<p>Supplemental Notes:</p>
<p><a href="http://media.danieltrainingnetwork.org/series/studies-in-torah/2-The-Curse-DG.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://media.danieltrainingnetwork.org/series/studies-in-torah/2-The-Curse-DG.pdf</a></p>
<p><a href="http://media.danieltrainingnetwork.org/series/studies-in-torah/2-Genesis-3-6-Heiser.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://media.danieltrainingnetwork.org/series/studies-in-torah/2-Genesis-3-6-Heiser.pdf</a></p>
<p><a href="http://media.danieltrainingnetwork.org/series/studies-in-torah/2-Source-Sheet-Watchers-in-Jewish-Tradition.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://media.danieltrainingnetwork.org/series/studies-in-torah/2-Source-Sheet-Watchers-in-Jewish-Tradition.pdf</a></p>


David Gordon

David Rickman

Instagram

Curse

<div>The divine council consists of created divine beings called gods/elohim and in several key texts of scriptures we observe their origin, role and future.</div>
<ul>
<li>Origin – Present at the time of creation – singing and shouting (Job 38:4-7) divine sons/family (Gen 6:1-4; Deut 32:8; Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7; Ps 82:1-8; 89:5-8)</li>
<li>Function – Make decisions with Yahweh (Gen 1:26, 3:22, 11:7) delegated authority from Yahweh over the heavens and nations (Gen 10/11; Deut 4:19-20, 32:8-9; Ps 82) given free will leading to rebellion/punishment (Gen 6:1-5; II Peter 2:1-5; Jude 6) hierarchy (Eph 6:12)</li>
<li>Future – Many of the divine council will be judged at the day of the Lord for their rebellion and wicked stewardship (Ps 82; Isa 24:21-23, 34:2-5, Luke 21:26) *The elders of Yahweh in Isa 24:23 and the 24 elders among the heavenly hosts in the book of Revelation (Rev 4:4, 10, 5:5, 6, 8, 11, 14, 7:11, 13, 11:16, 14:3, 19:4) may actually be the good and faithful stewards among the divine council who will serve and rule with Jesus in the age to come.</li>
</ul>


THE DIVINE COUNCIL (PSALM 82, 89:5-8; JOB 1:6, 2:1)

<div>4And the serpent said to the woman, “You are not going to die, 5but God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like divine beings who know good and bad.” 6When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate. (Ge 3:4–6 Tanakh)<sup>1</sup></div>
<ul>
<li>The serpent (nachash)<sup>2</sup> – more than a snake (2 Cor. 11:3; 1 Thess. 3:5; Rev. 12:9)</li>
<li>YHWH knows…divine beings know<sup>3</sup></li>
<li>Like divine beings in independence
<ul>
<li>“knowledge of good an evil” – not merely moral categories, but a functional knowledge that discerns what is useful or harmful in navigating life.<sup>4</sup> Being like divine beings would yield a mode of existence that has a capacity to make judgments for their own well-being independently of God.</li>
<li>“desirable as a source of wisdom” – “wisdom” also carries connotations of “success”.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Like divine beings in existence
<ul>
<li>Divine beings live on in perpetuity (immortality). Though the experience of death is still theoretical to man at this point, the prospect of this aspect of elohim-like existence without the stipulations fixed by YHWH (Gen. 2:17) drives human desire to autonomously perpetuate a life without the encroaching possibility of mortality.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><sup>1</sup> Jewish Publication Society. Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1985.<br />
<sup>2</sup> On the connection between different vowel vocalization of the Hebrew n-ch-sh, and their correspondence to the serpent, divinization, and shining bronze / copper (Is. 14; Ezek. 28), see Heiser, Michael S. The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible. First Edition. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015. 87.<br />
<sup>3</sup> “Any possible ambiguity inherent in the use of the same word for “God” and for “divine beings” is here removed by the plural form of the verb “know” (yodeʿei) and by verse 22 (“one of us”). As tractate Soferim 4:5(4) points out, “the first ʾelohim [in this verse] is sacred, the second non-sacred.” [Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis, The JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 25.]<br />
<sup>4</sup> “For the ancients, the good was not just an idea: the good was what had a good effect; as a result, in this context “good and evil” should be understood more as what is “beneficial” and “salutary” on the one hand and “detrimental,” “damaging” on the other. So the serpent holds out less the prospect of an extension of the capacity for knowledge than the independence that enables a man to decide for himself what will help him or hinder him.” [Gerhard von Rad, Genesis: A Commentary, ed. Peter Ackroyd et al., trans. John H. Marks, Revised Edition., The Old Testament Library<br />
(Philadelphia, PA: The Westminster Press, 1972), 89.]</p>


TO BE LIKE THE GODS (GENESIS 3)

<div>1When men began to increase on earth and daughters were born to them, 2the divine beings saw how beautiful the daughters of men were and took wives from among those that pleased them.—3The LORD said, “My breath shall not abide in man forever, since he too is flesh; let the days allowed him be one hundred and twenty years.”—4 It was then, and later too, that the Nephilim appeared on earth—when the divine beings cohabited with the daughters of men, who bore them offspring. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown. (Ge 6:1–4 Tanakh)</div>
<ul>
<li>Context – Gen. 5 (closing the toledot of man)– humanity carrying out commandment to be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 1:28) and “sitting on death row” (Gen. 5:5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 27, 31)</li>
<li>
<div>The sons of God – not YHWH’s progeny but indicating member of a class or group (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Ps. 29:1; 89:7).</div>
<ul>
<li>
<div>Divine beings / angels &#8211; Later Jewish tradition, especially after the Septuagint, virtually equates ‘sons of elohim’ and ‘angels’ (ex. Dan. 3:25). Though there is hierarchy among divine beings, they are mostly unspecified in scripture.</div>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<div>Saw, goodness of daughters, and took<sup>5</sup> – later biblical and Jewish traditions note the lustful motivation behind their boundary transgression.<sup>6</sup> “Whomever they chose” &#8211; a phrase usually associated with YHWH, which could suggest their attempts to imitate actions of divine prerogative reserved for Him only.</div>
<ul>
<li>
<div>4For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell [Gk. Tartarus] and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; (2 Pe 2:4 NASB95)</div>
</li>
<li>
<div>6And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, (Jud 6 NASB95)</div>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<div>Take a Wife – the technical term for marriage in Tanakh (precedent in Gen. 4:19). There is no mention of rape or adultery, rather the terms used suggest consent and willing participation.</div>
<ul>
<li>
<div>“It ought also to be borne in mind that the girls’ fathers would also have been implicated, since, if there was no rape or seduction, their approval to these matches would have been required. The obvious avoidance of any terms suggesting lack of consent makes the girls and their parents culpable, the more so when the previous chapter has demonstrated that mankind was breeding very successfully on its own.”<sup>7</sup></div>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<div>An attempt to prolong and secure life and circumvent the curse leading to death – likely expected through the offspring that would come from these unsanctioned unions.</div>
</li>
<li>
<div>Offspring and Limitation</div>
<ul>
<li>
<div>Emphasizes human frailty &#8211; even the offspring of these unions, are flesh. Limitation of human lifespan to 120 years.</div>
</li>
<li>
<div>Nephilim / “mighty men” (giants) are the offspring of these divine-human unions. Verse 4 gives background content to verse 2 &#8211; the sons of God taking wives among the daughters of men. <sup>8</sup></div>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><sup>5</sup> The transgression of divine beings is encoded with the language of human transgression in Gen. 3:5: “saw,” “good,” “took.”<br />
<sup>6</sup> 1 Pet. 3:18-19, 22; 2 Pet. 2:4-9; Jude 5-7; T. Reu. 5:6- 7; 2 Bar. 56:9-15; 1 En. 15:4; Jub. 7:21<br />
<sup>7</sup> Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 1–15, vol. 1, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1987), 141.<br />
<sup>8</sup> Genesis 3 and 6 both served as explanatory texts concerning sin in Jewish tradition: “How did sin originate? There are two main explanations. One is that Adam and Eve brought evil into the world through their transgression of God’s command (Sir. 25:24; 2 Bar. 23:4; cf. 4 Ezra 7:118–19: “O Adam, what have you done? For though it was you who sinned, the fall was not yours alone, but ours also who are your descendants”). The other is that the intercourse of (fallen) angels and women in the time of Noah was so heinous that it changed the moral nature of humanity (cf. 1 Enoch 10:7–9; 64:1–2).” [Hannah K. Harrington, “Sin,” ed. John J. Collins and Daniel C. Harlow, The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010), 1230.]</p>


TO LIVE THROUGH THE GODS (GENESIS 6)

<ul>
<li>Build a tower into heaven – another human attempt to interface with divine beings and overstep YHWH’s fixed boundaries (ziggurat – as a symbol of a mountain and meeting point between heavens and earth in ancient cultures)</li>
<li>Let us make for ourselves a name – fame, reputation, memorial (Is. 56:5). Conversely, God makes Abram’s name great (Gen. 12:2).</li>
<li>Lest we be scattered – consolidate together in defiance of commandment of Gen. 1:28; 9:1, 7</li>
</ul>


TO ACCESS THE GODS (GENESIS 11)

<ul>
<li>Judgment and Limitation
<ul>
<li>Gen 3. –Tree of Knowledge – consequence=death, but not immediately applied. Limitation of access to Tree of Life (Gen. 3:22-24) to humble human life back to dust.</li>
<li>Gen. 6 — Divine-Human Unions – not immediately applied. Issues a limitation of lifespan and subsequent judgment at the flood.</li>
<li>Gen. 11— Tower – language confusion, disinheritance to other authorities, scattering.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Promise / Covenant following each judgment of transgression
<ul>
<li>Gen. 3:15 – an offspring would come to crush the serpent and bring restoration</li>
<li>Gen. 9:9 – God establishes his everlasting covenant with Noah / offspring / living creatures</li>
<li>Gen. 12 – God establishes his covenant with Abram</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>


FUNCTION WITHIN THE UNIT OF GENESIS 1-11

Studies in Torah: Biblical Frameworks for the Jewish Narrative

A brief intro and vision for the seven classes and corresponding podcasts.

Studies In Torah Class Introduction

Creation

An Introduction to the class and overview of creation in Genesis one.

S1 - Creation of the Heavens, Earth and all their Host

Why does Cosmology matter? What does it mean for man to be made in God&#8217;s image?


P1 - Conversation on Genesis 1, the gods and Man in God’s Image

An overview of both divine and human transgression of boundaries in Genesis 3, 6, and 11.


S2 - Transgressed Boundaries: Divine and Human Rebellion in Genesis 1-11

Discusses some of the themes covered in the second class by looking at divine and human transgression through Genesis 3, 6, and 11.

P2 - Conversation on the Curse and the Transgression of the sons of God

Covenant

The Flood, The Covenant with Noah, and The Sons of Noah and the Curse of Canaan


S3 - The Flood and Covenant with Noah

Find out more about the mechanism for the Genesis flood and its instruction regarding the end times judgment in the Bible.

P3 - Conversation on the Flood, the Judgment of God, and Sustaining Human Life

This teaching gives a review of the rebellions as well as the judgment of God in Genesis 1-11. It...

S4 - Rebellion, Judgment, Election

P4 - Conversation on the Allotment of the Nations to the sons of God - the Election of Abraham

This teaching explores the subjects of ethnicity and the covenant made with Abraham.

S5 - Abrahamic Covenant

P5 - Conversation on the Covenant with Abraham

This teaching looks at the covenant made with Israel at Sinai, its reiteration in the book of Deuteronomy, and its implications for the future through the Song of Moses (Dt. 32).

S6 - From the Covenant at Sinai to the Latter Days

P6 - Conversation on the Covenant with Israel and the Song of Moses

This teaching gives an overview of the primary covenants in the scriptures and surveys God's covenant with Israel through the Hebrew Bible.

S7 - Frameworks of the Jewish Narrative through the Tanakh

P7 - Conversation on the Covenants through the Tanakh and Conclusions for the Class

<p>An overview of both divine and human transgression of boundaries in Genesis 3, 6, and 11.</p>
