB) “Speak to Zerubbabel governor of Judah, saying, ‘I am going to shake the heavens and the earth.
(Hag 2:22 NASB) ‘I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will overthrow the chariots and their riders, and the horses and their riders will go down, everyone by the sword of another.’
While the coming of Christ made possible the passing away of the old and the introduction of the new through the institution of the new covenant (so vividly discussed by the writer of Hebrews), yet much of all this was not eliminated completely until AD70 when Jerusalem and the temple were completely destroyed and the old actually ceased to be.
In one of its New Testament applications, “heaven and earth” is referring to the new covenant religious system and temple community. The “present heavens and earth” in 2 Peter 3:7 was the old covenant religious system and temple community, which was destroyed in the fire of judgement in 70AD.
(2Pe 3:7 NASB) But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
(2Pe 3:10 NASB) But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
(2Pe 3:12 NASB) looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!
(2Pe 3:13 NASB) But according to His promise we are looking for NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH, in which righteousness dwells.
Jesus Himself, right after describing the destruction of the temple in Matt 24:3-28, said…
(Matthew 24:35 NASB) Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
…meaning, the physical temple, or what the temple represented, the entire old covenant religious system would pass away, and his words would not fail to come to pass.
If ‘heaven and earth’ included the old covenant temple according to Jesus, then a ‘new heaven and earth’ from scripture penned by Hebrew believers like John in Revelation 21:2 and Peter in 2 Peter 3:13 would have been the ‘new temple’, which was the first century temple of the Holy Spirit, the church.
The writer of the Revelation, John, says…
(Rev 20:11 NASB) Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.
This was describing the general judgment of all that took place when Jesus returned in between 66-70AD. That judgement resulted in the destruction of old covenant religious system, temple and people.
So we see multiple lines of evidence that support the idea that ‘heaven and earth’ is not the literal sky and globe of dirt we live on, but rather, a covenant community centered around a temple. If the old heaven and earth that was destroyed in AD70 was the old covenant religious and temple community, what could the heaven and earth in the beginning be? Using a consistent hermeneutic of scripture defining its own terms suggests that heaven and earth in Genesis 1 was its primitive covenant community of Israel.
Additionally, in Genesis 2:4, we see that the heavens and earth had generations.
(Gen 2:4 KJV) These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.
Young’s Literal Translation has it as…
(Gen 2:4 YLT) These are births of the heavens and of the earth in their being prepared, in the day of Jehovah God’s making earth and heavens;
The Hebrew word for generations is תּוֹלְדָה (toledoth) and means physical descent, familial generations. Does the earth and sky have physical descendants? Of course not. The heavens and earth in Genesis can only be referring to people. The people in that context was a covenant people, Israel.
Without form and void:
(Gen 1:2 NASB) The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
There are additional parallels in the text that link the garden of Eden to Israel’s promised land. The land began as a desolate waste that is later filled with life that had been multiplied.
Genesis 1:1-2 have nothing to do with the creation of the physical world, but of a land before Israel occupied it. Initially, there was no life, no light, no plants and no animals…all covenant terms describing the land in its unprepared state. The land had to be prepared for Israel before God would give it to them. Likewise, Canaan was in a desolate state before Israel would enter it with their law.
The phrase “without form and void” is a description of the spiritual condition of a people. This is evident from comparing Genesis 1:2 with Jeremiah 4:22-23.
(Jer 4:22 NASB) “For My people are foolish, They know Me not; They are stupid children And have no understanding. They are shrewd to do evil, But to do good they do not know.”
(Jer 4:23 NASB) I looked on the earth, and behold, it was formless and void; And to the heavens, and they had no light.
Jeremiah 4:22-23’s formless and void earth and heavens was describing the spiritual state of Judah, the “my people” of verse 24.
Jeremiah continues…
(Jer 4:25) I looked, and behold, there was no man, And all the birds of the heavens had fled.
“No man” corresponds very well with there being “no man to till the ground”, no law workers in the land, people of Judah who had become lawless. Who were birds of the heavens? Beasts, birds and creatures that move on the ground were people with a covenant relationship with God (Hosea 2:18, Psalm 148:9-12, Acts 10:12). Compare to Eze 38:19-20, referring to a judgement on people….
Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; so that the fishes of the sea, and the BIRDS OF THE HEAVENS, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep (moveth) upon the earth, and all the men (adam/aw-dawm/Israel) that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence (Ezek 38:19-20 NASB)
Jeremiah continues…
(Jer 4:26 NASB) I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a wilderness, And all its cities were pulled down Before the LORD, before His fierce anger.
Fruitful land? That’s the garden, and the promised land, Israel. Jeremiah is describing the spiritual condition of the land, which by extension was the people of the land. In Genesis, the land (Canaan) was unfruitful and desolate at first, but God created a lush garden and introduced light to that garden, a land they would later be expelled from.
Darkness and Light:
Throughout the bible, the light vs darkness motif is present and refers to the spiritual condition of people. Not having light and being formless and void is terminology ancient Israelites would have recognized from the creation narrative. In Jeremiah 4:23, the author says “they had no light’.
(Isa 8:20 KJV) To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
Not having light was to not be in a right relationship with their god.
(Job 30:26 NASB) “When I expected good, then evil came; When I waited for light, then darkness came.
(Psa 112:4 NASB) Light arises in the darkness for the upright; He is gracious and compassionate and righteous.
In the New Testament, the gospel of John begins by describing Christ’s making of the new, covenant world.
(Joh 1:5 NASB) The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
Here, the light was Christ’s new covenant. Those who did not comprehend it were unrepentant, unbelieving Jews. Paul also contrasts light and darkness. Writing to descendants of the tribes of Israel who were in the assembly at Ephesus, he said…
(Eph 5:8 NASB) for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light
Light and darkness are held in contrast to show the spiritual condition of the land, which is a reflection of its inhabitants.
Darkness On The Face of The Deep, Waters
Waters and “the deep” are not actual water. Waters was symbolic of people(s). The plural for water (never the singular) is symbolic of peoples of all types, as is the case with rivers, streams, rocks, trees etc etc. Frequently, waters typify evil people as in the case with the “sea”. (Psalm 77:16, Psalm 124:2-5, Isaiah 8:7, Isaiah 17:12-13, Isaiah 48:11:1, Jer 47:2, Rev 8:10-11, Rev 17:1,15).
(Rev 17:1 NASB) Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters,
In case there is any doubt, John defines what the waters were a few verses later.
(Rev 17:15 NASB) And he said to me, “The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.
It’s pretty hard to argue with that. So when we go back to Genesis and see that darkness was on the surface of the deep
(Gen 1:2 NASB) darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
…we can know that it’s describing the spiritual condition of a certain people.
Darkness being on the surface of the deep is describing the land of Canaan without the law.
(Isa 8:20 KJV) To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
The Spirit of God moving over the surface of the waters is to say that the Spirit was present but being in darkness, they weren’t able to comprehend it. In the next verse….
(Gen 1:3 NASB) Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
Light in the land was a way to describe Adam, a community of light, entering the land, causing a separation between Canaan’s occupants. As soon as Israel entered the land, it ceased being in total darkness but was now both Canaanites and Israelites, darkness and light bearers. The law wasn’t brought into the land for the benefit of its native occupants though, but to sanctify the land for Israel.
In Ezekiel 36, an apostate Israel is seen as a desolated wasteland that would be restored and rebuilt.
(Eze 36:4 ESV) therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD: Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains and the hills, the ravines and the valleys, the desolate wastes and the deserted cities, which have become a prey and derision to the rest of the nations all around,
(Eze 36:10 ESV) And I will multiply people on you, the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt.
At the beginning of the old covenant age, Israel returns to the land.
At the the end of the age (the first century), the elect (Is 45:4, Mat 24:31) Israelites are gathered to a heavenly land and a new Jerusalem.
(Num 14:7 NASB) and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land.
All the creation was good, including the garden that God had made.
(Gen 1:31 NASB) God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Creation language is used in other texts that predated Genesis by a couple hundred years. They show that the garden narrative was actually about the promised land. According to Isaiah, God created (prepared) and formed (fashioned, molded) Israel. (Isaiah 43:1). They were like clay in his hands (Isaiah 45:9).
(Isa 43:1 ESV) But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
Consistent with scripture defining its own terms, this should be a clue to interpreting Genesis 2:7a.
(Gen 2:7 NASB) then the LORD God formed the man of dust [CLAY] from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
Jacob was created and formed. Adam was created and formed. In Ezekiel 36, Israel was told
(Eze 36:11 NASB) “….And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit…”
In Genesis 1:28, Adam is told to
(Gen 1:28 NASB) “… Be fruitful , and multiply, and replenish the earth….”.
Israel would be multiplied when it returned to the land. Adam was told to multiply in the land. At the time of the end, all Israel is seen as a great multitude that no one could count (Rev 7) in a heavenly land (Heb 11:16).
The language of creation (the giving of the Spirit, dwelling in the land, multiplication of people, beasts and fruit) is associated with Israel again in verses like Ezekiel 36:27-28 and 37:14.
(Eze 36:27 NASB) “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
(Eze 36:28 NASB) “You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.
Creation language is used in many places to refer to people. Hosea for example….
(Hos 2:18 NASB) And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety.
Notably, this is useful for interpreting Peter’s vision, wherein he saw…
(Act 10:12 NASB) …..all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and birds of the air.
These creatures symbolized descendants of the tribes of Israel who were dispersed among the nations, those whom Jews considered ritually unclean because they had stopped being Torah observant and had stopped practicing circumcision.
In the creation account, we see these same creatures…Birds (Gen 1:20), creeping things and beasts of the earth (Gen 1:24). These are clearly people, symbolized as animals. This brings to mind…
(Job 12:7 NASB) “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
(Job 12:8 NASB) or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
Common sense and repeated observations suggest that beasts, birds, bushes and fish of the sea don’t declare or teach anything….but people do. In the New Testament, Paul said…
(Col 1:23 NASB) if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.
The gospel wasn’t preached to cockroaches and hermit crabs. It was preached to the nations for purposes of calling out the Israelites who were among the nations. Creatures in that context were Israelites.
Paul, writing to physical descendants of Abraham in Corinth said…
*(2Co 5:17 KJV) Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
And writing to the Jews and other descendants of the tribes of Israel in Galatian, he wrote…
*(Gal 6:15 KJV) For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
*Other translations have it as “creation”.
(Heb 4:13 KJV) And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
What creature ever needed to hide from God? But Israelites who had transgressed the law were “naked and exposed”, their guilt and ritual uncleanness made evident to their peers. They were the creatures who would be giving an account to God in the final judgement.
Paul said…
(1Co 15:32 ESV) What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
There is no evidence that Paul literally fought beasts in the sense of dogs, lions or bears in Ephesus, but he did travel to Ephesus and likely contended for the gospel among his peers, hostile Judaists in the synagogues he attended. First century Jewish historian Josephus observations seem to support this interpretation. He wrote…
“And this place, which is adored by the habitable world, and honored by such as only know it by report, as far as the ends of the earth, is trampled upon by these wild beasts born among ourselves” (Josephus, Wars 4.4.3).
The “beasts” he was referring to were Jewish Zealots who were overrunning the temple. They were Jews, “born among ourselves”, of Jewish stock and likely the same people who were trampling the temple in Revelation 11:2.
(Rev 11:2 ESV) but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.
Additionally, the context of Paul’s reference to beasts in 1 Cor 15:32 pertains to the resurrection, which was only for Israelites.
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22 NASB).
Only Israelites were “dead” in Adam (under the curse of the law), so only Israelites needed to be made alive. Evidence for the Covenant IO (Israel Only) view aside, this shows that creation language involving beasts, birds, creeping things, creatures, multiplying in populations and occupying the land pertained to Israelites.
In Ezekiel chapters 36-37, God puts his Spirit in Israelites he has cleansed from sin and expects them to walk by his law in order to remain in the land and in the cities that would be rebuilt. Ezekiel describes a restored Israel as being like Eden.
(Eze 36:33 NASB) ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places will be rebuilt.
(Eze 36:34 NASB) “The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by.
(Eze 36:35 NASB) “They will say, ‘This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’
(Eze 36:36 NASB) “Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate; I, the LORD, have spoken and will do it.”
(Eze 36:37 NASB) ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “This also I will let the house of Israel ask Me to do for them: I will increase their men like a flock.
Ezekiel 37….
(Eze 37:14 NASB) “I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it,” declares the LORD.'”
In each case, creation language used in Genesis is used to describe a new beginning of the people of Israel, not a literal new creation of all humanity.
In Genesis 2:8, the creation account informs us that the Adam or “man of redness and clay” was fashioned or molded by God’s hand and put in a garden or vineyard to be the caretakers.
(Gen 2:8 NASB) “The LORD God had planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there he put the man [redness] whom he had formed [fashion, molded].”
In the same way that Israel sinned and was thrust out of the promised land, Adam sinned and was thrust out of the garden (the presence of God) and punished.
(Gen 3:23 NASB) therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.
Israel actually was the vineyard and those which are given to be her husbandmen were Israelites (Isaiah 3:14, 5:7, Matthew 20:1-16). We also find that Israel had sinned against God by partaking of other gods and were cast out of the promised land.
(Isa 22:17 NASB) ‘Behold, the LORD is about to hurl you headlong, O man. And He is about to grasp you firmly
In the garden, Adam works and Eve suffers condemnation under the law.
In the New Testament, Jesus associates the increase in wars and destruction with the end of those who remained enslaved to the law through their works, which was only Israel.
In the New Testament, Jesus said…
(Mat 24:8 NASB) “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.
In the garden, Eve groaned with increasing pain in childbirth. From Paul’s perspective, Israel was the creation, groaning as the time of the delivery of the wrath of God in judgement approached.
(Rom 8:22 NASB) For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
(Rom 8:23 NASB) And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
Israel as a whole groaned in pain as her imminent destruction approached, while descendants of the tribes of Israel who had been dispersed among the nations, once far but now brought near through the apostolic gospel groan in longing for adoption and redemption at the time of the end.
(Rom 8:18 NASB) For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
(Rom 8:19 NASB) For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
Consistent with the creation motif involving people entering the land and multiplying, Israelites once banished are seen later as restored in a great multitude in a heavenly land. In the Revelation, they are gathered (Rev 7:9) before the throne of God, their relationship restored.
In a multitude of New Testament scriptures, the creation (Israel) is referred to as the (GK ”kosmos”), the world, which was passing away. John said….
(1Jn 2:17 ESV) And the world [the creation, Israel] is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
And Paul said…
(1Co 7:31 ESV) …..For the present form of this world [the creation, Israel] is passing away.
Jesus used the death of a fig tree to show that when the time came, the old creation would die quickly and never come back to life.
(Mat 21:19 NASB) Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He *said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.
The fig tree represented the old creation, the Israel under the law that was about to die…not all humanity. The use of personifications is often used in the bible and we find Adam being used in 1 Corinthians 15:45, 47.
(1Co 15:45 NASB) So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam
(1Co 15:47 NASB) The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven.
However, these verses have often been interpreted as a first human being and Jesus. They’re only partially correct. Paul used “man” (Adam) to portray the coming together of all of Israel both Jews from Judea and descendants of the tribes of Israel who had been dispersed among the nations as the one new man. The old man was the Old Covenant creation of corporate Israel. The new man was the new covenant corporate Israel, the one associated with heaven.
What was the Tree Of Knowledge Of Good And Evil (TOKOGAE)?
The TOKOGAE was the law. In the garden, the TOKOGAE provided knowledge of his actions being sin. In Romans 7:7, Paul said…
(Rom 7:7 ISV) “…..I wouldn’t have become aware of sin if it had not been for the Law. I wouldn’t have known what it means to covet if the Law had not said, “You must not covet.”
By Revelation 22 there is only one tree left, the tree of life. Where did the other tree go? The other tree, the law, passed away with the rest of heaven and earth, the old covenant religious system and temple community.
What was Heaven?
To an ancient Israelite, heaven was the inner portion of the temple where God inhabited. It was the closest an Israelite could get to God. There is simply no verse in the entire bible that says anyone goes to heaven after they die or are guaranteed heaven if they shed a few tears and say a little prayer. Heaven as an otherworldly place one went after their last breath was a Greek concept that came about as a result of Greek influence in post-AD70 faux Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism.
In Philippians 3:20, heaven was not a place these early Christians were waiting to go to, but was a present reality from which they were waiting for Jesus to come.
(Php 3:20 NASB) For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;
People today often appeal to 1 John 14:1-3, the “Father’s house”, to support belief that there is some heavenly realm with mansions, each having a room for the soul of each believer. Rather, the “Father’s house” was the temple itself. Jesus wasn’t describing a place they would go after their last breath, but a spiritual temple Jesus was preparing, one they would experience on earth.
Salvation, to an ancient Israelite meant being saved from sin (the violation of the law), the curse of the law (death, separation from God), one’s enemies and from the wrath of God, which was the judgement of destruction on the old covenant religious system and temple community in AD70. In their worldview, there was no “going to heaven after their last breath”. Heaven involved God coming down to them, to join “heaven and earth”, for Israelites who had once been under the old covenant religious system to live in Christ’s new covenant.
Israelites were more interested in Jesus returning for them to vindicate their tribulation and bring justice to their enemies than they were of living in an imaginary realm after their last breath. Paul was occupied with preparing them for that return and worked to bring about the new creation.
(Eph 2:14 NASB) For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,
(Eph 2:15 NASB) by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,
(Eph 2:16 NASB) and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.
Being in the land is to say they were in fellowship and right-standing with their god. Being expelled from the land (think Adam from the garden / Israel from the promised land) indicated they had sinned and stepped out of fellowship with their god. In the New Testament, we see the twelve tribes dispersed among the nations, far from the promised land and mixing with the nations. If the return to the land was literal, we would have read about Jesus preaching a gospel that involved a return to the physical land of Israel. He did not.
Though there were many scriptures (alleged prophecies – Deut 4:27-28, 30:1; Jer 30:11; Dan 7:9; Micah 5:7-8) that pertained to a return to the land and “at the last days they will be regathered to the land of Israel, leaving none behind (Isaiah 11:11,12; Jer 16:14,15; 23:3-8; 31:10; Ezek 11:17-19, 39:28, Zeph 3:20), in the first century, it may have been about returning to the physical land then which was indicative of a spiritual renewal and return to fellowship with God, but by the time of the New Testament, with all hope of overcoming Rome lost, the only land that was left to gain was a return to fellowship and right-standing with their god.
The first man, Adam or old covenant Israel, was the community of Israelites before their renewal and return to the promised land at the time of the end. They were divided under the law, but in Christ, freed from the curse of the law. We see them united by the time of their end, gathered, repopulated (symbolized by the 144K / great multitude that could not be counted per Rev 7:9), their relationship with God returned to the state of the original land, renewed as it were to be like the original garden, through Christ’s new covenant.
The “new man” Paul spoke of in Ephesians 2:16 was the community of Israel on their way to the heavenly land, the new country and heavenly city anticipated by the author of Hebrews (Heb 11:16). Again, this wasn’t a place where one’s soul went after their last breath. It was a state of spiritual restoration and renewal in a garden-like relationship with God, which a return to the promised land symbolized.
Who was the Serpent?
Scholars have for the most part abandoned the view that Moses was the author of Genesis. The preferred view today is that Genesis was penned by multiple authors during or shortly after the time of Israel’s Babylonian captivity. Nevertheless, it is entirely possible that Genesis draws on imagery and concepts from ancient Egyptian mythology (like a talking snake) to form its recapitulation of Israel’s history. This would be exciting to those looking to support a purely mythological view of Genesis. However, this writer believes the internal evidence showing how ancient Israelites used these terms to describe important events in Israel’s history is the stronger view.
Snakes seem to have filled an important role in the mythology of different cultures throughout human history. Quite early, there was the Mesopotamian snake Nirah, the messenger god of Ištaran represented as a snake. Some have surmised that the serpent in the garden was Moses writing from his Egyptian background, which as we know, considered snakes to be gods. For example, Apophis was the Great Serpent and enemy of the sun-god Ra. In the Egyptian ‘Book of the Dead’, the great cat Mau kills Apophis with a knife. Mau was the divine cat, a personification of the sun god, who guarded the Tree of Life which held the secrets of eternal life and divine knowledge. Sound familiar? There were other Egyptian deities associated with snakes too such as Wadjet, Renenutet, Nehebkau, and Meretseger. Some snakes were evil, such as Apep and Set.
We see an emphasis on the snake in the story of Moses holding up the bronze serpent in the wilderness. In the story, God chose the same animal in judgment that Moses and Aaron had used to demonstrate God’s power in front of Pharaoh, who himself believed in Wadjet, the patron goddess of lower Egypt, represented as a snake. The bronze (fiery) snake was a representation of what was killing unrepentant Israelites. John used this part of Israel’s story in John chapter three.
(Joh 3:14 NASB) “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
Christ raised up on a cross represented the sin that led to the death of unrepentant sinners and which sent them to a judgement of destruction and separation from God.
We also see the tribe of Dan described as being a serpent in…
(Gen 48:17) Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that his rider falls backward
When one interprets the scriptures with an understanding of the garden of Eden being the “promised land” and Adam as Israel, then a clearer picture begins to appear as to the identity of the serpent. What follows will show from the text that the serpent in the garden was neither a real, talking snake nor a god represented as a snake.
Who was Israel’s primary enemy? Canaan. The serpent was known to Adam just as Canaanites were known by primitive Israelites. In the creation narrative, snakes were created first. Canaanites were in the land first. In fact, modern scholarship shows that ancient Israelites were originally Canaanites.
Adam was placed in the garden with an evil inhabitant.
Israel was placed in the promised land that had an evil inhabitant.
Adam’s placement in the garden included ruling over all the animals, including the serpent.
Israel’s placement in the promised land included ruling over all its inhabitants, including Canaanites.
(Gen 3:14 NASB) The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you…”
(Gen 9:25 NASB) So he [Noah] said, “Cursed be Canaan…”
The name “Canaan” comes from a root word כָּנַע kana, which means “subdue”. This of course is consistent with Israel’s mandate to subdue the inhabitants of the promised land, Canaanites. The term is used in this way in Deuteronomy 9:3.
(Deu 9:3 NASB) “Know therefore today that it is the LORD your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue (kana) them before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the LORD has spoken to you.
Source for this section: (Adam As Israel, Seth Postell, ppg 105-106)
We can also see Joshua being a type of Adam, tasked with conquering and subduing the inhabitants of Canaan (Josh 1:3, 18:1). Failure to subdue the inhabitants of the land leads Gibeonites tricking Joshua into making a covenant with them (Josh 9), which was forbidden by the law (Exod 23:32-33).
Josh 9:4 says that the Gibeonites acted “craftily”. Who else was crafty?
The serpent was “more crafty than any other beast of the field…” (Gen 3:1 NASB).
After Joshua was deceived, he blames the Gibeonites (Josh 9:22 NASB).
After Eve was deceived, she blamed the serpent (Gen 3:13 NASB).
Noah curses Canaan (Gen 9:25 NASB) “Cursed be Canaan”
God curses the serpent (Gen 3:14 NASB) “Because you have done this, Cursed are you…”
The Gibeonites are cursed with being in perpetual servitude.
(Jos 9:23 NASB) “Now therefore, you are cursed, and you shall never cease being slaves, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.”
The serpent is cursed with having to crawl on its belly and eat dust.
(Gen 3:14 NASB) The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life;
Jesus referred to Jews who were hostile to him as “serpents” and “brood of vipers” (Mat 12:33-34), which is to call them snakes. Why? Not because there was a real, talking snake in the garden and not because Jews were literal snakes. Jesus called them serpents because they were dishonest and manipulative, like the Gibeonites with Joshua in the promised land. Jews would have been aware of the story of Joshua and the Gibeonites. Calling Judaists “serpents” would have been a massive insult, the ultimate slur.
We have a rather enigmatic reference to the serpent in…
(Rev 20:2) And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
Was the “dragon, serpent of old, devil and Satan” all the same thing at the same time? Yes and no. The serpent in the garden were Canaanites, more specifically, the Gibeonites. But in the Revelation, all of these titles (dragon, serpent of old, devil and Satan) are a cumulative picture of Jewish deception and opposition to Christ and his cult of Israelite followers.
Judaists were leading Israelites away from the gospel and Jesus called them the ‘sons of the evil one’, the devil, false accuser.
(Mat 13:38) and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one;
(Mat 13:39) and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.
Jesus said in John 8:44 that the devil is a liar.
(Joh 8:44) “……for he [Satan, their father] is a liar and the father of lies.”
And then in verse 55, Jesus insinuated that those who opposed him were liars.
(Joh 8:55) and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I WILL BE A LIAR LIKE YOU, but I do know Him and keep His word.
Jesus is calling them liars individually, but satan corporately. Jesus called Judas a ‘devil’.
(Joh 6:70) Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?”
Thus, Jews who opposed Jesus were serpents and devils. In the Revelation, there is Jesus’ reference to “Jews who are not” and the “synagogue of Satan”.
(Rev 2:9) ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
False Jews, that being Judaizers who opposed the doctrines of the first century church are closely associated with Satan. Here, Satan is just a personification of opposition to the church. John 18:29 shows the Jews as the ultimate false accusers of Jesus.
(Joh 18:29) Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation do you bring against this man?
The same Greek word for ‘accuser’ is used to describe false accusations levelled against Paul in an attempt to hinder His work for Christ (Acts 23:30,35; 24:8; 25:16,18). Paul spoke of Jews who hindered his evangelism…
(1Th 2:14) ……even as they did from the Jews,
(1Th 2:15) who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men,
(1Th 2:16) hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost.
And two verses later Paul refers to them as Satan.
(1Th 2:18) For we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, more than once—and yet Satan hindered us.
In the Revelation, the Jewish high priest may have been the accuser of the brethren.
(Rev 12:10 NASB) …..for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
Thus, Jews who falsely accused Jesus, those who hindered Paul were serpents, the devil(s) and Satan. This is clearly not some spiritual boogeyman roaming around trying to devour people like a lion today, but symbolized the Judaist opposition to the gospel and the authentic, pre-AD70 church.
At the beginning of Israel’s redemptive narrative, the serpent (Canaan, specifically, Gibeonites) were overcome. At the end of Israel’s redemptive narrative, enemies of Jesus’ followers, characterized as the “dragon”, serpent, devil, satan, beast and false prophet were overcome.
(Rev 20:10 NASB) And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
The lake of fire was symbolic for the judgment of destruction of the old covenant religious system and temple community. It follows that the “serpent” in that context, as in Genesis 3, wasn’t a literal talking snake, but an enemy of Israelites who were of faith.
From an ancient Israelite perspective, Zacarias’ “prophecy” in Luke was fulfilled by the time of the end of the age of the old covenant religious system and temple community.
(Luk 1:71 NASB) Salvation FROM OUR ENEMIES, And FROM THE HAND OF ALL WHO HATE US;
Adam Had The Law That Only Israel Had
There’s a reason why we see that Adam, Cain and others had the Mosaic Law before it was given to Moses. It’s because Adam was Israel. The law was a covenant made between God and Israel.
(Lev 26:46) These are the statutes and ordinances and laws which the LORD established between Himself and the sons of Israel through Moses at Mount Sinai.
(Exo 34:27 NASB) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”
(Deu 4:13 NASB) “So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.
According to Esther, no other nation had God’s law.
(Est 3:8 NASB) Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people and they do not observe the king’s laws, so it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain.
In Deut 4:8, Moses asked a rhetorical question…
(Deu 4:8) “Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?
The implied answer is “no”. Psalm 147:19-20 couldn’t be less ambiguous.
(Psa 147:19) He declares His words to Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel.
(Psa 147:20) He has not dealt thus with any nation; And as for His ordinances, they have not known them. Praise the LORD!
If Adam sinned under the law that only Israel, then Adam was Israel. Simple logic, but most people would find this too simplistic. It’s obvious that characters in the Genesis narrative were under the law.
Cain and Abel knew how to conduct a proper sacrifice. How? Cain knew murder was wrong? Why? After the flood, Noah knew which animals were clean and unclean, which is part of the Mosaic law. Who told him? In Genesis 8:20-21, Noah made sacrifices to god. How did he know to do that?
In Exodus 16, several days to several weeks before God established his covenant with Israel at Mt. Sinai, we find God giving them a test to see “whether they will walk in My law or not”. His test involved whether they would rest on the seventh day Sabbath as he had commanded in the 4th commandment of the law.
(Exo 16:4 NASB) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction.
(Exo 16:5 NASB) “On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.”
(Exo 16:6 NASB) So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, “At evening you will know that the LORD has brought you out of the land of Egypt;
Then, in Exodus 16:28 (still before the law was given to Moses), God is purported to have said…
(Exo 16:28) Then the LORD said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions?
Evidently, the law was in existence before it was given to Moses. We see the fourth commandment at work in Genesis 2:2-3, in existence in the garden.
In Exodus 18, Moses judged the people and taught the law. Where did Moses get that law? The Ten Commandments were given [to Moses] in Exodus 20. What law was Moses judging with and teaching before he received the ten commandments?
In Genesis 26:5, God told Isaac that He had blessed his father, Abraham “because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.” This event would have taken place centuries before Moses.
The law was given [to Moses] in a codified form at Sinai. The law was given to Adam transgressed/violated the law in Genesis 3. Death (the curse of the law, separation from God) reigned from Genesis 3 on. Adam was given law before Genesis 3, that is, in Genesis 1 and/or 2. Sin was imputed from Genesis 3 on. Sin existed in the world before law was given [to Moses].
Recall that the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil (TOKOGAE) was given to Adam. The law was given to Israel.
The TOKOGAE gave knowledge of sin to Adam. Adam knew his actions were sin because of the law. Paul said in Romans 7:7 that he would not have known sin were it not for the law.
At the end of Israel’s redemptive narrative, in Revelation 22, there is only one tree, the Tree of Life. The other tree (the TOKOGAE) is not present. When the old covenant religious system and temple community passed away in AD70, the law passed away with it. From beginning to end, the bible’s story is about those who were under the law…heaven and earth, God’s covenant people, Israel.
Adam in the story of Noah
God plants a garden for Adam (Gen 2:8)
Noah plants a garden / vineyard (Gen 9:20).
Adam received the law (Gen 3)
Moses received the law (Gen 6)
Adam and Eve sin and find themselves naked (Gen 3:6-7)
Noah sins and finds himself uncovered (Gen 9:21)
Adam and Eve’s nakedness is covered (Gen 3:21)
Noah’s nakedness (fallen character) is covered (Gen 9:23)
Adam in the story of Mt Sinai
Adam marries Eve.
Israel makes a marriage covenant at Mt Sinai.
God gives commands directly to Adam, who in turn communicates those instructions to his wife.
God gives direct instructions to Moses at Mt Sinai, and he communicates those instructions to Israel (who was also the bride).
Commandments of do and do not do are transgressed in the garden (Gen 2:16-17).
Commandments of do and do-not-do are transgressed at Mt. Sinai (Exod 20:3).
Adam was unable to hear God’s voice after sinning, became distanced from God and chose to hide (Gen 3:8, 10).
Israel was unable to hear God’s voice, was distanced from the Shekinah and requested a mediator (Moses) to hear on their behalf (Exod 20:14-15, Deut 5:19-20).
Adam lost connection with God after a woman led him to sin (Gen 3:17,23).
When Israelites wanted to draw near to God, they had to separate themselves from women first. (Exod 19:15).
Adam aspired to reach an imaginary good, but when he transgressed the commandment, God guarded the way of life (Gen 3:24).
Keeping the commandments led Israelites on the way to true life (Deut 20:14-15).
Adam went away from the shekinah and the garden was guarded by cherubim and a flaming sword (Gen 3:24).
Israelites were able to draw near to the shekinah and the glory of God dwelled on Mt Sinai in view of Israel (Exod 24:16-17).
Adam’s return to the dust of the ground (Gen 3:17) constitutes part of his atonement for his sin.
The ground from which Adam was fashioned atones for Israel’s sins (Exod 20:24).
Adam was given the command to subdue and manage the land (Gen 1:26,28)
Israel was given the command to subdue and manage the land of Canaan (Ex 23)
Source: Israeli Prof. Tvi Erlich,
The Story Of The Garden Of Eden in Comparison to the Position of Mt Sinai and The Tabernacle, Alon Shuvat for Graduates of the Har Eztion Yeshiva 11 (1988) pgg 20-34
Adam in the story of the golden calf.
Adam’s transgression of the do-not-do commandment was done by eating.
Transgression of the first do-not-do commandment involves eating (Exod 32:6)
God inquired about Adam’s sin (Gen 3:13)
Moses inquired about Israel’s sin (Exod 32:21).
Adam is condemned to death for his sin. A sword guards the tree of life from a sinful man (Gen 3:24).
The Israelites rectify their sin by putting to death the sinners with a sword (Exod 32:27).
Source: Israeli Prof. Tvi Erlich, The Story Of The Garden Of Eden in Comparison to the Position of Mt Sinai and The Tabernacle, Alon Shuvat for Graduates of the Har Eztion Yeshiva 11 (1988) pgg 20-34
Additionally, in the beginning of Israel’s story, the way of life is guarded by a flaming sword. At the end of the story, Christ is pictured returning in flaming fire (2 Thess 1:8) with a sword in his mouth (Rev 2:16, 19:15) in judgement on the twelve tribes of Israel (Luke 22:30). Literally from start to finish, the Bible is about Israel.
Israel in the story of Abraham.
John Sailhamer, in his book Genesis Unbound, on pg 106-108, illustrates a remarkable similarity between Israel and the story of Abraham. For example…
Genesis 16:2a “so she (Sarai) said to…” compared to Genesis 3:2 “the woman said to…”
Genesis 16:2b “Abram listened to Sarai” compared to Genesis 3:17 “you listened to your wife”
Genesis 16:3a “Sarai ….took” compared to Genesis 3:6a “she took some”
Genesis 16:3a “and she gave to her husband [Abram]” compared to Genesis 3:6b “she also gave some to her husband”
As described in Seth Postell’s book “Adam as Israel”, pg 91, both Adam and Abram experience a deep sleep (Gen 2:21, 15:12). Both the garden of Eden and the land covenant with Abraham provide geographic information about the boundaries of the land. And in both narratives involving a deep sleep, it is followed by a moral failure.
Like Adam, the story of Abraham is the beginning of a restored, garden-like state of fellowship with god. Israel was expelled from the promised land and ended up in Babylon, just as Adam was expelled from the garden and went east. Abraham is called out of Babylon, and so begins a recapitulated narrative that involves going back to a promised land. The actual story began with Abraham, not Adam. Adam was just a recapitulation of Israel’s story, a story about a story.
In all of the examples thus far, we have seen the author of the Adamic narrative borrow from other writers and other narratives that predated Genesis. Clearly, Adam was not the first man of all humanity but rather, was an invention of an Israelite mind, a literary tool for explaining Israel’s history of decline, their return to the land and ultimate redemption.
The Creation Link To The Building Of The Tabernacle
Some scholars view the origin of Genesis 1 as being a “priestly text”, penned by priests of Jerusalem. They would have been intimately familiar with the description of the tabernacle. This familiarity is revealed in the parallels between the garden of Eden and the tabernacle. For example, P.J. Kearney (Creation And Liturgy, pg 375) shows that the six parts of the preparation of the tabernacle given in Exod 25:1, 30:11, 17, 22, 34; 31:1 are in each instance at by a divine word from Israel’s god, ending in a sabbath (Exod 31:12). Likewise in Genesis, there are 6 days of preparation of the garden, followed by a sabbath.
More persuasively, both Michael Fishbane and Peter Enns both show that the closing chapters in Exodus disclose unmistakable echoes of the language of creation” (Biblical Text, Fishbane, pg 12; Enns, Exodus, pg 550-552). Examples include the following….
(Gen 2:2 NASB) By 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.
(Exo 40:33 NASB) He erected the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the veil for the gateway of the court. Thus Moses finished the work.
(Gen 1:31 NASB) God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
(Exo 39:43 NASB) And Moses examined all the work and behold, they had done it; just as the LORD had commanded, this they had done. So Moses blessed them.
(Gen 1:22 NASB) God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
(Exo 39:43 NASB) ……So Moses blessed them.
(Gen 1:2 NASB) The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
(Exo 35:31 NASB) “And He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding and in knowledge and in all craftsmanship;
(Gen 2:3 NASB) Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it….
(Exo 40:9 NASB) “Then you shall take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and shall consecrate it and all its furnishings; and it shall be holy.
To the author(s) of Exodus, the garden was understood to be a kind of tabernacle but also, it shows a contextual link between the preparation of the garden for Adam and the preparation of the tabernacle for Israel.
The Creation Narrative In The Sinai Covenant
The creation narrative is also prototypical of the Sinai covenant. Seth Postell shows that the pattern of creation, fall and restoration in Genesis 1-3 “anticipates the preparation of the tabernacle” in Exod 25-31 and the fall and restoration of Israel after the golden calf incident (Exod 32-34). Second, the structure of the curses and their effects on the serpent (animal; Gen 3:14-15), the woman (Gen 3:-16) and the man (Gen 3:17-19) anticipate the structure of and rationale for Purity Code in Leviticus 11-15. Third, the language used to describe the appearance (theophany) of God in the garden for Adam and Eve’s “trial” and their fearful retreat suggest this passage was composed in light of God’s appearance to Israel on Mt. Sinai and Israel’s fearful retreat. And finally, the description of Eve’s temptation, Adam and Eve’s fearful retreat and the provision of covering for their nakedness also anticipate the structure of the Sinai pericope. Adam and Eve’s violation of the commandment is depicted as an infraction against the tenth commandment (compare Gen 3:6 and Exod 20:17, Seth Postell, Adam As Israel, pg. 115-16)
Israel is commanded to not covet.
Adam and Eve were commanded to not covet.
Israel violated the law.
Adam violated the law.
Israel distances itself from the promised land.
Adam and Eve distance themselves from the garden.
God appears to Israel at Mt Sinai. The people retreat and are commanded to cover their nakedness (Exod 20:26)
God appears to Adam and Eve in the garden, they retreat, and God covers them.
The commands given to Adam as prohibitions are characteristic of the Sinai covenant. The motif of “eating” and “food” within the Sinai covenant is comparable to the commandment given to Adam and Eve to not eat and is seen in Genesis 1-3 as well as the dietary restrictions given to Israel. When Eve says…
(Gen 3:3 ESV) but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
We see this later in the New Testament as part of Israel’s legal requirements that those in Christ were free from….
(Col 2:20 ESV) If with Christ you died to the elements of the [covenant] world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—
(Col 2:21 ESV) Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”
Throughout Israel’s redemptive narrative there is a preoccupation with dietary restrictions and what a person can touch.
In the list of animals created, the serpent is last to be mentioned (Gen 3:14). In Leviticus 11:42, the serpent is also listed last. In fact, the language used in Leviticus 11 to describe animals is similar to that used in Genesis.
There was the command of what animals Israelites were allowed to eat.
(Lev 11:2 ESV) Speak to the people of Israel, saying, These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth.
And there was the command to Adam and Eve about what they could and could not eat.
(Gen 2:16 ESV) And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
(Gen 2:17 ESV) but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
And Eve’s addition that included touching….
(Gen 3:3 ESV) but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
There was the prohibition on touching given to Israelites.
(Lev 11:8 ESV) You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.
And there was the prohibition on touching according to Eve.
(Gen 3:3 ESV) …..neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
Israel’s remaining in the land is contingent on them being obedient to the terms of the Sinai covenant (Exod 20:12; Deut 30:15-20), failure of which is death.
Adam’s remaining in the land is contingent on him obeying God’s commandments, failure of which results in banishment from the land (Gen 3:24), away from God’s presence.
Adam’s disobedience results in curses (Gen 3:14-19), exile (Gen 3:24) and death (Gen 2:17).
Israel’s disobedience results in curses (Deut 28:15-68), exile (Deut 28:36, 41, 64, 68) and death (Deut 28:45, 48, 53-57, 63). (Seth Postell, Adam Ad Israel, pg. 118).
Israel was considered naked when their sin was exposed (Duet 28:48)
Adam saw that he was naked when his sin was exposed. (Gen 3:17).
In all of the examples thus far, we have seen the author(s) of the Adamic narrative borrow creation language from other old testament texts that predated Genesis to describe Israel. We saw Adam at Mt Sinai, Adam in the golden calf incident and Adam in the story of Abraham. We saw Adam as Israel in a multitude of scriptures and finally, we saw good contextual evidence that Adam represented Israel in relation to the Sinai covenant. We have seen good evidence from the scriptures that Adam was not the first human being, but rather a personification of Israel. We’ve also seen good contextual evidence that the Genesis creation narrative was not a creation of the universe, planet, animals and people. Rather, the creation narrative is part of a recapitulation of Israel’s entrance into the promised land, sin, expulsion from the promised land and eventual captivity.
Afterthoughts and Implications
Original Sin
Adam being Israel and not the first human being essentially emasculates sixteen centuries of Augustinianism. For example, the very pernicious doctrine of “original sin”, that sin has been inherited and passed on from a first man Adam to all humanity ceases to be relevant to any discussion on biblical matters.
When confronted with Adam Was Israel, modern day so-called Christians who appeal to verses like Romans 3:23 or Romans 5:12 to promote the view that all mankind universally are sinners simply have nowhere to go to find support for their claims.
Creationism And Science
Adam being Israel shows that there was no first human being in the bible story, so both young earth and old earth creation hypotheses become a thing of the past, hopefully quickly forgotten and replaced with an interpretation that is consistent with how ancient Israelites thought and interpreted their world. With Adam Was Israel, the creation is understood contextually to be the creation of Israel. All the so-called creationist “science” and appeals to scriptures they believe are making a statement about the universe, the planet or animals is left looking utterly foolish. Adam Was Israel should decisively remove the question of earth origins from a biblical context forever.
Philosophy
Adam being Israel allows us to re-examine philosophical questions like “Why does the planet earth exist?” without having to insert ourselves into an ancient religious text that never had us in mind and from the very beginning and was never about the creation of the planet.
Challenges
The genealogy in Genesis 5 may have represented Israelites but they weren’t actual Israelites. Common sense should tell us that people don’t live many hundreds of years old, so such genealogies were inventions. Old Testament genealogies like those in Genesis 5 and Noah’s alleged descendants in Genesis 10 were inventions up to the point of Abraham’s entrance into the narrative, which is where Israel’s recapitulated story (Gen 1-11) ends.
In this writer’s opinion, the New Testament genealogies going back to Adam (Luke 3) were based on faulty information. Luke’s genealogy of Christ goes back to Adam, which shows that the author of Luke was unaware that Old Testament genealogies were contrived. The author of the gospel of Matthew seems to be better informed. Matthew’s genealogy of Christ only goes back to Abraham, where the story of Israel really began.
Questions
The question will inevitably arise “Why did Jesus, Luke, Paul and Jude refer to Adam as if he was a real person?” It was done in ignorance. Most people assume that Jesus, the apostles and new testament writers had an extraordinary knowledge of the scriptures, could never be mistaken and that everything they said required a literal interpretation that was true. But this is clearly a result of indoctrination, not an objective and thorough study of the text.
Among his peers (Jews), Jesus knew the scriptures but like many religious people today, he was ignorant of their origin and development. Jesus (or the authors of the four biographies about Jesus), Luke, Paul, Jude and their peers were simply unaware of the origin of Genesis and appealed to characters like Adam, as if they were real people in ignorance.
Such ignorance wasn’t limited to the origin and identity of Adam. According to the text, Jesus practiced demon exorcisms. Today, we know that demon exorcism originated in Babylon and carried over into Jewish culture when they departed Babylonian captivity. The concept of Hades was Greek, yet Jesus (or the author of Luke) is using Hades in Luke 16:23. Other New Testament writers were similarly affected by Greek culture. In 2 Peter 2:4, the author used GK Tartaros, which came out of Greek mythology. And John’s use of GK Thanatos (death, Rev 20:14) shows a Greek influence. Most people have little to no idea how much foreign cultures influenced bible authors.
More can be said about the implications of Adam being Israel. The purpose of this presentation was to give an overview of the research of others who have discovered Adam was Israel. I leave it to the reader to begin their own journey of discovery out of the error of Adam being a first human being. I also recommend the companion view of Covenant IO as a light unto your path out of Israel’s redemptive narrative.
A Companion View
Covenant IO (Israel Only), sometimes called Consistent Preterism is an interpretive paradigm that shows the entire bible’s redemptive narrative pertains only to old covenant Israel in her last days, people who were under the law. It is as consistent with audience relevance when it comes to salvation and redemption as it is with eschatology. Adam Was Israel is about the creation and early history of the old “heaven and earth”. Covenant IO is about the end of the old “heaven and earth”.
Covenant IO returns biblical words and phrases to their original Israelite interpretive paradigm, showing that in many cases words like “world” (kosmos) referred to the covenant world of Israel (not the entire planet) and that “gentiles” (ethnos) who were saved were gentile descendants of the tribes of Israel.
Covenant IO also defends the view that Israel’s redemptive narrative ended in AD70, along with the need for the gospel. It is a view that is scriptural, adheres faithfully to audience relevance and has consideration for the exclusively Hebrew cultural and religious milieu the scriptures came from.
Covenant IO shows from the scriptures that salvation and redemption were only for old covenant Israel, which means nobody today is saved and redeemed, nor has anyone needed salvation and redemption since the first century. Covenant IO essentially destroys the premises upon which the post-AD70 version of Christianity relies on.
To disprove Covenant IO, one would have to show from the scriptures that non-Israelites had and were under the law, were imputed with sin, were judged at the end of the age, that non-Israelites were judged or saved from what Israel was judged or saved from, and that that the need for the gospel was expected to extend past that end of the age. To date, no one has been able to do this.
For more information on Adam Was Israel, see any of the cited scholarly resources and visit the knowledge tree entitled “Who Was Adam” at the Facebook discussion page called “Pioneering Spirits: Knowledge Trees, Preterism, Biblical Research, FP, IO”. For more information on Covenant IO, visit the FB group called “The Preterist Collective” or visit the YouTube channel called “Israel Only Information” or the YouTube channel of Jason Decosta for many informative presentations on this exciting and controversial view.
Acknowledgements:
More qualified individuals have come before me and put forth their own hypotheses concerning the origin and nature of the Genesis creation narrative, including those who ended up at the Adam Was Israel position. Though some portions of this presentation are due to my own research, the bulk of it is based on the research and insight of others, namely Peter Enns, Seth D. Postell, John Sailhamer and others cited and quoted. This presentation is a summary of some of their ideas.
The reader should not consider this to be an exhaustive treatment on the subject. Rather, it should be considered a small sample, enough to inspire others to embark on their own studies of Adam as Israel.
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