I've been listening to the BEMA podcast and they reference this book quite a bit,
The Beast that Crouches at the Door by Rabbi David Foreman. Obviously I had to give it a try.
What a powerful book full of new insights!
It's written by a Jewish Rabbi, and so he grounds most of his teaching in the original Hebrew wording. Therefore most of his insights are not necessarily available to those of us who read the Bible in translation.
Foreman dives in with a discussion of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Notice the Tree of Life is not off limits.). It seems self-evident that the knowledge of good and evil would be something valuable to have. But in Foreman's telling, before this knowledge was grasped, humans only knew "true" and "false" insofar as a thing lined up with the thinking of God. Now "good" (I like it) and "evil" (I don't like it) enter into the picture. We are suddenly conflicted. God says one thing is "good," but I think something else is "good." And didn't God put that desire in me in the first place?
This leads to a discussion of the snake, who is called "crafty," or "naked." The snake is quite naked in his arguments. God said one thing, "Don't eat," but your desires say something else, "Eat." Which one takes precedence? The snake nakedly appeals to Eve's desire, even her desire to "be like God." We've been fighting this battle ever since.
After the Fall, when God approaches man, He asks, "Where are you?" The understanding is not that God didn't know where they were located; it is that they were not where the were supposed to be (akin to "Where are all the good men?"). Foreman speculates that the reason Adam and Eve felt "naked" is because for the first time their desires are ruling their hearts rather than the Word of God. And that frightens them. Their own physical nakedness is no longer pure and innocent, but takes on a much darker tone.
This story of desire trumping all is paralleled in the story of Cain and Able. Once again, they are given a choice. Obey God or your desire. Although God did not ask for a sacrifice, Cain, whose name literally means "acquire," decides to offer God some of his produce, maybe in order to use (Hebrew "et") God for further blessing and the ability to acquire more. Able ("breath" or "vapor") chips in with his best. Seeing Cain's heart, God rejects his sacrifice. God responds to Cain's disappointment by telling him he has the same choice as his parents, respond in obedience or allow desire to take over.
We all know how that story ended.
God's punishment is three-fold: Cursed from the ground, no longer have access to the best, forced to wander and never be able to truly acquire. Cain acted as an animal, as the snake told Eve to do, and let his desire inspire murderous rashness. Now Cain would live an animalistic existence. Cain seems to recognize that God has conscripted him to a life of a beast, and worries he will be killed by another. Interestingly the story replays itself in future generations with Jabal (almost the identical word for Able), and Tubal-Cain, who made weapons, thereby perfecting methods of killing. The Midrashes say Lamech killed Cain, mistaking him for a beast, thereby bringing the punishment on himself and avenging Able.
From there the story is a continuous repetition of man as a creating being, never knowing when to say "enough," always driven by his desire.
This book offers so much more and is a fascinating read!
