Posted by Ray Kidder on 8/23/2009, 9:47 pm, in reply to "Re: Adam as Prototype Christian"
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Searcher,
You asked:
"How does Adam's naming of His wife Eve represent faith and hope? That makes no sense to me."
In Genesis 3 (NKJV), we read:
20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
21 Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—
At the time Adam named his wife "Eve", whe was not even a mother. It was based on Adam's faith and hope that she would become a mother for this name to make sense. Since Jesus is the way the truth and the life, it represents the hope that Jesus would later be born into this world through a descendant of Eve. Also, Abel was a figure (or type) of Christ, so to some extent Adam's faith and hope was realized through Abel. God gave them clothing to cover the shame of their flesh right after Adam gave Eve her name. Similarly, a Christian's faith and hope leads to covering of sin.
You also wrote:
"God gave the task of naming these animals to Adam. Adam simply did as God asked. I don't see that this has anything to do with 1Cor 1:17. God also gave Adam the task of dressing and keeping the garden of Eden. I don't see that as vanity any more than Adam naming the creatures God brought to him. He just did as he was told."
Adam was told to name the animals, but it was for Adam to come up with the specific names. Here are the relevant verses from Genesis 2 (NKJV):
15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
18 And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.
20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.
22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
God decided that Adam was not self-sufficient, so His first attempt at solving this problem was to provide various animals as helpers. None of these animals was helpful enough against the trickery of the devil. I figure that the naming of the animals is another way of naming the wisdom that God gives to mankind in order to deal with the challenges and needs for fulfillment in life and avoidance of sin. The Old Testament is filled with commandments and words of wisdom that are of limited usefulness. Even after searching diligently for wisdom, the author of Ecclesiastes still had a life of vaities of vanities. I figure the naming of the animals therefore corresponds to the limits of the wisdom that can have names attached to them (i.e. the wisdom of words).
God stopped making helpmates after making the woman. Apparently, the final fulfillment wasn't just the making of the women, but rather the making of her offspring such that she would later become the mother of the living. Even though the creation was finished, Adam was still weak through the flesh, such that he could not please God without the fulfillment of Christian faith and hope.
It should also be pointed out that God did not will for humanity to stay in the Garden of Eden. God wanted humanity to reproduce and take over the earth. The Garden of Eden was intended as a kind of orientation session before the expulsion to take over the earth; right?
Cain slew Abel, and I view both Cain and Abel as prophetic of Judas Iscariot. Judas killed himself such that his blood spilled out into a field. As Judas had a relacement (St. Matthias), so too did Abel, which was Seth. The wording here in Genesis 4 (NKJV) is similar to the wording found in Acts 1.
Genesis 4:25:
And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.”
Acts 1:
15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (altogether the number of names was about a hundred and twenty), and said,
16 “Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus;
17 for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.”
18 (Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out.
19 And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem; so that field is called in their own language, Akel Dama, that is, Field of Blood.)
20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms:
‘ Let his dwelling place be desolate,
And let no one live in it’;
and,
‘ Let another take his office.’
21 “Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
22 beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”
23 And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.
24 And they prayed and said, “You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen
25 to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.”
26 And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
As Seth replaced Abel, so did St. Matthias replace Judas Iscariot. As Cain killed Abel, so did Judas Iscariot kill himself. As Abel provided a sacrifice that pleased God, so did Judas Iscariot provide the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, that pleased God. As Cain worked on behalf of his own envy towards Seth, so did Judas Iscariot work on behalf of the envy of the Sanhedrin (because of the righteous living of Jesus).
Ray Kidder
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