The Bible is a complex work of literature written long ago by ancient people that appear to know more about the human condition than we do today. The first Chapter of Genesis appears to summarize a type of progress of the human soul after man is created as a “god” in Genesis Chapter 3. The entire Bible seems to then go on to describe in more detail the plights of man through allegorical stories, where Genesis Chapter 1 is simply a summary of all of it.
Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
Genesis 5:1-2 “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.”
In Genesis 1:27 God creates man, and Genesis 5:1-2 says that this now begins the history (generations) of that “day” (i.e. enlightenment) that God creates man. Genesis 5 is giving us a little more information about what happens in Genesis 1 on the sixth day. God “called” their name Adam. However, this word Adam is still the same Hebrew word for man (adam) and not the proper name “Adam” here. So God called the creation “man”. Genesis 5 begins the history and detail of the sixth day man of Genesis chapter 1, where Genesis chapters 2-4 is a history and detail of man before Genesis chapter 1.
Genesis 2:7-9 “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”
Here is says man was “formed” the dust of the ground. It doesn’t say man was formed from the dust of the ground, it says man [is] the dust (dry loose soil) of the ground. The word “formed” here is the Hebrew word “yatsar” and it can have a meaning of something framed, pre-determined to be, or planned out. The man of Genesis chapter 2 was pre-determined or planned out to be the dust of the ground. He became a living soul, which is not a physical man but invisible. The soul is the essence of man, the mind, the appetite, the desires, the “life” of man, and the many other things the soul represents. Man is the dust of the ground, where ground is a different word than earth or field. Ground is the Hebrew word “adamah”. This the same ground from which the trees of the Garden of Eden grew, without rain or tilling of the ground involved. The Garden of Eden means an enclosure of pleasure. Man is in the ground and the trees grow in man, within him, and THROUGH him, the “dust” of the ground, without working the ground or the dust for that matter. The man was and IS pre-determined to be the “dust of the ground” from which the tree of knowledge and tree of life grow. All of this grows within this man, the dust of the ground, who is a living soul, all invisible, non-physical.
Remember this story in Genesis 2-4 is the history behind the creation of the heaven and the earth, the history before there was a man to till (work) the ground. It is the history of how man became to “work” the ground, where the ground is still a place within man. This story of Genesis is the background behind the man so we come to know what happened on the first “day” of Genesis 1, and also so we know what man is actually pre-determined to become.
Genesis 3:17-18 “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; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;”
And here is where the herb comes into the picture again and needs to be noticed. Back in Genesis 2, it said that this story was the history of things BEFORE the herb grew, and keep in mind that the herb grows in Genesis 1 during that creation story. In Genesis 2, man did not need the herb to eat of because he had the Garden of Eden to eat from. He did not have to “work” or till the ground for the herb. He lived in and through the ground, but now, after he ate of the tree of knowledge, he had to work the ground to get his food the herb.
Genesis 2:21-24 “And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
Now remember man up this point in Genesis 2:21 is a living soul, which is caused to fall asleep. One of Adam’s ribs was taken to make the woman. This word “rib” is the Hebrew word tslea, which means “side”. So the LORD God took one of Adam’s SIDES and made a woman. The living soul had two sides, of which one was used to make the woman. The two sides became separated. The woman side represents the fleshly carnal part of man, hence it says “this [one here] is now my bones and my flesh, which being spiritually interpreted, since the whole man was still an invisible soul, means the woman represented the carnal “side” of the soul. The man became the non-carnal side or the “spiritual” side. The spirit is here-by made to cleave unto the wife, predestined and made to be all part of the one-flesh.
Genesis 3:16 “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.”
The man of the tree of knowledge is made to “rule” over his carnal side (woman) via the law. And the carnal side (woman) is made to be the desire of the man. The woman contains the desire of the soul, the appetite, the lust, etc. The words “shall be” in Genesis 3:16 are added here in the KJV, so this is the most reasonable way to interpret this and still keep in line with this method of interpretation of these scriptures.
Genesis 3:5-7 “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 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. 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.”
God and the serpent knew that their eyes would be open and they would make themselves wise once they ate of the tree. But it was the “LORD God” who told them that they would die the day they ate of it, as if he knew it would set off the chain of events that the soul of man was “formed” to act out and was “formed” to do. They would not die physically [something the serpent knew and was subtly saying] because it actually was impossible for a soul which was not yet physical to die physically. But the soul could and would “die” by projecting itself into the physical which WAS “death” in itself. The “death” of the spirit and the soul (male and female) as they projected the physical world. “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” Adam and his soul were covered with coats of skin, the soul and spirit of man was given a covering of skin (flesh and blood body) for their soul and spirit. This was the invisible soul’s destiny and the “God” and serpent in Genesis 3:5 “knew” this. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22). In giving themselves wisdom, they became flesh and therefore “fools” in need of learning. With the limitation of the five senses, comes the knowledge and understanding of both good and evil, which is the “wisdom and light of this world”. However, they did also become gods that can also create a world unto themselves. This brings a new meaning to what it means to be God in the scriptures.
Genesis 3:22-23 “And the LORD God 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: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.”
After the man ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil he BECAME [a] God [to know good and evil], and he was sent out of the Garden of Eden [now TAKEN FROM the ground] and made to till the ground [that was now cursed] rather than live from it like he was in the Garden. He was now a God unto himself to now work the ground for his needs. And now being the God unto himself and now having his own “light”, he began the process of “creating” his world. We are all a “god”. And this is the God who works in Genesis Chapter 1. We work our way back to the understanding of rest. Our soul works to overcome the world, and in doing so is “helped” to become something it would never be without the trial of this world. If we can overcome the world our soul is somehow helped and made stronger.
John 10:34-35 “Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;”
Jesus preached that the scriptures of the law which says that we are gods, and that that scripture cannot be thrown out or ignored.
Psalm 82:5-7 “They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course. I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.”
Here in Psalm 82 is specifically states that Ye are gods, however, this does not mean we won’t die “like” men. It doesn’t necessarily say that the god will be a man, but he will die LIKE one. The word “God” used here in Psalm 82 is the same Hebrew word used in Genesis 1:1 for God (Hebrew word elohiym).
Genesis 2:17 “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
Eating of the tree of knowledge changed the soul of man into a god (Hebrew word elohiym), which is the same word used for God in Genesis chapter 1. But as the LORD God implied, it also caused the Spirit of man to die in the DAY that he ate of it. It caused his soul to be lost to this world. This word “day” has deeper meaning than what we understand a day to be, it means a new understanding. Day in Genesis 1 references light, as in the light of day. The knowledge of good and evil brings a light, a light that opens the “eyes” of the mind. It opens both the eyes of the mind (Gen 3:7) and causes a type of light to come forth; which is the first “day”.
Luke 11:35-36 “The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.”
The eye [of the mind] is the light of the body. But that light can be darkness. Eating of the tree of knowledge brings man into a light that is a kind of darkness. If the eye of the man (Spirit) is closed (asleep), the eye of the woman (carnal soul) is open, which is the darkness (light) of the carnal mind. There is also a dual understanding from both the man and the woman, where one has to rule over the other, hence comes the law (rule) (Genesis 3:16). But when the veil comes over the eyes of the carnal mind, our eye can be single. But until that happens our light can actually be darkness (i.e. the knowledge and wisdom from the tree of knowledge). The knowledge of evil brings evil and the man has to create rules or the law to rule over the evil, but never destroy it. So with the knowledge of the law comes sin (Romans 7).
Genesis 1:1-5 ”In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”
Genesis 2:4 is the history behind the creation of the “heavens and the earth”. When Adam ate from the tree of knowledge Genesis Chapter 1 began. Man was now a God and this God created the “heaven and earth” The LORD God made the “earth and the heavens” which made man (the dust of the earth), which also made that man into a god, the God(s) who is in Genesis 1. The man who became God creates the “heavens and the earth”, the earth that was void and had darkness on the face of the deep (the surface of the doctrine and our life…). But the Spirit of God (the spiritual side of man, Adam) moves and creates light.
Genesis chapter 1 represents the beginning of man as a god and this god’s process of projecting the physical and then moving through the steps of that carnal mind, from that carnal mind, back to the Spiritual. Genesis chapter 1 can also represent the work of God, where God is an energy and consciousness that is in us. Genesis 1 represents a work that can be accomplished by our God that is within us.
Genesis 2 is allegorical story to help us understand how the God in Genesis 1 came about to begin working and creating in Genesis 1. The Genesis chapter 2-4 story is the history and background of man and before he was made to till the ground and before the herb was to be his food. Once Adam ate from the tree of knowledge which was actually within the consciousness of man, the consciousness was then able to project to the physical (death) and begin the “six days” of work hopefully eventually back to rest (seventh “day”). The tilling of the ground represents work, the six days of work of God in Genesis 1.
The process of separation within man (male/female counterparts) somehow helps man, the living soul. The woman as the soul separate from the spirit of man is now able help the soul. The beast of the field within man are not enough to start this process. Without the desire separate from logic there is no deception, there is no learning from mistakes without mistakes. With the male and female as one there is no contradiction, however, with the woman side of man separated there is contrast, conflict, and differentiation which causes learning and growth. Without a problem, without a challenge, one does not grow or proceed. The story in Genesis 3 tells us the woman and the beast of the field will somehow help “man”. The man was made a soul, but this soul, for some reason needs help. The LORD God knows that in order for the soul to progress and be helped there will be risk involved. It first has to project (i.e. “die”) into the physical world which will challenge and push the soul to learn and grow, but it can be painful. The LORD warns man that you will “surly die” if you do this, however the LORD God knows that if he can overcome this ”death” he will be helped in the end. But this is a big IF because of the risk involved. The serpent is one of our “beasts of the field” (animal natures within us) and this beast is very subtle and therefore deceptive. This part of us deceives us into thinking we know what we are doing and the prize is in what we see. The serpent cannot truly hear the truth, so its bite can “kill” us. And the combination of this beast and the woman creates the chain of events that can truly help the “man” in the end. Had they known the serpent’s bite would make them think they were separated from the LORD (to die), they would never had fell and then eventually progressed. We have to experience separation to truly want oneness. But without that contrast, without that free will, there is no growth. We have to experience deception for ourselves in order to grow strong enough within ourselves in order to overcome it. Therefore the bite of the serpent actually helps us in the end. We learn from it, we learn from the pain of the bite. If we knew ahead of time what we have to go through to learn and therefore progress, maybe no soul would do it, and the soul would never be “helped”. The soul is “deceived” into the physical world, but it is really all for good in the end. We are really just asleep, dreaming our way back to the LORD and to his garden, but we indeed have to wake up to realize we really never really left because the trees are still in the “mist” of us. We will wake up from the poison of delusion as we (gods) go through the six days of working (Genesis Chapter 1) our way back to the LORD to finally rest on the seventh day.