THE ISRAEL BIBLE Mahx Comments File
GENESIS 3
THE TEXT
3:17 And unto Adam He said: ‘Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying: Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
Rabbi Tuly Weisz:
3:17 Cursed is the ground for your sake
The land is not cursed because of Man’s sin, but, ‘ba’avurekhah,’ for you. According to R’ Samson Raphael Hirsch, this means for the sake of man, in order to rectify his actions. Following Adam’s sin, the land’s prosperity became a means of measuring man’s adherence to God; for the Jewish nation this means following the commandments and keeping God’s Torah. When they do so, God shows his approval through the land’s flourishing. This is especially true in the Land of Israel. Scholars and historians alike note that the Land of Israel lay fallow and uninhabitable until the Jews returned, and in just a short time the Jews of Israel, following the commandments set out in the Torah, have turned a wasteland into a blooming, prosperous country.
Mahx Comment:
When we read that G-d said to Adam, “Who told you that you were naked?” we are ourselves pricked by the sharp point of G-d’s word. We are aware that we are somewhere in the background, in the audience, and are also somehow being addressed as we listen to G-d speak these words to Adam. Jewish sources, such as the Zohar, help us to understand that when a husband and wife are one flesh, in their intimacy they have no shame of being naked, but here the first husband and wife, due to their sin, their reliance upon their own intelligence instead of having obedient trust in the commandment of G-d, made them mistrust one another and seem like strangers to one another, so that they were ashamed to be naked in one another’s presence. Only sin has the power to create alienation between a husband and wife and between all people.
What is G-d’s true remedy for this? Where can the repentance be found that leads to the rectification of all things? Jesus was a teacher in Israel and there are many people throughout the world who have been influenced by him to study the Scriptures of Israel to find the answers to these questions. Rambam takes note of this and comments on it. However, there are many who would dismiss Israel as the witnesses of the one true G-d and replace Israel as a whole with Jesus. One cannot imagine that Jesus himself did anything like this.
However, Israel has suffered greatly through many ages on account of such ideas that have claimed authority in his name. Even today these kind of ideas provide some of the background for the oppression of the people of Israel in the Land of Israel. When people post comments in discussion of the texts of a Bible devoted to Israel and to the Land of Israel, therefore, it seems appropriate that great sensitivity be shown toward these issues. Such a great alienation there has been between the Jewish People, the people of Israel, and the majority of the followers of Jesus! The owners and moderator of this site should be highly commended for their tolerance and willingness to engage in such open dialogue.
