21st Century Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 3:5-6, oblique modality (3)

Genesis 3:5-6

 

ה כִּ֚י יֹדֵ֣עַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים כִּ֗י בְּיוֹם֙ אֲכָלְכֶ֣ם מִמֶּ֔נּוּ וְנִפְקְח֖וּ עֵֽינֵיכֶ֑ם וִֽהְיִיתֶם֙ כֵּֽאלֹהִ֔ים יֹֽדְעֵ֖י ט֥וֹב וָרָֽע:

ו וַתֵּ֣רֶא הָֽאִשָּׁ֡ה כִּ֣י טוֹב֩ הָעֵ֨ץ לְמַֽאֲכָ֜ל וְכִ֧י תַֽאֲוָה־ה֣וּא לָֽעֵינַ֗יִם וְנֶחְמָ֤ד הָעֵץ֙ לְהַשְׂכִּ֔יל וַתִּקַּ֥ח מִפִּרְי֖וֹ וַתֹּאכַ֑ל וַתִּתֵּ֧ן גַּם־לְאִישָׁ֛הּ עִמָּ֖הּ וַיֹּאכַֽל:

 

Translation: For Gd knows that on the day of your eating from it, your eyes will be opened; from then on you will be like Gd, knowers of good and evil.

The woman must have seen that the tree was good for food, and an attraction to the eyes, and the tree was desirable for enlightening, so she took some of its fruit and ate; she gave also to her man with her and he ate.

 

Vocabulary in this lesson:

נִפְקְחוּ	Shall be opened
עֵינֵיכֶם	Your eyes
עֵינַיִם	eyes
תַאֲוָה	Desire
נֶחְמָד	pleasant
לְהַשְׂכִּיל	enlightening

 

Verse 5 has the third form of modality discussed in Dr. Cook’s dissertation, it’s v’nifq’chu. Notice the vav. The verb is not imperfect, it’s perfect aspect; the nun is from the nifal.

 

This is oblique modality. It takes something people generally know or agree on in the main clause, or something that actually happened, and tries to get the other person to believe something else.

 

In this case the serpent is telling the woman that when she eats from the tree, she will perceive things she never did before. This makes the midrashic comment about pushing her against the tree even more important, almost like there is a missing verse about it. Once he does that, and she doesn’t die, she would easily believe that eating won’t kill her.

 

The snake does one more thing typical when somebody is trying to get you to disobey. He implies that Gd is holding out on Adam and Chavvah. Gd didn’t tell them that they would be even more like Gd once they ate.

 

And that points back at the k’dmutenu of the creation narrative. In that case, the likeness with Gd was Shabbat observance. Now it’s knowing good and evil.

 

This is one more thing in which people are like Gd but angels are not. Angels have absolutely no concept of good or evil. When Gd tells them, “do this” they don’t even think, they just do it.

 

This also fits in with Olrik’s principles. In the creation narrative, there were two ways people were like Gd, b’tselem and b’dmut. Now they have a third opportunity -- to know good and evil, like Him. Three is a strong magic number throughout Torah and on into the rest of classic Jewish literature.

 

The Law of Three link means these two narratives were created in the same culture and had conceptual ties to each other, but because they have different goals, they are not the same narrative or different versions of the same concept.