The American Wisdom Series

Presents
Pamphlet #6310

Some teach that Eve ate an apple?
Wouldn't you like to know what really happened in the garden of Eden?

Ezekiel 30:20
And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

[21] Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword.

[22] Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand.

Ezekiel 30:23
And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.

[24]And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break Pharaoh's arms, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man.

Ezekiel 30:25
But I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt.

[26] And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

There are two very important basic principles that a person needs to understand in order to rightly divide the Word of God, and in particular this 31st chapter of Ezekiel. The first is that a proper "translation" must be made before a proper interpretation can be achieved. The second is to understand the symbology used so that one can determine the subject and context of what is being discussed. Let's look at a brief illustration of each principle.

Consider the 6th Commandment found in Exodus 20:13, which reads in the king's English, "Thou Shalt Not Kill". Unfortunately, the way most Sunday school classes are conducted in our churches, people rarely get an opportunity to learn what this Commandment really says.Usually a very kind and thoughtful person, though not a Bible scholar, unselfishly gives of his or her time and volunteers to teach Sunday school or Bible class. He or she traditionally chooses a topic for class discussion and after selected Bible verses are read participants are asked to share what these verses mean to them.

"Jane, what does 'Thou shalt not kill mean to you?'" Jane replies, "I think it applies to all life, because all life is precious, even the animals. I don't believe we should kill animals just to get their furs."

"Joe, what about you?" Joe says, "I think the proper killing of animals is OK, such as is required to obtain food, but man has no business and no right taking the life of another human being. Only God has that right. Therefore, I think all capital punishment should be abolished in all the states."

"Class, in the Hebrew in which it was written, the word "kill" used here in Ex. 20:13 is "ratsach", which means "to murder" in a premeditated fashion. In other words a "ratsach" is a homicide, a premeditated murder of a human being. It has nothing to do with animals, accidentally killing someone, or even the killing done militarily in warfare. Any questions so far?

"Furthermore, class, God commands us just a few verses later in chapter 21:12-13 that if a person murders someone, he or she is to be put to death, "killed" not "murdered". They are even different words in English.  However, if someone accidentally kills another person, which is not murder (ratsach), he or she shall not be put to death. So we see that the states that have capital punishment are abiding by the law of God, while those who do not execute convicted murderers are in violation of His law."

This brings us to our second basic principle pertaining to this chapter, which is understanding symbolism. You see, the unique thing about allegory and symbology is that if you understand what it is that the symbols represent then what is being said becomes very, very simple and so easy to understand. However, if you do not understand what or who the symbols represent then the simplicity of that which is written becomes a mystery and is actually hidden from your understanding.

Such we find to be the case with "trees" in the Bible. Why is there such difficulty in understanding who the "Tree of the knowledge of good and evil" is in Genesis chapters two and three? Throughout the Word of God, men and even God Himself are liken to trees. God says of Himself in Hosea 14:8:

Hosea 14:8
... I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found.

Note: If you think Eve ate an apple (by the way, the word "apple" is not anywhere to found in Genesis) and you would like to know what really happened in the garden of Eden, then read Our pamphlets #6218, #6219, & #6220

In Mark chapter 8 we read the account of Jesus healing the eyes of a blind man. Some people think He healed him just so the man could physically see his surroundings. Wrong! He healed his eyes primarily to give him "eyes to see" which is "spiritual vision". It happened on this wise. Jesus first moisten the man's eyes and placed His hands over them and then Jesus asked him what he saw. Here's what the man said:

Mark 8:24
And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.

[25] After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.