This is so bizarre, ... so "off the cuff" mushroom thinking, that no statement of Truth could possibly be made.
No they are not one and the same. There's absolutely no linguistic basis for such a conclusion. The tree is a tree, and the serpent is a serpent (albeit one possessed by Satan).
No they are not one and the same. There's absolutely no linguistic basis for such a conclusion. The tree is a tree, and the serpent is a serpent (albeit one possessed by Satan).
Look at the context of the chapter. (And I can't believe you have me playing the context card.)
And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.(Genesis 2:9 KJV)
The narrative is about trees. Trees growing up out of the ground. Trees that are pleasant to the sight, and more importantly trees (lots of trees.... many trees) that are good for food. Is God talking about people here? Uh... no. He's talking about trees. Actual trees, of which, as you well know, were two special trees. So where are these trees?
And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.(Genesis 2:8 KJV)
The trees are in a garden. A garden is where food is grown. That's all. A tree is just a tree. They grow food (fruit). And fruit has specific biological properties for the sustenance of life. That's why we eat food. I'm not trying to be a smartass... (really). But in truth, the context of the narrative is that there exists two trees amongst all the other food trees (and plants) that have special biological properties beyond that of mere enzymes and amino-acids and vitamins (etc.) As an example, aspirin is a special biological compound that comes from bark of a Willow tree.
Willow bark extract became recognized for its specific effects on fever, pain, and inflammation in the mid-eighteenth century.Aspirin - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
NO, I am not saying that aspirin was the actual operative compound in either of the special trees, but that trees have molecular compounds that affect the biological operation of the human body. (Need I say Marijuana? I've already mentioned mushrooms...)
Now if the two special food trees are people, then ALL the trees in the garden are people too, and that's what I find to be "mushroom thinking" - if that's your premise (i.e. presuppositional foundation) - that trees mean people, then I have no idea how to continue on with any rational discussion.
The trees are trees. Two of the trees in the garden (an actual garden) had fruit containing special molecular compounds that were not safe for humans at that time.
The serpent lied to Eve, and succeeded in having Adam and Eve eat something they ought not to. (And YEGODS has it been millennia of a hangover since.)
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.(John 8:44 KJV)
Rhema
I read trees when it says trees. You somehow think trees are people. As I've said, this has gone down the rabbit hole into mushroom thinking.
And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life ALSO in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.(Genesis 2:8-9 KJV)
Indeed, in the middle of the garden of trees (plural), both for decoration and food, there were ALSO two significantly special trees.
And you're telling ME to read ?!?!
Rhema
Not the tree .....
No tree was commanded to do anything. (Look, I can only deal with what you actually wrote. Okay?)
No tree was commanded to do anything. (Look, I can only deal with what you actually wrote. Okay?)
So what tree was ADAM commanded not to eat ??
Uh... the one he ate from ??
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.(Genesis 3:5-7 KJV)
And just what tree had fruit that would "open the eyes" to know good and evil ??
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.(Genesis 2:16-17 KJV)
The tree about whose fruit God said (in literal Hebrew) ... "dying thou doest die."
You still seem to be in mushroom land, bro, if you cannot see that the LORD God commanded the MAN... (not the tree)...
However, ... you rightly recognize that the first question God asked of Adam, "Who told thee that thou wast naked?" was left unanswered in the Biblical text. Decades ago God directed my attention to this question, and then told me the answer... and no, it wasn't the tree who told Adam.
The trees ain't talking (unless you're on mushrooms...)
Adam ate the FRUIT from the Tree, and gave himself brain damage, not unlike those those who (ahem...) eat those mushrooms. God asked... "did you EAT" not did you talk to the trees.
Rhema
(Just curious... no condemnation implied, but how many mushrooms have you eaten? I guess I mean the magic kind.)
