Walking Genesis: In The Beginning. A Messianic Jewish Devotional Commentary. For Readers of the Torah, Haftarah, and B'rit Chaadashah
()
About this ebook
Jeffrey Enoch Feinberg Ph.D.
Dr. Feinberg is leader of Etz Chaim Cong. In Illinois, and Midwest regional director for UMJC.
Related to Walking Genesis
Related ebooks
They Loved the Torah: What Yeshua's First Followers Really Thought About the Law Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Torah's Seventy Faces: Commentaries on the Weekly Sidrah Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGateways to Torah: Joining the Ancient Conversation on the Weekly Portion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Messiah of the Torah Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInside the Torah: Narrative, Interpretation, and Mystical Meanings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGod's Timetable: The Book of Revelation and the Feast of Seven Weeks Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJewish Law from Jesus to the Mishnah: Five Studies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My People's Prayer Book Vol 3: P'sukei D'zimrah (Morning Psalms) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jewish Interpretation of the Bible: Ancient and Contemporary Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Christ in the Feast of Tabernacles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy People's Prayer Book Vol 5: Birkhot Hashachar (Morning Blessings) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLetters of Light Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Matthew: Presents Yeshua, King Messiah Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWalk Numbers: In the wilderness Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJesus, the Torah and Messianic Judaism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMessianic Torah with Commentary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJames - The Just Presents Applications of Torah: A Messianic Commentary Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Restoring The Jewishness of the Gospel: A Message for Christians Condensed from Messianic Judaism Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Kingdom Relationships: God’s Laws for the Community of Faith Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe New Messianic Version of the Bible: New Testament Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Life for God: A Rabbi’s Analysis of Life, the Cross, and Eternity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jewish New Testament Commentary Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Creation to Completion: A Guide to Life’s Journey from The Five Books of Moses Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Hebrew Word Study: A Hebrew Teacher's Call to Silence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Messianic Judaism is Not Christianity: A Loving Call to Unity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God’s Appointed Times: A Practical Guide For Understanding and Celebrating The Biblical Holy Days Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Exploring Our Hebraic Heritage: A Christian Theology of Roots and Renewal Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mishnah and the Words of Jesus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jewish Insights Into Scripture Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5God’s Appointed Customs: A Messianic Jewish Guide to the Biblical Lifecycle and Lifestyle Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Religion & Spirituality For You
Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Screwtape Letters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are so You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Grief Observed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Four Loves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Be Here Now Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mere Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Love Dare Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Odyssey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Course In Miracles: (Original Edition) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unwanted: How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Imitation of Christ: Selections Annotated & Explained Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Buddha's Guide to Gratitude: The Life-changing Power of Everyday Mindfulness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, Written and Se Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dangerous Prayers: Because Following Jesus Was Never Meant to Be Safe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Weight of Glory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Reason for God Discussion Guide: Conversations on Faith and Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Abolition of Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Complete Papyrus of Ani Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was, and Who God Has Always Been Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5NRSV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible: Bringing to Life the Ancient World of Scripture Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Live in Grace, Walk in Love: A 365-Day Journey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gospel of Mary Magdalene Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Walking Genesis
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Walking Genesis - Jeffrey Enoch Feinberg Ph.D.
,
God made heaven ‘n earth, new with life
and new with birth,
with man as the crown
to rule creation,
resting in Eden
for his recreation!
But paradise crashed
‘cuz man disobeyed,
and living forever
with God was delayed.
Adam had to die
for his sin to be paid,
but Noach rested
and Noach God saved!
Walk B’REISHEET!
1:1-6:8
In the beginning
TORAH—Genesis 1:1-6:8
HAFTARAH—Isaiah 42:5-43:10
B’RIT CHADASHAH—Revelation 22:6-21
Hiker’s Log
We must ask ourselves how we arrived at the present. Scripture says we take our problems with us. Problems left unsolved (e.g. disobedience, sibling rivalry) are transmitted from generation to generation. These problems, recorded in Scripture from the earliest beginnings, explain our world today. For example, Yisra’el’s apparent blindness to "give ear" (HA’AZINU) to God’s way of glorifying Himself among the nations highlights this week’s Haftarah (Is. 42:5-43:10).
B’REISHEET (in the beginning), before time itself, God creates a perfect world with man as creation’s crown. But man disobeys God and eats of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge to become like God. Now, man can discriminate good from evil. God foresees that man will not attain His predestined purposes, if he eats from the Tree of Life and lives in a fallen state forever. So God banishes Adam (humankind) from paradise in Gan Eden.
Sadly, Adam fails to enter Shabbat (Sabbath) rest with God. Man has not completed the work God has given him to do. Instead, Adam’s firstborn son, Kayin, walks an evil path. Sibling rivalry kindles raging jealousies, leading Kayin to kill his brother, Hevel. Whereas God curses the ground for Adam’s disobedience in Paradise, God curses Kayin for the murder of his brother! Kayin’s years are never recorded. In striking contrast, Shet’s line (God’s appointed) fathers children, and their ages are always recorded at fatherhood and at death. The one exception, Chanoch (disciple), fathers children, walks with God, and is taken before he dies!
In the tenth generation, NOACH (Noah/rest) will escape judgment and carry the hope that the fathers can be redeemed! Yeshua warns that the Days of Noach resemble the end of days. Today, people are busy pursuing material prosperity and entertainment apart from God. People say that they are too busy
to enter into Shabbat rest. Scripture records these days as times when people are too distracted by life’s cares to rest or watch for the coming of Messiah (Mt. 24:37-39). Yet watch we must!
Compass Work
—Genesis 1:1
Related Words
Hit the Trail!
God Creates
Before time began, God created space for heaven and earth. God speaks and it happens, but the number seven most stands out! Seven times the Torah reads, And it was so.
Seven times it is recorded, and God made.
Six times God speaks with approval, Good!
(Gen. 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25), climaxing the seventh time with Very Good!
(Gen. 1:31).
The build up to the seventh day is dramatic! Each day of creation ends, And there was evening and morning, day (one, two, . . . six).
On the seventh day, God rests; but the account never concludes, and there was evening and there was morning, day seven.
Man’s failure to enter Shabbat rest with God on day seven screams out.
Thus, the rishon (first) section of B’REISHEET leaves the beginning open-ended. The next verse, (Genesis 2:4), begins the creation account anew—but this time from the perspective of man!
A Perfect World
Perspective shifts! The first account starts with the literal words in beginning
and has an absolute sense which comes before time. Here, the perspective changes from creating to literally the making of earth and heaven.
Commenting on Gen. 1:14, Rashi says that everything was created (in potential) on the first day, but the actual generating takes place on the days that follow.
Thus, the tol’dot (generations, life story, offspring) of the universe (Gen. 2:4) describe the generating of life in the context of heaven and earth. Here, the sequence of creation takes a back seat to the drama surrounding God’s purposes for man and his being placed in Gan Eden (paradise).
God commands man not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Man is told to care for the garden, to eat freely from its fruits, and to order creation by naming all living creatures.
Creation’s Crown
Man called names
to all the cattle, birds, and beasts. Later, the LORD will call
(VAYIKRA) a priesthood from the names
(SH’MOT) of those who go down to Egypt to become a nation.
Here, man calls names
to the animals in Gan Eden. Man’s work is to order creation. Naming involves asserting authority (Gen. 1:26, 28). God assigns names to the celestials (heaven, earth, seas, darkness, day and night); now, man orders the terrestrials by naming the animals, fulfilling the command to rule over every living creature (Gen. 1:28). Man is the crown of creation—higher than any other terrestrial, and only a little lower than angels in the heavenly order.
But a helpmate is missing. All animals have a partner, but man has none. The LORD creates woman, his complement, as a sustainer beside him (Gen. 2:20, 3:20), and man names her Chavah (mother of the living).
God Limits Free Will
Man chooses to disobey God and eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Immediately, he becomes separated from terrestrials, knowing good and evil. God banishes him from Gan Eden, lest he eat from the Tree of Life and spend eternity seeking sensual gratification.
Jewish commentators say that man’s enhanced desire for sensual gratification competes with God’s intended spiritual bliss [Rambam, Sforno]. Man loses access to the Tree of Life (cf. Gen. 2:9, 16-17). God intervenes to drive man from Paradise, lest man eat of the Tree of Life and pursue sensual gratification forever.
The ground is cursed and man must struggle by the sweat of his brow for the food he needs to live (Gen. 3:19, cf. 2:15). Lost is man’s immediate access to the Presence of God. Man must die—return to the adamah (ground) as a consequence of the knowledge he has gained.
Kayin’s Line Pursues Evil
Lemech has the curious distinction of being the first recorded bigamist. According to Rashi, Lemech fathers and later kills his son, Tuval-Kayin.
It was common for the generation living in the days of Noach to keep one wife for children and another wife for pleasure [Rashi]. The wife that was for pleasure was pampered; the other wife was often ignored.
Here, both wives bear children. Note that Adah means ornamented or pretty. Adah’s firstborn, Yaval, becomes father of those who wander with herds (Gen. 4:20, cf. Gen. 4:16, where Kayin goes eastward to Nod, an area east of Eden meaning wandering or exile).
Torah does not record the ages of Kayin or any of the sons in Kayin’s line (Gen. 4:17-22), contrasting sharply with those in Shet’s line, whose ages are given when they first become fathers and again when they die (Gen. 5:1-32) or
Be Fruitful, Forever!
Both male and female are created in the likeness of God. Adam also becomes the personal name of the man (Gen. 5:3). However, God first calls both male and female Adam
(humankind). No stronger statement can be made about the spiritual co-equality of male and female.
The continuity of Adam, as mankind, can only be assured by the cleaving of ish (man) and ishah (woman) as one flesh (Gen. 2:24). Mankind is incomplete apart from the joining together of both man and woman.
The blessing of fruitfulness follows a familiar pattern with firstborns living to father firstborns, and then living some more, fathering sons and daughters. Fathers die after that, but the next firstborn continues the toldot (generations). In this segment, the pattern culminates in Chanoch, a firstborn who fathers the oldest man in the world, before God takes him alive!
The Line of Shet Continues
The oldest man in Torah fathers a son named Lemech. M’tushelach will then live another 782 years—outliving his son (cf. Adam), watching his grandson Noach build the ark (for 120 years), and dying in 1656, the year of the flood.
All the fathers in the ten generations from Adam (through Shet) to Noach live, father sons, then live some more, and die (va-yamot)—except Chanoch. He walks with
God and escapes death (Heb. 7:14). The fathers, firstborns, and life spans follow:
Both Shet and Kayin father sons named Lemech, but only one passes on a father-to-son heritage to his son.
Noach Finds Grace
The LORD determines to blot out man from the record (Ex. 17:14; 32:33-34). Fewer people than a minyan (ten) will survive. In fact, only Noach finds chen