Biblical POINTERS in the Talmud

Biblical POINTERS in the Talmud a comparison of biblical personalities in the Talmud Adam and Abel – Bloody Affairs The Bible does not tell much about the history of the earth before the tower of Babel. Valuable additional oral material passed down the centuries, found their way into the Jewish Talmud. Attention given to Creation In Talmudic material much attention is given to creation. This is not surprising at all. The Hebrew nation understood their Almighty God as a deity that speaks creatively. With the words he spoke, he created out of nothing. And whatever He created, was very good (Genesis 1:31). There was furthermore harmony between the creator and His creation. The harmony and unity between God, nature and the first human beings is amplified through his communication with them in the cool of the evening. The speaking God of the Bible has a special interest to see his creation happy. Simultaneously this highlights the aloof and punishing gods of the ancient world. When God created the body of man, according to the Talmud, He prepared to join it with the soul, which had been created on the first day. The sixth day, of creation is highlighted especially. On this day God made human beings. God is said to have discussed the creation of humans with the angels, who were apparently not too sure that it was a good idea. Some of the angels resented the idea that God would create another being and they complained. God, tired of their rebellion, pointed his finger at these angels and they were consumed by fire. God then ordered the angel Gabriel to go and bring soil from the four corners of the earth, with which to make man. When Gabriel began his task, he apparently learned that the earth was reluctant to give up any soil for the creation of humans. The earth knew that mankind would someday ruin the earth and spoil its beauty. Upon hearing this, God himself scooped up the earth and fashioned Adam, the first man. Divine Over-ruling of human Disobedience In the creation story the disobedience to the divine instruction was the cause of havoc. God granted authority and dominion to man over the earth, linked to obedience to the divine command and man's free will to obey or not. Disobedience would lead to slavery - becoming the slave of satan. Genesis 3:1 tells us that 'the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field,' while Genesis 3:12 records Adam's words to God, ' I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself.' There is an interesting play on words in the Hebrew text. In verse 1 the word translated "cunning" is the Hebrew word arum while in verse 12 the word translated "naked" is the Hebrew word erom. Both are from the identical root (the letters ayin, resh, mem). The devil was arum, Adam was erom. Our arch ancestors sought to become like God, but their disobedience caused them to become like the devil! Disruption of the unity between man and God, discord between Adam and Eve and strife between man and nature (Genesis 3:15) were the result of man's first act of disobedience. The basic enmity though is between the seed of the snake and the seed of man. Interesting is the divine intervention, the provision of skins, which was of course preceded by the slaughtering of an animal and the shedding of blood. This pattern can be found throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, viz. how the Almighty overruled the disobedience and wrong compromises of sinful human beings. The ultimate sacrifice was that of his Son, the Lamb of God, which made all other sacrifices redundant. Spirit of Cain In the same context Rabbi Zadok1, suggested that a great hatred entered Cain’s heart against his brother because Abel’s offering had been accepted. The Bible is quite clear on the reason (Genesis 4:7): ‘If you do right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.’ This would rule out a wanton decision, which only depended on the shedding of blood. Otherwise God could have been accused of being unjust, that Cain was given no chance at all. It is a spirit that ensures that a person, territory, or generation does not bring a pure offering before God. The spirit of Cain uses different ways to accomplish this, and one of its primary ways is through bloodguilt. Bloodguilt influences the psyche of a human in such a way that the person loses the ability to discern and uphold the difference between good and evil. Bloodguilt disrupts the mental constitution of the lawbreaker. It ultimately hinders productivity. Cain killed his brother because his brother brought an acceptable offering before God. Satan entered into Cain to eliminate Abel so that Abel would not have the chance to do that again. Neither would Cain because he is blood guilty. At the end of the day the devil succeeds to ensure that God does not get a pure offering. The Aspect of Firstlings Another reason that seems to get only scant attention in both Judaism and Christianity is the aspect of firstlings. The Hebrew Scriptures mention this tenet quite a few times, namely that a special blessing rests on the ‘first fruit’ of the harvest.2 Abel gave of the first-lings and Cain apparently did not do it. In some church circles the concept has been consistently abused when tithing is mentioned and Malachi 4:10 is quoted as a special financial promise of God if we do our part. In that context it is intrinsically about the difference between a pure and a defiled offering. Some profound ideas were expressed by Segun Olanipekun of the Institute for Christian Leadership Development in the wake of the wanton bloodshed in South Africa. I cite extensively from the Herald Ministry response to the xenophobic violence in the country as mentioned in their newsletter of 4 June 2008: ‘It is through a pure offering that God becomes part of the life of a person, people or generation. Without a pure offering, God cannot be part of a nation, territory or community. This is what the devil wants and we must pray that he does not get it. Pure offering consists in the quality of time, energy, and resources that a person or a people commit to God’s kingdom purposes. In Genesis 4 we see God respect and enjoy Abel’s offer of the firstborn, and of their fat Genesis 4:4. Later on in Scripture we see God’s demand for all the firstborn and first fruits. (Exodus 13:11-16, Exodus 34:20, Exodus 22:29-30). The principle here can be described in simple terms as that of acknowledgement. A people must acknowledge that God is the giver of all things and demonstrate this by dedicating the first to Him. As soon as the first is given to God the rest can be enjoyed by the people. When the first and the best are not given to God the people also cannot enjoy the rest. It is about priority. Through this offering, God stamps His authority over all of creation and every aspect of life in that nation. When the first fruit and the best is not offered to God, it is taken that God is not acknowledged and that the person or the people do not require His presence, power, and guidance. When God is absent, evil takes over. This is what the devil prefers. He prefers that a people treat God with levity, that they give God the left over and not the best. This will allow the devil to be part of such a people’s life instead of God. Whenever the enemy seeks to attack a people, he incites them to break certain laws of God so as to make the land abominable, keep God’s presence off the territory, and saturate the place with demons. It seems to me that the enemy succeeded in making previous generations guilty of blood one way or the other, and now he is in the same way leading the younger generation into the trap of blood guilt. His goal is to defile the generation and the territory with blood in order to prevent the possibility of a pure corporate offering from the younger generation. In many countries in Africa and other parts of the world where God has not been acknowledged with the first fruit of human and natural resources, and the people are also unable to enjoy the resources. The skills are untapped and the mineral resources have become more of a curse than a blessing. May the Christian leaders in such nations begin to study and understand the principle of first fruits and that of a pure offering! Consequences When God is not acknowledged in a generation through a pure offering, the number of fugitives and vagabonds increase. This translates into violence and increased disrespect for human life. It is important to note that the spirit that disregards life is the spirit that disregards God in the first place. As we see in Genesis 4, blood guilt also translates into decreased productivity. Cain could no longer tap or benefit from creation. In the midst of abundance Cain could not thrive. His life was in steady dissonance with the rest of creation ( verse 14). Cain realised that as he was driven or absent from the presence of God, he would also not have favour with creation - ‘driven... from the face of the earth and hidden from God’s face’ (verse 14). Cain’s lifestyle, and the demonic presence accommodated in him, resulted in insecurity as he says ‘... anyone who finds me will kill me.’ The Serpent at Work According to Talmudic material the angels were concerned that another creature with a soul would exist. Among the most contentious of these angels was Sammael [meaning “venom of God”], who was also called satan. He questioned God: “You created us, the angels, from your Shekhinah [Divine Presence] and now you would place us over a lowly thing made of dirt? You would waste a soul on a piece of mud? You would create a thinking being out of dust?” The entry of the serpent signifies the sowing of doubt into the mind of man in the authority of the word of the creator: 'Indeed, has God said...' This was conveying the message 'Did God really say...' This ushered in disunity, not only between God and his creation but also between the first humans mutually. Ultimately this was to lead to the 'fall' of man, to the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, deportation from the special Presence and breaking the sweet communication between man and his Maker which they had enjoyed prior to the entry of the serpent. The dialogue between the serpent and the human couple is depicted in all colours in Jewish midrash (teaching orally passed on through the generations). The Genesis report is of course the basis - where disobedience is taken to be the main reason for the enmity between the seed of Eve and that of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). It is significant that the seed of the woman is mentioned in the singular. This points to a single person. The theme of disobedience is depicted as the basic sin – in this case listening and responding to the machinations and distortion of the serpent. This is thus highlighted right from the beginning of the Bible as the cause of the curse on man and all misery that came from that. In fact, the first lie was soon followed by the first murder in the very first generation when Cain killed his brother. Allegorical material of the Early Church builds upon the suggestion – also found in the Talmud - that the Messiah is the germinated seed of Eve. The 'New Testament' definitely regards the serpent as the personification of satan. The devil (satan) is described as a fallen angel who disobeyed God’s command to the angels. Ever since satan has been regarded as the arch tempter of man. As they once had to slaughter innocent lambs obediently at the exodus from Egypt, the obedience of the Israelites was tested when they had to look at the brazen snake which would bring healing in its wings. The serpents, which had bitten the rebellious, disobedient Israelites in the desert, remind us of the serpent in the Garden of Eden. The great Serpent’s Head crushed The Church through the ages understood this as a pointer to the Messiah who would one day crush the serpent's head, giving a fatal blow to satan through his death and resurrection. The great serpent’s head was so to speak smashed on the cross of Calvary. That is why Jesus could prophetically challenge all generations to heed the universal meaning of his death on the cross: ‘Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life’ (John 3:14f). The letter to the Hebrews, that is so close to Talmudic thinking, picks up the cue: ‘Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death’ (Hebrews 2:14ff). Paul, the apostle, surely had the same idea in mind when he wrote ‘the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet’ (Romans 16:20). Shedding of innocent Blood Both Talmudic and Islamic tradition apparently discerned the centrality of the slaughtered animal. The 'New Testament' summarised it: ‘without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin’ (Hebrews 9:22). That is an explanation why Abel’s offering was accepted and that of Cain refused. The shedding of innocent blood points to Calvary where Jesus, the Lamb of God, was innocently ‘slaughtered’ for the sin of the world. Peter reminded the first century Christians that they were not bought free by silver or gold, but by the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect (1 Peter 1:19). The death of Abel was redemptive as the Almighty told him: 'The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground' (Genesis 4:10). The voice of the innocent blood shed at that occasion is a pointer to the redeeming power of the blood to be shed on Calvary. Early Church theologians took the cue from this tenet to point through allegory that an animal was innocently slaughtered to provide the skins to cover Adam and Eve. Thus blood as remission for their disobedience was provided. Abel’s offering prefigured the Lamb of God. Hereafter God’s covenant with man was always founded upon sacrifice (Genesis 8:20, 9:11-17, 15:9-18). Through the book of Genesis we repeatedly have the record of an altar, pointing forward to the ultimate Sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary. Adam was finally a type of Christ by way of contrast. He was tempted by the devil and failed. Jesus was tempted by satan and triumphed. Paul summarised this aptly: For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous (Romans 5:19).