What is the Eden story really telling us?

Thinking about the problem of evil and sin, have you ever asked any of these questions?

• Why is there evil?
• Why does sin continue to plague humans, even after a faith experience?
• Why Did God/YHVH require blood to atone for sin?
• Why did Satan tempt Eve?
• What would he truly get out of it?
• If God/YHVH is all powerful, why did He require Jesus/Y’shua to die on the cross?  Why didn’t he just POOF! fix it?

For these and countless other questions, ​

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one must return to Eden and the events of Genesis 3, to consider the possibility that the Hebrew text therein suggests such incredible and disturbing things, that one must set aside doctrinal theories and theological systems to understand the literal blood struggle between the Holy Creator God/YHVH and the being of chaos/disorder/darkness known as Satan. This event in Eden appears to be the foundational element in understanding the plan of God/YHVH throughout time, as shown in the Scriptures. 

The writers of the Hebrew Bible “describe the world as a place of binary opposites, or sets of two basic opposing forces. At the beginning of Genesis, God creates the world by dividing it into a system of doubles—the sun and the moon, light and dark, the land and the sea, and male and female.  The laws in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy outline the criteria for being ceremonially clean or unclean, and for choosing obedience over disobedience.  These binary distinctions characterize the ethics of the Hebrew people.” Following this binary pattern in the text is the presentation of nakedness and covering, and associated theological, social, and ethical implications.

Beginning with the Eden account in Genesis, these connected yet contrasting ideas are the first representations of the human state of being.  As such, it seems logical to ask why these concepts are presented first and to determine their ongoing impact upon the rest of the biblical text.  At the story of creation, we see that humanity is created naked, yet unashamed.  However, at humanity’s fall, we see humanity disobey YHVH and attempt to hide and cover itself with fig leaves. YHVH responds to the humans’ disobedience and their resulting shameful awareness of nakedness by shedding the blood of animals and covering the humans’ nakedness with the animal skins. Within the overall biblical narrative, this covering appears to be symbolic, typological, and prophetic of humanity’s state and what the work and role of Messiah will be to correct it.

Taking all of this together, and re-reading the Eden account in Hebrew, we see that the central issues revolve around two pairs of ideas: blood and seed, nakedness and covering.  These are ancient Semitic symbols for the concepts of life/lineage, and honor/shame.

These fascinating concepts, and much more are explored in Blood & Seed: What is the Eden Story Really Telling Us?  This book was originally published in 2010 as Blood & Seed: What Really Happened in Eden? That original edition is presented here, with the inclusion of a new introductory section, previewing the additional insights and resources that will be included in the second edition.   The second edition will retain Blood & Seed in the title , yet changing the subtitle.  The full title of the second edition will be Blood & Seed: What is the Eden Story Really Telling Us? In the forthcoming second edition, the focus of the information moves forward from what happened in Eden to considering the results of the Eden events upon our relationship with God and each other.  Make no mistake, the actual events of Eden appear to be just as they were presented in the first edition.  However, further research since then has shown that the results of those events upon how mankind relates to the Creator, his spouse, children, his neighbors, and even himself is indeed the focal point that we should take from this study.

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