Comments on: The Washington Post’s Gene Weingarten Discovers the True Adam and Eve Story

By: Arnold Hitch

Arnold Hitch — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 19:04:45 +0000

No… rib is short for ribosome. The beginning of life. Atom and EV, It’s not a literal story guys, it’s an explanation of DNA and science, turned into a story.

By: Pat Collins

Pat Collins — Sat, 07 Nov 2015 15:32:39 +0000

Who knew there was a bone in the penis. Some of us were apparently left out.

By: fr.Paul the poor

fr.Paul the poor — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 15:45:33 +0000

Peace of God be with you all. I’m a monk in one of the Coptic monasteries in Egypt. i appreciate your great efforts in biblical arch. research. i’d like to know : How can i get your magazine ” hard cover. and how can i pay the amount.please, i’m all eager to your kindly reply. thanks in advance.

By: Kurt

Kurt — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 16:42:26 +0000

Does the bible say humans are made of dirt?”And Jehovah Elohim formed Man, dust of the ground” Genesis 2: 7
http://www.tjclark.com/humanbodyelements.htm

By: Paul Ballotta

Paul Ballotta — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 01:10:16 +0000

Correction: the god Damuzi was not fertilized while in the netherworld during the summer, which is why women mourned for Tammuz in Ezekiel 8:14.

By: Paul Ballotta

Paul Ballotta — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 01:01:51 +0000

Correction: “le-marbeh” (increase/abundance) in Isaiah 9:6.

By: Paul Ballotta

Paul Ballotta — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 00:55:32 +0000

That’s an interesting point that Kurt brought up (though stem-cell research is a controversial political wedge issue) and it reminds me of the novel by Frank Herbert, “The Jesus Incident,” which is set in the future when humans are colonizing other planets but in order to survive a work force had to be created consisting of genetically modified humans who could adapt to different environments. The original human prototypes retained their status as the administrative ruling class (creators) who looked down with disdain on the lower working class consisting of human/animal hybrids (the created). The hybrids exhibited a belief in a supreme being (God), while the ruling class tended to cynically see themselves as being the center of the universe (gods).
The famous verse from Isaiah 7:14, “a young woman is with child,” that was mistranslated as, “a virgin is with child,” was actually a Jewish messianic prophecy according to the Talmud (B.T. Sanhedrin 94a), where it mentions the child Immanuel’s kingdom in Isaiah 9:6:
“For the increase (Hebrew “le-marbeh”) of the realm and for peace without end…”
Apparently the occurance of the letter ‘mem’ in ‘le-marbeh” is the only time in the Old Testament where a final letter ‘mem’ is not located at the end of the word. The closed letter ‘mem’ is symbolic of a woman’s womb that has been fertilized as opposed to an open letter ‘mem’ that is symbolic of pre-natal womb.
If we go back to the origin of this prophecy in Isaiah 7:10-17, we have Isaiah asking King Ahaz for a sign, either from the netherworld or from heaven, whereupon Ahaz refuses, self-righteously stating that he will not put God to the test. Isaiah then gets a bit testy, telling Ahaz that he has made men weary and asks if Ahaz will also try to make God weary (apparently the practice of rulers wasting resources silencing their critics, known in modern times as Richard Nixon Syndrome, has been around for sometime).
The “sign” from the netherworld and heaven does seem to be a reference to the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar who was known as the Queen of Heaven and in myth she descends to the netherworld to rescue her ungrateful lover, the fertilized god Damuzi. The Canaanite goddess Astarte’s name is derived from Ishtar and this fertility goddess’ name, Astarte/Ashtoreth originally meant ‘womb,’ or “that which issues from the womb” (“The Hebrew Goddess” by Raphael Patai, p.67).
The 13th century book of mysticism, “The Zohar” (1:34), makes a connection between the final letter ‘mem’ in the name ‘Adam” with the letter ‘mem’ in the word “le-marbeh” (increase/abundance) in Isaiah 9:14.
“This is the only time in the entire Bible that a final ‘mem’ appears out of place, before the end of the word – a peculiarity that stimulated the rabbinic mind” (“The Zohar, vol. 1” by Daniel Matt, p.216, n. 893).

By: Kurt

Kurt — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 14:13:44 +0000

What of the description in Genesis that Eve was fashioned from Adam’s rib? (Genesis 2:21-23) Before dismissing the account as myth or fantasy, consider the following facts: In January 2008, scientists in California, U.S.A., produced the world’s first mature cloned human embryos from adult skin cells. In fact, using similar techniques, scientists have cloned at least 20 animals. The most famous of these, Dolly the sheep, was cloned in 1996 from the mammary gland of an adult sheep.

What will come of such experiments remains to be seen. But the point is this: If humans can use biological material from one organism to produce another one of its kind, could not the almighty Creator fashion a human from existing biological material of another human? Interestingly, surgeons routinely use the rib bone in reconstructive surgery because of its ability to regrow and replace itself
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200274899

By: Pail Ballotta

Pail Ballotta — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 01:56:34 +0000

The above quote is from ‘The Bahir; Illumination” by Aryeh Kaplan, p.66.

By: Pail Ballotta

Pail Ballotta — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 01:52:35 +0000

If this sounds like s sub-plot in a Dan Brown novel with a secret society of masons placing mysterious clues in their architecture, it’s probably because it is. A Jewish book of mysticism that circulated in Europe in the 12th century contains such a clue when the “rib” that God used to construct the woman is equated with the side of the sanctuary:
“It is thus written (Genesis 2:24), ‘And they shall be one flesh.’ But she was taken from his ribs, as it is written (Genesis 2:21), ‘And He took one of his ribs.’ Does He then hsve a rib? Yes. It is written (Exodus 26:20), ‘the ribs of the tabernacle.’ The Targum renders this, ‘the side of the tabernacle.'”
http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/new-testament/the-gospel-of-jesus-wife-papyrus-revisited/