May the mumbling commence!
Now we start into the beginnings of
the human story. We will read from the first
verses of Genesis chapter three. Read
from Peterson’s The Message:
The Serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: “Do I understand that
God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?”
The Woman said to the Serpent, “Not at all. We can eat from the
trees in the garden. It’s only from the
tree in the middle of the garden that God said ‘Don’t eat from it; don’t even touch it or you will die.’”
The Serpent told the Woman, “You won’t
die. God knows that the moment you eat
from that tree, you’ll see what’s really going on. You’ll
be just like God, knowing everything,
ranging all the
way from good to evil.”
When the Woman saw that the tree looked
like good eating and realized what she would get out of it – she’d know
everything! – she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her
husband, and he ate.
Immediately, the two of them did “see what
was really going on” – saw themselves naked!
They sewed fig leaves together as makeshift clothes
for
themselves. (Genesis 3:1-7)
Now read the same passage from the
NIV translation:
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God
really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
The woman said to the serpent, "We may
eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat
fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not
touch it, or you will die.'"
"You will not surely
die,"
the serpent said to the woman. "For
God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
When the woman saw that the fruit of the
tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining
wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her,
and he ate
it. Then the eyes of both of them were
opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together
and made coverings for themselves. (Genesis 3:1-7)
There are some interesting
differences between the NIV and Peterson’s product. There is a qualitative difference between the
descriptions of the serpent as clever (Peterson) and crafty (NIV). Clever can have positive connotations… crafty
is more negative… and perhaps fits the serpent character better. There is the “may” and “can” issue
again. I still like the word may in this
context better.
And I wonder why Peterson
introduces the idea of knowing everything on the spectrum of good and
evil. Why does he feel the need to add
this extra temptation? Was it present in
the original Hebrew text or the Spirit of the text? I’m not so sure.
To my surprise, I noticed that the
NIV text notes the man’s presence during the woman’s temptation. I didn’t remember seeing that before. But it’s consistently there in all the other
translations… though it’s left out of Peterson’s work. The presence of the man in the temptation
changes things from my perspective. The
man has even less ground to stand on in passing the buck!
And, in the text, it’s interesting
to note the addition of touching the fruit in the forbidden tree of knowledge
of good and evil. The lie of the serpent
is also twisting the truth. Man and
woman are already made in the image of God.
They do not need any other supplement!
Our inadequate feelings still trip us up. The feeling that God is holding us back still
trips us up. Maybe someday we will learn
that being children of God is more than enough.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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