B’reisheet/Genesis 2:4-19

A Greek mindset has permeated the Christian culture and tainted our understanding of Torah (YHVH’s Teachings and Instructions). Greek thinking has instituted a contractual perspective that believers have already signed and do not question because of erroneous assumptions.

Contracts change. They have starting dates, ending dates, clauses, and can even be discarded by either side. Covenants do not, they are everlasting.

The Greek perception of mythology and little gods have been embraced in most of the cultures touched by the Roman Empire. What this has caused is a lack of proper inquisitiveness as mythology. Intellectualism and contractual alignments have eroded Scriptural, Creator-breathed curiosity for Truth and exploration of Who the Creator is.

The Elohim of Torah has given man, through Adam, the same image as Himself. This is not to say that the Creator looks just like us or that He acts like us; rather, it is man who resembles YHVH and can have character traits that take after the Master. With this in mind, instead of a Greek mind of acceptance or idolatry of ethereal deities who are, in fact, false gods, the believer should look at Isaiah 1:18 and 43:26, Proverbs 30:5, Malachi 3:10, and 1 John 4:1. These passages show that YHVH wants His children to be convinced of His Word, having it in their minds and hearts. The spiritually astute gives way to YHVH’s integrity and Ruach while testing each and every spirit to know if it is of the Creator. Hereto, it is incumbent upon the child of Yah to test their own intellectualizing of Torah in order to better understand it so that the Oracles of Yah are properly observed.

The entire act of being Israel is traced to Yacov wrestling with Elohim in order to receive from Him the blessing. Yacov prevailed, not in mastering Elohim, but in proving his own character and integrity over a sinful nature by having faith and being unrelenting in seeking YHVH’s face. Yacov was not only convinced that YHVH was Who He said He Was, but he was willing to enter into covenant with YHVH because of the testing that had taken place by both parties.

The empirical truths that believers hold onto may not be truths at all. Certainly, the story of creation should change the way we cling to Greek thinking while provoking our own perceptions of what we think we understand about YHVH’s character and His Word. This tiny tweak of the origin narrative can lead to a better understanding of our heritage and our hands-on Creator.

Questions such as: Was Adam created before or after the vegetation of the earth blossomed and bore fruit? Could there have been other humans created besides Adam, who was a man of Elohim rather than a son or daughter of man? Were they created before or after Adam? These are not questions to spurn Elohim but should be inquisitors of curiosity about how things really took place during those first days, weeks, years, even millennia. These are questions of creation based in the Truth found in the opening pages of B’reisheet. This is so much more than mythological creatures or even intelligent design. It is the disclosure of YHVH’s very character.

The ethereal lifestyle of Greek gods and goddesses has been interwoven into a Christian world view. Ideologies of people and/or angels standing on clouds playing harps and wearing halos is “normal” of what heaven is imagined to be. Would you believe that there could actually be work that is tended to in what we understand as heaven?

The first place that Elohim placed His man was in the Garden. This was a place of paradise from which Adam would later be expelled. Paradise consisted of the River of Life, as well as the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (amongst many other trees); man was placed there by the Creator to cultivate it and keep it. Similarly, Elohim worked for six days and rested on the seventh; sanctifying the Shabbat (day of rest) for every creature, for every seventh day. This is a character attribute of the Creator being revealed in the very first chapter of Torah. Why did YHVH need to work or rest? Why would His Garden, Paradise, need to be kept or cultivated or tended to?

It’s possible that the answers are not completely knowable by us in this lifetime; however, that should not dissuade us, as Elohim’s creation and people, from asking and searching for understanding. It is this sense of reasoning, wrestling, testing, even debating that brings us closer to righteous understanding, wisdom, and truth. This struggle with a proper Torah paradigm draws us closer to knowing more about the Creator and His perfect character.

We are not called to poke our fingers in the eye of the Master by questioning His character; rather; He created us to be curious so that we would seek out the treasures of Torah and discover more about Him. Our minds and knowledge need to reflect the Creator and His nature, not man-made religions, myths, or traditions.

Perhaps, we should begin this journey by testing the Greek mentality we’ve inherited and been taught. Maybe we will be starting seeing the contractual expiration date for what it is…a lie. As we accept YHVH’s Truth, even the story of creation, He will embolden our faith to accept more of Him and less of the world’s intellectual idolatry that robs so many of belief in YHVH.

Dwell upon Proverbs 30:3-6, “Neither have I learned wisdom, nor do I have the knowledge of the Holy One. Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His Son’s name? Surely you know! Every Word of Elohim is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.”