The Temptation of Eve and fall into Sin
The Bible account in Genesis 3:1 tells us that “Now the serpent proved to be the most cautious of all the wild beasts of the field that Jehovah God had made”. Revelation 12:9 further describes this serpent in the following terms: “So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth”.
The Chinese character guǐ means ghost, demon, devil, damnable, sly, crafty.
This character is 鬼. You can see this complex character is made from 田(garden), overlaying 儿 (man, son, child)[i] with KangXi radical 28 (sī) meaning “private, secret” 厶.
The serpent/Satan the Devil was sly and crafty and a demon. The Chinese character for demon/ evil spirits is “mó”.
If one adds the characters for sly/crafty + tree + tree + wide/extensive/cover you get a Demon,
as 鬼 + 木+ 木+ 广 = 魔.
Did not the Devil secretly approach Eve in the Garden undercover, disguising who he was by using a serpent? That is exactly what this pictogram represents!
During this approach four lies were told when the sly Devil led Eve to commit the first sin.
- In Genesis 3:1, Satan asked “has God not said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” – This was not true; God had only said to not eat from only one tree.
- In Genesis 3:3, Eve said that God had said “You must not eat from it, no you should not touch it that you do not die.” - This was also not true; God only said you must not eat.
- In Genesis 3:4, Satan said to Eve “you positively will not die” – This also was not true. God had said if you eat from it you will die.
- In Genesis 3:5, Satan said “For God knows that in the very day of your eating from it your eyes are bound to be opened and you are bound to be like God, knowing good and bad” – This was the ultimate lie, suggesting that Eve could be powerful like God and decide for herself what was true and what was not true.
The result of this secret approach is recorded in Genesis 3:6 which tells us that Eve saw “that the tree was good for food and that it was something to be longed for to the eyes, yes, the tree was desirable to look upon”. It could be said that she came to covet the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.
Unsurprisingly the complex character for “covet, covetous, avaricious” (lán) is made of two trees + woman:
木+ 木+ 女 =婪
What happened after Eve ate the fruit?
Genesis 3:7 tells us “Then the eyes of both of them became opened and they began to realize that they were naked. Hence they sewed fig leaves together and made loin coverings for themselves”.
The Chinese character for naked = “Luǒ” and is made of the following sub characters:
果 (guǒ – fruit) + 衤(clothes) = 裸 or 倮. (naked)
It is entirely reasonable to understand this pictogram as “eating the fruit, they realized they needed clothes because they were naked”. It surely cannot be coincidental that fruit + clothes = naked.
What did God say would happen to Adam and Eve if they disobeyed?
He said they would die. Genesis 2:17 “in the day you eat from it you will positively die”.
If we add the character for one + tree + slash gives the character for red\vermillion, which reminds us of blood. Added to character for words (spoken) we get the understanding that “one tree would mean death as God had spoken”.
一+ 木 + 丿= 朱, + 言= 誅 (character for “put to death”).
(yī + mù + pie = zhū + yán)
What did Adam and Eve do when God’s voice came?
Genesis 3:8 says “the man and his wife went into hiding from the face of Jehovah God in between the trees of the garden”.
If we add the characters for “body” + tree + man/son/child + one together we get the Chinese character for duǒ which means “to hide, secrete, avoid, or escape”.
身+ 木 + 儿+ 一 = 躲.
Yes, the first man and one (woman) each put their body behind a tree to hide from God, just as the Chinese pictogram describes and the Bible account records.
Why did they hide from God?
Because they felt guilty or ashamed.
The Chinese for ashamed, guilt is kuì. The Chinese Characters of heart + devil (radical 61 - xīn + devil) added together give ashamed.
忄+ 鬼 = 愧
Is it not true that just as Adam and Eve were ashamed and felt guilty, so do we if we let the Devil affect our figurative heart?
How did God feel about this disobedience?
As a result, God put Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. The garden was likely surrounded by some form of barrier whether impenetrable vegetation or some geographic feature such as cliffs.
Why can we say this? Because Genesis 3:24 states “And so he drove the man out and posted at the east of the garden of Eʹden the cherubs and the flaming blade of a sword that was turning itself continually to guard the way to the tree of life”. If there was no physical barrier then cherubs at one place to the east of the garden would have not been sufficient.
It is no coincidence that to surround or kùn, is a character that is made up of the characters for tree + enclosure (radical 23)
木 +囗 =困
How did this affect Mankind?
This was a calamity for both Adam and Eve and for future mankind. All because they left God, they were driven away from the Garden and suffered calamity.
去 (qù = go away, leave, depart) + 礻 (god) = 祛 (qū = calamity, expel, to drive away).
Was there to be any remedy?
Despite Adam and Eve being thrown out of the garden God was still good in that he made a promise of a means that would rectify the situation.
Genesis 3:15 records “And I shall put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel”.
Is there a trace of this most important promise? It appears so. If we add the characters for woman and offspring / seed, we get the character for good.
女+ 子= 好 (hǎo - good).
Cain and Abel, the first sacrifice and the first murder
Outside the garden Adam and Eve had offspring including Abel and Cain. Later, when Abel and Cain became adults, God asked them to make a sacrifice to him.
Genesis 4:4 tells us, “But as for Abel, he too brought some firstlings of his flock, even their fatty pieces. Now while Jehovah was looking with favor upon Abel and his offering”.
The word for righteousness, right conduct is 義. This is made up of 羊 (yáng = lamb) +戈 (radical 62 - gē = halberd or spear/axe) + 千 (qiān – many, numerous).
Clearly, we can understand this to mean that “righteousness comes through many sacrifices”
The Chinese word for sacrifice is xī. 犧
This deconstructs into the characters for cow + lamb + grain + without blemish/perfect + kill with spear.
羊 (yáng = lamb) +戈 (radical 62 - gē = halberd or spear/axe) + 禾 (radical 115 - hé = grain) +牜(radical 93 - niú = cow) + reverse of 朽 (rotten), hence perfect. (yú)
As Bible students we are familiar with the sacrifices instituted under the Mosaic Law which were of Bulls, Lambs, or grain and had to be perfect. (See Leviticus 1:5, 10 and Leviticus 2:1)
This led to the first murder.
Sadly, however Cain was not happy with God favouring the sacrifice of Abel and lured him into the field and assaulted and murdered his brother (Genesis 4:8).
If we add the characters for elder brother 兄 (made of the characters for son and mouth, as the oldest son spoke for his brothers) + 乂 (yì = govern, control) = 兇 (xiōng = atrocious, ferocious, brutal).
We could understand this as “the elder brother lost control and could no longer speak for or to his brother(s) by murdering ferociously and atrociously [his brother]”.
To be continued …. Confirmation of the Genesis Record from an Unexpected Source – Part 4
[i] See also KangXi radical 10
Archived Comments
We have moved to the Disqus commenting system. To post a new comment, go to the bottom of this page.
Comment by Chet on 2020-03-24 11:35:21
This is fascinating. I’ve long been fascinated by the common threads found throughout the world’s various civilizations. The idea of a Creator, a creation account, the fall of mankind and flood legends exist in places that were isolated from the scriptures for eons. One of my favorite subjects is the Flood and I know that even Native Americans have flood legends, despite being quite isolated from the eastern hemisphere.
On the heels of the Flood, is the Babel dispersion. I had always wondered how long it took for the earth to be fully inhabited, but as I’ve given more attention to the events at Babel, it has become obvious that this dispersal happened rapidly. One theory is that in the aftermath of the Flood, the ice caps were quite large and the water levels in the seas were lower, allowing people to migrate much more easily. Jehovah, knowing that this situation would not continue indefinitely, had good reason to want the population to disperse as soon as possible after the Flood.
So the dispersal happened rapidly and all of the “tribal knowledge” dispersed right along with the people. This, of course, explains the pockets of biblical knowledge which appear in so many far flung places. While we tend to associate China with eastern religions, there are known to be example of reverence for the Creator, the highest God, even within that culture.
I would be remiss if I failed to mention that some Native American tribes speak of Creator, using the term as a proper noun and not as a title.
Comment by The Bible Book of Genesis – Geology, Archaeology, and Theology - Part 1 - Understand The Word of God on 2021-04-07 16:00:53
[…] Part 3 https://beroeans.net/2020/03/24/confirmation-of-the-genesis-record-from-an-unexpected-source-part-3/ […]