May the mumbling commence!
It’s another time of
beginning. Let’s continue our look at
the second account of creation in Genesis chapter two. Read from Peterson’s The Message:
God commanded the Man, “You can eat from any tree in
the garden, except from the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. Don’t eat from it. The moment you eat from that tree,
you’re dead.”
God said, “It’s not good for the Man to be alone; I’ll make
him a helper, a companion.” So God formed from the dirt of the ground
all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the Man to see what he
would name them. Whatever the Man called
each living creature, that was its name.
The Man named the cattle, named the birds of the air, named the wild
animals; but he didn’t find a suitable companion.
God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and
replaced it with flesh. God then used the rib that he had taken
from the Man to make Woman and presented her to the Man.
The Man said,
“Finally!
Bone
of my bone,
flesh
of my flesh!
Name her
Woman
for
she was made from Man.”
Therefore
a man leaves his father and mother and embraces
his wife.
They
become one flesh.
The
two of them, the Man and his Wife, were naked,
but they felt no shame. (Genesis 2:16-25)
Now read the same passage from the
NIV translation:
And the Lord
God commanded the man, "You are free to
eat from any
tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
The Lord God said, "It is not good for
the man to be alone. I will make a helper
suitable for
him."
Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground
all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to
the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living
creature, that was its name. So the man
gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the
field.
But for Adam no
suitable helper was
found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while
he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with
flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the
man, and he brought her to the man.
The man said,
"This is now
bone of my bones
and flesh of my
flesh;
she shall be called 'woman,
'for she was
taken out of man."
For this reason a man will leave his father
and mother and be united to
his wife, and
they will become one flesh. The man and
his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. (Genesis 2:16-25)
There is much agreement between the
NIV translation and Peterson’s work. I pick
contention with his use of “can”. I
think a better word would be “may”. God
is giving permission. The man has
permission to eat from any fruit in the garden.
He has the freedom to do so, as the NIV translation underscores. However the fruit from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil (I’m not sure why Peterson did the hyphenated thing!)
is not among the permitted fruits. God
knows that man can eat from it… and that consumption causes problems…
eventually.
That eventuality makes me
also pick a bone with Peterson’s translation “you’re dead” and opposed to the
NIV’s “you will surely die”.
I like the
addition of the concept of companion. I believe
it gets at the heart of what the text is saying about the relationship between
man and woman, husband and wife.
But I
do have another bone to pick with Peterson.
I’m not sure about the exasperation that is added to the man’s emphatic “Finally”
in his statement about the woman. And
more importantly, I also do not like his “embraces” against the “be united to”
of the NIV. I like the stronger language
of permanence in the NIV.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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