GENESIS 3


1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which Yahweh Elohim had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath Elohim said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

The Serpent in Eden


He was quick of thought, penetrating, and acutely discerning. He was the most intellectual of all the creatures, and had but one superior among the living, and that was Man. The difference between man and the serpent was diversity of organization. They were both dust of the ground; but the one more highly and perfectly organized than the other. The organism of the serpent embodied faculties whose functions placed him in harmony with man's nature.

The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, were common to them both; so that their intellectual and animal tendencies were on a par. Hence, man was more nearly related to the serpent than to any other animal - so nearly, that the serpent-nature and the man-nature, without much exaggeration, might be termed identical.

I have said that man was intellectually his superior. This, however, must not be taken absolutely. The serpent showed himself to be more of an adept than Eve. He purposed to make her and Adam eat the fruit; and to do so by reasoning them into the commission of the act.

In this he succeeded, and thereby proved that his intellectual subtilty was superior to theirs. Had they been as quick of thought and penetrating as he, he would have found his match, and the temptation would have failed.

They, however, were over-matched by the serpent, who succeeded in deceiving them. He was the intelligent deceiver who darkened their understandings; while they stood in the humiliating position of the serpent-deceived.

Eureka 12.14.



All the lower animals are more or less observant, but the serpent was the most so of all the Lord of the Elohim had made. It noted the objects around it, and among these observed the "gods," or "Morning Stars and Sons of God," to whom it told Eve she should be like if she ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil. In the Hebrew the word rendered "gods" is Elohim, the same as occurs throughout the first chapter.

From what other source but the sight of its eyes, unless by divine inspiration, could the serpent have derived information about the "gods?" It spoke of what it had seen and heard.

Elpis Israel 1.6




A speaking serpent has not been disclosed in the annals of natural history since that time. The possibility of such a thing will, of course, not be denied by any wise man. It is a mere question of throat mechanism and the relation of the necessary nerves of volition to that mechanism. The parrot illustrates such an adaptation, only minus ideas to express by this means.

The serpent had the ideas and the power of expressing them, too. 


... The obedience of Adam and Eve was put to the proof. And this was the object intended. Left to themselves, obedience would have been a matter of course; but it is not obedience of this mild description that is commendable to God. Obedience under trial is what pleases God.

To give Adam and Eve an opportunity for obedience of this sort, or to terminate and set aside the obedience they were rendering if it should prove of the flimsy order of a mere circumstantial compliance, this creature was placed in the way. It was a divine arrangement with a divine object. The same principle was afterwards illustrated when "God did tempt Abraham" (Genesis 22: 1), that is, put him to the proof, by requiring at his hands a performance which seemed on the face of it inconsistent even with God's own purposes in the case.

There is no contradiction in this to James' deprecation of any man saying, "I am tempted of God" (James 1: 13), for in the case of James' discourse, it is a question of enticing to evil for evil's sake. God never does this to a just man: He tries him, and in this sense tempts him, which is another thing. We may be quite sure if we are children of God that some time or other, we shall be similarly put to the proof.

To him that overcometh (offering the stout front of a determined obedience to God to all suggestions or incitements in any direction forbidden), will the palm of victory be finally awarded.

Visible Hand of God Ch 4



THY KINGDOM COME

In‮ ‬Gen.‮ ‬13:15,‮ ‬God‮ ‬says‮ ‬to‮ ‬Abram‮ ‬when‮ ‬in‮ ‬Canaan,‮ "‬All‮ ‬the‮ ‬land‮ ‬which‮ ‬thou‮ ‬seest,‮ ‬to‮ ‬thee‮ ‬will‮ ‬I‮ ‬give‮ ‬it,‮ ‬and‮ ‬to‮ ‬thy‮ ‬seed,‭ ‬adolahm during an‭ ‬olahm.‭" ‬Here then is an‭ ‬olahm,‭ ‬or course of things,‭ ‬to which Abram stands related‭; ‬and is characterised by his possessing the land of Canaan.‭

That course of things having never obtained upon the earth,‭ ‬is very properly styled by a word expressive of what is hidden from view.‭ ‬This is its etymology,‭ ‬which,‭ ‬however,‭ ‬comes to be inert in its application to the course of things in manifestation.

"For, or during, an Olahm" did not define to Abram when or for what succession of years he should possess the land for an inheritance; but simply declared it should be for an Olahm, be that long or short.

Paul tells us he saw it afar off (Heb. 11:13); but how far off Abram could not tell. What he knew was that he and his seed were to possess Canaan; that he would rise from the dead to possess it (Gen. 15:15); and that when he should possess it, he should also possess a world of faithful nations as their father, in whom they should be blessed.

For proof of this, see Gen. 17:5-8; Rom. 4:13, 18; Gal. 3:7, 8, 9; Zech. 2:11. This Olahm, the great Teacher styles his day. Addressing the Jews he said,

"Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it (by faith) and was glad."-(John 8:56.)

It was not the day when his seed should be crucified through weakness that he rejoiced to see, but the day referred to by Paul at Athens, when he proclaimed before the Areopagus that God

"had appointed a day in which he would rule the habitable in righteousness by a man whom he hath appointed, having offered assurance to all, having raised men from among the dead."

It was this Olahm, which the Apocalypse informs us endures for a thousand years, that Abraham saw by faith, and rejoiced in seeing. This Olahm was the great boundary-mark of the patriarchs and prophets; and of all Israelites and Gentiles, who have been taught of God through their writings, and those of the apostles taken in connection.

Their future is not a boundless "for ever, even for ever and ever;" but a course or courses of things of undefined duration, in connection with which Israel and the nations should rejoice together, under the equitable administration of their affairs by the Messiah and the saints.

That this Olahm has never yet existed, the history of Israel and the nations abundantly attests. Besides this, the apostolic argument is conclusive.

"To Abraham and his seed," says Paul, "were the promises made;" and in the same verse he tells us that "this seed was the Christ."

Canaan and its imperial adjuncts were given to Abraham and Christ by promise, neither of them having yet acquired possession of a single foot of the territory. Stephen testified this on behalf of Abraham, and John on behalf of Christ.

"He came to his own land, but his own people did not receive him,"

and while in the land, he had nowhere to lay his head. He left it; and, to this day, the promises of God to Abraham and Christ remain unfulfilled. Therefore, the Olahm is yet future, and the boundary of the promises.

Abraham may, or may not have known, that a course of things would intervene between the time he received the promises and the fulfilment of them to himself and the Christ. Be this as it may, we who have the benefit of post-Abrahamic history, know that such a course of things defined by the Mosaic law was added to the promise of the land of Canaan to Abraham and Christ, because of the transgressions which prevailed at the time of the Sinaitic institution.

He says that this Mosaic course of things was to continue in force "till the seed, Christ, should come to whom Canaan was promised." Here then was a long and notable period of sixteen hundred and ninety five years,-an Olahm extending from Moses to Christ; and taking root in promises made and confirmed to Abraham; from whom to the advent of his seed, were forty-two generations in 2052 years.

This was an original Olahm, and not an Olahm of an olahm, or an Olahm springing out of one that had existed before.

Moses in his song (Deut. 32:7), exhorts the generations of Israel to

"remember the days of olahm, " and to "consider the years of a generation and a generation."

 He then recapitulates what was done for Israel in those days in which those two generations lived; the one which had fallen in the wilderness; the other about to invade Canaan.

His narrative shows that the days of olahm were the forty years in the wilderness, during which it was being constituted. They were the epoch era of "the foundation of the olahm" to which Peter alludes in Acts 3:21; and Zechariah, in Luke 1:70; and John 9:32.

From these premisses, then, three distinct Olahms are brought into view, namely, the antediluvian olahm, the Mosaic olahm, and the Messianic olahm; and that during the two former, the last was the hope and rejoicing of the just.

A BIBLE DICTIONARY - Begun But Never Finished - Bro THOMAS

The Christadelphian, Aug 1872



3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, Elohim hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

THE REDEMPTION THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS.

'Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser; teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.'—(Prov. 9:9.)

The same authority says,

'There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.'

Having a fear that some of our brethren are already making the mistake of entering this seemingly right way, I would like, if they would allow me, to warn them of their danger, and if possible lead them back to the straight path from which they have diverged

The writer of recent tracts says he has no dispute about flesh, and that the flesh of Adam, Jesus and Judas were all the same flesh. I suppose he would not object to Paul being included in the number. Well, Paul says something about his flesh, hearken:

'I know that in me, that is in my flesh dwells no good thing,' 'I am carnal, sold under sin, sin dwelleth in me,'

therefore on the writer's showing, if the apostle is to be believed as to the inherent evil existing in the flesh, Jesus could not be in any other than the flesh full of sin; this effectually disposes of the assumption that God sent His son not in the actual flesh full of sin, but merely in an external form or resemblance thereof, and shows most conclusively that Jesus was by nature under the laws of sin and death.

But, say those holding the views lately promulgated, 'the case of Jesus was different from that of all others, inasmuch as he derived his life direct from the Father, and as the flesh never was condemned in any case, and his life was uncondemned, while the life of all others of Adam's posterity was condemned, it is manifest that he was an uncondemned person.'

Of course if we allow that the flesh was never condemned but that the life was condemned, then all the conclusions drawn therefrom might be also allowed. But are these premisses true? most certainly not. The life never was condemned; it could not be condemned unless it was some entity which had transgressed (as immortal-soulists affirm); are our erring brethren prepared for such results of their position?

But there was transgression. Who was the transgressor? Certainly the man made a living soul, and, as was just, upon that man came

'judgment to condemnation; for by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men.'

It is therefore untrue. Nay, it is the serpent's lie to affirm that the flesh was not condemned, and it is equally false to say that life was condemned. Both Jesus and all others are alike as regards flesh and its life-manifestations: that in no case is life condemned for the simple reason that life was never at fault; but that in every case flesh was condemned, because it was at fault.

Life is of the Deity, and is always the same in itself, whatever may be the medium of its manifestation. This being so, all the arguing about its being received direct or indirect is away from the point. Life never alters the nature of that through which it is manifested, whether it comes in contact with the said nature in a direct or an indirect manner.

Whatever may be said about life or its origin, of one thing we are certain, that human flesh is the lawful captive of sin and death; and in every case, except that of Jesus, this dread captivity has been further confined by the personal service rendered to sin.

The Christadelphian, Aug 1873



4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

The serpent was the progenitor of the whole transaction. Animal intellectuality, or the thinking of flesh in accordance with its own lusts, emanating from the serpent in discourse, was the spirit that worked in the disobedient, and caused them to stumble at the word.

Eureka 12.14.



5 For Elohim doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as Elohim, knowing good and evil.

That the serpent should state the truth in the case would probably be due to his overhearing the Elohim converse on the subject. The serpent seems to refer to them as his authority



The woman being deceived - 1 Tim 2: 14


The tree, she knew, was "good for food," it was also "pleasant to the eyes." Here were two classes of human lusts coworking in favour of the serpent's conclusion. There remained only one class more to be gained and his triumph would be complete. She was ambitious. She knew the Elohim, how wise and exalted they were, and how superior to Adam and herself.

She wanted to be like them, and the serpent had assured her that she had the power of this desirable self-exaltation in her own hands. But then, might she not lose all by the operation

of the death-penalty? True; but the serpent had assured her that Elohim did not intend to carry it into effect; and besides, was there not that other tree - the tree of lives - as accessible as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? could she not also eat of that, and be immortal as the Elohim?

Surely, this was a well-combined scheme of the serpent's by which they might easily and speedily attain to wisdom and immortality upon their own terms! With the earth in their possession, what independent, glorious, and powerful ones they would be when like the Elohim!

The thought was charming; it was quite fascinating to contemplate! What more could "the pride of life" desire? They would live on the earth forever; and all the world that might inhabit it would be subject to them and to the principles of the serpent, by which they would have attained their high Elohistic estate!

Thus was the mother of all living "drawn away of her own lusts, and enticed." She was attracted by

"the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life."

These instincts of the flesh predisposed her to believe the serpent and to follow his suggestion, regardless of the divine law. Lust conceived within her. The doctrine of the serpent sown in her heart inflamed her desires, and stirred them up into rebellious exercise.

Faith in the word was obliterated; her mind was darkened by false teaching; she was beguiled and corrupted from the simplicity of the truth; her thinking was serpentized, and she "brought forth sin," or the transgression of the law; and when the sin was perfected, contrary to the serpent's theory and her own expectation,

"it brought forth death" (James 1:14,15).

Eureka 12.14.



6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

When Adam's weak nature began to think and act, independently of the divine law, its weakness, before an undefiled weakness, became evil in its workings, and deteriorating in its effects; and acquired the name of Sin from its having brought forth sin, or transgression of law.

The undefiled weakness of the flesh, enticed and deceived by sophistry from without, is, in few words, the definition of the original temptation. The law of God was weak through the flesh-Romans 8: 3, not through the strength of the Serpent. Had the flesh been strong, the Serpent would have been powerless with all his sagacity. But the weakness thrown into a ferment by serpent-subtlety became beguiling; and the beguiling subtlety, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived them, and by it slew them  (Rom 7: 11.)

'THE BIBLE DOCTRINE CONCERNING THE TEMPTER CONSIDERED'

Herald of the kingdom and Age to Come, Sept 1852



Man has a class of faculties which the serpent had not. These are the moral faculties. The possession of these is the mental difference between the two creatures. The moral faculties are the basis of man's accountability. If he had been destitute of these he would have been as little accountable as the serpent. This organic difference is a matter of capacity for the reception of ideas.

The mental capacity of the man was more ample than the serpent's, though less acute. He had more knowledge of things in general, and was capable of higher attainments in

knowledge than the serpent, but he was not so sharp-witted in the use of what he knew as the subtle beast, whose wisdom has passed into the proverb,

"Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves."

Eureka 12.14.



7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.


Such was the first lie, the father of it, and the consequence of believing it. YAHWEH Elohim admitted that the lie contained some truth. As the serpent said, their eyes were opened, but opened to discover their own shame; they became as the Elohim in the knowledge of good and evil of an evil state adapted to the formation of character under trial; but independence, glory, honour and power, they were not permitted to attain.

Eureka 12.14.



...the first man of the earth was put to shame before a plurality of Divine Personages. This is evident from the narrative, which records the saying of the Judge, who remarked, "Behold the man is as one of us, knowing good and evil". The "us" is indicative of the associates of the speaker, styled by MOSES YAHWEH ELOHIM. These it was who, in the language of our text, "Saw his shame".

This Court of Assize in Eden, which condemned the man of the earth to remain earthy unto death because of one offence, is the type, or example, of the future Court of Assize in Teman, where his earthy representatives, who come forth from the dust as he, will be tried, or scrutinized, and justified or condemned, "according to their works".

As in the case of the first human pair, this justification and condemnation will be pronounced and carried into effect before a plurality of dignitaries. In relation to the condemned, this is indicated in the word bleposi "THEY see" his shame. If it be inquired, who are the "they," it must be admitted, that the words of [Rev] ch. 16:15, do not inform us. The exposition, however, I have given, will supply this lack.

The man of the earth condemned to walk naked in his shame, will stand in the presence of the Lord Jesus, of the angels of his power, and of the justified constituents of the Perfect Man, all of whom will be embodiments of the power or spirit of the Eternal Father.

This "I" who comes "as a thief upon the sons of night, is the "they" who see the shame of the earthborns, who are sentenced to condemnation with the world. And this interpretation is in harmony with the words of Jesus, who saith in Luke 12:8,

"whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of Man also confess before the angels of the Deity, and before my Father who is in heaven;" and "whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he shall come in his own glory, and the Father's, and of the Holy Angels" (Luke 9:26): "I will deny him before my Father" (Matt. 10:33).

So that what we confess, or deny, and do in the present state, will define our moral standing at the bar of the Divine Court of Teman; where

"they who have been accounted worthy to obtain of that aion (the Resurrection-Aion) and of the resurrection from among the dead (which gives entrance into it) are equal to the angels:"

all else are repudiated, or denied, and put to shame before all "his servants, both small and great," whether angels, or constituents of the Perfect Man.

Eureka 16.3.2.



8 And they heard the voice of Yahweh Elohim walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh Elohim amongst the trees of the garden.

Nor could they so easily as they imagined eat of the tree of lives, and live forever. When the sin was finished they were too much occupied with their new discovery of their nakedness, and devices to conceal it from their expected Elohistic visitors, to promptly follow out the serpent's programme.

In the midst of their perturbation they perceived their approach, and fled for concealment among the trees from the presence of YAHWEH Elohim. This appearing of "the Lord the Spirit" was an incident not provided for in the programme of the serpent. It marred

the whole scheme, and stamped his speculation with falsehood and deceit. The Lord's appearing arrested the guilty in their career of sin, and brought them before the Judge for trial and sentence according to their works.

Eureka 12.14.



10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

Understanding then, that sin, or the transgression of God's law, evinced by doubts, fears, and shamefacedness, is the morbid principle of an evil conscience, what is the obvious indication to be fulfilled in its removal? The answer is, blot out the sin, and the conscience of the patient will be cured. The morbid phenomena will disappear, and "the answer of a good conscience toward God " (1 Peter 3:21) remain.

From the nature of things, it is obvious, that the sinner cannot cure himself; though superstition has taught him to attempt it by fastings, and penances, and all "the voluntary humility and vain deceit," inculcated by "the blind." Adam and Eve vainly imagined they could cover their own sin, and efface it from divine scrutiny; but the very clumsy device they contrived betrayed the defilement of their consciences.

Their posterity have not learned wisdom by the failure of their endeavour; but, to this day, they are as industriously engaged in inventing cloaks for their evil consciences, as were their first parents, when stitching fig-leaves together to cover their shame. So true is it that, though God made man upright, he hath sought out many inventions (Eccles. 7:29). But, after all the patching, and altering, and scouring, they are but like "the filthy garments" taken from the high priest, Joshua (Zech. 3:3-4); to which all the iniquity laid upon him, adhered with the inveteracy of a leprous plague.

Men have not yet learned the lesson, that all they are called upon by God to do, is to believe His word and obey His laws. He requires nothing more at their hands than this.

Elpis Israel



An evil conscience


Adam having been induced by his wife also to take of the tree, the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, or in other words, they were ashamed of being in each other's presence without clothing. They thereupon adopted the device of covering their nakedness with fig-leaf garments and when they "heard the voice of the Lord Elohim" in the garden, they hid themselves among the trees; and Adam, when questioned as to his whereabouts and his reason for this course of conduct, said,

"I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself."

"The Lord Elohim" was not satisfied with this answer; therefore He proceeded further in His enquiry:—

"Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?"

This question clearly shows that the eating of the tree was the cause of their shame; they knew they had done wrong, and thus their conscience, once pure, had become defiled. Their minds having undergone a change, knowledge of good and evil, desire, and shame, may be described as the mental consequences of their sin. But their punishment did not end here. Their sin led to physical results appropriate to their organisation. To the woman the "Lord Elohim" said,

"I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth thy children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."

To the man it was said,

"Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life . . . In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground."—(v17, 19.)

From the fact that these curses were imposed "because" of their transgression, it is apparent that they did not exist previously. Neither of them had sorrow; their lives passed away in uninterrupted bliss. Neither of them had any desire contrary to the will of God or the will of the other; and there was no necessity for the male to "rule over" the female.

Instead of being compelled to toil hard to obtain sustenance for their bodies, they had everything they required ready at hand. But now all was changed; the smile of their Creator gave place to a frown; after basking in divine favour, they became the subjects of divine wrath, which was, however, accompanied with mercy; from the mountain of sunshine, they were driven into the valley of the shadow of death.

The Christadelphian, Mar 1874



11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

When the dust of the ground was formed into a body of life, or living soul, or, as Paul terms it, a physical or natural body, it was a very good animal creation. It was not a pneumatic, or spirit-body, indeed, for it would then have been immortal and incorruptible, and could neither have sinned, nor have become subject to death; but for an animal or natural body, it was "very good," and capable of an existence free from evil, as long as its probationary aion, or period might continue.

If that period had been fixed for a thousand years, and man had continued obedient to law all that time, his flesh and blood nature would have experienced no evil; and at the end of that long day, he might have been permitted to eat of the Tree of the Lives, by which eating he would have been changed in the twinkling of an eye into a spirit-body, which is incorruptible, glorious, and powerful; and he would have been living at this day. But man transgressed.

He listened to the sophistry of flesh reasoning under the inspiration of its own instincts. He gave heed to this "the thinking of the flesh," or carnal mind, which "is enmity against God, is not subject to His law, neither indeed can be." The desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life, which pertain essentially to all living human, or ground, souls, were stirred up by what he saw and heard; and

 "he was drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." 


His lust having conceived, it brought forth sin in intention; and this being perfected in action, caused death to ensue (James 1:13-15). Every man, says the apostle, is tempted in this way. It is not God, nor the clerical devil that tempts man, but "his own lust," excited by what from without addresses itself to his five senses, which always respond approvingly to what is agreeable to them.

Seeing that man had become a transgressor of the divine law, there was no need of a miracle for the infliction of death. All that was necessary was to prevent him from eating of the Tree of Lives, and to leave his flesh and blood nature to the operation of the laws peculiar to it. It was not a nature formed for interminable existence. It was "very good" so long as in healthy being, but immortality and incorruptibility were no part of its goodness. These are attributes of a higher and different kind of body. The animal, or natural body, may be transformed into a deathless and incorruptible body, but without that transformation, it must of necessity perish.

This perishing body is "sin," and left to perish because of "sin." Sin, in its application to the body, stands for all its constituents and laws. The power of death is in its very constitution, so that the law of its nature is styled "the law of Sin and Death." In the combination of the elements of the law, the power of death resides, so that "to destroy that having the power of death," is to abolish this physical law of sin and death, and instead thereof, to substitute the physical "law of the spirit of life," by which the same body would be changed in its constitution, and live for ever.

By this time, I apprehend, the intelligent reader will be able to answer scripturally the question, 

"What is that which has the power of death?" 

And he will, doubtless, agree, that it is "the exceedingly great sinner SIN," in the sense of "the Law of Sin and Death" within all the posterity of Adam, without exception. This, then, is Paul's Diabolos, which he says "has the power of death;" which "power" he also saith is "sin, the sting of death."

But why doth Paul style Sin diabolos? The answer to this question will be found in the definition of the word. Diabolos is derived from diaballo, which is compounded of dia, a preposition, which in composition signifies across, over, and answers to the Latin trans; and of ballo, to throw, cast: and intransitively, to fall, tumble. Hence, diaballo, is to throw over or across; and intransitively, like the Latin trajicere, to pass over, to cross, to pass. This being the signification of the parent verb, the noun diabolos is the name of that which crosses, or causes to cross over, or falls over. DIABOLOS is therefore a very fit and proper word by which to designate the law of sin and death, or Sin's flesh.

Eureka 2.2.4.



12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

As much as to say, if Thou hadst not put her in my way, and I had been left to myself, I should not have done it. It is she who is chiefly to blame; for she not only did eat herself, but tempted me.

Elpis Israel 1.4.


This particular serpent that beguiled Eve by his subtilty, spent all the days of his life in the dust upon his belly; and from being the most sagacious, he became

"cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field."

The intellectualism of the serpent had been transferred to the man. The serpent system of ideas and mode of thinking had become characteristic of the man, whose lustful nature, inflamed to rebellion by the serpent's reasoning, came to occupy the same relation to the word of the Deity in all after ages, that the original speaking beast did before the fall of man.

All the primeval serpent, or any other kind of serpent, has had to do with serpentine developments since that important crisis has been merely as the expressive and appropriate symbol of the nature of man.

The serpent, then, is the reasoning of the flesh, which is inseparable from it, and tends only to death. This is human nature, and styled by Paul in Rom. 8:3, sarx hamartias, SIN'S FLESH, in which, in ch. 7:18, he says, "dwelleth no good thing."

In its original creation, this flesh, like the serpent, was "very good" of its kind. It had its affections and desires, which, like the affections and desires of other creatures, were innocent and harmless; and the man would not have known sin in the gratification of them, except the law had said, Thou shalt not eat of the tree.

There would have been no scope for the serpent's speculation if no law had been enacted; for without the law his doctrine could have no existence. The serpent's reasoning was sin in conception.

"Sin is the transgression of law,"

and this transgression was originally conceived in the brain of the serpent, and by reasoning on false premises, was transferred into the woman's, where, taking occasion by the commandment ordained for life, and in itself holy, just and good, it wrought in her all manner of intense and unlawful desires. Had she been contented to believe the Deity, and to obey the commandment, her course would have resulted in life eternal.

But, instead of this, she found the commandment to be for death; because the reasoning of the serpent, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived her, and by it slew her. Thus, the serpent's reasoning which she adopted as her own, worked death in her by the good and just and holy law, by which, when the reasoning was perfected in transgression.

Human Nature displayed itself as an exceedingly great sinner - kath' huperbolen hamartolos.

Eureka 12.14.



13 And Yahweh Elohim said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

But her ingenuousness was no more conspicuous than Adam's. She confessed that she had eaten, but excused herself on the ground of a deception having been practised upon her by the serpent:

Elpis Israel 1.4.



14 And Yahweh Elohim 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:

There is no evidence that the serpent either touched the tree, or ate of its fruit. Indeed, if it had it would have committed no offence, for the law was not given to him, but to Adam and Eve only; and

"where there is no law there is no transgression."

Besides, Paul says, Eve was the first in the transgression. The Lord God, therefore, did not interrogate the serpent as He had the others. He had, by his clumsy interpretation of what he had seen and heard, corrupted Eve's mind from the simplicity of faith, and obedience to the divine law; but he was incapable of showing upon what moral grounds he had called in question its literality.

He thought they would not surely die; because he thought they could as well eat of the tree of life as of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He thought nothing of the immorality of the Lord God's solemnly declaring a thing, and not performing it.

Cognizance of the morality of thoughts and actions was beyond the sphere of its mentality. With all its superior shrewdness, it was neither responsible, nor able to give an account.

Elpis Israel 1.4.



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.

It teaches us by implication that he was not to be begotten of the impulse of the flesh, nor of the will of man; so that in being born of the human nature, he would be directly Son of Woman, and only indirectly Son of Man. But, if he were not directly Son of Man, he must have been directly Son of Power as Adam was, who had no human father. Adam's father was the Eternal Spirit, self-named Yahweh, who formed him from the dust.

PHANEROSIS



1. The serpent as the author of sin, is allegorical of "sin in the flesh;" which is therefore called, "the wicked one;" and symbolized in its personal and political agency by "the serpent."

2. The putting of "enmity" between the serpent and the woman is allegorical of the establishment of enmity between sin, incorporate in the institutions of the world, or the serpent, and the obedience of faith, embodied in the congregation of the Lord, which is the woman.

3. The "seed of the serpent" is allegorical of those over whom sin reigns, as evinced in their obeying it in the lusts thereof. They are styled "the servants of sin" (Rom. 6:12, 17, 19); or, "the tares" (Matt. 13:25-38).

4. The "seed of the woman" is allegorical of "the children of the kingdom," or "servants of righteousness (Rom. 6:12, 17, 19).

They are also termed " the good seed," who hear and understand the word of the kingdom, sown in their hearts as "incorruptible seed" (1 Peter 1:23).


... that mode of thinking (the carnal mind Rom 8.7) thou hast elicited in Eve and her husband against My law

Elpis Israel 1.4.



THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD

"Inherit the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world."


16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

The specifications in these sentences upon the serpent, the woman, and the man form THE CONSTITUTION Of the Serpent-World, or KINGDOM OF SIN; and termed in Scripture "the Kingdom of Men" - dominion hostile to the Divine law administered by the Serpent's Seed. It matters not what form the dominion assumes, whether imperial, regal, republican, or papal, its basis is one and the same; and most appropriately symbolized by the serpent which was in the beginning - ho ophis, ho archaios.

In after times, far distant from the beginning, the serpent-world acquired an immense development. From two persons it had increased to myriads of millions; and without specifying the outlying savages of the dominion, is treated of in Scripture as "the kingdom of Egypt;" which, in the days of Moses, had attained great political proportions - a kingdom of kingdoms.

It was "the dragon, the old serpent," of his day -the great enemy and bruiser of the woman's seed, who sought their extirpation from the earth. This was the political relation of things then. The "Woman's Seed" was identified with Israel; the "Serpent's Seed," with all that had enmity against, or oppressed, them; while the "Head of the Serpent," styled in the sentence upon the serpent "thy head," is that chief government of the Gentiles, or nations, which directs, controls, or influences, the policy of the world for the time being.

The Scriptures oftentimes connect the beginning and the end without taking cognizance of the interval of a multitude of generations and ages, or, if at all, only very slightly. Thus, in Psa. 74:12, the Mosaic salvation from Egyptian bondage, and the future Messianic salvation from the down-treading of the mystic Babylon, apocalyptically and "spiritually called Sodom and Egypt" (Apoc ch. 11:3), are so connected: as it is written,

"My King of old is Elohim, working salvation in the midst of the earth. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength."

Then, predictive of what will assuredly come to pass, and befall the same Serpent-power in its latter-day manifestation, as apocalyptically displayed in the binding of the Dragon, it proceeds in verse 14 to state,

"Thou bruisedst the heads of leviathan, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness."

LEVIATHAN signifying "a serpent coiling himself in folds," is the Dragon of Apoc. 20:2; and embraces all the intermediate dragonic manifestations of previous ages and generations, which are the folds of his coil.

The "heads of leviathan" are those apocalyptically exhibited.

"The people inhabiting the wilderness" are the saints, and Israel after the flesh made willingly subject to them.

Eureka 12.14.



18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

A slight alteration in the condition of the soil and in the distribution and proportional activity of vegetable germs, was sufficient to make it soon apparent that the curse of God was on the earth

Visible hand of God Ch 4



19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Adam was created essentially mortal.


But, the inquirer wants to know, Suppose they had lived in the obedience of faith all the time that might have been appointed for their probation in Paradise, would they not have died? Certainly they would, if there had been no arrangement divinely interposed to prevent death. This arrangement existed in connection with the Tree of Lives.

We learn from the Mosaic account that the eating of that tree would impart immortality or deathlessness; for we are told that they were expelled from Paradise that they might not eat of that tree and live forever. It is certain, therefore, that the animal nature they possessed was essentially a mortal nature, and required to be physically operated upon by the power transmissible through contact with the tree of lives to change it into a nature constitutionally capable of enduring forever; which the animal nature is not.

We have an illustration of what would have happened to Adam and Eve if they had continued in the obedience of faith, in what we are taught is to occur in the case of the obedient believers belonging to the generation contemporary with the appearing of the Lord Jesus in power and great glory. These, designated by Paul as

"we who are alive and remain," he declares "shall not sleep, but shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet."

This was not revealed till he communicated it; for he styles it "a mystery," or secret, which, says he, "Behold, I show you." Here, then, are persons found living in the obedience of faith at the Lord's appearing. Every one admits that they are constitutionally animal and mortal, though, it is revealed, that they shall not die, if they be of the living remnant contemporary with His appearing.

Their not dying is conditional, as in the case of Adam and Eve-if they be found in the obedience of faith, and if contemporaries of the advent; otherwise not. But in not dying into death, as with Enoch and Elijah, the dying process which commences with birth must be interrupted and terminated by the interposition of divine power; even by that power that rebuilds the bodies of the dead upon new physical principles; in other words, by the Spirit of God that would have changed the eaters of the Tree of Lives in Eden; that raised up the mortal body of Jesus; and that will raise up and change the saints by Jesus, when in their case "mortality shall be swallowed up of life."

There was no miracle wrought in executing the sentence under which Adam and Eve placed themselves. That is to say, there was no new physical principle infused into their nature that was not there before they transgressed.

The introduction of miracle would have been in the instantaneous transformation of their mortal animal nature into the immortal spiritual nature on their eating of the fruit of the Tree of Lives. But there was no scope for the exercise of extraordinary power; for it is only obedience that gains access to that tree, whether in the Paradise of Eden, or in the Kingdom of God.

If they had continued obedient, death, though lurking within them, would not have been allowed to enter into the world; it would have had no victims; but they transgressed-their thinking became perverse, or contrary to the letter of the Word of God, and their practice like it,-they sinned; and the physical tendency of animal nature to dissolution became "the law of sin and death" within them, because its abolition was prevented on account of sin.

From these premises it will be seen, that we dissent from our correspondent's "notion" that all creation became corrupt (by which we understand him to mean, constitutionally impregnated with corruptibility) at the Fall.

We believe that the change consequent upon that calamity was moral, not physical. The natural system was the same [corruptible] the day before the Fall as the day after. A palace, though destructible by time or any other cause, may nevertheless be "very good" when its building is completed: so also our terrestrial system, though susceptible of deterioration, was physically "very good" after its kind.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Could be mistaken for teaching there was no change at all. We know there was a physical defilement following transgression. Gen 3 " cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life". The natural system became cursed so there was a defiling change after the fall.

The context suggests " our terrestrial system, though susceptible of deterioration" is what is meant by "The natural system was the same the day before the Fall as the day after".

In other words the natural system was susceptible to deterioration before and after the fall. In this respect there was no physical change

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Adam and Eve were innocent and undefiled but without character. They became immoral; and the practice of vice has made their descendants what we see.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, July 1855



21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did Yahweh Elohim make coats of skins, and clothed them.

God in His mercy made them long coats of sacrificial skins. The word for "coat" here kuttoneth (koot-to'-neth) indicates a long garment.

Bro Growcott - Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments




From the days when Adam by transgression fell, the Father made known this intention to furnish One through whom sin was to be abolished. (Gen. iii. 15, 21.) The typical covering of skins then provided for sin could only have been obtained by slaughter of animals, whose shed blood typified the sacrifice of the Christ. Hence Jesus is described as the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. xiii. 8), although His crucifixion occurred centuries after the, beginning of the ages.

The Temple of Ezekiel's Prophecy 5.2.3.



22 And Yahweh Elohim said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

The sagacious serpent, who had seen and heard the Elohim in Paradise "the Stars of the Dawn and Sons of God" -- told Adam and Eve that if they ate of 

"the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they should be as the Elohim ('gods') knowing good and evil."

The lie he told did not consist in saying this; for the Yahweh-Elohim admitted that, in the eating, and its consequence, they had become like one of them, to know good and evil.

"Behold," said He, 

"the man has become as ONE OF US, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the Tree of the Lives, and eat and live for Olahm; therefore Yahweh-Elohim sent him forth from the Garden of Eden."

When this was affirmed of Adam and Eve, 

"the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked," 

and they were both ashamed and afraid. This was the form of the "evil" which they experienced at that crisis; and Yahweh-Elohim testifies, that it was an evil they themselves had been the subjects of. Those who were Elohim contemporary with Adam had once been the subjects of shame and fear; and as these are symptoms of an evil conscience, they had once been sinners; and as it is the law of the Eternal Spirit's empire, that sin works death, so they must have been once mortal : which is a conclusion in agreement with Paul's testimony, that the Invisible One

 "only hath immortality."

Hence though in His universe there are multitudes of Immortal Sons of Deity, yet in all that universe there is but One whose immortality is underived and that august person is He who created them. Thus all immortals but Himself were once mortal -- sinners subject to death; and while so subject as much in need of a remedial system as we.

Phanerosis



Let us make man in our image

There was none like the Elohim of all the creatures they had made; therefore they determined to make an animal after their form. They shaped him with head, limbs and body, like their own; so that he stood before them the earthly image of the celestial Elohim -- as much their image as Seth was the image of his father Adam (Gen. 5:3).

We have not said that man's likeness to the Elohim consisted in his being "very good," but that the spirit of God formed him "very good" in the same sense that it formed all other animals so. They were without character: so was he; his goodness was physical, not moral: that of the Elohim was both.

Yet, in a certain sense, man was formed in the likeness of the Elohim. This likeness, we have already shewn, but may repeat here, consisted in the man's ability to manifest mental phenomena like theirs; and in his susceptibility of an exaltation to their nature and rank, upon the same principles as they had attained thereto.

By this similitude he was distinguished from all the other animals they had formed. He was constituted like to the Elohim, though of inferior nature. He could manifest intellect and disposition, even as they; and he could know evil, as they had done.

Dr. Wilson observes that the phrase "'Let us make man' is an expression of consultation, and marks a difference in man's creation from that of other creatures; in point of importance." To this I have no objection, and I believe that the "subtle serpent", overheard the consultation, and was, therefore, able to tell Eve that there was a particular in which she should be like the Elohim, ka-Elohim, by eating the fruit, in which she could not resemble them unless she did eat, viz., in "knowing good and EVIL."

In this point, man was unlike the Elohim when pronounced "very good." Nor was this item of the temptation a falsehood, for the Lord of the Elohim said to his celestial companions,

"Behold, the man hath become AS one of us, to know good and evil" (Gen. 3:22).

In this, then, the man became still more like the Elohim, and in this likeness he hath continued since. But thanks to the Invisible God and Father of the saints, man is placed under a law of progression. His prototype has gone before.

He was Himself made "a little lower than the Elohim;" for He took not upon Him their nature, but assumed that of the seed of Abraham. His nature, however, is now like theirs, being spiritual, that is, INCORRUPTIBLE AND IMMORTAL. "We shall be like Him," says John; hence, also "equal to the angels," as Jesus hath Himself affirmed (Luke 20:36).

Elpis Israel 1.6.



The tree of life


in which resided the extraordinary power that had he partaken of it even after his condemnation, he would have lived for ever (Genesis 3: 22). We may dismiss the idea that some have advanced, that Adam had been in the habit of eating this tree: and that so long as he did so, he was immortal, and that all that was necessary to secure his mortality was to cut him off from the use of the daily medicament.

The prompt and energetic precautions taken

"lest he should put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life,"

are out of keeping with this idea. It was a single eating in the case of the single tree of knowledge; and the "also" of this verse suggests that it was a similar contingency that was in view in the case of the tree of life. The interposition of

"a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life,"

would have been an excess of energy if the object was merely to cut off the supply of what required to be daily taken in order to have its effect. The withering of the tree or expulsion from the garden would in that case have met all the necessities of the situation.

Then it would have been strangely disproportionate with the facts to speak of Adam, "putting forth his hand and eating and living for ever," if he had to eat for ever in order to live for ever; and a rather over-vigorous use of language to call a tree of life that which had only power to impart life during the short time the quantity taken might remain in the system.

The figurative use of the tree in the New Testament, to represent the life everlasting which God will give to all who receive Christ at the resurrection, is inconsistent with the notion that it had to be used constantly to be effective.

The whole surroundings of the case show that Adam had not taken of it, and that if he had, he would have become immortal.

The only countenance to the contrary idea is the permission to eat "of every tree of the garden," except the tree of knowledge in the midst of the garden (Genesis 3: 2-3; 2: 16). It is argued that this must have included the tree of life. But this does not follow. The tree of life was evidently not reckoned among "the trees of the garden." It seems to have stood apart by itself, having a "way" or approach that could be guarded (Genesis 3: 24).

That a tree should have the power of imparting immortality to the eater will only strike us as strange by reason of our want of experience of such a thing. There is no end to the variety of God's operations in the universe. Immortality will ultimately be conferred by the direct transfusion of the Spirit of God upon the substance of the accepted by the will of Christ; but it is impossible to deny that God could effect the same result in another way, by the same power differently applied.

God showed Moses a tree in the desert, which, on portions of it being put into the bitter springs, healed the water (Exodus 15: 25). So He could make a vegetable substance which would have a similar effect on the organs of the eater. He did actually create such a tree in the beginning; had Adam proved obedient, he would probably have been invited to eat. The event turned out otherwise, and the tree, first carefully guarded from intrusion, was in course of time removed.

Visible Hand of God Ch 4



23 Therefore Yahweh Elohim sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

But it may be objected, that the day in the text must be limited to the day of the eating; because it says, "in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die:" and as he was not eating of it 930, years, but only partook of it once on a certain natural day, it cannot mean that long period. But I am not prepared to admit that the physical action of eating is the only eating indicated in the text.

Adam fed upon the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge [not physically but figuratively] all the time from his eating of the natural fruit until he died.

The natural fruit in its effect was figurative of the fruit of transgressing the interdict, which said, "thou shalt not eat of it." The figurative fruit was of a mixed character. It was "good," or pleasant to the flesh; but "evil" in its consequences. "By the law," says the apostle, "is the knowledge of sin;" for "sin is the transgression of law " (Rom. 3:20 ; 1 John 3:4).

Sin is pleasant to the flesh; because the deeds forbidden are natural to it. It is that "good" fruit which the animal man delights to eat. The flesh, the eyes, and life, have all their desires, or lusts, which, when gratified constitute the chiefest good that men under their dominion seek after. But, God has forbidden indulgence in these lusts. He says,

"love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world " (1 John 2:15-16).

Elpis Israel 2.11.

[As the tree of knowledge of good and evil was in the garden of Eden from which Adam was expelled he did not partake of it literally once expelled. Now he had developed the carnal mind and his nature had become wilful in sinning, he would continue to act in accordance with his natural animal instincts in opposition to divine law. In other words, figuratively to partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil].



24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword [This was light, spirit, and fire, flaming around the cherubim as the glory of God]  which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

"And He caused to dwell at the east of the Garden of Eden the Cherubim, and the flame of estruction (lit. of the sword) turning itself to guard the way of the tree of the lives."

Phanerosis - Yahweh Manifested in Cherubim


I think it is a fair inference that the flaming sword in Eden was applied... to flash forth its fire for the consumption of the sacrifices offered by the family of Adam before the Lord.

Elpis Israel 1.5.


I conclude that the cherubim and flaming sword at the east of Eden's garden were representative, first, of God manifest in the woman's nature as "the word made flesh," and, by being bruised in the heel, set forth as the blood sprinkled mercy-seat; or propitiation for sin; and second, of God manifested in the spiritual nature, clothed with dazzling brightness; surpassing the sun and moon in splendour.

The cherubim were the throne of the Lord in relation to the antediluvian world. There He communed with men. His presence was there, and the altar He had set up. When men went to sacrifice before Him, there they presented their offerings. If these were according to His appointment, He accepted the worshipper, and, probably, answered him by fire flashing forth from the cherubic glory, and consuming the sacrifice upon the altar.

If the worshipper were faithless and disobedient, the faces were hid by thick darkness, and the offering remained unconsumed. This was the case with Cain. His countenance fell, and he expressed himself with anger. Then the Lord God "answered him with a voice," and the conversation ensued which is recorded in the Mosaic narrative.

Elpis Israel 1.5.


When man was expelled from Paradise, the Lord God apprehending some new act of presumption, placed a guard over the tree of lives. This tree, it will be remembered, was planted in the midst of the garden. Now, when Adam was driven out,

"the Lord placed, at the east of the garden of Eden, CHERUBIM and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life."

This would seem to indicate that Adam was driven out in an easterly direction; had he gone westward, the tree of life would have been between him, and the cherubim, so that it would still have appeared accessible and have tempted him to try to get at it, which would doubtless have been his destruction.

The cherubim and sword were to guard the way of the tree so that it could not be approached. If they were disposed to make a circuit to avoid the cherubim, the flaming sword, or devouring flame, flashed on every side;

"it turned every way to keep it"

from being invaded by their presumption. From this arrangement they either saw the tree of life no more, or saw it only in the distance. The latter is more probable. The sight of it from time to time would remind them of what they had lost; and from what they had learned of the effect producible upon the eater of its fruit, it suggested the possibility of mortal man putting on immortality.

This was a thing to be desired. But they could not get at the tree; how could they then attain it? There were but two of them, and neither of them could answer the question. There were no Scriptures testifying to them, as to us,

"this is the way, walk ye in it,"

They were ignorant of "the way leading unto life" (Matt. 7:14), and if they had not been "taught of God" they would have remained ignorant of it for ever. The thinking of the flesh could never have discovered it, for the obtaining of immortality involved the belief and practice of things which it was utterly impossible for the heart of man to conceive.


...Immortality, then, and the way to it, are things about which man must have remained for ever ignorant, so long as their discovery depended upon the thinking of the flesh. In other words, they are matters purely of divine testimony; and as faith is the belief of testimony, men can have no faith in them beyond what is stated in the written word of God.

The carnal mind, by reflecting upon its own consciousness, may be "of opinion" that what it terms "I myself" is immaterial because it thinks, and "therefore immortal;" but beyond this it can never go.

Opinion implies doubt; for if a matter be beyond doubt, it is no longer opinion, but faith or knowledge.

Where, then, is the man, be he philosopher or theologist, who can demonstrate the existence of an "immortal soul" in the animal man by a "thus it is written," or a "thus saith the Lord?"

Elpis Israel 1.5.




The guarding of the way of the tree of life was an operation of what would be called the miraculous order. "A flaming sword which turned every way" was no natural phenomenon, yet it was not essentially different from what we may see and know any day.

Destructive fire and brightness of light are familiar, if latent, properties of nature in its dullest aspects. Fire sleeps in stone, and who that has seen the electric light can fail to realise the dazzling brightness that resides in the invisible electric current or the lifeless charcoal.

The difference between these and the Edenic coruscation lies in the fact that while they are passive and mechanical forces of nature as divinely constituted, this was the product of the Divine volition brought to bear locally and specifically for a limited purpose.

All power is one-in God, but there are different manifestations according to His will.

In the upholding of heaven and earth, we see power in a mechanical state: passive, inert, established; in what is called miracle, we see the same power acting under an intelligent impulse derived from the centre of all power-the everlasting God-the Creator of the ends of the earth.

Visible Hand of God Ch 4



To have permitted Adam and Eve to become deathless and to remain so, in a state of good and evil such as the world experiences, would have been a disproportionate and unmerciful punishment.

It would have been to populate the earth with deathless sinners; and to convert it into the abode of deathless giants in crime; in other words, the earth would have become, what creed theologists describe "hell" to be in their imagination. The good work of the sixth day would then have proved a terrible mishap, instead of the nucleus of a glorious manifestation of divine wisdom and power.

...Therefore, lest Adam ... "put on immortality " before he should be morally renewed, or purified from sin, and the moral likeness of God be formed in him again; the Lord God expelled him from the dangerous vicinity of the Tree of Life. He drove him forth that he should not then become incorruptible and deathless.

Elpis Israel 2.11.



The Effluent Manifestation of the Eternal Father in the Cherubim


From this and the context, we learn, that the dwelling place of the Cherubim was eastward in Paradise and contiguous to the tree of lives, to which none could approach who were unfaithful and disobedient. This is the teaching of Moses, who though acquainted with the Egyptian dogma of "immortal souls" in the mortal bodies of all men, women, and babes, taught there was no immortality for faithless and wicked men. In this, Moses and all the prophets, Jesus and the apostles, are all agreed.

Men must become Cherubim, they must dwell in Paradise and there eat of the tree of life, as the condition of an interminable existence. All others are obnoxious to "the flame of destruction," styled by Daniel

"a fiery stream that issues and comes forth from before the Ancient of Days; in whose presence minister thousand thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand stand."

In this, Daniel exhibits the allegorical signification of the Mosaic narrative respecting the devouring flame. It issues and comes forth from before the Ancient of Days and his thousands, at which time, Daniel testifies, "the judgment sits, and the books are opened."

The Eden Cherubim, and Daniel's Ancient of Days and company, are doubtless allegorical, the former of the latter; for Moses wrote not only of the literal, but of that in such a way that he intended something else than is contained in the words literally taken. His writings are therefore both literal and allegorical; and to understand them in their allegorical sense we must pay strict attention to their literal significance, which is "the form of the knowledge and the truth." The literal narrative is "the form"; the "knowledge and the truth" the allegorical signification of that form.

Daniel's Ancient of Days and the ten thousands that surround him in judgment, are equivalent to "the holy messengers and the Lamb," in Rev. 14:10, where we find fire and brimstone before them tormenting their enemies -- the full allegorical development of the Eden Cherubic flame that guarded against all approach to the "tree of lives" by the unfaithful and disobedient.

 

"Whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life, was cast into the lake of fire burning with brimstone" (Rev. 19:20).


Phanerosis - Yahweh manifested in Cherubim