BEMA Episode Link: 2: Knowing When to Say “Enough”
Episode Length: 52:58
Published Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 01:00:00 -0700
Session 1
About this episode:

Marty Solomon and Brent Billings discuss the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and what the story might really be getting at.

The Exodus You Almost Passed Over by Rabbi David Fohrman

Study Tools

• Discussion Video for BEMA 2
• The Companion for BEMA 2
• Take Your Own Notes
• Transcript for BEMA 2

Legacy Episode Content

• Episode updated 13 January 2025
• Original audio from 15 September 2016
• Transcript for BEMA 2 of 15 September 2016

Notes

*Note: The following notes are handwritten by me, Adam, and I reserve the right to be wrong.

BEMA Episode 2 Study Notes: Knowing When to Say “Enough”

Title & Source Summary

This episode explores Genesis 2-3, the narrative of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, through a Hebrew cultural lens. Marty Solomon and Brent Billings examine what this ancient story reveals about human nature, divine image-bearing, and the fundamental difference between humans and animals - namely, the capacity for self-restraint and knowing when to say “enough.”

Key Takeaways

• The Adam and Eve narrative is structured as a chiasm (literary pattern) with nakedness and shame at its center, revealing the story’s core theme
• Being made “in the image of God” means possessing the divine quality of knowing when to exercise self-restraint, unlike animals who always act on their desires
• The Hebrew word play between “naked” (arowm/erowm) and “crafty” (eruwm) suggests deeper meaning about the serpent’s human-like qualities
• Woman (ishah) is described as “help that opposes” (ezer k’negdo) - not subservient, but providing necessary tension for human flourishing
• The story addresses shame and identity, with God asking “Who told you that you were naked?” - challenging voices that contradict how God created us
• El Shaddai may mean “the God who knows when to say enough,” connecting to themes of divine restraint and wisdom

Main Concepts & Theories

The Chiastic Structure

The narrative follows a chiastic (mirror) pattern that places “their eyes were opened and they realized they were naked” at the center. This literary device indicates that nakedness/shame is the story’s focal point, not disobedience per se.

Image of God as Self-Restraint

Unlike traditional interpretations focusing on intellect or relationship, this reading suggests that bearing God’s image means having the capacity for self-control. Animals always act on desires; humans can choose restraint. This connects to the fruit of the Spirit being self-control and God’s own restraint in creation (stopping on the seventh day).

The Serpent’s Humanity

The serpent displays remarkably human characteristics - reasoning, speaking, relating, and originally walking upright (before the curse of crawling). This blurring of human/animal boundaries serves the story’s purpose of defining what makes humans distinct from beasts.

Male-Female Complementarity

The Hebrew wordplay of ish/ishah shows woman as the “missing piece” of man, not a subordinate creation. The phrase “ezer k’negdo” (help that opposes) describes a relationship of beneficial tension, like two planks leaning against each other for mutual support.

The Nature of Temptation

The serpent’s temptation focuses on the word “say” - questioning whether God really meant His command. This plants doubt about God’s goodness and suggests He’s withholding something beneficial, appealing to the human tendency to believe we lack something essential.

Naming and Identity

Adam names his wife twice: first “ishah” (woman) focusing on who she IS, then “Eve” (life-giver) focusing on what she can DO. This shift represents a movement from valuing essence to valuing function, connected to the shame experienced after eating the fruit.

Examples & Applications

Modern Self-Control Challenges

Just as Adam and Eve faced the tree, we encounter daily choices requiring self-restraint - from consuming media to financial decisions to relationship boundaries. The principle of “enough” applies to our consumer culture’s constant message that we need more.

Relationship Dynamics

The concept of “help that opposes” provides a framework for understanding healthy relationships, particularly marriage. Partners should provide beneficial tension and challenge, not mere agreement or submission.

Shame and Identity Questions

God’s question “Who told you that you were naked?” applies to contemporary shame messages. When we feel inadequate about our appearance, abilities, or worth, we might ask what voices we’ve been listening to that contradict how God sees us.

Leadership and Power

The story challenges hierarchical interpretations of male-female relationships. In leadership contexts, this suggests the importance of diverse perspectives and the value of constructive opposition rather than blind compliance.

Potential Areas for Further Exploration

Hebrew Language Study

Deeper investigation into Hebrew wordplay, particularly around nakedness/craftiness, and other linguistic connections that reveal meaning lost in translation.

Ancient Near Eastern Context

How this narrative compares to other creation stories from neighboring cultures and what unique theological points it makes in conversation with contemporary worldviews.

The Tree Symbolism

Further exploration of why two trees appear in the garden and what they represent in terms of human choice, mortality, and divine wisdom.

Shame and Restoration Themes

How the themes of nakedness, covering, and God’s benevolent response connect to broader biblical narratives of redemption and identity restoration.

El Shaddai Etymology

Research into the various interpretations of this divine name and how “the God who says enough” connects to other biblical themes of divine restraint and wisdom.

Comprehension Questions

1. Literary Structure: How does recognizing the chiastic structure of Genesis 2-3 change our understanding of what the story emphasizes as most important?

2. Image of God: If being made in God’s image primarily means having the capacity for self-restraint, how does this understanding challenge or support traditional Christian teachings about human nature?

3. Gender Relations: How does the concept of woman as “help that opposes” (ezer k’negdo) differ from both complementarian and egalitarian interpretations of gender roles?

4. The Serpent’s Role: What is the significance of the serpent displaying human characteristics while remaining classified as a beast in the narrative?

5. Modern Application: In what ways do contemporary voices tell us we are “naked” (inadequate, lacking) when God sees us as good, and how do we discern which voices to trust?

Brief Personalized Summary

Genesis 2-3 emerges not primarily as a story about disobedience, but as a profound meditation on what it means to be human versus animal. The narrative’s central concern with nakedness and shame reveals that our fundamental struggle involves trusting God’s assessment of our worth versus listening to other voices that tell us we’re inadequate or lacking.

The story presents a God who models restraint and invites humans into that same divine quality - knowing when we have enough rather than constantly grasping for more. The serpent’s temptation appeals to our animal nature (act on every desire), while God calls us to our human nature (exercise wise restraint). This framework provides a powerful lens for understanding everything from personal relationships to consumer culture, challenging us to ask what voices we’re trusting about our identity and worth.

Most profoundly, the story ends not with condemnation but with God meeting humanity in their shame, providing covering while maintaining the invitation to trust His original assessment: that we are good, loved, and have everything we need.

Original Notes

• Genesis 2 and 3
• Genesis 2:4
  • We run into problems again if we read the Bible literally.
    • This creation story doesn’t pick up where we left off.
    • This is the same creation but is told from a different perspective.
  • “Both trees are in the middle of the garden.”
    • The Hebrew reads that the tree of life is in the middle of the garden and not the other.
    • There is a rabbinic tradition that explains when Eve meets with the serpent and she says we cannot eat from the tree of knowledge in the MIDDLE of the garden, it’s actually not in the middle, however, she has made it the center of HER garden.
    • The Hebrew gives enough lattitude to put the tree of knowledge ANYWHERE in the garden. It may be next to the tree of life or somewhere else entirely.
  • The rivers: Less and less important as you descend the list. One river in the Hebrew flows in a circle. Rain has not fallen yet and comes from the ground but it also comes from rivers?
    • Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, Euphrates
    • Names are important.
  • G-d brings all of the animals to Adam to name them.
    • Is it because Adam is lonely?
    • No suitable helper could be found.
      • G-d take his “rib” which really means “around” so G-d simply takes some part of me.
        • Adam named her Esh-ah. Male = Esh. Female = Esh-ah.
        • Eve also bares G-d’s image.
      • Loneliness isn’t good because we need tension in life.
        • Helpmate is a bad translation. Et-ser Co-neg-do.
          • Et-ser means help
          • Co-neg-do means against or opposition
          • She is the help that comes against him or the help that opposes
          • It wasn’t good for humanity to be alone so G-d takes a part of man and fashions woman and she is the part that is now missing from man. He is now incomplete.
          • Only when male and female are together do you see humanity in its fullness. Not just in marriage. If you have a room full of women, you’re missing a large piece of humanity.
          • The woman opposes us but in her opposition, she is out greatest help.
            • Rabbis depict two 2x4s leaning against each other; if one is taken away, they both fall down.
            • Blind submission to a man is not was Genesis teaches.
            • There is no plank that stands by itself.
        • A man leaving his mother and father for his wife goes against betov.
        • [PAUSED AT 12:55]

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