Chapter XV - Genesis
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and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take
and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take
also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever; therefore
the Lord God [Jehovah] sent him forth from the garden
of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
So He drove out the man: and He placed at the east
of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword
which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of
life.
Justice and recompense
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A knowledge of evil was never the essence of divin-
A knowledge of evil was never the essence of divin-
ity or manhood. In the first chapter of Genesis, evil
has no local habitation nor name. Crea-
tion is there represented as spiritual, entire,
and good. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap." Error excludes itself from harmony. Sin
is its own punishment. Truth guards the gateway
to harmony. Error tills its own barren soil and buries
itself in the ground, since ground and dust stand for
nothingness.
Inspired interpretation
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No one can reasonably doubt that the purpose of this
No one can reasonably doubt that the purpose of this
allegory – this second account in Genesis – is to depict
the falsity of error and the effects of error.
Subsequent Bible revelation is coordinate
with the Science of creation recorded in the
first chapter of Genesis. Inspired writers interpret the
Word spiritually, while the ordinary historian interprets
it literally. Literally taken, the text is made to appear
contradictory in some places, and divine Love, which
blessed the earth and gave it to man for a possession, is
represented as changeable. The literal meaning would
imply that God withheld from man the opportunity to
reform, lest man should improve it and become better;
but this is not the nature of God, who is Love always, –
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Love infinitely wise and altogether lovely, who "seeketh
Love infinitely wise and altogether lovely, who "seeketh
not her own."
Spiritual gateway
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Truth should, and does, drive error out of all selfhood.
Truth should, and does, drive error out of all selfhood.
Truth is a two-edged sword, guarding and guiding.
Truth places the cherub wisdom at the gate
of understanding to note the proper guests.
Radiant with mercy and justice, the sword of Truth
gleams afar and indicates the infinite distance between
Truth and error, between the material and spiritual, –
the unreal and the real.
Contrasted testimony
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The sun, giving light and heat to the earth, is a figure
The sun, giving light and heat to the earth, is a figure
of divine Life and Love, enlightening and sustaining the
universe. The "tree of life" is significant of
eternal reality or being. The "tree of knowl-
edge" typifies unreality. The testimony of the serpent is
significant of the illusion of error, of the false claims that
misrepresent God, good. Sin, sickness, and death have
no record in the Elohistic introduction of Genesis, in which
God creates the heavens, earth, and man. Until that
which contradicts the truth of being enters into the arena,
evil has no history, and evil is brought into view only as
the unreal in contradistinction to the real and eternal.
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Genesis iv. 1. And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she
Genesis iv. 1. And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she
conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man
from the Lord [Jehovah].
Erroneous conception
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This account is given, not of immortal man, but of mor-
This account is given, not of immortal man, but of mor-
tal man, and of sin which is temporal. As both mortal
man and sin have a beginning, they must
consequently have an end, while the sinless,
real man is eternal. Eve's declaration, "I have gotten
a man from the Lord," supposes God to be the author