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Genesis 1-3 – Mirror Images
God keeps telling the same stories, using various methods and different characters.
What started this study was someone’s observation stating the curses in Genesis 3 were unrelated to Adam and Eve’s sins. When someone says something unexpected, it can lead to further unexpected discoveries.
Although the major characters are the same, plus one new one, the fall of man and the creation are tightly intermingled:
[1] Creation of life in man (male and female) (1:27). Foretelling of death (3:19).
[2] Man (male and female) made in God’s image (1:26-27). The serpent tells Eve the fruit would make her like God (3:5).
[3] God commands man (male and female) to rule and subdue the animals and earth (1:26,28). God tells Eve her husband will rule her (3:16). While the English is the same, the Hebrew is not. In 3:16 the rule is not necessarily harsh and is the same as the sun and moon ruling day and night (1:18).
[4] Man (male and female) are told to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth (1:28). Eve is told that God will multiply her pain in childbirth (3:16). “Multiply” is the same in Hebrew.
[5] The earth would produce food for man (male and female) to eat (1:29). The ground was cursed for Adam (3:17-19).
[6] After God created everything, He pronounced it “good” (1:4,10,12,18,21,25,31). Eve saw the fruit was “good” (3:6).
It is like they are mirror accounts except Genesis 3 is like looking through a mirror darkly: 1) Creation by God, and 2) Destruction by Man. Can you find other similarities?
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