Genesis 3:8a (NKJV)
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day . . .
One of the mysteries I have discovered in the Word of God is that God always starts with Plan A. Man’s sinfulness makes Plan A impossible, so God creates Plan B. Then, God slowly brings man back to Plan A as He unfolds His redemptive work. I have continually marveled at the patience of the Almighty, both in Holy Scripture and in my own life.
The way that Genesis Chapter Three, Verse Eight reads would lead one to believe that it was the custom of the Creator to visit with Adam and Eve each evening. God’s original plan for humanity was to be one of relationships, not ritual. This revelation becomes more profound when we closely examine God’s commands to the first couple in the Garden.
Genesis 1:28 (NKJV)
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
As we examine Genesis Chapter One, Verse Twenty-Eight, I must stress several things grammatically. First, God’s commands to Adam and Eve were not the blessing. This is why all English translations of this verse place a “comma” after “them” in the sentence structure. God blessed them to strengthen them to walk in what He was about to speak over them. The Hebrew word used for blessed is barak (baw-rak’), which means “to bless; to praise; (pt. pass) blessed, filled with strength, full; praised, adored; to wish on oneself a blessing.”[1] When we carefully examine the meaning of barak, we discover that the act of blessing the first family was the Almighty, filling them with strength.
The second grammatical truth that I need to address is that God gave the commandments to the first couple were not redundant. While the significance of what God spoke is obscured in English, the truths discovered with some lexical work are profound. The surprising Hebrew word I want to examine is the word translated “fill” in English. This is the Hebrew word, male. I began studying this word to validate the “Gap Theory” between Genesis Chapter One, Verses One and Two. However, I quickly discovered that this Hebrew word can be translated as fill and replenish. Truthfully, I thought I had come to a proverbial dead-end in this theological quest. However, as I began to examine the historical etymology of this word, I discovered beautiful hidden treasures. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT) adds a significant additional definition to this ancient Hebrew word: to fill someone’s hand, to consecrate as a priest, devote.[2] Encoded in the command to fill or replenish the earth is the concept of the consecration of the first family as the Almighty’s new priesthood. This same concept of consecration as a priest is confirmed in The Lexham Analytical Lexicon of the Hebrew Bible (LXHEBNLEX), which describes male as meaning: “to be full; to fill; to consecrate as a priest, devote; to fulfill, carry out; to set, mount.” [3] Male is used 248 times in the Hebrew text of the Bible. Concerning our study, one particular use of male is very intriguing indeed. LXHEBNLEX statesthat it means “to be armed (weapons) v., to be prepared for a military confrontation by being provided with weapons. Nifal: 2 Sa 23:7.” [4]
In a word, the Creator commissioned Adam and Eve to be His priesthood on Earth and equipped them as an army to “guard and keep” the Garden (Gen. 2:15). Now, let’s examine the individual Hebrew letters used for males. Remember, the original Hebrew did not contain vowels. The vowels were added with the Masoretic text between 600 A.D. and the Tenth Century.[5] Therefore, male comprises three Hebrew letters: Mem, Lamed, Aleph.
Throughout the Word of God, the use of male paints a compelling picture of an armed priest (or priesthood) who is commanded to fill the earth with its presence to enforce the Kingdom. I find this to be utterly amazing! This single Hebrew word can perfectly illustrate an awakened and matured Remnant fulfilling the Great Commission in the last days.
When we examine the definition that I provide by looking at what each Hebrew letter means, several profound truths are discovered:
1. God uses tohu and bohu in Genesis Chapter One, Verse Two. While bohu is such an archaic word that Hebraists are unsure of an exact definition and must refer to the Septuagint to see how the Rabbis of the Second Temple period translated it into Greek, these two words can easily represent chaos and confusion. The shepherd’s staff that God placed in the hands of Adam and Eve had the authority to stop what Lucifer set in motion when he fell from grace in his rebellion against Almighty God.
2. We discover that we have something to contrast Jesus’ statements of Him being the “Good Shepherd” in the Gospels. Just like Jesus is contrasted in the New Testament as the “Second Adam” (1 Cor. 14:45-47), now we understand that Adam was the first shepherd who stumbled in his Kingdom assignment. Adam laid down his shepherd’s staff of authority in Genesis Chapter Three and remained silent. The authority and shepherd’s staff were restored through the completed work of Messiah. We are now a priesthood and an army serving our King’s pleasure. Let us never be derelict in our Kingdom duties, but always be ready to exercise our restored authority in the earthly realm for our King!
(Note: For the complete examination of Gen 1:28 and 2:15, please see my book, The Kingdom Priesthood: Preparing and Equipping the Remnant Priesthood for the Last Days.)
The Glaring Omission in Genesis Account of Creation and Fall of Humanity
As we examine the text of Genesis Chapters One through Three, we see a glaring omission in the Scriptures. You will not find a reference to religious rituals in these chapters before the fall of humanity. Everything revealed in the creation and commissioning of the first couple was relational. The continued and growing relationship with Almighty God allowed the first couple to carry out their Kingdom assignments on Earth. The need for ritual was added after humanity fell. The first ritual introduced was a blood sacrifice to provide a covering for the sins of Adam and Eve. Through the ministry of Moses, rituals were added for the priesthood to maintain their relationship with God and to provide shadows of Messiah for future generations. Israel was warned never to change the service God gave them by adding the rituals and concepts drawn from the Mystery Religions around them. Doing so would inevitably sever God’s covenant relationship and taint the prophetic tapestry of Messiah being painted in the Torah. Even God judged Moses for striking the rock a second time when Israel needed water. Moses was instructed the second time to speak to the rock. Why? First, Messiah (the Rock of our salvation) would be struck to produce living water. After this history-changing event, one would only need to speak to the Rock for living water to flow!
God Always Takes Us Back to Plan A
We have discovered that God created humanity to be His priesthood and to exercise His authority on Earth. Both were lost when humankind fell in the Garden. Then, God made a new priesthood through the descendants of Abraham. Yet, Israel’s sin with the Golden Calf reduced the Almighty’s original plan for His people.
Exodus 19:5–6 (NKJV)
Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
Only the Tribe of Levi protested the creation of the Golden Calf. Therefore, God chose this tribe to serve as His priesthood. Descendants of Levi would serve Him by teaching His people the Torah, and the sons of Aaron were reserved to minister to Him in the Temple.
In the New Testament, the apostle Peter reveals that God returned to a more excellent version of Plan A that He had for Israel.
1 Peter 2:9–10 (NKJV)
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
In the realities of Messiah’s completed work, the priesthood has been established once again. I submit to you that God’s establishment through the New Birth is not just Plan A for Israel but Plan A for Adam and Eve! This priesthood also serves as His temple and is called to move in Kingdom authority (i.e., the shepherd’s staff of our King).
All of the rituals outlined in the Torah that served to cover sin and are shadows of the Messiah have been distilled into two rituals in the New Covenant: baptism and the Lord’s supper. These powerful acts remind us of our covenant relationship with the Creator. Now, Almighty God is not just visiting us in the cool of the evening. His Spirit lives within us and walks with us continually.
The enemy wants us to replace a dynamic relationship with God with needless rituals of our own making. The carnal man prefers ritual because it can soothe his conscience without requiring him to repent and walk with God in any meaningful way! The kingdom of darkness fears the body of Christ walking with God in spirit and truth. Why? The secret is found with Abram.
Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
Genesis 17:1 (KJV)
Reading Genesis Chapter Seventeen, Verse One in English through the lens of a Twenty-First-Century Gentile believer can be intimidating. To many who read this verse, this is what they hear:
OK, Abram. I am Almighty God. Now that you are walking with Me, you had better do it perfectly (and then in the back of our minds, we hear an additional ominous “or else”)!
However, that is not what is expressed in the Hebrew at all. This promise to Abram is so powerful and exciting that the apostle Paul connects it to how Gentiles come to faith in Messiah in the book of Romans. We need to quickly do a word study in the original Hebrew of Gen. 17:1 to understand better what the Almighty promised to the father of our faith.
The Almighty God: This revelation of who God is consists of two Hebrew words: The first word is El. LXHEBANLEX shares Israel’s understanding of what El represented: “the supernatural being who originated and rules over the universe.”[6] The second word used in the Hebrew text is Shaddai. According to the Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon (Estrongs), Shaddai means “almighty, most powerful.”[7] Abram, like the believer today, was called to walk out of Babylon and the world system that was in place with all its support mechanisms (although, at the same time, they were mechanisms of control). I appreciate what LXHEBANLEX brings to the definition of this revelation of who God is: “the God of Israel understood according to his absolute power.”[8] Why was it so crucial for Abram to know that the God he was following was the One who originated and ruled over the Universe and the One with absolute power? Because the moment you try to walk out of Babylon, the spirit of Babylon will do everything in its power to either pull you back in or impede the unfolding of God’s purpose for calling you out. These two words from God reassured Abram that God had his back, and (unlike the pantheon of gods in Babylon) this God would be everything he would ever need!
Walk Before Me: This statement is drawn from two Hebrew words: halak (haw-lak’) and pariym (paw-neem’). Halak means “to walk.” I love the additional concept to this ancient Hebrew word that HALOT adds, “to escort.”[9] As God brought Abram out of Babylon and moved him into his promise, God escorted him on the journey. However, the call of Abram also became the call of his descendants to walk with God. Therefore, its meaning was expanded to include the “manner of life”[10] in which they were called to live. Abram’s call and ours should be expressed in our manner of life rather than a momentary event of some spiritual euphoria. If the events that modern believers continually seek do not produce a sustained change in their walk, we must ask ourselves if they have encountered the Almighty.
Now, on to the second Hebrew word: Paniym. Paniym means “face, presence, and person.”[11] Abram was called to a personal, face-to-face relationship with the Creator and Ruler of the Universe. This relationship would forever transform Abram, as we will discover in the next Hebrew word.
Be Thou Perfect: The Hebrew word used in the text is tamiym (taw-meem’). This one Hebrew word makes this promise by God so powerful. Tamiym means: “1) complete, whole, entire, sound 1a) complete, whole, entire 1b) whole, sound, healthful 1c) complete, entire (of time) 1d) sound, wholesome, unimpaired, innocent, having integrity 1e) what is complete or entirely in accord with truth and fact.”[12] I have included the entire definition from the eStrongs to show you the great scope of this Hebrew word.
God was telling Abram:
I am calling you to walk with Me. As I escort you on this spiritual journey, our growing relationship will make you complete, whole, healthy, an individual of integrity, unimpaired, innocent before Me, and entirely in accordance with truth and fact.
Who you will become through your walk with Christ is what the enemy fears the most! We must continually guard against any sin, so-called new Christian trend, or routine that attempts to derail our daily walk with Almighty God. This walk is the divine purpose of our priesthood and our spiritual warfare. In the believer’s life, all blessing and ministry flow from a deep relationship with Almighty God, and nothing can replace it!
The Purpose of the Kingdom Citizen Whitepapers
The purpose of the Kingdom Citizen Whitepapers is to provide biblical clarity on various subjects for the Remnant in the Last Days. KCWP primarily focuses on practical theology and application rather than detailed academic-level examinations.
About the Author
Dr. Michael K. Lake holds doctorates in both Theology and Religious Education. He is the founder and chancellor of Biblical Life College and Seminary, the Scholar-in-Residence at the Strategic Remnant Learning Center—Biblical Life Assembly, a best-selling author, host of Biblical Life TV, and co-host with his wife Mary Lou of the podcast, The Kingdom Intelligence Briefing.
Endnotes
[1] The Lexham Analytical Lexicon of the Hebrew Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2017).
[2] Ludwig Koehler et al., The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994–2000), 584.
[3] The Lexham Analytical Lexicon of the Hebrew Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2017).
[4] Ibid.
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_Hebrew
[6] The Lexham Analytical Lexicon of the Hebrew Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2017).
H# 07706. Strong’s Enhanced Lexicon. BibleWorks for Windows 10.0. BibleWorks, LLC, Norfolk, VA. Copyright © 2015.
[8] The Lexham Analytical Lexicon of the Hebrew Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2017).
[9] Ludwig Koehler et al., The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994–2000), 246.
[10] H# 01980. Strong’s Enhanced Lexicon. BibleWorks for Windows 10.0. BibleWorks, LLC, Norfolk, VA. Copyright © 2015.
[11] H# 06440. Ibid.
[12] H# 08549. Ibid.
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