#tree-of-knowledge — Public Fediverse posts

Sethianism

The Sethians were 1 of the main currents of Gnosticism during the 2nd & 3rd centuries AD. Along with Valentinianism & Basilidianism.

It was speculated to have originated in the 2nd century AD as a fusion of 2 distinct Hellenistic Judaic philosophies & was influenced by Christianity & Middle Platonism.

The Sethians (In Latin: Sethoitae) are 1st mentioned (alongside the Ophites) in the 2nd century by our boy, Irenaeus (who wasn’t Gnosticism’s friend) & in Pseudo-Tertullian texts. All later accounts appear to be largely lifted from Irenaeus. Hippolytus repeats info from Irenaeus.

According to Epiphanius of Salamis (circa 375), Sethians were found, in his time, only in Egypt & Palestine. But 50 years earlier, they had been found as far as Greater Armenia. Greater Armenia (a.k.a. the Armenian Empire) was an Armenian kingdom (in the ancient Near East) that existed from 331 BC to 428 AD, 758 years.

Philaster’s (4th century AD) Catalogue of Heresies puts the Ophites, Cainites, & Sethians as pre-Christian Jewish sects. However, since Sethians identified Seth with Christ (in the Second Logos of the Great Seth), Philaster’s belief that the Sethians had pre-Christian origins hasn’t found acceptance in later scholarship.

Sethianism claims that gnosis 1st descended upon Seth (3rd son of Adam & Eve), whose knowledge the Sethians regard as their origin.

Norea (who’s either Noah’s wife or Adam & Eve’s daughter) plays a role. As seen in Mandaeism & Manicheanism.

The Sethian cosmogonic myth (or their origin of the universe/cosmos) gives a prologue to Genesis & the rest of the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the Hebrew/Christian Bible). This presents a radical re-interpretation of the Orthodox Jewish conception of creation & the divine relation to reality. Their cosmogony is most famously in the Apocryphon of John, which describes an Unknown God.

From the “Unknown God” emanate aeons. This is a series of paired female & male beings. The 1st of these is Barbelo, who is a co-actor in the following emanations.

The aeons that result are representative of the various attributes of God, which are indiscernible when they aren’t abstracted from their origin. God & the aeons comprise the sum total of the spiritual universe, known as the Pleroma. Pleroma generally refers to the totality of divine powers.

In some versions of the myth, the aeon Sophia (knowledge) imitates God’s actions, performing an emanation of her own without the prior approval of the other aeons in the Pleroma. This results in a crisis within the Pleroma, leading to the appearance of Yaldabaoth.

This figure is commonly known as the demiurge (the “artisan” or “craftsman”) after the figure in Plato’s Timaeus. Sophia, at first, hides this being. But it escapes, stealing a portion of her divine power from her in the process.

Yaldabaoth uses this stolen power to create a material world imitating the divine Pleroma. To complete this task, he spawns a group of entities known collectively as Archons, the petty rulers & craftsmen of the physical world. Like him, they’re commonly depicted as zoomorphic, having animal heads.

At this stage, the events of the Sethian story start to cohere with the Genesis story everyone knows. The demiurge & his archontic associates fulfil the role of the Creator. In Genesis, the demiurge proclaims himself to be the only god, claiming that there weren’t any other gods better than him.

The demiurge unknowingly emanates a shadow ‘image’ of Adam, while unwittingly transferring the portion of power stolen from Sophia into the 1st physical human body. He then makes Eve from Adam’s rib in an attempt to isolate & regain the power that he’s lost.

By way of this, he tries to SA Eve, who then contains Sophia’s divine power. Several texts picture him as failing when Sophia’s spirit transplants itself into the Tree of Knowledge. The pair eat from the tree of the divine epignosis, guided by Christ appearing as an “eagle” above it to guide them to remember their true “nature above.”

Most surviving Sethian texts are preserved only in Coptic translation of the Greek original. Very little direct evidence of Gnostic teaching was available before the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library.

We’ve posted a few of these texts. Check them out at your leisure:

• Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit
• Second Treatise of the Great Seth
• Pistis Sophia
• Gospel of Judas
• Manichaean Psalms of Heracleides

The Gospel of Judas is the most recently discovered Gnostic text. National Geographic (Yes, that National Geographic. You know, NatGeo, y’all!) published an English translation of it. Our founder has a VERY well-worn copy of this book. It’s well-worn because they’ve read it numerous times.

This text portrays Judas Iscariot as the “13th spirit/daemon,” who “exceeded” the evil sacrifices of the “man who clothed me (Jesus).”

Its reference to Barbelo & inclusion of material similar to the Apocryphon of John & other such texts connects the text to Barbeloite &/or Sethian Gnosticism.

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Kabbalah, Part 2

Ultimately, it’s necessary to show compassion toward oneself as well as to share compassion with others. This “selfish” enjoyment of God’s blessings, but only to empower oneself to assist, is an important aspect of “Restriction” & is considered a kind of golden mean in kabbalah.

This corresponds to the sefira of Adornment (Tiferet) being part of the “Middle Column.” The golden mean (or Golden middle way) is the desirable middle between 2 extremes, 1 of excess & the other of deficiency.

The most esoteric Idrot sections of the classic Zohar make reference to hypostatic male & female Partzufim (Divine Personas) displacing the Sephirot, manifestations of God in particular anthropomorphic symbolic personalities based on Pardes & midrashic narratives.

Lurianic Kabbalah places these at the center of our existence. Rather than earlier Kabbalists, these are placed at the center of our existence. Rather than earlier Kabbalah’s Sephirot, which Luria saw as broken in Divine crisis.

Medieval Kabbalists believe that all things are linked to God through these emanations, making all levels in creation reflect its particular roots in supernal divinity. Kabbalists agreed with the divine transcendence described as the Ein Sof, the unknowable Godhead.

They reinterpreted the theistic philosophical concept of creation from nothing, replacing God’s creative act with panentheistic continual self-emanation by the mystical Ayin Nothingness/Nothing sustaining all spiritual & physical realms as successively more corporeal garments, veils, & condensations of divine immanence. This is when the divine encompasses or is manifested in the material world.

The innumerable levels of descent divide into 4 comprehensive spiritual worlds: Atziluth (“Closeness” Divine Wisdom), Beriah (“Creation” Divine Understanding), Yetzirah (“Formation” Divine Emotions), Assiah (“Action” Divine Activity), with a preceding 5th World, Adam Kadmon (“Primordial Man” Divine Will). Sometimes excluded due to its sublimity. Together, the whole spiritual heaven forms the Divine Persona/Anthropos.

In Kabbalah, Adam Kadmon (also called Adam Elyon or Adam Ila’ah, sometimes abbreviated as A’K) is the 1st of 4 Worlds that came into being after the contraction of God’s infinite light.

Hasidic thought extends the divine immanence of Kabbalah by holding that God is all that really exists, all else being completely undifferentiated from God’s perspective. This view can be defined as a cosmic monistic panentheism. Acosmism denies the reality of the universe, seeing it as ultimately illusory, & only the infinite unmanifest Absolute as real. Monism attributes oneness or singleness to a concept, such as existence.

According to this philosophy, God’s existence is higher than anything that this world can express. Yet He includes all things of this world within His divine reality in perfect unity. So that the creation affected no change in Him at all. This paradox, as seen from dual human & divine perspectives, is dealt with at length in Chabad texts. Chabad philosophy comprises the teachings of the leaders of Chabad-Lubavitch, a Hasidic movement led by the Schneersohn family & formerly based in Lyubavichi, Russian Empire.

Foundational texts of Medieval Kabbalism conceived evil as a demonic parallel to the holy, called the Sitra Achra (the “Other Side”), & the qlippoth (“husks/shells”) that cover & conceal the holy, are nurtured from it, & yet also protect it by limiting its revelation.

In a radical notion, the root of evil is found within the 10 holy Sephirot, through an imbalance of Gevurah, the power of “Strength/Judgment/Severity.” Gevurah is necessary for Creation to exist as it counterposes Chesed (“loving-kindness”), restricting the unlimited divine bounty within suitable vessels, so forming the Worlds.

However, if Man sins (actualizing impure judgment within his soul), the supernal Judgment is reciprocally empowered over the Kindness, introducing disharmony among the Sephirot in the divine realm & exile from God throughout Creation. The demonic realm, though illusory in its holy origin, becomes the real apparent realm of impurity in lower Creation.

In the Zohar, the sin of Adam & Eve (who embodied Adam Kadmon below) took place in the spiritual realms. Their sin was that they separated the Tree of Knowledge (10 sefirot within Malkuth, representing Divine transcendence).

This introduced the false perception of duality into lower creation, an external Tree of Death nurtured from holiness, & an Adam Belial of impurity.

In Lurianic Kabbalah, evil originates from a primordial shattering of the sephirot of God’s Persona before creation of the stable spiritual worlds, mystically represented by the 8 kings of Edom (the derivative of Gevurah) “who died” before any king reigned in Israel from Genesis 36.

In the divine view from above within Kabbalah, emphasized in Hasidic Panentheism, the appearance of duality & pluralism below dissolves into the absolute Monism of God, psychologizing evil. Though impure below, what appears as evil comes from a divine blessing too high to be contained openly. The mystical task of the righteous Divine Oness & absolute good is to “convert bitterness into sweetness, darkness into light.”

Kabbalistic doctrine gives man the central role in Creation, as his soul & body correspond to the supernal divine manifestations. In Christian Kabbalah, this scheme was universalized to describe Harmonia mundi, the harmony of Creation within man.

In Judaism, it gave a profound spiritualization of Jewish practice. The esoteric teachings of kabbalah gave the traditional mitzvot observances the central role in spiritual creation. Whether the practitioner was learned in this knowledge or not.

Accompanying normal Jewish observance & worship with elite mystical kavanot intentions gave them theiurgic power. But sincere observance by common folk, especially in the Hasidic popularization of kabbalists, could replace esoteric abilities. Many kabbalists were also leading legal figures in Judaism.

Medieval Kabbalah elaborates particular reasons for each Biblical mitzvah, & their role in harmonizing the supernal divine flow, uniting masculine & feminine forces on High. With this, the feminine Divine presence in this world is drawn from exile to the Holy One Above.

The 613 mitzvot (according to Jewish tradition, the Torah contains 613 commandments) are embodied in the organs & souls of man. Lurianic Kabbalah incorporates this in the rectification of exiled divinity. Jewish mysticism, in contrast to Divine transcendence, rationalizes human-centered reasons from Jewish observance, giving Divine-immanent providential cosmic significance to the daily events in the worldly life of man in general, & the spiritual role of Jewish observance in particular.

The Kabbalah states that the human soul has 3 elements: the nefesh, ru’ach, & neshamah. The nefesh is found in all humans, & enters the physical body at birth. It’s the source of one’s physical & psychological nature. The next 2 parts of the soul aren’t implanted at birth. But can be developed over time. Their development depends on the actions & beliefs of the individual. They’re said to only fully exist in people spiritually awakened.

A common way of explaining the 3 parts of the soul is as follows:

• Nefesh: The lower part, or “animal part,” of the soul. It’s linked to instincts & bodily cravings. This part of the soul is provided at birth.
• Ruach: The middle soul, the “spirit.” It contains the moral virtues & the ability to distinguish between good & evil.
• Neshamah: The higher soul, or “super-soul.” This separates man from all other life-forms. It’s related to the intellect & allows man to enjoy & benefit from the afterlife. It allows 1 to have some awareness of the existence & presence of God.
• Chayyah: The part of the soul that allows 1 to have an awareness of the divine life force itself.
• Yehidah: The highest plane of the soul, in which 1 can achieve as full a union with God as is possible.

Reincarnation, the transmigration of the soul after death, was introduced into Judaism from the Medieval period onwards, called Gilgul neshamot (“cycles of the soul”). The concept doesn’t appear often in the Hebrew Bible or classic rabbinic literature. It was rejected by different Medieval Jewish philosophers.

However, the Kabbalists explained several spiritual passages in reference to Gilgulim. The concept became central to the later Kabbalah of Isaac Luria, who systematized it as the personal parallel to the cosmic process of rectification. Through Lurianic Kabbalah & Hasidic Judaism, reincarnation entered popular Jewish culture as a literary motif.

Tzimtzum (Constriciton/Concentration) is the primordial cosmic act whereby God “contracted” His infinite light, leaving a “void” into which the light of existence was poured. This allowed the emergence of independent existence that wouldn’t become nullified by the pristine Infinite Light, reconciling the unity of the Ein Sof with the plurality of creation.

This changed the 1st creative act into 1 of withdrawal/exile, the antithesis of the ultimate Divine Will. In contrast, a new emanation after the Tzimtzum shone into the vacuum to begin creation. But led to an initial instability called Tohu (Chaos), leading to a new crisis of Shevirah (Shattering) of the sephirot vessels.

The shards of the broken vessels fell down into the lower realms, animated by remnants of their divine light, causing primordial exile within the Divine Persona before the creation of man. Exile & enclothement of higher divinity within lower realms throughout existence requires man to complete the Tikkun olam (Rectification) process. Rectification Above corresponds to the reorganization of the independent sephirot into relation Partzufim (Divine Personas), previously referred to obliquely in the Zohar.

From the catastrophe stems the possibility of self-aware Creation, & also the Kelipot (Impure Shells) of previous Medieval kabbalah. The metaphorical anthropomorphism of the partzufim accentuates the sexual unifications of the redemption process, while Gilgul reincarnation emerges from the scheme. Uniquely, Lurianism gave formerly private mysticism the urgency of Messianic social involvement.

According to interpretations of Luria, the catastrophe stemmed from the “unwillingness” of the residue imprint after the Tzimtzum to relate to the vitality that began creation. The process was arranged to shed & harmonize the Divine Infinity with the latent potential of evil.

The creation of Adam would’ve redeemed existence. But his sin caused a new shevirah of Divine vitality, requiring the Giving of the Torah to begin Messianic rectification. Historical & individual history becomes the narrative of reclaiming exiled Divine sparks.

Kabbalistic thought extended Biblical & Midrashic notions that God enacted Creation through the Hebrew language & through the Torah into a full linguistic mysticism. In this, every Hebrew letter, word, number, even accent on words of the Hebrew Bible, contains Jewish mystical meanings, describing the spiritual dimensions within exoteric ideas, & it teaches the hermeneutic methods of interpretation for ascertaining these meanings.

Names of God in Jerusalem have further prominence, though infinite meaning turns the whole Torah into a Divine name. As the Hebrew name of things is the channel of their life force, parallel to the sephirot, so concepts such as “holiness” & “mitzvot” embody ontological Divine immanence, as God can be known in manifestation as well as transcendence.

The infinite potential of meaning in the Torah, as in the Ein Sof, is reflected in the symbol of the 2 trees of the Garden of Eden. The Torah of the Tree of Knowledge is the external, finite Halachic Torah, enclothed within which the mystics perceive the unlimited infinity of the plurality of meanings of the Torah of the Tree of Life.

As early as the 1st century BCE, Jews believed that the Torah & other canonical texts contained encoded messages & hidden meanings. Gematria is 1 method for discovering its hidden meanings. In this system, each Hebrew letter also represents a number. By converting letters to numbers, Kabbalists were able to find a hidden meaning in each word. This method of interpretation was used extensively by various schools.

Like the rest of the rabbinic literature, the texts of kabbalah were once part of an ongoing oral tradition. Though over the centuries a lot of the oral tradition has been lost. Jewish forms of esotericism existed over 2,000 years ago. Ben Sira (born 170 BCE) was a Hellenistic Jewish scribe, sage, & allegorist from Seleucid-controlled Jerusalem of the Second Temple period) warns against it, saying: “You shall have no business with secret things.”

Nonetheless, mystical studies were undertaken & resulted in mystical literature, the 1st being the Apocalypse literature of the 2nd & 1st pre-Christian centuries & which contained elements that carried over to later kabbalah.

Throughout the centuries, many texts have been produced. Among them the ancient descriptions of Ser Yetzirah, the Heichalot mystical ascent literature, the Bahir, Sefer Raziel HaMalakh, & the Zohar, the main texts of Kabbalah exegesis.

Classical mystical Bible commentaries are included in fuller versions of the Mikrarot Gedolot (Main Commentators). Cordoveran systemization is presented in Pardes Rimonim, philosophical articulation in the world of the Maharal (a.k.a. Rabbi Loew was an important Talmudic scholar, Jewish mystic, mathematician, astronomer, & philosopher), & Lurianic rectification in Etz Chayim.

You can see Kabbalah in modern times also. The singer Madonna is a follower of Kabbalah, having been seen at their Hollywood location. Along with other various celebs.

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Temptation in the Garden of Eden, Chapel of Plaincourault, Indre, Central France, ca. 1291.

The 'tree of knowledge' appears not to be a tree but an overgrown fly agaric ['amanita muscaria'] which suggests that the 'forbidden fruit' is any genera of fungi that contains psilocybin. 

🍄👽🌌♾️💭🌈🌀😵🍄

#fungi #art #history #religion #psilocybin #folklore #france #treeofknowledge

Have you ever heard about the oldest cosmic conundrum? (Work in progress) / Já ouviu falar da mais antiga treta cósmica? (Arte em progresso)

#occultart #art #darkart #lucifer #lilith #devil #satan #demons #demon #demoness #goddess #god #trickster #archangel #angel #sefirot #sephiroth #qlipoth #treeofknowledge #cosmic

Tree of Knowledge. The moment in the Garden of Eden, when Eve ate the forbidden fruit, and had an awakening of the senses and knowledge. Collage using paper and watercolor.

Link to the Collage:
https://ernesto-beckford.pixels.com/featured/tree-of-knowledge-ernesto-beckford.html

#MastoArtists #Collage #TreeOfKnowledge #Symbolism

“Both individuals take back the seed of gnosis within their bodies; one through the revelation of the tomb, the other through the ingestion of what could well be termed the symbolic fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.”

https://library.hrmtc.com/2022/12/29/both-individuals-take-back-the-seed-of-gnosis-within-their-bodies-one-through-the-revelation-of-the-tomb-the-other-through-the-ingestion-of-what-could-well-be-termed-the-symbolic-fruit-of-the-tree/

@godlessmom 5 things about me that you might not have known:

1: I love film but have never seen ET, Grease or Dirty Dancing. I have seen Grease 2, though
2: I’m nearly 2m tall & that’s enough
3: The musician I have seen perform the most live is Billy Bragg
4: I once dived in the Maldives with c.250 sharks, all bigger than me. Spoiler alert: they didn’t eat me!
5: I once won a karaoke competition in Ho Chi Minh City with (Theme from) Shaft. You’re damn right!

#TreeOfKnowledge #ChristmasAdam

@godlessmom

Okily dokily

#1 I have lost 188 lbs & maintained said loss for the past 12 years
#2 I grew up in the Trailer Park that Trailer Park Boys was filmed on
#3 When I was pregnant I craved mayonaise sandwiches
#4 I had 5 wisdom teeth before they were removed
#5 I enjoy a severe coffee addiction
#TreeOfKnowledge
#ChristmasAdam

@godlessmom 1. I started a web-based software business in 1996, hoping to quit my day job. I still have my day job, but I put three kids through college and bought a cheap car and lots of cool stuff with what I earned.
2. I has a Top Secret /SCI clearance for several years but never learned any secrets worth selling.
3. I own too many musical instruments to even count, including a rare #Leedy #vibraphone and a rare 1917 #Steinway Model I upright.
4. I have a #camera collection. My favorite is a #Rolleiflex 3.5f. I find it beautiful.
5. I own a 6 ft wooden indian that my dad carved in 1976. He's named Chief Rain or Shine, though I don't know why.
#TreeOfKnowledge #ChristmasAdam.

@godlessmom Ok, here we go. 5 things you didn't know about me #treeofknowledge

1. Met my wife when I was 23 and she was 18. First child was born before she turned 20. We went to the same college.
2. Married at 25. Second child was born 3 days after our first marriage anniversary.

(1/3)

Now it’s your turn! Tell me five things about you I probably didn’t know. #TreeOfKnowledge #ChristmasAdam

It’s #ChristmasAdam, so it’s time for the tree of knowledge. Here are five facts about me you probably didn’t know:

1. I once spent an evening w Cybill Shepherd & Thomas Ian Nicholas & ended up at his house, very drunk.
2. I lived in Perth when I was 15, where I learned to surf in PE.
3. My son was born in the Mayan Riviera.
4. My niece was born in Mallorca.
5. I watched Misery for the first time under a palm thatched roof pizzeria near the jungle on Koh Samui in a downpour. #TreeOfKnowledge

The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #5 Temptation, assault and curse

After the choice Adam and Eve made to go against the Will of God, eating of the fruit of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil, God came to deal with three parties in the fall of mankind: Adam, Eve and the serpent. An alleged fourth – the devil – is not mentioned in Genesis narrative. This for the simple reason the symbolic tempter (satan), the serpent, or the evil thoughts in Eve’s mind are the evil itself.

The most common presentation of Adam and Eve does not reflect clearly enough their theological significance, at least as seen in the New Testament. Too many people forget where the trouble started and do not come to see the essence of our suffering today being the cause of man its own choice. Eve decided herself, by her own choice to go against the wishes of God. She herself wanted to be like God. The apostle Paul, being a Jewish scholar knew very well the problem of evil and suffering. For him it was also clear what choice Adam and Eve had made and why.

For Paul the wrath on mankind was caused by the anger of God (Romans 5:9) It does not have to mean we are enemies of God, but Eve her action showed God how man doubted His position. For the opposing attitude of Eve God reckoned against the sinner. In the story of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis, we hear God giving a first commandment: not eating of the fruit of the tree of conscience (the Tree of knowledge of good and evil). He is aware that they could see death reigning in the world form Adam’s time to the time of Moses (Knox).

Romans 5: 14 1But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over 2them also that sinned not after the like 3manner of the transgression of Adam, 4which was the figure of him that was to come.

In his letter to the Romans we get to hear that Adam foreshadows another person who had to come. The first Adam or the first man, corresponds in some degree to the man who was to come, and whose birth 2020 years ago we remember this year. That man being born was a gift to mankind, from God, which more powerfully affected mankind.

Romans 5: 15 1But yet the gift is not so as is the offense: for if through the offense of 2that one, many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

Adam and Eve committed an offence on which God had to react. He could directly destroy them and start all over  again by creating some new living beings in his likeness which would keep to His commandment. Moreover, the boon of God exceeds the fruit of Adam and Eve’s sin. On that contrast between the gift and the results of that one sin, we shall come back in later chapters.

By their act, going against God’s Will, and by wanting to be like God, their Maker gave them the opportunity to show how much they themselves could make of it all. God’s right to govern was doubted, so know they could come to govern themselves and could come to make something of the world. Because all the children of Adam and Eve came after their choice of adversary they all fell under the spell or curse God came to bring over them. Adam and Eve after eating of the Tree of knowledge came to know the difference between good and evil and became weaker than before, because they now had knowledge. We can not escape the relationship from the first human beings. For just because of their relation to Adam and Eve all men fall under the spell of God and have to bear the consequences of that rebellion of the first carnal man. Being the descendants of Adam and Eve we all became members of a sinful race and we all shall have to face death.

1 Corinthians 15: 21 1For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be 1made alive.

In the letter to the Corinthians we are also told there is a solution. In those Greek Writings we find another confirmation of the same consequent: for Christ is to be considered as opposite to Adam, that as from one man Adam, sin came over all, so from one man Christ, life comes unto all: that is to say, that all the faithful, as they die, because by nature they were born of Adam, so because in Christ they are made the children of God by grace, they are quickened and restored to life by him. {annotation of the 1599 Geneva Patriot’s Edition}

The way the apostle Paul looks at the 1° and the 2° Adam places the Adam-story within a royal context, because the essence of the matter were Adam and Eve impeaching the Divine Creator. Them to query God His Most High position, is the biggest issue. This way a battle over kingship and its relation to the universe was initiated. The position of the one sent from God as a solution is too often missed by the majority of people, even by those who call themselves Christian.

In the Garden of Eden sin entered in the world of man. In a royal garden or orchard Jeshua (Jesus Christ) accepted the fact he must follow not his will but the Will of the Most High God, and should go to the stake. (Matthew 26:36-46)

In the Holy Scriptures a garden is used to express joy, peace and satisfaction.

Jeremiah 31: 12 Therefore they shall come, and rejoice in the height of Zion, and shall run to the bountifulness
of the Lord, even for the 1wheat and for the wine, and for the oil, and for the increase of sheep and bullocks: and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall have no more sorrow.

Adam and Eve had no sorrow in the Garden of Eden. They had everything they needed. But God did wanted to teach them a lesson and did not want them in His Garden any more. Since Adam listened to his wife and ate from the tree whose fruit Jehovah God commanded him not to eat, the ground is cursed because of him.  So his deed became the cause of the earth coming in problems by man. It is often by the wrong actions of men that something bad happens in the world, for example mudslides because men took away all the trees.
All our life now we will have to struggle to scratch a living from it. God told man that it will grow thorns and thistles for us, though man will eat of its grains. This time not for nothing any more, like it was in the Royal Garden. From then onwards man had to make his own garden and work with his own hands for it. By the sweat of our brow, will we have food to eat until we die, i.e. return to the ground from which man were made. Because we shall have to be reminded that we were made from dust, and to dust we will return.
But woman certainly could not escape. For him and her there was first no pain, but knowing now good and bad they also came to know pain and sorrow. The pain of woman’s pregnancy was going to be sharpened, and in pain she will give birth. She still was going to be able to give children, but concerning having control over things it would be more difficult. God warned her that though she still will desire to control her husband, it will be him who is going to rule over her.

Genesis 3: 16  Unto the woman he said, I will greatly increase thy 1sorrows, and thy conceptions. In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thy desire shall be subject to thine husband, and he shall rule over thee.
17  Also to Adam he said, Because thou hast obeyed the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, (whereof I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it) cursed is the earth for thy sake: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth: for out of it wast thou taken, because thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou return.
20 (And the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living)
21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God 1make coats of skins, and clothed them.
22  And the Lord God said, 1Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil. And now lest he put forth his hand, and 2take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever,

23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the earth, whence he was taken.
24 Thus he cast out the man, and at the East side of the garden of Eden he set the Cherubims, and the blade of a sword shaken, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Adam, Eve, but also we should see that the transgression of God’s commandment was the cause that both mankind and all other creatures were subject to the curse God spoke in that Kingdom of God, the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve, fell from the estate of integrity in which God had created them and now had to build their own kingdom (a kingdom of man) in their own world.

Temptation was the occasion; it was not the cause. To be subjected to temptation is not sinful for the tempted. Embrace and acquiescence constitute sin, i.e. going in against the Will of God.
Eve succumbed to the ideas in her head. Her heart wanted to have so much as God. She herself made the choice to take the fruit and to eat it. She came to the point of overt disobedience to the divine prohibition. Adam trusted his partner and with her in the adventure, hoping also to get the knowledge of good and evil and wanting to become wise (Genesis 3:6 ASV)

The tempter had gained the trust of the first human beings. Eve had accepted as true what was a blasphemous assault upon the veracity of Good and came to regard the tree as desirable in the direction that contravened the divine prohibition. Eve served herself as carnal creature  rather than the Divine Creator.

The mannin her failure to recoil with revulsion from the temptation and the idea that she would not die (Genesis 3:4) is evidence that defection had already taken place and that she exemplified the invariable psychology of sin that overt action proceeds from the inward disposition of heart.

Proverbs 23: 7 For as though he thought it in his heart: so will he say unto thee, Eat and drink: but his heart is not
with thee.

Man loves to give the fault of their wrong doing to others or say it is not from them. But In the Messianic Scriptures the sent one from God clearly warns man that there is nothing outside man. Summoning the multitude rabbi Jeshua (Jesus Christ) addressed the crowd close to him and told them that we should worry about what comes out of man. It is that what is inside and comes outside that pollutes or defiles man. It is from inside, out of man’s heart that come evil thoughts and actions, like self-seeking, pride, jealousy or envying, slander, malice, double-dealing, lying, deceiving, misleading, betraying, sexual vice, adultery, fornication, theft or stealing, wickedness, murder, all things that make a person unclean.

Mark 7: 21 For from within, even out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, uncleanness, a wicked eye, backbiting, pride, foolishness.
23 All these evil things come from within, and defile a man.

We may not be mistaken, it is all from within ourselves.  The satan or adversary comes from our inner thoughts which we allow to go wrong and where we give in. We can choose not to follow certain ideas, but when we chose to follow the wrong path then we sin. There may be manyfold temptation but it is how we react on them.Whenever you find yourself surrounded by various temptations do know that it all depends on your choice and on your faith which shall demand action (works of faith), leading to steadfastness, developing endurance. But to withstand such temptation man shall need now the courage to choose the right path and let patience finish its work that you may become fully developed and perfectly equipped, lacking in nothing or in no respect deficient. So when you are drawn away, enticed and baited by your own evil desire, like Eve was, let yourself not be beguiled and allured by your own evil desire and enticed by a bait. Remember that when passion or desire conceives and gives birth to sin, than when the bad act or sin runs its course and get fully matured it shall give birth to death. We may not be mislead and make no mistake about this.

James 1: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own concupiscence, and is enticed.
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth 1sin, and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
16 1Err not my dear brethren.

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* Bible quotes from 1599 Geneva Patriot’s Edition

Preceding articles

The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #1 Beginning of everything

The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #2 Beginning of mankind

The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #3 With his partner

The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #4 The Fall

The Seed Of The Woman Bruised

Jesus begotten Son of God #10 Coming down spirit or flesh seed of Eve

Sayings of Jesus, what to believe and being or not of the devil

Not about personal salvation but about a bigger Plan

A book of life and a man born more than two thousand years ago

When having found faith through the study of the Bible we do need to do works of faith

Next: The 1st Adam in the Hebrew Scriptures #6 Curse and solution

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Additional reading

1. Looking for a primary cause and a goal that can not offer philosophers existing beliefs
2. A multifold of elements in creation and a bad choice made
3. First mention of a solution against death 1 To divine, serpent, opposition, satan and adversary
4. First mention of a solution against death 2 Harm or no harm and naked truth
5. First mention of a solution against death 3 Tempter Satan and man’s problems
6. First mention of a solution against death 4 A seed for mankind
7. First mention of a solution against death 5 Evil its law of death
8. Necessity of a revelation of creation 1 Works of God and works of man
9. A promise given in the Garden of Eden
10. Set free from any form of mental torment or self-condemnation
11. No curtain placed over tomorrow
12. Around pre-existence of Christ
13. Satan the evil within
14. Additional comments to the 3rd Letter to the Romans
15. Luther’s misunderstanding
16. Solution for Willing hearts filled with gifts
17. Redemption #2 Biblical solution
18. When having found faith through the study of the Bible we do need to do works of faith

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Further reading of interest

1. Images of God 1: Big and Close
2. Genesis 3
3. Day 7: Adam and Eve’s Relationship
4. Creation and The Fall – A Dramatic Reading
5. Did He Really Say That?
6. What Happened in the Garden… Doesn’t Stay in the Garden
7. There’s a Serpent in Your Bible.
8. When Everything Went to Smash
9. What Satan Offered Adam And Eve…
10. Me-Centered More
11. Adam and Eve and Us: Part Two
12. Eve as a symbol for the Church
13. Where is your Garden of Eden?
14. Puzzling over Genesis and the Fall
15. Wednesday-(Created & Fallen) Devotion
16. The Existence Of The Snake
17. Friday-(Created & Fallen) Devotion
18. Recap: What Every Christian Should Know About Genesis 1-4
19. Gospel Theology (Pt. 3) – Original Sin
20. Adversary. Accuser. (Zechariah 3:1)
21. Occasions of sin
22. Watching Ourselves
23. The Life of a 21st Century Prophet: Introspection 
24. Scripture for Thursday, October 13 (10/13)
25. Temptation, Treadmills & Grace
26. Temptations
27. I Have a Confession To Make…
28. Hell
29. Believing Is Not Seeing
30. 1 Corinthians 9-16: I Struggle With These Chapters
31. Why Did God Flood The Earth If He Later Allowed The Same Thing To Happen Again?
32. A Deceitful Trick that Leads to Less
33. JES31 – He Comes Loking For Us
34. living in a messy world
35. The Apple of Discord — Thomas Hart Benton

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• Is Tim Kaine right about Genesis endorsing homosexual acts?
• Faith or Fear
• Questioning God
• Tim Kaine’s butchering of Genesis to justify the LGBT agenda is . . . quite something
• 10/3/16 OT
• VBS asks members ‘where are you?’
• Faith online

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