I have been reading my Bible in Chronological order since last week. I would like to be done by January 1st. I have heard a lot of people say that when you try to read it in a short amount of time, you seem to retain more and you see the big picture, so to speak. I wanted to give it a try. As much as I said, I'm just going to read it through, and I will read it again and study any spots that I feel led to later on, I still stopped. lol I got stuck on Genesis 2:8. To say that I have read this verse numerous times is an understatement. The verse is Genesis 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. You're probably thinking, what is there to get stuck on. I got stuck with the word "planted." For mostly everything else God created (except for man, which he formed) the Bible says, God said, let there be light, etc. " I thought, "did he really plant the Garden of Eden?" Like did He make holes in the dirt and plant all the beautiful plants, flowers, trees, etc.? Later that evening I shared my thoughts with my beloved. At first he was in awe as well. Then he said, "oh, but sometimes there are Hebrew words that there is no proper translation in English, so they pick the next closest word." I was sort of deflated, because I loved picturing God taking His time planting the Garden of Eden. I checked Bible Gateway and looked at all the other versions of Bibles, (mine was King James) just to see if they had a different word for planted. They didn't. So I checked online to see if I could find the verse in Hebrew, which I did, but then I remembered, I don't know how to read Hebrew. ;0) I then found a website called E-sword It is a wonderful resourse. You have to download it to your computer. Guess what, it has the entire Bible, and it has the origianl Hebrew words. YAY!! This is how the verse looked. On the website, the numbers you see below are a lot smaller, and in blue hyperlinks.
Gen 2:8 And the LORD3068 God430 planted5193 a garden1588 eastward4480, 6924 in Eden;5731 and there8033 he put7760 (853) the man120 whom834 he had formed.3335
I clicked on 5193, next to the word planted, and this is what I found.
H5193
נטע
nâṭa‛
naw-tah'
A primitive root; properly to strike in, that is, fix; specifically to plant (literally or figuratively): - fastened, plant (-er).
So what do you think? Did our God actually take the time to plant the Garden of Eden?
I don't know, after finding this resource, my entire idea of reading quickly through the Bible without stopping to study, seems to be going out the window. ;0) I absolutely love this resource. You download it to your computer, and then you don't even need to be online to use it.
Monday, November 20, 2006
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8 comments:
Hi Shereen,
This is very interesting and something I've never, ever thought about before. It has intriged me a bit and I too decided to see what I could come up with.
Remember me telling you about the Webster's 1828 dictionary? Well, I decided to use this source to see what I could come up with.
Naturally I typed in the word "planted". This is what it said:
"PLANT'ED, pp. Set in the earth for propagation; set; fixed; introduced; established.
1. Furnished with seeds or plants for growth; as a planted field.
2. Furnished with the first inhabitants; settled; as territory planted with colonists.
3. Filled or furnished with what is new.
Then I looked up the word establish, but nothing there seemed to help jump out at me or settle anything in my mind.
I looked at the verse one more time and then decided to take a closer look at the definition, "planted". Upon closer examination of that definition, I stopped at the word, "set".
When I looked up the word "set", it came up with 10 definitions. I won't copy them all here, but just the first five.
SET, v.t. pret. pp. set. [L. sedo; to compose, as a book, to dispose or put in order, to establish, found or institute, to possess, to cease; L. sedo, sedeo and sido, coinciding with sit, but all of one family. From the Norman orthography of this word, we have assess, assise. See Assess. Heb. Ch. to set, to place.]
1. To put or place; to fix or cause to rest in a standing posture. We set a house on a wass of stone; we set a book on a shelf. In this use, set differs from lay; we set a thing on its end or basis; we lay it on its side.
2. To put or place in its proper or natural posture. We set a chest or trunk on its bottom, not its end; we set a bedstead or a table on its feet or laeg.
3. To put, place or fix in any situation. God set the sun, moon and stars in the firmament.
I do set my bow in the cloud. Gen 9.
4. To put into any condition or state.
The Lord the God will set thee on high. Duet. 28.
I am come to set a man at variance against his father. Matt. 10.
So we say, to set in order, to set at ease, to set to work, or at work.
5. To put; to fix; to attach to.
The Lord set a mark upon Cain. Gen. 4.
So we say, to set a label on a vial or a bale.
When I got to definition #3, I noticed they gave an the example found in Gen. 9:13. "God 'set' the rainbow in the cloud...
I don't think that God physically set the rainbow in the sky, the same theory with the the moon and the stars. He could have done it with the wave of His hand or by His spoken word.
Now I realize that my quick research shouldn't be taken as gospel. I don't know any of what I stated to be fact. It's just my opinion and my opinion is definitely not cemented in. I am totally willing to accept anyone elses thoughts and ideas on this. In fact, I hope that others will chime in with their thoughts and research as well. :-)
Thanks for sharing this one!
Deb
BTW-- if anyone else is interested in the 1828 dictionary, here is the link: http://www.cbtministries.org/resources/webster1828.htm
I kind of like the idea that God literally planted the garden of Eden! I have never noticed that before. We use the KJV too, and to find those pesky Hebrew words, we use the Strong's Concordance. It's the same thing that e-sword has, in book form. Been around for years and years. I keep mine right by my reading chair, and lots of times I'll look up something in it while I'm just reading to get a clearer idea.
I've seriously considered reading the Bible straight through in a month like you're doing - several ladies did it over the summer, I remember. Maybe you could keep reading, and write down the things that catch your eye and you want to look up. When you read through again, you could stop then and check out all the neat things!
Sometimes it's good to just soak up Bible verses and ponder them for a while. I'm trying to read through the Bible like a book, but I get kind of sidetracked by verses n' stuff. It's interesting what you have raised here...I hadn't really thought about it!
I love the thought that God got down and actually put the roots in the ground Himself. Like you, I've never really thought about it before. Lovely!
Debbie, thank you so much for taking the time to type all of that up and sharing it with us. It really is such a simple verse that I never put so much thought into. It did make me realize that we need to carefully look at each verse in the Bible, and ponder it a little. ;0) There is a time to just read through to get the big picture, but it's also nice to take the time and think about what is being written. I am to reread your comment later on when the house is quiet. lol ;0)
Hi Susan, lol I kind of liked the mental picture as well. I embarassed to say that I have that same Strong's concordance. I guess it completely slipped my mind. ;0) I guess I should put it in my worship basket along with my Bible. Thanks for the reminder.
Mrs. Blythe, it's good to know I am not the only one that gets sidetracked. lol It's nice to have you back. If you don't mind, I will add you to my blogs list again. It really is nice to soak up the verses. It goes to show that no matter how many times we read the Bible, the Lord always has something new to show us.
V, I too love the thought that He planted each one, and specifically thought about where each tree or plant would go. ;0)
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I really appreciate your comments. Thanks for sharing.