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GEMS FROM GENESIS

by Dr. Lawrence Duff Forbes
The Manner of Approach to Holy Scripture
How are we to approach the Scripture? Our opinion of the Holy Scriptures is so vitally important
that it will penetrate all our formative judgments and mould our final conclusions. This will
inevitably affect both our behaviour and attitude to God and man.
Our approach to the Sacred Scriptures is therefore of far-reaching consequence and of paramount
importance.
Whilst there may be many grades and shades of thought and approach to these Holy Writings,
nevertheless there are two attitudes which will be found to tint, even to dominate.
In the broadest possible classification these two attitudes of approach are:(a) EVOLUTIONARY
(b) REVELATIONARY
The EVOLUTIONARY concept regards the Scriptures as containing that much of the Eternal Being
which man, by imaginative and speculative thought-invasion, has captured and brought down to
earth and revealed to us. Lured onward into the uncharted wastes of speculation by the magic
mirage of evolution, those devoted to this concept visualise a position and process in which man's
allegedly crude ideas have enjoyed a process of refinement down the ages until today we have the
finished or near finished product which most accurately and most currently expresses man's
supreme capture of the idea of God. Much of this thought-invasion into the realms beyond
humanity and into Deity has been written and expressed, so they allege, in that which we are
pleased to call the Holy Scriptures.
As illustrating this evolutionary concept let me quote the opening words of Rabbi Dr. Morris
Goldstein's book, "Thus Religion Grows":"How interesting it would be to discover what thoughts arose in the mind of man
when he first emerged into life as a human being! Into a world of confusion was he
placed, a world of contradictions, a world of good and bad, a world of beauty and
ugliness, a topsy-turvy world, a world which whirled. How did waking man begin to
make sense of the gigantic puzzle which surrounded him? Eager though we are to
know, it is unlikely that we shall ever learn the inner struggle and complexities which
accompanied the dawn of his intelligence."
The Rabbi describes man's religious evolution from "the dawn of his intelligence" through
Animism, Totemism, Hero-Ancestor Worship, Polytheism, "Yahvism," and on to Monotheism. He
says:"So, through the ages, man's understanding of religion has become clearer and
truer. Even as with greater knowledge man was transforming the pseudo-science of
alchemy into the trus science of chemistry, the pseudo-science of magic-healing into
the true science of medicine, and the pseudo-science of astrology into the true

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science of astronomy, so with greater knowledge and experience man has
transformed the pseudo-religion of fear into the true religion of the One God."
Such is the EVOLUTIONARY concept which must inevitably tint, or taint, our approach to Holy
Writ. In such an approach or attitude Scripture is a refinement of human opinions, to which we can
perhaps add our own if we choose. And we invariably do choose.
Now, let us look at what I may call the REVELATIONARY approach. Whereas the Evolutionary
concept regards the Scriptures as that much of God which man has captured, the
REVELATIONARY concept regards the Scriptures as that much of God which He has graciously
vouchsafed to man commensurate with man's absorptive capacity.
The former view is naturalistic; the latter, supernaturalistic.
In other words, instead of the Scriptures being largely or entirely our human effort, our
speculations, our conclusions, our opinions in which Jack's opinion is as good as Tom's the
Revelationary concept regards Holy Writ as an authoritative Divine revelation from the Eternal God
to man.
Now, obviously, if we assume this latter concept, a concept authorised by the Scriptures themselves,
we do not seek to question their message or authority. On the contrary we seek their message and it
enters our hearts as authoritative, as final, as absolute. The Revelationary attitude finds in the
Scriptures a formulary of faith, a canon of conduct, an authority on attitude to God and man as well
as a Divine self-revelation of the Person, and the purposes of God. The Bible thus moulds opinion,
not contributes to it.
The approach, then, is all-important. On the one hand the Evolutionary concept, itself the
subject of much "evolution" and not a little revolution, is like a troubled sea of human opinions into
which the approaching individual drops his own little contribution. As Terence writes, "So many
men, so many opinions; everyone has his own fancy" (Phormis).
If Isaiah says "Thus saith the Eternal," or Moses declares "This is the thing which the Eternal
hath commanded," or Jeremiah affirms "Behold the days come, saith the Eternal" these are
merely the opinions of the respective affirmants and our opinion may or may not waive that of
Jeremiah, Moses, Isaiah or any other writer of Scripture.
Compare the picture conjured by the words of Rabbi Dr. Morris Goldstein with the picture induced
by the Genesis description and the twain will be found in fundamental conflict. Well, if they be
both merely opinions you can add yours to it and make a third, but remember "Some praise at
morning what they blame at night, but always think the last opinion right" (Pope).
In an age embossed with a huge note of interrogation, in an age whose philosophy is "Maybe!".
The Evolutionary concept will prove a straw for the drowning soul, or produce a crop of theological
schizophrenics.
On the other hand the Revelationary approach offers to this Age of Disillusionment an acceptable
answer and solace. It provides an authority otherwise lacking; a Divinely-steered destination-bound
voyage through the sea of human opinion.
I am aware that someone, probably Jerrold, has said that dogmatism is puppyism come to its full
growth." I have also witnessed a puppy describing circles in pursuit of its own tail, but at least it

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must be admitted the puppy has its end in view, which surely cannot be said of those caught up in
the whirling vortex of human opinions which may or may not be wholly or partially true.
An examination of the writings of our medieval Jewish commentators on Torah and Haftarot will
disclose that they regarded the Scriptures as the Word of God, and my investigation of the subject
compels me to share their opinion.
Agreeably to M'gillah 7a: Tosefta. Yadayim ii 4, the Scriptures must necessarily have been
inspired or written by the Holy Spirit. The prophetical and hagiographic books are recognised by
Jewish authority as being implicitly included in the Torah (Tan., Re'eh, ed. Buber. P.1).
"According to Jewish tradition all of these books are divinely inspired and
consequently holy" (Trude Weiss-Rosmarin).
This view is shared by considerable modern scholarship. Professor L. Gaussen of Geneva describes
inspiration as "that inexplicable power which the Divine Spirit put forth of old on the authors of
Holy Scripture, in order to their guidance even in the employment of the words they used, and to
preserve them alike from all error and from all omission."
Let me again quote Dr. Weiss-Rosmarin: "Archaeological excavations . . . within the last seventyfive years have produced much evidence for the historical truth of the statements of the Bible. As a
result many theories of the radical critics have been proved wrong" ("New Light on the Bible").
This time hear a Christian theologian: "When I was in charge of a Theological College I lectured
very learnedly (I'm sure!) on the composite authorship of the Pentateuch, . . . But a more mature
examination of the Bible itself, and reading of the amazing discoveries in Bible lands in recent
years, with their unsolicited confirmation of the Bible story and its language and its background,
have made me change my opinion" (Rt. Rev. D.B. Blackwood, M.A., Th.D., M.C., V.D., in
foreword to "Tablets of Truth" by C. Meyer, L.R.S.M.).
And of scientists it can be quoted: "There is an appreciable group of reputable men of science who
are convinced of the inspired origin of the Bible and who find in it a stimulating, satisfying and
irreplaceable contribution to their scientific picture of the universe" ("Modern Science," a
Symposium by Members of the American Scientific Affiliation).
A rabbi of the 1st century B.C. said of the Bible: "Turn it over and over again for everything is in
it; study it and grow old in it for thou canst have no better rule that this" (Pirke Avoth 5:25).
Accordingly, it is the REVELATIONARY and SUPERNATURAL approach to the Holy Scriptures
which I invite you to share with me; and this attitude is to be maintained alike to prophetical and
hagiographic books of the Tenach which are to be regarded as of equal inspiration and authority
with the Pentateuch.
Surely only in this attitude to the Bible will we be able to exclaim with the Psalmist:
"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalm 119:105).

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The Method of Approach

My friends, modern aviation has granted humanity some amazing vistas and has introduced
perspectives hitherto quite unknown.
Even the dust of the earth has yielded to the eye from the sky an abundance of treasured information
the very existence of which was unsuspected until viewed from above.
Indeed, there have been instances where the patient dust of Time's engulfing centuries has buried
the proud glory of ancient cities so effectively that nought but the name remained to prompt the
memory of man.
But earth's mute lips were forced to speak aloud the buried secret on the day the mechanical pinions
of humanity invaded the aery roadways of the skies.
Buried cities, safely invisible and unsuspected at ground level, suddenly became discernible nay,
even conspicuous from the air.
Even the situation and direction of buried walls became evident, whilst the locality of major interred
structures became openly apparent.
Aviation's bird's-eye view portrayed a picture sufficiently clear to entice to the scene the inquisitive
spade of the archaeologist. The result was the unearthing of untold treasure, both historic and
intrinsic.
Even when the scene sought is not buried but is above the ground level, a prior bird's-eye view is a
picturesque advantage. From the heights above one can gain an indelible impression of the total
scene which lingers on when subsequently traversing the same locality on foot.
I say this from personal experience. In the pursuit of my ministerial duties, I have been obliged not
infrequently to travel by air and on several occasions I have had the advantage of making an aerial
encirclement of a city before descending from the skies to sojourn in it.
By this means I had the good fortune of possessing a fascinating mental bird's-eye view, by which I
was able to survey the immediate and near thus thrown against the larger background of the vivid
aeriel mind-picture of the total and remote.
Let what I have said illustrate the METHOD which I propose to adopt as we set out together to
explore a mysterious and wonderful metropolis. A City which the choking dust of the ages has not
been able to engulf and subdue; a City whose opalescent domes yet reflect the lucent rays of life
Divine into the dark recesses of human understanding. A City which, though scattering its
immensities above the earthly surface for all who care to see, possesses yet foundations vast and
wide and mansions spacious and innumerable buried deep beneath the normal plane of man's
unaided knowledge, but which will yield, nevertheless, its profoundest secrets to the humble seeker
after its treasures.
This wealthiest City is the City of Revealed Truth, the Holy Scriptures. Instead of entering at once
through the front gates of this glorious metropolis and perhaps incurring the initial risk of being lost
in its appealing domains, let us first ascend to the heights above it and from there survey its total
3picture discern the limiting walls of its application, the broad sweep of its avenues of verity, the
localities and relationships of its many fountains of living waters.

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So, then, we first capture a bird's-eye view of Tenach before we descend and explore its wonders on
foot!
As we now ascend and survey the whole Tenach from our aerial vantage point we can observe three
broad and commanding avenues of truth and we now know why we name this Book of Holy
Scriptures the Tenach.
The first imposing avenue before us is designated TORAH. Although the Hebrew word TORAH,
which means "Law" is sometimes applied to the whole Bible, yet its prime application is to the first
five Books of Moses, known also in Hebrew as Chumash which means "five," and in English as
"Pentateuch," which also means "five."
The Ark in the synagogue contains the Torah written in Hebrew on a parchment or sheepskin Scroll
known as the Book of the Law.
The second broad avenue of equally inspired Divine Revelation is named NEVI'IM, meaning
Prophets; whilst the third and last celestial avenue of Scriptures is called KETUVIM, meaning
Writings.
Now, if we take the initial, the first, Hebrew letter from each of these three Hebrew words TORAH,
N'VI'IM, and K'TUVIM we obtain the consonantal sounds represented in English by the letters T, N
and K. Then, placing these three initials together and vocalising them, we get the improvised
initials together and vocalising them, we get the improvised word TeNaK (or TENACH), by which
we refer at once to all the books of the so-called "Old Testament;" a collection of inspired
Scriptures which would be known more correctly as the Book of the Kingdom.
Now, let your eye return to the first broad avenue named Torah. Do you see it has five main traffic
lanes of inspiration? In English they are known as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and
Deuteronomy; but the Hebrew names of the Pentateuch are taken from the most dominant Hebrew
word in the first sentence of each of the five books and thus we get BRESHIT, from the word
"beginning" in Genesis 1:1, SHMOT, from the word "names" in Exodus 1:1; VAYIKRA, from the
word "called" in Leviticus 1:1; BEMIDBAR, from the word "wilderness" in Numbers 1:1, and
DEVARIM, from the word "words" in Deuteronomy 1:1.
The second broad avenue of Scripture revelation NEVI'IM. Prophets, has three main traffic lanes of
truth, N'VI'IM RISHONIM, the Earlier Prophets;
N'VI'IM AHARONIM, the Later Prophets; and
TERAY 'ASAR, the twelve Minor Prophets, so called because their books were very short
compared to other Scriptures.
The third broad avenue, KETUVIM, also has three main traffic lanes of truth, known respectively
as the Former Writings, the Five Megillot, and the Latter Writings.
Such are the three broad avenues of veracity traversing the City of Tenach and we have had a bird'seye view of it from which we have been able to make a splendid Chart upon which we have studded
many additional details obtained from our place of advantage.

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You will also learn from the chart how the Hebrew Bible collects all the Sacred Writing into 24
Books, whereas the English "Aurthorised Version" divides them into 39 books. The different
sequence of the various books is also readily observed from the chart by means of which you will
have both your Hebrew Bible and your English Bible open before you at a glance.

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The Magnitude of Accent

My friends, I have bestowed upon this particular message the title: "The Magnitude of Accent."
You will agree that if anybody should be sensitive upon the subject of accent it is myself; you see, I
find I have one. Have you ever noticed it?
You know, I just didn't realise I had an accent at all until I dwelt in Uncle Sam's fair land and began
to mix with so very many dear American friends. Then, in increasing numbers, they all told me I
had an accent.
Now, the funny part about it is that I thought they had the accent: but how could I hold such an
opinion for long in face of such increasing and widespread assurance that I had the accent. I just
had to bend before such a cumulative weight of evidence, didn't I? Now, I am at last convinced that
I really do have an accent. But what am I to do about it? I've tried gargling with salty water and the
like, but the accent remains.
Oh! I know that some of you might seek to console me by suggesting that, after all, accent is not
important. But that won't do; accent is exceedingly important. Anyway, have I not entitled this
message "The Magnitude of Accent."
Rousseau declares and here I quote him "Accent is the soul of a language; it gives the feeling
and truth to it;" whilst it was John Selden who said that "syllables govern the world."
In this connection I feel sure you all recall the Biblical account of how human life was forfeit to a
mere syllable. In those ancient days the Gileadites had seized the crossings of the River Jordan and,
whenever they captured one suspected of being an Ephraimite, they demanded of their prisoner,
"Say now Shibboleth". But the Ephraimites had an Ephraimistic accent and they could not
pronounce the word correctly but, instead of "Shibboleth," could only say "Sibboleth." Result
death! Read the history yourself in the twelth chapter of Shophetim, that is, Judges. Believe me,
any Ephraimite would have told you that accent is important.
Yes, my friends, not only incidence of stress and cadence, but also intonation and clarity of
enunciation are important.
On one occasion, at a children's treat, having previously stored beneath their little belts an enormous
amount of goodly food, the youngsters were asked to learn and to sing a little after-dinner hymn.
The words of the hymn were "Weak and sinful tho' we be."
Unfortunately the teacher was careless in his enunciation and in his accent and the words which
reached the laughing parents from the youngsters' merry throats and full well hearts, were
certainly appropriate to the occasion. Instead of singing "Weak and sinful tho' we be" they chimed
lustily together "We can sing, full tho' we be!" Oh! Yes, my friends, accent is important.
If we wish to capture and possess the true, undiluted and undistorted content of an utterance we
must observe carefully the tonal accents, the pausal periods and the cadences embodied in the
forming part of the message.
Tones tell! Cadences convey! Accents avow!
Music has been well described as the language of the soul and those of us who love music know full
well the vital import of tone, cadence and accent.

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If the meaning and message of the composer is to be reproduced at all faithfully to our ears neither
the theory nor the mechanics of music alone are adequate to the task. Indeed, the virtuoso is such
not because of mastery of the mechanics of music but rather because those mechanics are
disciplined to express the message of the medoly, and this expression can only be manifest through
the appropriate tone qualities, cadences and accentuations. Yes, there is a magnitude in accent.
Because the human voice was almost the sole instrument for the public worship of praise in the
Temple at Jerusalem, the Temple of Choristers being restricted to the Levites, it can be well
understood that there developed in Hebrew thought and expression a great appreciation of the
importance of accent.
Particularly is this so with regard to the Holy Scriptures which themselves possess a most elaborate
system of musical notation.
During the sixth and seventh centuries of the common era this mode of cantillation or musical
declamation was embodied in the Hebrew text of the Bible by specific symbols each having a
specific name and demanding a specific vocal response.
During this same period distinguishing, or vowel signs were introduced and by this twin means the
Holy Scriptures became equipped with a fixed traditional PRONUNCIATION and a fixed
traditional MODULATION.
The well-known Yiddish phrase, "Mit dem Trop leienen," when applied to the Scriptures, means
that the Bible must be read according to the accents, the interpunctional character of which
contributes much to the correct INTERPRETATION of the text itself.
Although this is just what we might expect, it is nevertheless quite interesting, isn't it?
Clearly, then, accents convey MEANINGS. Indeed, the very Hebrew name Te'amim, given to
these ancient symbols denotes this feature, because Te'amim, could be translated correctly by the
very English word "meanings."
Find the accent, and you discover the meaning! This is quite an alluring and a fruitful study, I can
assure you. Will you permit one simple, yet famous, illustration?
In the Hebrew Bible, at Isaiah, chapter 40 and verse 3, we read in the Hebrew text:

hw"hy> %r,D, WNP; rB'd>MiB; areAq lAq

Using the Hebrew accentuation, note where the pause comes:
"A voice calling: in the wilderness clear ye the way of the Eternal."
For your interest, at your own leisure, compare this accentuation with that employed in Mark's
Gospel, Chapter one, verse three, in the New Testament where the same passage is quoted.
Yes! The accent is important because revealing. Abraham ibn Ezra declared:
"No interpretation of a Biblical verse which does not follow the accentuation should be accepted."
Why are we at such pains to bestow upon the Scriptures such reverence and attention? Because we
do not accept the variant and wanting hypotheses of the so-called "Higher-Criticism;" a plausible

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historico-critical system with pronounced materialistic, anti-supernatural and evolutionary bias; but,
on the contrary, we view the Scripture as a Divine revelation initiated by and from the Eternal God.
We believe this attitude of rational and intelligent credulity will equip us to receive the full
instruction, revelation and benefit of the message of this superlative volume.
But more. If its message and revelation be also personal in character a personal message from God
to me, to you it is doubly important, as well as personally fascinating, that we seek for and capture
the DIVINE ACCENT in Scripture and thus arm ourselves with the key supreme, the clue
paramount, in interpreting its communication.
If human cadence, tonal pauses and accent are important and revealing; if they play a vital part
both in the correct delivery of a message and in its correct reception and interpretation; if, I repeat,
the accent is important in mere human phraseology, HOW INFINITELY MORE SO IS THE
DIVINE ACCENT!
Is there a Divine accent? I believe there is! And I believe I shall be able to discover it to you in my
very next message. You will find it a most gripping and fascinating disclosure. Why? My friends,
discover the DIVINE ACCENT and you also discover the DIVINE INTENT! And that's worth
knowing, isn't it?

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The Mark of The Almighty

My friends, in my last message I convinced you, I hope, of the great importance of accent as a
revealer of meaning.
In human affairs accent, cadence, and tonal pauses are important. A wrong emphasis or a
misplaced pause can distort utterly the meaning of a whole sentence.
You wish to send your Train of Thought on a meaningful journey. It leaves the terminal of your
mind and its intended destination is Perfect Understanding in the heart of your friend.
Now, however well your Train of Thought may be provided with good seating accommodation for
your selected words, it nevertheless runs an uncertain journey through the dark valleys of obscurity
unless equipped with the illumination of your well-placed emphasis. Let me illustrate this.
Do your remember King Charles' head? You know it was said that "King Charles walked and
talked half an hour after his head was cut off."
Sounds fantastic? Oh, sorry!! I misused both pause and emphasis. Let's try again "King Charles
walked and talked. Half an hour after, his head was cut off." See what I mean?
Accent and pause makes all the difference.
With this vital clue as our guide let us seek for and discover the DIVINE ACCENT; the
EMPHASIS that God uses and that He wants us to recognise and that will enlighten us in
understanding the Divine Revelation. A quest for the Divine Emphasis! Sounds promising, doesn't
it? Where shall we begin to search for it? Why, where else but in the Bible.
Of this Divine Book, Cowper's words may have full application.
"'Tis Revelation satisfies all doubts,
Explains all mysteries except her own,
And so illuminates the path of life,
That fools discover it, and stray no more." (Cowper The Task).
The first book of the Bible has been well described as the "DAWN OF REVELATION."
Over the uneasy and formless darkness of human conjectures, gropings, stumblings, perplexities,
worries and concerns; over the discordant cacophony of human opinions; over the awful
interrogation mark that seems to wind itself like some huge and crushing serpent around every
human life; comes the first ray of the revealing light of the Eternal God Himself!

~yhil{a/ ar'B' tyviareB.

"In the beginning God created!"
Infidelity may prefer to companion itself with the fleeing shadows of darkness, but faith faces the
lucent beam and advances confidently into its fullness.

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Cononsant with our quest, let us discover where, in that dawn, the first beam of Divine light strikes.
Or to return to our metaphor, on what feature will the Eternal God choose to place His authoritative
accent? Where will the enlightening emphasis fall?
Let me remind you right here of the opportunities presented to the Divine Mind to impress upon us
the superlative wonders of creation. Think, for a moment, of all the amazing material available to
the Creating Godhead! Here, if anywhere, is fair reason for the Deity to invite us all to participate
in an exhaustive and authoritative exposition upon the marvels of Creation!
Indeed, if the Creator felt so inclined, the whole FIFTY CHAPTERS of this Book of Beginnings
could be devoted solely to any one of those vast and important themes that correctly and laudably
capture human attention.
Why, as you know, our universities, colleges, and halls of learning are replete with the erudite
tomes of those who have spent a lifetime prosecuting their investigational enquiry into such subjects
as Biology, Zoology, Geology, Anthropology, Paleontology, Psychology, Astronomy, Botany; in
fact, just every kind of "ology" or "onomy" the imagination could possibly conjure.
In His Divine Revelation to all mankind does the Eternal God place His emphasis on the "ologies"
and the "onomies"? Shouldn't we rather expect Him to do so? If He doesn't, why doesn't He?
Where, then, does He place His major accent? How may we find it?
Well, in our search to discover the Divine accent, let us pursue the wise method of capturing first a
bird's-eye view of the whole fifty chapters of the first book of the Bible. This is how we'll do it.
Just run your eye along the nearest straight edge of your table; now imagine that same table-edge
being divided exactly into fifty equal sections and each of the fifty sections representing and
corresponding to one of the fifty chapters of Genesis.
Now, with that same imagination's eye, mark off mentally, a small strip of only eleven of those
sections. This small area is simply packed with sweeping events grouped into three general periods.
These periods are shown on the chart accompanying the transcript of this message.
Let us label this first small strip, PRIMEVAL HISTORY.
Now you still have thirty-nine sections of your table-edge left. This is much the larger strip, and it
represents the section of Genesis extending from chapter 11, verse 10, right to the end of the Book
at chapter 50, and it is filled, not with sweeping events like the first section, but with the record of
four significant entities, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Now had you noticed that before? Let
us label this much larger section, PATRIARCHAL HISTORY.
Isn't it remarkable that the whole of Primeval History is relegated into a mere eleven sections of that
chapter-distance, whilst the Patriarchal History of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph absorbs the
whole of the remaining thirty-nine sections!
But that is not all. Relating Biblical chronology to the creation of Man which, by the way, we
shall designate "Anno Hominis" chronology and for which we employ the symbol A.H. - we make
the interesting discovery that the smaller area of eleven sections encloses the comparatively
enormous time-span of 2083 years A.H.; whilst the much larger area of thirty-nine sections relate to
a mere 286 years A.H.!

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These unusual and revealing findings are worth summarising, aren't they?
(a) Creation and all its pertinent "ologies" are allotted only 1/50th of Chapter space!
(b) 2083 years A.H. of Primeval History are sweepingly relegated to a mere 1/5 of Chapter
space. But,
(c) 39/50ths of Chapter space are allotted to a period of only 286 years A.H. covering the lives
of only FOUR MEN!
Unleash your imagination, I beg of you. Capture the situation if you can!
Behold the cosmos! Survey the mighty creation of God, the worlds, the winds, the heavens, the
heights, the forces, the powers, the elements. Now Look at Abraham!
Surely, by comparison, incomparable! One little inconsequential speck of humanity. Call to his
side the reinforcements, if you will, of Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, and you have not really changed the
picture.
On the one hand, the vastness of all creation; on the other, four minute specks of some of its
component dust!
Compare this which refuses comparison and where, by evey human assessment, must the accent
fall? Unit or universe? Speck or spectacle? Dust or dimension?
Yet where does GOD place the accent of His Divine Revelation to man. My friends, on
SOMETHING OTHER than all or any of the "ologies;" the Divine accent is not on creation and its
inexhaustible wonders.
I repeat, the Divine accent is on none of these, but rather on four specks of humanity! Not on the
fathomless superlatives of creation, but on FOUR SUPER-SIGNIFICANT LILLIPUTIANS!
How wise we will be if our accent of interest and wisdom corresponds to the Divine pattern. How
foolish to ignore it.
We have discovered the Divine accent, and what an amazing discovery it is! What do you make of
it?

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The Misapprehension of Apprehension

My friends, I terminated my previous message with a suspended conclusion. I did this
intentionally. Recognising the Scriptures as God's revelation to man, we had made a DISCOVERY.
A discovery arresting, revealing, and invaluable. We had discovered the DIVINE ACCENT!
What a discovery this proved to be! We had found that God's emphasis in Genesis was not upon
the many "ologies" to which He could have invited our attention. Not on Paleontology, Zoology,
Biology, Geology, or even Astronomy. Indeed, we found that He dismissed, as it were, the whole
of these beckoning possibilities in just a few brief chapters out of the total fifty chapters comprising
the book of Genesis itself.
We were amazed, then fascinated, to discover that the Divine Accent in revelation was not upon the
alluring "ologies," but squarely upon FOUR SUPER-SIGNIFICANT LIVES Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob and Joseph. Not on subjects that would delight the intellect, but upon a mere handful of
human beings. What a challenging discovery! The Divine Accent is upon these four individuals,
and we find that no less that 39 chapters are devoted to an intimate and detailed recapitulation of
their history. We asked ourselves, why is this so?
Deliberately, I gave you time to ponder this somewhat amazing finding. We have discovered the
Divine Accent; now, do you think we can recognise the Divine intent? Why should God focus our
attention, not on "ologies," but on four human beings?
Because "ologies," estimable though they are, cannot restore to man that which he has lost. This
invites the enquiry What has man lost?
Confronted with this question, I am immediately conscious of a danger which I shall call the
Danger of Definitions. You see, definitions are like articles of clothing, we just have to use them to
get around; but much wearing soils clothing both inside and outside. So with definitions. Many a
once-good definition could well be labelled "Damaged in Transit."
Again, damaged definitions are surely unworthy garments in which to clothe precious truths.
Against many an invaluable truth there rests the placard "Damaged by Definition."
Since both the truth itself and the definition clothing it can each suffer detriment, it follows also that
the person viewing a damaged truth or a damaged definition also suffers detriment unless aware of
the damage.
There is even another factor to be considered; the factor of human attitude. A perfect truth may be
perfectly clothed in a perfect definition; but an imposed or acquired human attitude toward that
perfect definition could render questionable or even unacceptable the perfect truth it clothes.
Let me illustrate this point by a story told about that magnificent leader Mr David Ben Gurion. Mr
Ben Gurion at one time headed that splendid labour organisation known as Histadrut. After he
became Prime Minister of Israel, Histadrut invited him to deliver a short address to the old
Histadrut friends and fellow labourers. Before attending, however, the Prime Minister was
unexpectedly delayed in an interview granted to a foreign diplomat and was compelled to rush to
the labour meeting whilst still clad in his diplomatic attire of morning coat and striped trousers.
This was the perfect clothing with which to clothe the perfect truth of Prime Ministership. But it
was a definition regarding which there was an imposed or acquired attitude on the part of some of
his fellow workers present; and so, as Mr Ben Gurion mounted the rostrum in his formal attire, a

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slight giggling was detectable. David Ben Gurion raised his hand and said: "My friends, I must
apologise to you for coming here to speak to you in my working clothes."
Having thus armed you with a realisation of the Danger of Definitions, you will understand, I am
sure, why I wish here deliberately to avoid philosophical or theological definitions when faced with
the enquiry What has man lost? A premature employment of such definitions might prejudice the
truth they seek to clothe.
Why not let us seek the answer for ourselves in the first three chapters of Genesis? Before we
clothe them with definitions, is it possible, do you think, to gather up and set forth the major
teachings of that section of Scripture and to say of them, in the words of the record itself, "And they
were naked and were not ashamed"?
After we have viewed these basic Divine revelations in their pristine nakedness and gotten really to
know and to appreciate them, surely we shall be able better to recognise the fig-leaf inadequacy of a
few of the definitionistic aprons wherewith some suggest the facts be clothed. Indeed, we may be
even qualified to go to the Wardrobe of Definitions and select definitive coats of skin to provide
clothing more acceptable to the truth and to the Author of that truth.
What then are the naked facts?
First: The Deity is seen as Creator of the Universe Literally:

~yhil{a/ ar'B' tyviareB.

"In beginning created (singular) God (plural)."
Second: The Deity creates man Literally:

WnteWmd>Ki Wnmel.c;B.
"In image of us, after likeness of us."
Third: God bestows His blessing upon man.
Fourth: God cedes a sphere of dominion to man.
Fifth: God indicates His Divine provision for man.
Sixth: God places man on probation.
Seventh: Man fails in that probation.
Eighth: Man suffers loss in state and in status.
Ninth: God initiates remedial activity.
I think these are probably the major naked facts we have found in the garden of Eden; with what
definitions shall we clothe them?

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Well, Adam, after the failure, made a clothing of fig-leaves, but this attire was neither suitable to
the circumstances nor satisfactory to the Creator.
Methinks Adam today still makes fig-leaf definitions of this incident in Eden; definitions which
may hang together well enough in human systems of philosophy, but which are after all, merely figleaf definitions neither suitable to the circumstances nor satisfactory. I feel sure, to the Creator.
However, the Creator, although rejecting the fig-leaves, did Himself provide the clothing both
suitable to the circumstances and satisfactory to Himself; a clothing of coats-of-skin.
The coats-of-skin definitions which we seek will, of course, be provided by the Divine Spirit in His
own Holy Scriptures and we only clothe the facts of Adam's failure in the skin-coat definition of
Scripture when we call it the Fall of Man.
If the fact steps on to the platform of attention dressed in this definition and some be prone to giggle
at it, please allow it time to make the apology "My friends, I must apologise to you for coming
here to speak to you in my working clothes!"
Mankind has surely worn the working clothes of the Fall and its consequences all along the bloody,
anguished, tear-drenched trail of human history.
If there be an imposed or acquired antipathy to the definitions which clothes the fact, I do hope the
antipathy will be recognised and rejected.
The fact itself should not be allowed to be "Damaged by Definition;" neither should the definition
be permitted to be marked "Damaged in Transit."
If it be said that the definition, "Fall of Man," is a definition belonging solely to Christian theology,
I reply that if it be a definition adequate to the fact alike of Scripture and human experience, then it
is a definition properly belonging to all theology.
However, I am going to suggest to you that the definition "Fall of Man" is a term acceptable to
Jewish theology for it was probably derived from Jewish theology. The Jewish apocryphal book
personifies Wisdom and states of Wisdom that (and here I quote) "She preserved the first formed
father of the world that was created alone, and brought him out of his Fall." (Wisdom x.1).
What has man lost?
Man, though retaining his human nature inviolate as created in the Divine image, has nevertheless
lost the GLORY of that image.
The merciful God is bent upon restoring that lost glory and, as we shall see in succeeding messages,
He will do it, not through the "ologies," but through the SUPER-SIGNIFICANT LIVES!

Page 18 of 59

The Malady of Ages

My friends, could you image anyone visiting Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower; or London and
ignoring Big Ben; or Washington and being oblivious of the White House?
Such omission would be as phenomenal, as unbelievable, as visiting Jerusalem in the days of
Solomon and failing to discern the glorious Temple he built; or, going right back to the beginning
of man's history, imagine exploring the Garden of Eden where grew "every tree that is pleasant to
the sight, and good for food" (Genesis 2:9) yet failing to view the two most important trees in the
midst of the garden, the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:9,
3:3). Such an omission would excite our liveliest astonishment.
If, instead of trees, the Garden in Eden had been planted with words, I imagine the twin truths
which well may be symbolised by the twin trees, could best be expressed by the words LOSS AND
LEGACY.
So far as mankind is concerned the words LOSS and LEGACY unveil adequately the two vital
verities of Eden and failure to apprehend them would be an omission equally gross and decidedly
inimical to our spiritual welfare.
LOSS and LEGACY will be found to be the twin jets that propel the whole Divine Revelation of
Scripture upon the course it takes.
On our march through the Holy Scriptures we shall advance with the correct foot and thus be in step
with Divine Revelation if we begin with these two facts.
The serpent's fangs in Eden injected the consuming venom of sin which brought upon man his
appalling LOSS.
The actual ORIGIN of all sin, and therefore of all evil, is shrouded in mystery although the answer
perhaps may be found embedded in the fact of the relative freedom of the created will.
Man's LOSS through sin's entrance was immediately apparent.
Study sin's effect upon the First Man. Sin distanced Adam from God; sin marred Adam's
knowledge of God; sin weakened Adam's trust in God; and sin damaged Adam's delight in God
and destroyed Adam's harmonious communion with God.
Such an alarming and dangerous condition demonstrates this LOSS in such terms as only death,
spiritual death, can describe. Although we cannot understand the mystery, yet we can now
understand its revelation for we see that the spirit of man, without the Spirit of God, is surrendered
to that suicidal tyrant, Self.
That means death indeed. However, if the origin of sin is not obvious, there is certainly no
obscurity regarding the UNIVERSALITY of sin. Sin is found wherever and when ever man is
found.
The Jewish Book of Ecclesiasticus pronounces that "every man from his youth is given to evil."
In a very laudable attempt explain this universality of sin, modern Rabbinical Judaism developed
the doctrine of the YETZER HARA and the YETNER HATOV; said to be the evil and the good
inclinations resident in all men.

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Personally, I find great difficulty in accepting this theory because Adam's creation is recorded in
Genesis chapter 1, and verses 26 and 27 in these Hebrew words:

WnteWmd>Ki Wnmel.c;B. ~d'a' hf,[]n: ~yhil{a/ rm,aYOw: 26

hb'qen>W rk'z" Ata ar'B' ~yhil{a/ ~l,c,B. Aml.c;B. ~d'a'h-' ta, ~yhil{a/ ar'b.YIw: 27
`~t'ao ar'B';
Literally: "And Gods (for the noun is plural) said let us make man in image of us and after
likeness of us . . . and Gods created the man in His image, in the image of Gods He created
Him."
If the First Man, being created in the image and after the likeness of God could not, therefore, have
an evil inclination originally, a YETZER HARA, when did he and his descendants acquire it?
I confess I prefer to revert to the more ancient Jewish doctrtine of the Fall of Man which, in my
opinion, more correctly expresses the awful change that took place in the First Man and also
accounts for the transmission of that change to his descendants.
I now invite your attention to a feature which I believe to be of fundamental importance.
Whilst it is true that Adam, the First Man, was created in the image and likeness of God, it is
overlooked that we (you and I) were not created in the image and likeness of God. We were
PROCREATED in the "likeness" and after "image" of ADAM. And our procreation from Adam
occurred AFTER that disaster rightly called the FALL OF MAN, and is described in Genesis
chapter 5, and verses 3 and 4 in the following Hebrew words:

Aml.c;K. AtWmd>Bi dl,AYw: hn"v' ta;m.W ~yvil{v. ~d'a' yxiy>w: 3

`tAnb'W ~ynIB' dl,AYw: 4
Literally: "Adam . . . procreated in his own likeness after his own image . . . and he procreated
sons and daughters."
We, my dear listening friends, are those "sons and daughters" procreated by fallen Adam.
Have you ever watched the players out on the bowling green? Have you seen that bowl, under the
influence and control of speed, mark out its straight course towards the little white ball at the other
end of the green? Of course you have. But have you noticed something else? In proportion as the
impetus of speed looses its influence on the bowl, the bowl's natural inherent bias causes it to curve
and eviate from the straight course on which it was first propelled.
Surely, like the bowl, mankind has inherited a bias which causes him to curve and deviate towards
evil, unless he submits himself to the impetus and control of the Holy Spirit.
In addition to the reference to the "Fall" of man in the Jewish apocryphal books Wisdom (x. 1) an
ancient Jewish tradition of long descent has been summarised by one of our famous Rabbinical
commentators on Genesis in these words: "The first man was the cause of death to all his
descendants."

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An early hint of this Jewish doctrine of the Fall of Man and its transmitted taint is featured in the
Midrash R. Tanchuma which comments quaintly upon the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
and here I quote:
"And why is not the name of the tree clearly mentioned? Because the Holy One,
blessed be He, never wishes to grieve anything He has created: hence its name is
not mentioned in order that it might not be put to shame by people saying, 'This is
the tree through which the world suffered.'"
Our Jewish Rabbinical teaching urges that Adam's sin not only injured him but also the whole earth,
moreover the Shekinah left the earth after man's Fall (Gen. R. xix. Tan., Pekude, 6).
Rabbi Rev. Dr Paphall calls attention to the introduction into the human race of shame, the first
departure from a state of instinct and nature; and also fear, the first indication of a state of wrong.
Only the Biblical Revelation of the Fall of Man can account adequately for the phenomena, yet this
doctrine of the Fall of Man is variously evaded, avoided, ignored, refined, year even repudiated.
I have stressed the essentially Jewish character of this doctrine designated the Fall of Man only
because of a more modern attempt to deny it its rightful place in our Jewish theology.
How glad I am that it is not necessary for me to conclude this current message on this sad note! I
spoke of Loss AND Legacy.
You will remember that in previous messages we discovered, somewhat to our surprise, that
Genesis, the Book of Beginnings, instead of being primarily occupied with exhaustive dissertations
on cosmic origins, devoted instead four-fifths of its chapter space to recording the history of those
four specks of humanity Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
My friends, the two important elements of Eden, LOSS and LEGACY, account for this unexpected
emphasis. We have viewed briefly the LOSS, and how tragic it is! What of the LEGACY? Ah!
That's good news and I confess I am as eager to talk to you about it as you are to hear about it, so
keep listening.

Page 21 of 59

The Machinations of the Adversary

A garden is a delightful spot from which to commence a journey, and since the garden we visited in
my last message was none other that the Garden in Eden, sometimes known as Paradise, you can
imagine how delightful were our surroundings.
Of Paradise Francis Thompson writes:
"Some may perchance with strange surprise,
Have blundered into Paradise."
Well, I assure you we didn't blunder into Paradise, we went there deliberately because we had made
a discovery. We had found that the Divine accent in the Revelation of Genesis, was not upon an
awesome account of Creation, but upon a foursome advent of creatures Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
and Joseph.
We were curious to find out why this was so, hence we followed the Accent to Eden and among the
vital verities of the Garden we found the formative features of LOSS and LEGACY.
The LOSS was occasioned by the Fall of Man, a doctrine which our research discovered to be
essentially Jewish both in teaching and in definition.
The LEGACY is the result of Divine Grace and, as we shall see, is directly related to the Divine
accent we discovered.
For in the very place and circumstance in which sin forced its ugly entry into the human race, God
planted a seed of promise, a seed sown in the sullied soil of sin. Let me quote the recorded Divine
promise for you:

varo ^p.Wvy> aWh H['r>z: !ybeW ^[]r>z: !ybeW hV'aih' !ybeW ^n>yBe tyvia' hb'yaew> 15
`bqe[' WNp,WvT. hT'a;w>
"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall
bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
These are the mystic words of Gensis chapter 3, verse 15 which have been recognised by our
earliest Jewish commentators as being the very seed of Messianic hope.
Let me give you my translation of those remarkable words words which are pregnant with
precious promise for Israel and for all mankind.
Addressing the Original Sinner, Satan, as symbolised by the Serpent in Eden, God announces:
"And enmity I will set between thee and between the woman, and between thy seed and between
her seed; he, he shall crush thy head and you, you shall crush his heel."
Here, my friends, are four famous factors in Eden which will expound and explain the four
supersignificant lives of Genesis. The four factors are the Serpent and the Woman, the Serpent's
seed and the Woman's Seed. The four supersignificant lives are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

Page 22 of 59
These two quartets are vitally related as we shall discover to our acute interest as we follow these
messages.
Lest any of my gracious listeners should be tempted to think that I am myself illuminating this
Scripture with Messianic glow, let me quote from so ancient a document as the Jerusalem Targum.
This ancient Jewish document dates back to about the year 500 of the Common Era, and is an
Aramaic paraphrase of Scripture. Recognising the Messianic import of Genesis 3:15, the Jerusalem
Targum, has, inter alia, - and here I quote:
" . . . but there shall be a remedy for the children of the woman, but for thee, O
Serpent, there shall be no remedy, for hereafter they shall to each other perform a
healing in the heel in the latter end of the days, in the days of King Messiah."
The quotation demonstrates that Genesis 3:15 is encircled with a recognised Messianic aura of long
duration.
But more. This germinal LEGACY of hope contains clear indications of the Cast of Characters
Divinely selected to play leading roles in what will prove to be none other than a Drama of Divine
Redemption. Sin constitutes the Loss but Redemption constitutes the Legacy, and as this is a
subject in which we are all interested or should be we will be well repaid if we devote a little
time to getting acquainted with the leading characters in the Drama.
Let us begin with the Serpent. Of him the Scripture declares:

hd,F'h; tY:x; lKomi ~Wr[' hy"h' vx'N"h;w> 1

"And the serpent was subtle more than all the living (creatures) of the field."
In the above passage of Scripture the Hebrew word for "serpent" is "nahash" and for the interest of
my listeners I would add that it is the same word used in Exodus (4:3; 7:15) to describe the reptile
into which the rod of Moses was miraculously changed before Pharoah. The chief characteristics of
a serpent are said in Scripture to be subtlety, wisdom and poison, and it is interesting to note that in
the symbolical alphabet of ancient Egypt the serpent represents subtlety and cunning, lust and
sensual pleasure. The same word is employed elsewhere in the Tenach and is rendered into English
by the word "enchantment" (Leviticus 19:26; Deuteronomy 18:10; Numbers 23:23; 24:1 etc.).
In the serpent, therefore, we see symbolised the enchanting poison that leads to death.
Of the Woman, we invite your close attention to the fact that the male Adam bestowed a prophetic
name on the female Adam for we read:

`yx'-lK ~ae ht'y>h' awhi yKi hW"x; ATv.ai ~ve ~d'a'h' ar'q.YIw: 20
"And the man called the name of his wife, Havvah because she was Mother of all lives" (Genesis
3:20).
The name "Havvah" known in English as Eve is derived from a root meaning "life." This is
prophetical indeed, for if the serpent suggests death, the woman promises life.
Just as the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil pointed to man's Loss whilst the Tree of Life
pointed to man's Legacy, so, here too, the serpent reminds us of that Loss but the woman
encourages us by the thought of the Legacy.

Page 23 of 59
Maybe this pristine hope of the legacy of life through the woman was a formative factor in
bestowing upon the female the privileged and honoured position she has always assumed in Israel.
Commenting upon the creation of woman from the side of the male Adam, an ancient Jewish
tradition says "It is as if Adam had exchanged a pot of earth for a precious jewel" (Shab 23).
Woman has never been degraded into mere chattelry in Israel but, on the contrary, has been
esteemed and respected in her own rightful domain. The man is "ish" the wife is "isshah," his equal
partner.
As we behold the snake and the woman in Eden we are reminded of the words of Milton in
"Paradise Lost:"
"So glistered the dire Snake, and into fraud led Eve,
our credulous mother, to the Tree of Prohibition, root
of all our woe" (Book 1x. L. 643).
Let us be sure to insulate our minds and guard our hearts against the tawdry and totally unwarranted
popular and profance conception that sex was the source of the Fall. Why, God Himself had
commanded the sex relationship
"Be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28).
No, my friends, the scene in Eden stages a mystery, deep and profound, a mystery of iniquity and
the dreaded hiss of the serpent is heard in ominous accompaniment.
But both the Snake and the Woman, although fully historical as I believe, yet act merely as
representatives; each represents entities of mightier moment than themselves.
Behind the serpent lurks the sinister shadow of Satan, the Original Sinner, the author and initiator of
man's loss; behind the woman appears the gracious Glory of God, the Original Evangelist, the
Author and Initiator of man's legacy.
One is in peril of a process of self-disarmament in face of danger if one should delude oneself into a
denial of the essential personality of Satan. Scripture gives us no more justification for spelling
"DEVIL" by leaving the "D" off than it does for spelling "GOD" with an extra "O."
Basically the word "satan" means an adversary; an opponent; just as the word "malach" means a
messenger, frequently translated "angel," and it is true that there are many adversaries and many
messengers in Scripture.
But it is equally true that as there is One Supreme Angel, known as THE Messenger of God, so also
there is one supreme Adversary, known as THE Adversary. Of him the Scriptures employ the
definite article in Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7; Zechariah 3:1,2; and elsewhere.
We shall trace the trail of this Serpent through the Loss he initiated and we shall climb the Rainbow
of Promise through the Legacy he didn't initiate in our messages to follow.

Page 24 of 59

The Mystical Analogy

We are currently examining the Cast of Characters in the Divine Drama of Redemption depicted in
Eden's glorious garden as set forth in Genesis, Chapter Three, and the Serpent and the Woman were
the subjects of our last message; now, I wish to call your attention to the further revelation that the
Serpent has a seed and so also has the Woman. Moreover, between the Seed of the Serpent and the
Seed of the Woman there exists enmity.
If we are looking for a deep and important mystical analogy in these historic events in Eden we
shall be searching in a realm in which our exploration is fully justified and we shall not be
disappointed in our findings.
The Seed of the Serpent. What does this expression mean? Well, certainly not young snakes!
Let us begin by noting the sequence of the scene in Eden. God first seeks out the man for
interrogation; there is justice in this for the woman did not herself receive the original prohibition,
but receivd it second-hand from the man. God then interrogates the woman, then turns to the
Serpent.
But the Serpent isn't interrogated. He is summarily judged and cursed without remedy and the
promise of the ultimate crushing of his head by the Seed of the Woman prognosticate his mortal
wound. A serpent with a crushed head is robbed of his power to harm.
Then the woman is warned of consequential multiplied childbearing and travail therein and placed
under the responsible headship of the man. As we shall see this is more in the nature of promise
than judgment.
Now, observe this feature so frequently overlooked. It is not recorded that the woman was expelled
from the Garden, only the man; however, since children were born unto them after the Fall, it seems
reasonable to assume that Eve chose to follow Adam, which indicated an immediate fulfilment of
God's words, when, earlier, He had said to the woman "thy desire shall be to thy husband."
Finally, the man is addressed in the text for the first time without the definite article, be it noted
and his soil and circumstances are cursed for his sake, yet he himself is not cursed, but rather
expelled from the Garden.
Thus, we see that the serpent, the man, and the woman do not share alike.
The serpent has no leniency shown him, the man has much leniency shown him, but the woman is
granted the more leniency, probably because, unlike man whose sin was deliberate, she was
"beguiled."
However, observe a further remarkable sequence of Divine promise and grace. The woman is
promised a seed, an important seed, and the Hebrew context indicates that this word "seed" is not to
be regarded as a collective noun, for the personal pronoun taking its place in the text is in singular
"he." He, the Seed of the Woman, is the Divine instrument to crush the serpent's head, although in
successfully doing so, he himself will suffer a wound, but not a wound irreparable, for the heel is
not a vulnerable part of the body.
Two final points before we marshal our facts and findings. You will recall, that upon discovering
their nakedness after the Fall, the man and the woman, by self-effort, tried to clothe themselves.
However, be it noted that God was satisfied neither with their nakedness nor their self-effort.

Page 25 of 59
Rejecting the covering they had made, He Himself provided a covering satisfactory both to Himself
and to the circumstances. The final point is that the God-provided covering was granted to the man
before the expulsion, as well as to the woman who chose to follow him in his exile.
Now, what do you make of all this? Let us explore together the mystical analogy embedded in this
Scripture history.
Well, the Serpent is the symbol of Satan, the Adversary Supreme. It is impossible to deny that
Scripture denotes the existence of an order of intelligences high than man yet unseen so far as man's
visual apprehension is concerned.
The Scripture reveals the names of at least two and, I think, three of the most exalted and important
of these intelligences. Michael, the Archangel is named, also the Angel Gabriel. Lucifer was the
name of a third.
Further, the Scripture teaches, that before the defection of man, there was a defection in this unseen
creation and it is probable that this Lucifer was the Original Sinner, earning for himself a new name
the name of Adversary, Satan.
Such is the dignified revelation of Scripture to which, unfortunately, man has added much puerile
nonsense and superstition. Scepticism, however, rightly revolting against the superstitious
appendages, has wrongly swept away the revealed truth itself with those appendages a tragedy as
drastic as a mother throwing out the baby with bathwater!
For Satan, then, as our mystical analogy of Eden denotes, there is no hope of redemption, and this
irrevocability of Divine judgment upon the Adversary is confirmed elsewhere in Scripture (e.g.
Matthew 24:41).
So much for the Serpent. Now, what of his seed, his offspring?
Well, suppose we work on the principle of "like Father, like son." Our great Jewish prophet, Isaiah,
in his fourteenth chapter, gives us an insight into the character of Lucifer, where we read:
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, . . . For thou hast said in thy heart, I will ascend
into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the
congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be
like the Most High."
Terrific words, aren't they? What, however, is their essence? The five-times repeated "I will" is a
sufficient indication. Here is an intrusion of self-will into the Divine authority; an usurpation of the
Divine prerogatives; a declaration of independence prompted by the folly of pride and selfsufficiency. Basically such an attitude implies a vote of no confidence in God, declaring Him
untrustworthy and unloveworthy.
But who, apart from Satan and his angels, betrayed this appalling attitude? Why, my friends, Adam
did! Remember that Satan first attacked the woman, and having encompassed her fall and the
inevitable physical and spiritual deteriorations entailed, the man is invited to share the woman's
changed disposition.
His eyes were the first human eyes ever to behold the first human sinner. The man, in this then
unfallen condition, exercised his God-bestowed freedom of will and with it chose to declare in
effect, "I will" join the woman in a declaration of independence against God.

Page 26 of 59
Fallen Adam, then, is the Seed of the Serpent. He is also the federal head of the entire human
family and, as such, our mystical analogy teaches us that God in His adjudicatory action upon
Adam's unfaith sets him completely aside and expels him from the scene.
Ere we close there is a word a comforting word for us, Adam's descendants, who though
uninvited participants in his fallen nature, nevertheless seem to be very willing participants in the
expression of it.
You will remember that Adam, the man, though expelled, was not cursed; moreover, before being
expelled he was clothed by God with garments supplied by God; furthermore that God-supplied
covering was not the product of the natural realm of life such as Adam's fig-leaves had been but,
rather, that God supplied covering was the unnatural and tragic product of death! Coats of skin.
A life had been forfeit to provide the covering for the sinful man of, not now in, Eden. If our great
teacher, Moses, had been asked to comment on this, do you not think he would have said, as he did
in Leviticus,
"For the life of the flesh is in the blood: . . . for it is the blood that maketh atonement for the
soul" (Leviticus 17:11)?
Isn't it interesting that both the Serpent and his Seed were, with the Woman, the first to hear the
evangelical promise from the First Evangelist in Eden, the Eternal God Himself? Yes, the Seed of
the Woman will ruin the Serpent and redeem the Serpent's Seed.
Perhaps Adam's unfaith had changed to the blessed principle of faith in the light of the Divine
Promise because he called the Woman, Eve (Hebrew, "Havvah") a name that pulses with the
promise of life. And that promise is for all as we shall see in succeeding messages on the Seed of
the Woman.

Page 27 of 59

Meaning of the Accent

In our consideration of the events which occured in Eden's luxuriant but fateful Garden as recorded
in Genesis, chapter three, in messages previous to this one we have given some consideration to at
least two of the conspicious actors in this pristine drama of loss and legacy. We have viewed the
Serpent in his sinuous strategy; and the male Adam, the first man who, by succumbing to that
serpentine strategy, became the Serpent's seed and imposed upon the whole human race sin's
lamentable loss.
How true is the motto which declares:
"When wealth is lost, nothing is lost;
When health is lost, something is lost;
When character is lost, all is lost!"
Now, however, it is our hopeful opportunity to turn from the loss to the legacy, therefore, we give
attention to the Woman and the Seed of the Woman.
There are some very interesting things, about the Woman in Eden; let me recapitulate them as a
fitting prologue to the wonderful theme before us.
Unlike the man Adam, the Woman was not a direct recipient of the Divine prohibition regarding the
Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; she only knew of the prohibition on the information of
her husband. Now, don't be unduly complacent about this, ladies! Be assured the husbandly
information she received was quite reliable. This was before the Fall of Man, you know!
The second feature to observe about the Woman in Eden is that, though she undoubtedly sinned, she
didn't sin in the degree the Man did; she was beguiled by the Serpent.
Thirdly, she was not Divinely expelled from the Garden as was the man; she chose to follow the
man in his exile.
These points of dissimilarity between the First Man and First Woman are noteworthy.
Let us look at the Hebrew text once again in which is embedded the admitted embryo of this
mysterious Divine legacy of promised redemption:

varo ^p.Wvy> aWh H['r>z: !ybeW ^[]r>z: !ybeW hV'aih' !ybeW ^n>yBe tyvia' hb'yaew> 15
`bqe[' WNp,WvT. hT'a;w>
"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed; he shall
bruise thy head, and thou shalt wound his heel."
I have given you Isaac Leeser's translation of that Hebrew verse.
As I indicated in previous messages Genesis Chapter three and verse fifteen just quoted has long
been fully acknowledged by our early Jewish sages as being Messianic in character. See the facts
cushioned in comforting Divine revelation and let us check them off right now:
First. The Woman is not supreme; she is subject. Therefore enthrone no woman. Our pristine
revelation justifies no such principle or attitude. By the way, I'm no misogynist.

Page 28 of 59
Second. The Man is supreme but, where redemption is concerned, he is Divinely set aside.
Therefore we shall exalt no son of fallen Adam, for such an attitude is equally proscribed.
Third. With poetic aptness, God declared His choice of the female to be the separate channel
through Whom He Himself would initiate and complete redemption for humanity.
Fourth. Nevertheless, the Woman's Seed, not the Woman herself, is the Instrument of redemption.
Fifth. The Seed of the Woman is to be victorious in action against the Serpent.
Sixth. Yet, although victorious, the Woman's Seed will not go unscathed from the deadly contest
with the Serpent.
Such is the embryonic content of the Divine legacy of redemption as we view it close up to the
scene of its presentation in Eden.
Let us grasp it firmly. It is precious truth. Make it the touch-stone, the lodestar, the canon, the
compass, the pilot of our spiritual knowledge and understanding.
Use it like a Geiger counter to detect and determine the truth and to discriminate it from the dross as
you bring it to bear upon the religions and traditions of humanity. It will serve you faithfully in
freeing you from the false, exposing the extravagant and erroneous, disclosing the distorted,
unmasking the ugly, and acknowledging the accurate.
Come! Let us learn from our lodestar, let this pilot of prophecy plot the path of our pondering.
Here, in this Edenic Epic of Redemption we are to note two separate seeds from the one pair; seeds
separate and distinct in spiritual descent, spiritual deportment, and spiritual destiny the seed of the
Serpent and the Seed of the Woman.
The seed of the Serpent appears in Biblical history and down the ages as the children of unbelief
doubting the revelation of God, the reliability of God, the redemption of God yea, some even
doubting the reality of God. These indeed prove to be the seed of the Serpent. We trace the early
ancestry of this unhappy seed through Cain, Lamech, Japheth, Ham, Nimrod, and his descendants.
Indeed, the very name NIMROD is derived from the Hebrew root "Marad", to rebel, to revolt. Apt
name!
And you will remember that Nimrod was the primal builder of Babylon, the city symbolically
employed in Scripture to denote all that is opposed to the Person and Character of God.
On the other hand the Seed of the Woman appears in the children of belief; these accepted the
revelation of God and relied upon His promise of their ultimate total redemption from the perils and
penalty of sin. We trace, too, the early ancestry of this ever blessed seed through Abel, Seth,
Enoch, Noah and Shem.
Indeed, once again we find deep meaning in nomenclature. As revolt and opposition to God is
embedded in the very name NIMROD, so the contrary is implicit in Shem. For "Shem" means
"NAME" and in Hebrew thought the expression "Hashem: "the NAME", means God.
The mighty hunter of Babylon had revolt embedded in him; but the mighty first-born of Noah had
God's name embedded in him.

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He, with his father, wife, brothers and sisters-in-law, received the blessing of God (Genesis 9:1) and
entered into Covenant relationship with God. He also received the first and prior paternal blessing
(Genesis 9:25-27) from Noah and as Noah was a prophet of God and revealed the future history of
the race, we see Shem thus Divinely selected and separated to God.
In Shem we see God's pristine promise, which indifinitely spoke of the Seed of the Woman,
receiving clearer direction and locality; the legacy of Eden vests in and becomes limited within one
of the three sections of the human race the stream descended from Shem.
Let me close this portion of our time together by asking a somewhat surprising question.
Can you picture the First Man Adam extending his hand to grip the hand of our patriarch Isaac?
Fantastic thought? Why, they are separated by ages of time and multitudes of generations.
But hold on a minute! Let me call your attention to an arresting chronological feature frequently
overlooked. Accepting the longevity ascribed to the patriarchs in the Hebrew Bible as correct, we
find that Methuselah, who was contemporary with Adam for 243 years, had still nearly 100 years of
his long life to run after Shem was born. Shem died at the age of 600 years at which time Abraham
was 148 years old and Isaac had already enjoyed nine years of married life. Now we see how few
are the human links that separate the outstretched hands of Adam and Isaac. Only Methuselah and
Shem need step between the two and the gap is closed and the chain of communication is complete
between the First Man in Eden and a Father of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, the nation just as surely
chosen by God as the Woman in Eden, to produce the Serpent-bruising Seed.
My friends, I devoted three previous messages to the interesting task of tracing the Divine accent in
Revelation. We were fascinated to discover that the Divine emphasis was not upon the alluring
"Ologies" of Creation, but squarely upon FOUR SUPER-SIGNIFICANT LIVES Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob and Joseph. Now we begin to see why. These lives are in the line of descent from Shem
the line of the Seed of the Woman; the line throught which the legacy of redemption will come. No
wonder God is interested in this seed; how foolish of us if we are not interested in it, too!

Page 30 of 59

The Middle of the Ages

We have discovered the Divine accent in Genesis. Perhaps initially to our surprise we found that
this God-inspired book of 50 chapters devoted no less than 39 of them to recording the Divine
dealings with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
We sought the reason for this unexpected emphasis which rested not upon the vastness of all
creation, but upon these four minute specks of its component dust.
We found our answer to this enigma in Eden where we viewed the Loss introduced by Satan and
the Legacy announced by the Eternal; the blessed legacy of redemption through the promised Seed
of the woman.
We identified and traced the early origins of the Seed of the Serpent and we likewise discovered
and followed the early origins of the Seed of the Woman. It was a happy and refreshing task and it
showed us that Redemption was the great Divine objective and Selectivity the Divine principle
preparing it.
In dismissing into a mere 11 opening chapters so much with so great potential, God seems to be
rushing to the side of the man He condescended to call His friend. I refer to Abraham. (2
Chronicles 20:7)
Here is a name to fire the fancy!
In the first decade of the nineteenth century of the Common Era there died a man called Abraham
Newland. He was the principal cashier of the Bank of England. On his tomb there appeared these
lines which he wrote himself before his death:
"Beneath this stone old Abraham lies;
Nobody laughs and nobody cries.
Where he has gone, and how he fares,
Nobody knows and nobody cares."
Now, I suspect this custodian of a bank's wealth wrote well! Nobody knows and nobody cares.
But never could such a morbid sentiment be associated with our Abraham, The Abraham of
Genesis. He stands forth in a blaze of glory; the custodian of untold spiritual wealth. Why,
"Abraham's Bosom" is the poetic expression employed to describe Heaven itself:
"With whom there is no place of toil, no burning heat, no piercing cold, nor any
briers there . . . this place we call the Bosom of Abraham."
(Josephus-Discourse to the Greeks concerning Hades. Homer-Odyssey VI. 42). You find this
sentiment expressed by Josephus and by Homer.
Our ancient Jewish sages include Abraham amongst the five great possessions of God, for we read
in the Mishnah:
"Five possessions did the Holy One, blessed is He, take to Himself in His world; and
these are they: the Law is one possession, and the heaven and earth are one
possession, Abraham is one possession, Israel is one possession, and the Temple is
one possession." (Aboth 6:10)

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What was the secret of Abraham's superlative greatness? Well, negatively he stands out for his
courage in changing his religion when he found it to be false; and positively, he is prominent for his
heart attitude of faith in God.
We have seen that man's Loss was caused through UNFAITH. Adam's disobedience was due to
lack of implicit trust in God. It is poetically right, then, that man must reverse this attitude in order
to resume fellowship and relationship with God. The whole Bible teaches that FAITH is the basis
upon which God imputes righteousness to human beings who decide He is loveworthy and
trustworthy. In other words, the Scriptures teach the principle of imputed righteousness through
FAITH.
And our father Abraham appears as a supreme example of this Divine principle, showing that true
faith is always active. On this point, listen to the declaration of the Law. I read Genesis 15:6 a
passage of Scripture which the great Sephardic Rabbi, Rev. .D A de Sola, translates:

`hq'd'c. AL h'b,v.x.Y:w: hw"hyB; !mia/h,w> 6

"And he believed in the Lord, who accounted it to him as righteousness"
Both Rashi and Sforno concur that God accounted this faith, shown by Abraham, as righteousness.
Says Rashi, and here I quote him
"The Holy One, blessed be He, accounted it unto Abraham as a merit, because of the
faith with which he had trusted in Him."
My friends, here is an early revelation of a Divine principle IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS
consequent upon FAITH.
Note, and treasure, that principle; it has never been Divinely waived or rescinded. It is still
operative today.
Through faith, PLACED WHERE GOD DIRECTS, the soul is reunited to the Eternal; similarly
with and through such a soul, the Eternal works for humanity's emancipation from sin's bondage.
For not only was Abraham the recipient of Divinely-imputed righteousness, but he was also the
repository of an amplification of the earlier Divine LEGACY OF PROMISE in Eden, the full effect
of which this world has yet to witness.
Thus the four supersignificant lives of Genesis carried the Divine ACCENT because they carried
the Divine LEGACY.
Abraham, himself justified by an active faith, became the crucible, the very crucible, into which
was poured the totality of the Divine content of God's beneficient intentions towards mankind.
Now here is something that will surely interest you; indeed, I think it may possibly startle you.
Is it not true that at mention of Abraham your mind conjures a figure almost lost in the press of the
multitudes and myriads of the remote ages of the past. You glance over your shoulder backward
over the time-strip behind you, peering over the heaven-saluting heads of humanity, but where
stands Abraham among so many?

Page 32 of 59
But, if only I could twist that long time-strip round laterally so that it faces you, I am sure you
would be surprised at the point in it at which you would discover Abraham!
Let me borrow your imagination a moment and I think we can achieve this discovery just the same.
Imagine the nearest edge of your rectangular table to be a Biblical time-strip 4,000 years long. At
one end stands the First Man Adam in Eden. At the other end 4,000 years away from Adam stands
One who was responsible for cutting the present calendar in twain like the half of an apple, so that
people measure time from the point at which he stands as B.C. and A.D.
Incidentally, the Scriptures of the New Testament designate this One as the Last Adam, the Second
Man (1 Corinthians 15). Now this designation makes our experiment very simple. At one end of
the table is the First Adam; at the other end of the table is the last Adam. And between them
stretches a Biblical time-strip of 4,000 years. Now, where, along this time-strip is your co-operative
imagination going to place our great Father Abraham? You don't know? Well, are you ready for
the surprise? Good! Abraham stands exactly half-way!
Biblical chronology places Abraham 2,000 years from the First Man in Eden and 2,000 years from
the Second Man in Israel.
Is Abraham's centrality a surprise to you? Does it not arrest your attention to discover that
Abraham is exactly half-way between the creation of man and the beginning of the Common Era?
Surely a most interesting discovery!
Whilst it is admitted that the chronology of Tenach can oft-times be only an approximation, yet the
approximation can demonstrate comfortably the remarkable chronological position occupied by
Abraham.
So far from occupying a random place in the multitude Abraham is the chronologically central
figure in the whole age before the Common Era. Think in terms of a triangle and Abraham is the
very apex. That is rather arresting, isn't it?
Now we see a structure in revelation not to be denied. Now we see again that, not the manifold
"ologies" inherent in Creation, but rather the Legacy in its Promise and Progress towards complete
Performance, is the supreme subject of the Divine interest. Let us, too, transfer our interest where
the Eternal, blessed be he, has His!

Page 33 of 59

Page 34 of 59

The Menorah of Abraham

Recently, I read a statement made by one of our modern Jewish writers with which I find myself in
hearty agreement. Here is what was written:
"Strictly speaking, from the opening word of Genesis to the closing word of Chronicles, the
Hebrew Bible pursues but a single theme, unfalteringly and without digression."
Now, although this writer may not mean exactly what I mean of course, he may, - yet I am
quoting him because the statement he made is truth, solid truth. Truth, clad in printer's ink, striding
through the minds of men.
Surely, "the Hebrew Bible pursues but a single theme," and that theme, unquestionably, is
REDEMPTION. Redemption in the very widest sense your most vivid imagination can supply.
Redemption that sweeps the skies of heaven and scours the depths of hades. Redemption that
encircles humanity in a blessed braclet of benediction.
Redemption that rips the content from the ugly bodies of frustration, disappointment, and
dissatisfaction, and leaves these monstrous giants prone upon the sword of human experience to
trouble the groaning heart of humanity no more!
Redemption, that cries triumphantly to the sword-bearing cherubim that guard man's access to the
Tree of Life, to put up the merciful sword, for at last, Man is ready to partake and live for ever!
Redemption, that rings out the clarion call of mankind's jubilee until the very canopies of time and
space echo and re-echo with its melody and all Creation catches up the everlasting refrain, the trees
clap their hands for joy and the exquisite perfumes of an eternal spring intoxicate the nostrils of
liberated Man until he falls adoringly at the feet of Redemption's Glorious Author, and cries "My
Lord, and my God!"
That and nothing short of that, is the single and the singular theme the Bible pursues.
One might adapt the words of the Psalmist and cry:
"It is like the excellent oil upon the head . . . " (Psalm 133:2)
It resembles the precious olive oil which Moses was commanded to employ for the perpetual
menorah, the everlasting light, in the midst of Israel as recorded in the opening verses of Leviticus,
Chapter 24.
In the fourth verse of this same chapter the "continual light" is also called "the pure light." Pure
and perpetual was the candlestick which shined in the midst of these descendants of Shem, in the
line of the Seed of the Woman.
Weighing some 229 pounds troy (188 pounds avoirdupois), and worth some $23,000, this
candlestick, with its seven points of illumination, has persisted as a revered symbol in Israel, and it
is fascinating to behold it in this present day, as the official symbol of the new-born State of Israel!
However, I imagine the symbolism of the lampstand with its seven points of illumination, is wider
and deeper than is suspected. May I give you a few suggestive thoughts?

Page 35 of 59
As you are aware, seven is recognised as the number which symbolises spiritual perfection, and
light, as a symbol, surely needs no comment from me. Here, then, in the Menorah of Israel, we find
the symbol of perfect spiritual illumination, pure and perpetual.
Indubitably, the origin of all that this symbolism could possibly convey, is to be found rooted in the
pristine Divine Legacy of Redemption through the Seed of the Woman as bestowed by God in the
Edenic Garden.
We find this Legacy of Eden working out purposively until it is amplified and elucidated, to and
through Abraham some 2,000 years later.
God's unconditional covenant with Abraham, as initially recorded in Genesis 12:1-4, possesses
seven precious points of promise which illumine Redemption's priceless plan and patrimony like the
seven-fold light of Israel's Menorah.
For this reason, in my book "Out of the Clouds," I have likened this Abrahamic covenant to the
sevenfold Menorah of Divine Light brightening the cheerless gloom of human futility.
Come! Using the sacred fire from the God patterned and provided Altar of Sacrifice, let us light in
succession each of the seven oil-soaked outlets in this Menorah-Covenant of Promise.
The first flame of warranty shines its light into our souls with these gracious words: "I will make
of thee a great nation." The second illuminant warms us with its pledge: "And I will bless thee."
As if in harmonic and alacric response, the third ray scintillates the sparkling assurance: "And
make thy name great."
The central shaft that bears the six branches next sends forth its beam: "And be thou a blessing."
The fifth halo of hope surrounds not only Abraham but every friend of the Jewish people down the
ages: "And I will bless them that bless thee."
The sixth flashes its warning beacon: "And him that curseth thee will I curse." Hitler found this
promise still potent and all Jew-haters will share his experience.
The seventh effulgence sends its radiancy forth in glorious guarantee: "And in thee shall all the
families of the earth be blessed."
The advancing light of this Menorah of the Ages is inextinguishable because its source is the Divine
faithfulness and its covenant clauses unconditional and quite independent of human failure, and I
beg to disagree with any who suggest the contrary.
This gracious Abrahamic covenant was born of Divine grace, delivered whilst Abraham was yet
uncircumcised, sealed by God's oath and ratified by sacrifice; sacrifice Divinely initiated, the very
circumstances of which illustrate and demonstrate this unconditional content in symbolic wonder in
Genesis 15:17 where we read that "when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking
furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces" of the sacrifice.

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Rabbi D A de Sola comments correctly on this passage of the law as follows: and here I quote him:

"The flaming fire which appear in the midst of the smoking furnace, was the symbol
of the Divine Presence, ratifying the Covenant, by passing between the pieces. The
reason why Abram did not also pass between the pieces, was because there was
nothing in this Covenant obligatory on his side."
That is the end of the quotation, and it should be the end of our anxiety regarding the ultimate issues
of the future of the race. Not extinction by hydrogen bombs, but redemption by Divine Grace,
totally apart from human effort or inertia, merit or demerit.
God alone, through the Instrumentality of the Promised Seed of the Woman, will pour forth this
beneficience upon mankind.
My friends, if you will meditate carefully over every one of those seven points of Divine
illumination in this Abrahamic Menorah of the Ages, and then check them over against world
history, ancient and modern, you will find them all in a continuous process of fulfilment not
exhausted even yet.
Like a precious pebble of promise dropped by Divine Grace from heaven into the torpid waters of
humanity's spiritual inertia, the resultant ripple-circles ever widen in diameter until they reach the
utmost limit of the shores of entire racial bliss for the totality of all mankind.

Page 37 of 59

Observe the ever widening circles of blessing in this seven-fold unconditional Divine covenant with
Abraham:
First, the Individual
"I will bless thee."
Second, the Family
"I will make thy name great."
Third, the Nation
"I will make of thee a great nation."
Fourth, the Race
"In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed."

Page 38 of 59
May this Abrahamic Menorah of the Ages burn brightly in the midst of human darkness and may it
kindle a flame of hope in your soul as it does in mine; we shall follow its blessed beams to the ends
of the earth in our succeeding messages.

Page 39 of 59

"The Monarch's Announcement"

My friends, let me tell you a parable. Once upon a time an All-powerful Monarch sent a written
message of paramount importance and benefit to the people for whom it was intended.
Upon arrival the people were gathered together to hear the contents of the impressive despatch. The
one chosen to read the communication began:
"Thus saith the King . . . "
He got no further. A tall man with a somewhat melancholy face suddenly interrupted with a loud
voice:
"Don't you believe it, my friends, there is no King. He just doesn't exist"
Someone shouted angrily "Fool." (Psalm 14:1)
Once again the letter was commenced:
"Thus saith the King . . . "
This time the interruption came from a man who was sitting at the V-like junction of two roads. He
was looking rather wistfully up each road giving the impression that he longed to travel along both
but was equally suspicious of each, an attitude of indecision which chained him a perpetual prisoner
to the barren and negative spot on which he stood.
"How do we know the King doesn't exist," he interjected, "since we've never been to his kingdom,
and, for the same reason, how do we know that he does exist. We never can really know, so why
listen at all."
Yet again the message was begun.
"Thus saith the King . . . "
This time, however, the interruption came from one who appeared to be of some considerable
standing among the people.
"Of course there is a King," he cried. "I can assure you of that, and you need not have his message
read to you. Indeed I doubt very much whether you would understand it. Fortunately I can impart
its contents to you so I suggest you keep it unread and just listen solely to me."
Although the King's communication was introduced again many of the people had now moved out
of earshot and were surrounding the three interjectors who had begun quite an altercation among
themselves.
"Thus saith the King . . . "
Suddenly there moved forward a most imposing gentleman before whom the ranks of the multitude
parted with a deference which seemed to hold within it the element of real fear.
"Gentlemen," he began, "I assure you that you should read this discourse or should I say these
discourses. You will find them most interesting and not a little instructive."

Page 40 of 59
Taking the imposing documents out of the hands of the King's Courier who bore them, the same
impressive gentleman continued:
"As for this courier, I know him well. He began his journey here in very poor circumstances and in
an almost ape-like existence; in fact, you wouldn't recognise him for the man he is today.
Moreover, his journey has taken him very much longer than you would suspect and, to be frank, he
has lost his way quite a few times. Actually this has been all to the good, because not only has he
had a longer time to pick up the ideas he has written in the documents he brings, but he has gotten
no small variety of queer notions from the exceedingly strange places through which he has strayed.
"However, he is quite an ingenious type of person by no means lacking in originality because he has
himself refined many of the crude concepts he collected and has made quite a commendable effort
at a plausible synthesis, which he has embedded in these resultant discourses which will, I am
confident, commend themselves to you as literary gems of no mean lustre, particularly as he seems
to have captured, in some measure, a fairly acceptable ego-projection of a Monarch to whom he
attributes the resultant syntheses although, perhaps, they are marred a little by an extravagant and
somewhat unseemly anthropomorphism.
"Moreover, his present imposing attire in which he presents the documents well becomes the regal
atmosphere with which he seeks to surround them even though, of course, we know (never let it be
said we merely guess) that his present regal uniform is really the patchwork product of many
periods and peoples."
During this weighty and scholarly "commendation" the people had begun to melt away: they
seemed to have lost interest in the so-called "message from the King." To many of them now this
wasn't Holy Writ, it was wholly rot.
The Courier, moved and perturbed by all this tragic folly which threatened to rob the people of this
priceless patrimony from the King, stepped forward and with intonation possessing all that
authority which vested in him so freshly from the Throne of the Great King he cried:
"Thus saith the Lord . . . "
There were some left who decided wisely to close their ears to all but the words written by the King
in the documents . . . Admittedly, their numbers were fewer but their light was greater.
Do I need to explain this parable? The Great King is the Eternal God, blessed be He and the
important written message He sends is the Bible.
The first interjector is the Atheist who says in his heart "There is no God" (Psalm 14:1); the man at
the V-roads is the Agnostic whose attitude of negation clothes him with garments of unreality
fringed with fear.
Then we have the Substitutionalist who, in place of the Written Revelation of God, sets up mere
human opinion and tradition quite unauthorised by the Bible itself.
Then comes the Naturalist so extremely saturated in a pantheistic evolutionism that he is quite
convinced that man began as a SPECK and evolved into a SAGE. Man is quite a seasoned
traveller; indeed, sometimes you can smell the seasoning!

Page 41 of 59
Like a repulsive bloated spider, the undemonstrated theory of evolution pounces upon every
legitimate human concept and, devouring it, assimilates it into its own evolutionary system, to spin
it out again in a webbed mesh which ensnares, traps and imprisons all ideas contrary to its own
theory; and the victim to the evolutionary spider is to be sucked dry of anything suggesting or
savouring of a Divine revelation.
There are those, however, by no means lacking in scholarship and in standing, who choose to allow
the Bible, and the Bible alone, to speak for itself. They are willing to listen to it and to give sober
consideration to its undeniable claim of being a Divine revelation from God to mankind. Maybe
these are fewer in number but, very humbly, I suggest that they have the greater light. Call them
Supernaturalists if you will, though I claim no complete accuracy for the definition.
Anyway, in these messages, we approach the Holy Scriptures in a conditon of willingness to let
them speak for themselves and this attitude already has brought us some arresting and exciting
facets hitherto unsuspected by us.
You will remember that we found that the Divine Accent in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, was
not on those "ologies" of the wonders of Creation such as we might have expected. On the contrary
the Divine Emphasis was rather upon four human beings. In order to trace the supersignificancy of
this unexpected feature we retraced our steps to the Garden in Eden where we discovered both a
Loss and a Legacy. The Loss was Sin's vicious entry into the human race; the Legacy was the
Divine promise of Redemption through the Seed of the Woman.
Since the Four Supersignificant Lives of Genesis, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph are all in the
line of the Seed of the Woman, being descendants of Shem, we now know where and why the
Divine interest and purpose attaches in human affairs.
Our next discovery was a chronological surprise for, again contrary to our expectation, we found
Abraham to have lived at a time, in round figures, 2,000 years after the Creation of Man and, again
in round figures, 2,000 years before the inauguration of the Common Era.
This discovery spurred us on to examine the sevenfold content of the unconditional Abrahamic
Covenant as recorded in Genesis 12:1-4 and we were convinced of its relationship to and with the
Edenic Legacy of Divine Redemption through the Seed of the Woman.
Armed with the observations and recapitulation embedded in this message I feel we are now well
equipped to pursue our fascinating quest into the Realms of Revelation.
Ere I close this message may I invite your attention to one other chronological factor which, I am
convinced, is evidence of the Divine hand upon the ages. Notice the following striking coincidence
of age-spans. Placing the Creation of Man more specifically at B.C.E. 4141 we find that it is 1656
years to the Great Flood (B.C.E. 2485); 430 years from the Great Flood to the Unconditional
Abrahamic Covenant (B.C.E. 2055); 430 years again from the Covenant to the Exodus from Egypt
(B.C.E. 1625); and again 1656 years from the Exodus to the Crux of the Common Era (A.D. 32).
Admittedly, this is a very strange and arresting pattern of periods.
We have now seen the chronological centrality of Abraham and the Abrahamic Covenant and we
know we are on the track of something interesting and important.

Page 42 of 59

"The Miraculous Association"

My friends; can you visualise the eagerness of the graceful hound as he presses along the trail
towards his quarry, his sensitive nostrils ardently snuffing up the enticing scent which encourages
him ever onwards?
Well, I think we are something like that hound. We've picked up the scent, and we feel we are on
the track of something worth finding.
In our tracing of the Seed of the Woman we have followed the rainbow of Divine promise of
Redemption from Eve in Eden to Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees. Here we see the Messianic
progress assuming a national aspect.
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the Triunity on which the Eternal God erects a pyramid of redeeming
purpose with Joseph at the apex; Joseph, whose life is presented among the Four because it is a
parable of the life of Messiah.
But don't let me speak in parables here. My friends, I have already warned of the danger of halftruths; let me illustrate. Imagine parents being so blind to the total needs of their child regarding his
wearing apparel that they became Shirtists and Pantists respectively. Poor child! Imagine emerging
into life's busy thoroughfare clad only in pants, because the Pantist element triumphed; the opposite
situation does not, of course, bear imagining.
Happy the child when it is discovered that his needs demand both garments. To be unpanted is
unmentionable whilst to be unshirted is to be unpresentable. Yet, theologically, something just like
this is happening. The glorious truth of Man's Redemption is being dispatched upon humanity's
needy highways incompletely and inadequately clad.
My two very good friends the Modern Synagogue and the Modern Church are equally in peril of
becoming Shirtists and Pantists where man's redemptive spiritual welfare is concerned. Such
attention is being devoted to one essential garment that the other essential garment is being
forgotten entirely.
The Modern Church is so engrossed with Chosen Person that it ignores or forgets the Chosen
People; with equal loss, the Modern Synagogue is so occupied with the Chosen People that it has
little time to spare for the Chosen Person.
How I long that these beloved Parents may so cherish welare and presentability of the child
entrusted to them that each will see that one garment without the other is rendering the son of their
care less acceptable or logical to the world of men who need the truth so much.
So surely as there is a Chosen People, so surely is there a Chosen Person; conversely, as assuredly
as there is a Chosen Person, so, assuredly, there is a Chosen People. And the One without the Other
is as preposterous a negation of Divine Revelation as the Other without the One.
What shall I say to the Modern Church which ignores the Chosen People? Anyway, who am I that I
should presume to speak? Yet, even as my father Abraham dared when the Cities of the Plain were
threatened with destruction (Genesis 18), so shall I say Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak
unto the Modern Church:
What saith your New Testament regarding the Chosen People, the Twelve Tribes of Israel?
Graciously give ear to the very words of the Chosen Person to His disciples:

Page 43 of 59
"And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the
regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon
twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."
I have quoted from the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 19 and verse 28. Here surely we see
the Chosen People basking in the glory of the Chosen Person.
Again, did not the Chosen Person declare to the Samaritan woman that "salvation is of the Jews:?
(John 4:22)
May I now presume to turn from one Parent to the Other? May I address a word to the Modern
Synagogue? I select but one passage out of hundreds throughout our Tenach ("old" Testament).
Let me quote our Prophet Jeremiah, chapter 23 verse 5 and 6.

lyKif.hiw> %l,m, %l;m'W qyDIc; xm;c, dwId'l. ytimoqih]w: hw"hy>-~aun> ~yaiB' ~ymiy" hNEhi 5
`#r,a'B' hq'd'c.W jP'v.mi hf'['w>
`Wnqed>ci hw"hy> Aar>qy. I-rv,a AmV.-hz<w> xj;b,l' !Kov.yI laer'f.yIw> hd'Why> [v;W"Ti wym'y"B. 6
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a RIGHTEOUS SPROUT (or
legitimate offspring), and he shall reign as king and prosper, and shall execute justice and
righteousness in the land. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and
this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."
Surely, in this Scripture, as in many others we do not see the Chosen People without the Chosen
Person; and I remind you that I am remaining within the circles of Judaism in ascribing this
Scripture to the Chosen Person for our ancient interpretations in Talmud, and Midrash take the two
words

Wnqed>ci hw"hy>

"the Lord our righteousness"

together as the compound name of the Messiah, the Chosen Person. (Baba Bathra 75b, Lam.
Rabba 1:16 ed. Buber).
I am fully persuaded that the Chosen People and the Chosen Person are

dx'a,

One, and sad it is if those whom God has joined together should be put asunder by man.

Now, my friends, if there be a Divine union of a Chosen People with a Chosen Person in order to
consummate a Pledged Redemption of mankind; and if mankind, by his very fallen nature is both
unable and unwilling to render an intelligent partnership in this Pledge; and if, in addition, there still
be the Serpent of Eden bent on frustrating the performance of this Pledge; then, isn't it obvious that
the initiative ever was, still is, and yet will be, in the hands of God Himself. Is not He, and He
alone, the Redeemer of the World?
If these factors are cogent, then it is reasonable, it is logical, it is to be expected, that there shall be
associated with this God-initiated Redemption, Divine interposition, Divine miracles and Divine
self-revelation.
Why do so many snuff the air and bolt when the word "miracle" is mentioned.

Page 44 of 59
My friends, God can, does and will act here on this earth apart from those laws of nature which are
thought to be known to us. Dr Adolph Saphir has well written:
"The thing that is important in a miracle is not that something extraordinary has
happened for which we can give no account as to its origination; but the important
thing in a miracle is that God acts." ("The Divine Unity of Scripture" p. 223).
Also, I ask you to note that Divine miracles are purposive, they are "going places"; sometimes they
are necessary to stir up our sceptical minds to the acceptance of a fact which is beneficial to us to
know and to believe. Says Young:
"What is a miracle 'Tis a reproach,
'Tis an implicit satire on mankind;
And while it satisfies, it censures, too." ("Night Thoughts")
Now, how far have we got? Well, as we continue our explorations of the Legacy of Eden we will
not jettison from our minds the possibility and reasonableness of Divine interposition and Divine
miracle; further, we will be on our guard against an incomplete truth; we shall be neither Shirtists or
Pantists in the prosecution of our investigation of all that is implicit in the precious promise of the
Seed of the Woman.
But, hold on a minute! Since the Chosen People and the Chosen Person are dx'a, . One: is it
possible that the expression "Seed of the Woman" has a deeper significance than that which we
have so far traced in the descendants of Shem?
My friends, may I urge you to reflect upon the somewhat singular idea presented by this revelation
of a Seed of the Woman being the source and strength of mankind's salvation?
Where natural procreation is concerned the emphasis is always on the male, and the issue is always
identified with the male. If Mr I marries Miss U, she becomes Mrs I not Mrs U and the children
of the union are little "I's", not little "U's"; they are regarded basically as the seed of the man, not
the woman.
In our Jewish Talmudic literature which, of course, cannot be classed in the same category with the
Bible but which is, nevertheless, enlightening, we read of seven things allegedly created before the
world was created. One of the seven is "the Name of the Messiah" and this extraordinary statement
is based upon verse 17 of Psalm 72, which is thus admitted to refer to the Messiah, and which reads:

`WhWrV.a;y> ~yIAG-lK' Ab Wkr>B't.yIw> Amv. !ANyI !ynIy" vm,v-, ynEp.li ~l'A[l. Amv. yhiy> 17
"His Name shall endure for ever; His Name shall be continued as long as the sun: and (men)
shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed."
One of our great modern Jewish writers describes the ancient Jewish idea of redemption through the
Personal Messiah in these words, and here I quote him:
"Before Creation, Israel was predestined to produce from itself a Messiah, to be
redeemed by him, and through him to redeem all mankind from the evil in the
world."

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My friends, I shall expect to be rewarded if I anticipate in both the Chosen People and the Chosen
Person a Divinely miraculous element associated with the female in order to produce the Seed of
the Woman the Chosen People and the Seed of the Woman The Chosen Person.

Page 46 of 59

The Matriarchs in Ancestry

My friends, in our previous journeys into the wealthy and captivating realms of Divine Revelation,
we entered Eden's fateful Garden through the time-beaten portals of Genesis.
There, in that pristine Garden we heard the Protoevangel declared by the First Missionary to the
First Fallen Pair in the hearing of the First Sinner; for it was in the Garden of Eden that
Redemption's glad promise was announced by God Himself to Adam and Eve in the hearing of
Satan.
Thus God Himself initiated the first missionary message when He made the promise, cryptic yet
crystal, that a Seed of the Woman not, mark you, of the Man would bruise the head of the
Serpent.
Hebrew scholars will appreciate the significance of the Mappiq in the Hebrew word

H['r>z:

"her seed"; they will also observe that this

construction compels us to regard the word "seed" as being in the singular number even if the
ensuing pronoun "he", did not force this conclusion upon us.
Surely, He, the Seed of Woman not the seed of Man is the Divinely-sent Saviour from the
Serpent's sting, and I have already pointed out in my Message No. 29 that this was the view of our
early Jewish commentators.
Gratefully seizing this torch of Divine light to illumine the path of our quest we pressed onward in
search of the saving Seed.
As we turned our backs on Eden, it seemed that v.d>q'h; x;Wr the Holy Spirit Himself went before
us as if eager to conduct us to the destination of our inquiry.
As we journey through the pages of Genesis under His Divine guidance we soon found a purposive
process of ELECTION and SELECTION going on before us.
Of Adam's children Seth only is chosen after the fratricide of Abel; of Jared's sons and daughters
only Enoch is selected; of the family of Lamech only Noah receives the Divine election; of Noah's
three sons both Japheth and Ham are rejected and only Shem remains to further the Divine progress
towards redemption.
Our chronological journey had lasted 2,000 years, exactly half way between Adam and the
Common Era, when we reached the apex of the pyramid of promise in Abraham! Although Terah
had three sons, both Haran and Nahor had to give place to this man Abraham, called the "Friend of
God."
In Abraham was secured the glorious unconditional covenant which we revelled to examine in my
Message No. 33.
In the blaze of the glory of the light from the Menorah of Abraham we need journey no further for
its beams illumine the pathways to the end of the fifty chapters of the whole book of Genesis!

Page 47 of 59
In its beams we see Ishmael excluded and Isaac included; Esau diverted and Jacob selected; of
Jacob's twelve sons, eleven must turn their eyes on one Judah he, and he alone, is selected to
press onward the Messianic line of redemption.
How I rejoice that the bleak, black dome that shrouds the dismal sky of humanity's tumultuous
history is arched with the serene stars of sin's settlement granting a wisdom-woven hope in the
breast of every believer in the promises of God.
Adam, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Shem, Abram, Isaac, Jacob and Judah are like rungs on Jacob's
ladder inviting us to enter Heaven's paternal residence through the Seed of the Woman.
Yes! These are the Patriarchs of Precious Promise but, since the Person of Promise is the Seed of
the Woman, should we not now turn from the Patriarchs to the Matriarchs?
Assuredly we must, for did we not anticipate a Divinely miraculous element associated with the
female in order to produce both the Seed of the Woman the Chosen People, and the Seed of the
Woman the Chosen Person?
Well, then, to the Matriarchs we turn!
If the names Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Judah reflect the beams of the Divine light of Messianic
promise, what fragrant fecund flowers shall we expect in soil so select as Sarah, Rebekah, Leah and
Rachel!
In my last message, did I not promise you a surprise? Well! I'm tempted now to say "Come and get
it!" However, I refrain from this colloquialism because I haven't got one surprise for you I've got
four!
Come! Enjoy the thrill of the unexpected.
God points His friend Abraham to a palace of precious Messianic promise and places in his
outstretched hand the key to unlock the door. But surprise number one the lock won't work!
Sarah, Abraham's wife, is sterile!
The very first mention of Sarah is in Genesis chapter 11, verses 29 and 30, and like a tornado
uprooting the very tree of Messianic hope we read the words:

`dl'w" Hl' !yae hr'q'[] yr;f' yhiT.w:

"And Sarah was barren"! Yet in and through her sterility, a sterility demonstrated until she was
90 years of age, came the Divine promise of a son!
On the one hand the protracted sterility; on the other hand the promised son. Is it any wonder that
laughter was the reception the promise received? Is it any wonder, too, that "Laughter" was the
name the son received?
Yes, God kept His promise and performed a biological miracle and Isaac was born to Sarah; and
Isaac, in the Hebrew language, means Laughter; and Isaac trod this old earth as the animated
laughter of a princess!
We breathe a sigh of relief as we behold Isaac turn to his "noosed cord," Rebekah. Now, surely,
we'll see the Messianic line speed on its way!

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But surprise number two awaits us! The key of promise that Abraham passed on to Isaac is again
confronted with a stubborn lock! Nineteen childless years are explained by the Scriptures at
Genesis chapter 25, verse 21, almost laconically, with the brief statement:

awhi hr'q'[] yKi

21

"Because she was barren"

Sarah! Rebekah! Is there no fruit in Israel? So once again, Jacob, like Isaac before him, was the
child of miraculous birth!
Experience causes us to tremble now as we follow Jacob. Ah! No need for anxiety here, for Jacob
has two wives Leah and Rachel.
Yet surprise number three waits us. Commenting on Genesis chapter 29, verses 31 and 32, the great
Rabbi Obadiah Ben Jacob Sforno declares of Leah, "The inference is that by nature she was
barren."
God saw her affliction and intervened again and the patriarchs of six of the twelve tribes of Israel
were the product of this Divine interposition and among these six was Judah the very fount of
Messianic hope.
And what of Rachel? Ah! We are prepared now for surprise number four. Yes, it's true! Of
Rachel, the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, we read these words in Genesis chapter 29 and verse
31:

`hr'q'[ lxer'w>: 31
"But Rachel was barren."
My friends, I am convinced that the God who initiated the promise in Eden and selected the
Patriarchs to perpetuate the purpose of the promise, selected also the Matriarchs Sarah, Rebekah
and Leah through whom came the Messianic Tribe Judah.
And I am also convinced that their consistent sterility calling for Divine biological intervention, was
part of the selection to impregnate the consciousness of Israel with the doctrine and fact of
Miraculous Birth and to demonstrate God's independence of human frailty where the promised
redemption of humanity is concerned.
And Rachel's barrenness? Has this a lesson, too? I think so.
From Rachel's sterility God produced Joseph and Benjamin and the blend of the life and
circumstances of these two sons of Divine biological intervention is noteworthy for its adumbration,
its foreshadowing, of the life and circumstances of the Messiah, the Chosen Person.
Thus God stamped Israel's Matriarchs with His key-signature of miracle and left Dan, Naphtali,
Gad and Asher as a minority reminder that even human expediency can be swept into His Divine
purpose.
However much others may scorn the concept of Birth through Divine Miracle, at least Israel cannot
do so whilst eight sons and a daughter born of four barren women remain to testify to God's hand in
promise and procreation!

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We have surely observed the Divine Hand where Israel's Matriarchs are concerned; in future
messages we shall note the same Divine Hand where Israel's Messiah is concerned.

Page 50 of 59

Messiah Anticipated
My friends, a Jewish mother was at once amused and amazed when her little son lifted
contemplative eyes and remarked "Mama, musn't God's feet be beautiful!" When pressed gently to
advance his reason for such a conclusion the reply was faultlessly logical
"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger of good tidings that
announceth peace, the harbinger of good tidings, that announceth salvation." (Isaiah 52:7)
In my dictionary the messenger of the good tidings of salvation is called an evangelist and in
previous messages we made the comforting discovery that God Himself was the First Evangelist,
the First Missionary, announcing the good tidings of salvation through the Seed of the Woman to
our first parents in Eden's fateful Garden. I refer you to the third chapter of Genesis for the details.
In tracing the Biblical line of this promised Seed we made the interesting discovery that all four of
Israel's famous Matriarchs Sarah, Rebekah, Leah and Rachel were sterile and each was therefore
the subject of Divine biological miracle and intervention. The Messianic Tribe of Judah owed its
very existence to Birth by Divine Miracle.
If the aura of Miracle hangs over the Messianic Tribe how much more should that same feature be
expected when that Tribe itself gives birth to the Messiah Himself, the real and promised Seed of
the Woman.
My friends, one of our modern Jewish philosophers has well written and here I quote him
" . . . a distinction must be made between man in his essential nature and man in his
'fallen' existential condition, and if this distinction is but for a moment lost sight of,
everything is in danger of collapsing into utter confusion." (Judaism and Modern
Man" p. 252, 253, Will Herberg)
How true are the words I have quoted and therefore how consoling the Divine Edenic promise of
redemption. We shall find that the gradual unfolding of the mystery of redemption will also be
accompanied by a gradual unveiling of the mystery of the Godhead, for it is God Himself Who is
revealed as "the Redeemer of the World."
How will this redemption be accomplished? I feel convinced that the pristine Edenic promise of the
Seed of the Woman was interpreted in remote times as involving in some manner a union of Deity
with humanity. For a moment let us leave the God-planted Garden of Eden where every form of
fruit and foliage fell from the hands of God, and let us enter the hallucinated hothouse of
uncorrected human traditions where the original Divine redemptive promise has suffered such
perversion.
In the weird arboretum of mythology, let us pluck some of the bizarre and grotesque fruits which
dangle awkwardly from the trees of unenlightened human imaginings; although they may differ in
colour and shape, yet if we extract their juices, we shall find the same essential flavour the
concept of the union of Deity with humanity; a union achieved either by the apotheosis of man
ascending to godhood, or by the theanthropy of a god descending to manhood. Such are the juices
of the fruits of mythology retained largely by the strange fibres of metempsychosis and
transmigration.
The Hindu mythology included Krishna, Deity become man crushing the head of the serpent, while
the serpent strikes his heel. So also the mythology of Mexico contributes the concept of the highest
god become incarnate through a human mother.

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When we reduce the wild vagaries and fantasies of heathendom down to their essential suggestion
we are forced to the conviction that the original Edenic promise of the Seed of the Woman had
become widely diffused among all nations. Such diffusion doubtless reflected the innate yearning
of fallen mankind longing for harmonious communion with a personal God.
It is refreshing to turn away from the humid atmosphere of mythology, for "'Tis an unweeded
garden, that grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature possess it merely." (Hamlet 1,ii,135)
Once again we fill our lungs with the pellucid and fragrant air of Eden from whence the Divine
promise first sprang.
Shall we seek to ascertain what our first Parents who received the precious pledge thought of it?
With the doom of death death spiritual, and its fruit, death physical now passed upon the fallen
pair, what was the reaction of Adam to the promise of the Seed? Well, obviously he knew that so
surely as DEATH had been in his transgression, so surely was LIFE in God's guarantee for after
the promise we read of Adam: "And the man called his wife's name HAVVAH (EVE); because
she was the mother of all LIFES" (Genesis 3:20).
In Hebrew the word translated Eve in English indicates LIFE and Adam's eyes of hope were turned
towards the right sex when he looked for LIFE and redemption through the Seed of the Woman.
And what of Eve herself? What was the impression the promise produced upon the mind of the
First Mother? Well, frankly, I doubt if any of my gracious listeners will be prepared for the
amazing reaction the unadorned Scriptures disclose. Allow me to read you the Hebrew of Genesis
4 verse 1 and follow it with an equally unadorned English translation:

`hw"hy>-ta,: vyai ytiynIq' rm,aTow !yIq-; ta, dl,Tew: rh;T;w: ATv.ai hW"x-; ta, [d;y" ~d'a'h'w> 1
"And the man knew even Havvah his wife; and she conceived and bore even Cain, and she said
"I have gotten me a man, even Jehovah.'"
These are startling and tremendous words; so startling that mere human comprehension has found it
impossible to let the words of Havvah have their full grammatical force and meaning, hence some
translations supply words not in the original Hebrew; such, for instance, as "I have gotten a man
FROM the Lord" or "I have gotten a man WITH THE HELP OF the Lord." The words I have
emphasised are not found in the original text and in my opinion are not justified any more than if
the whole verse were translated;
"And the man knew with the help of Havvah his wife and she conceived and bore with the help
of Cain and she said I have gotten me a man with the help of Jehovah."
Permit me, therefore, humbly to submit to you that this Scripture, unadorned, conveys to the mind
that the words of Havvah clearly imply that she thought Cain was God become man to achieve the
redemptive promise which she had received at first hand from God Himself.
I believe that which I have suggested was Havvah's interpretation of the pledge is worthy of our
sober respect. Of course she was mistaken as to identity; but was she mistaken regarding the means
whereby the Eternal would implement His promise?
If I have assessed correctly Havvah's expectations in the Edenic promise, then I invite you to
observe that this was no mere theophanay she was expecting no mere appearance of God as He
had appeared later to Abraham at Mamre, to Jacob at Peniel, to Moses at Sinai, to Joshua near

Page 52 of 59
Jericho, to Isaiah in the Temple, or to Manoah and his wife. No, she was not expecting theophany.
She was expecting Incarnation Deity enveloped in pure humanity via human birth!
In my Message No. 29 I quoted the Jerusalem Targum on the Messianic import of the amazing
Scripture, Genesis 3:15. Allow me to quote the Targum once again:
" . . . but there shall be a remedy for the children of the woman, but for thee, O
serpent, there shall be no remedy for hereafter they shall to each other perform a
healing in the heel in the latter end of the days, in the days of King Messiah."
Havvah sees Deity Incarnate; our early Jewish commentators see the same promise as 'relating to
the Chosen Person, the Messiah; and our early Rabbinical writings make much use of the typical
relationship Adam to the promised Messiah: "Quemadmodum homo primus fuit primus in peccato,
sic Messias erit ultimus ad auferendum peccatum penitus. And Adamus postremus est Messias."
Such is the quotation which could be translated:
"In what manner the first man was first in transgression, so Messiah will be last in
bearing away transgression innerward. And the Last Adam is Messiah."
Yes, my friends, this is undoubtedly the early Jewish concept of the Edenic promise of redemption
through the Seed of the Woman. The Seed of the Woman is the Messiah. But does this necessarily
imply Deity incarnate?

Page 53 of 59

The Matchless Announcement

My friends, as I set out to prepare this message for you I was shewn a bucket over 100 years old. It
was a wooden bucket and was very expertly made its little staves in perfect union and conformity.
As I looked at it I was reminded of the familiar saying "Trying to put the ocean into a bucket."
Contemplate the vastness of the ocean and the pathetic inadequacy of the bucket to contain it!
The rolling volume, of the watery depths expose the hopeless inadequacy of the bucket in terms
most ludicrous. So it is with Deity! The capacity of man's adequacy to contain the full concept of
the Deity is, to coin a word, hopelessly "bucketic."
It would be easier to enclose the Empire State Building in the room of a doll's house than to enclose
the concept of the Infinite within the Finite limitations of human comprehensibility.
Man is the bucket. God is the ocean. Cries our great prophet:
"To whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare unto Him? (Isaiah 40:18)
"Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket." (Isaiah 40:15)
Yes; indeed it is true the bucket won't hold the ocean; nevertheless it is equally true that the drop of
the ocean's water in the bucket does reflect somewhat of the ocean itself. Possessing the drop we
are not in total ignorance of the ocean!
Admittedly, the drop cannot convey to us the magnitude of the ocean. Looking merely at the drop
one could never exclaim as Barry Cornwall did:
"The sea! the sea! the open sea!
The blue, the fresh, the ever free!
Without a mark, without a bound.
It runneth the earth's wide regions round" ("The Sea")
Nevertheless, the drop can convey to us the constituency of the ocean there is an affinity, a
sameness between the drop and the ocean; for that of which the drop is made is that of which the
ocean is made.
Moreover, reduce me in size to the microscopical; then tumble me into the ocean-drop and cause to
play upon that same drop, and in exact proportions, the boisterous breath of air and, in my then
microscopic dimensions, my personal experiences within the turbulencies of that single drop might
well prompt me to ejaculate the familiar words of Byron:
"Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean roll!"
See what I mean? Possessing the drop and the bucket we are not in total ignorance of the ocean
even though we cannot hope to contain it!
Why do I remind you of all this? Because we shall find that the gradual unfolding of the mystery of
redemption will also be accompanied by a gradual unveiling of the mystery of the Godhead. As we
seek reverently to unveil these twin mysteries, we shall be aided if we bear in mind the twin lessons
of the bucket and the ocean.

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To probe the Divine mysteries of Redemption and Deity we must turn again to that fount of Divine
revelation the Bible.
In English, the first book of the Bible is called GENESIS; in Hebrew

tyviareB.

(sounded phonetically) BRAYSHEET; the

English title is taken from the Greek word "geneseos," a translation of the Hebrew word

tdol.AT

meaning "generations" and found in Genesis,

Chapter 2, verse 4. The Hebrew title is derived from the first word of the Hebrew Bible and means
"In the beginning."
What a majestic commencement the Bible possesses!
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
Friends, I want to tell you something remarkable about these opening chords of Divine revelation
which, like the bucket, the mere English in unable to contain.
I do hope you share my delight in good music because the surprise I have in store for you can best
be conveyed to you in terms of the concert hall.
In the first words of Genesis we are about to hear the colossal Concerto of Creation played on the
Grand Organ of Revelation by that unsurpassed Artist of Harmony "The Spirit of God." Come
now into the auditorium with me and await the opening chords!
The buzz of human voices is indescribable. Innumerable languages can be detected in that total
babel of suppressed vocality as the appointed time for the Great Performance approaches.
Presently there is a stir in the direction of the huge floodlit rostrum where the immense and manykeyed grand organ is spotlighted. All eyes are turned to behold that magnificent orchestra of oracle
stream on to the dais in anticipation of the Supreme Performer.
What a variety of instruments! Moses, Amos, Habakkuk, Jeremiah, Joel, Isaiah, Hosea, Malachi,
Nahum, Zechariah these can be recognised among the personnel of the subsidiaries of
supernatural revelation.
What indubitable talent! What a symphonic masterpeice will soon gladden our eager ears.
Suddenly a ripple of movement sweeps over the vast auditorium. The Maestro Himself is at the
Grand Organ.
A deep hush permeates that vast expectant concourse; a hush that embraces the huge orchestra
itself. The Great Master of the manifold keyboard assumes his place of leadership at the immense
instrument and the ingenious figures portentiously position themsleves. Each player sits at his
instrument poised to play.
Listen, ye expectant peoples! The time has come!
With crashing sound of major chords God announces Himself to humanity

Page 55 of 59

`#r,a'h' taew> ~yIm;V'h; tae ~yhil{a/ ar'B' tyviareB. 1

tp,x,r;m. ~yhil{a/ x;Wrw> ~Aht. ynEP-. l[; %v,xwo > Whbow" Whto ht'y>h' #r,a'h'w> 2
`~yIM'h; ynEP-. l[;
"IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH."
Oh! Beneath this outpoured ocean of Divine proclamation the mere bucket of human language
bursts at the staves and cannot contain it!
The inadequate bucket of the English language cannot hold the content of this staggering initial
declaration; neither can the mere grammatical rules of the Hebrew language encompass this
tremendous statement, they bulge and burst at the seams!
This is God's first disclosure to mankind regarding Himself. Now, brace yourselves for a shock!
The only grammatical channel through which God can disclose His harmonious Self is the channel
of gross grammatical discord!
The crash of the opening chords of Divine revelation must be of necessity monstrously discordant
in order to convey something of the nature and character of the Godhead! Let me explain. In the
Hebrew language the noun, its verb and its adjective MUST, simply must, all agree in number and
gender.
Yet, in the opening chords of the Genesis announcement these rules of Hebrew grammar are
pulverised and blasted out of existance, because the SINGULAR verb

ar'B'

"created" is used with the PLURAL masculine noun

~yhil{a/

literally "Gods."

Yes! "Gods" (plural) "created" (singular). A grammatical monstrosity! A discord excruciating!

But why this unexpected opening discord from a Divine Being Himself the very personification of
concord?
My friends, the very discord of a plural noun with a singular verb is itself at once a revelation and a
refuge! As a preparatory initial revelation, the Divine Harmony of Revealed Truth has made the
necessary announcement of the UNIQUENESS of the Divine Unity of the Supreme Being. May I
remind you of Article Two of the Jewish Creed formulated by Moses Maimonides in the 12th
century of the Common Era? I think Maimonides makes a fairly accurate acknowledgment of this
feature particularly in the words that I am going to emphasize.
I quote now from Maimonides:
"I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be his name, is a Unity, AND
THAT THERE IS NO UNITY IN ANY MANNER LIKE UNTO HIS, and that He alone
is our God, who was, is , and will be."
That is the end of the quotation. Of course, Maimonides himself failed obviously to grasp the full
truth of his own statement, otherwise never could he have described the Eternal as

dyxiy"

(Yahid), for such a Hebrew word implies singularity.

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On the contrary, the Scriptures employ the Hebrew word dx'a, (Ehad) which implies correctly,
unity and from which gleams forth the glory of the true non-unitarian, non-polytheistic Divine
Montheism which accords with the total Divine Revelation of the Holy Scriptures.

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Misconceptions Adjusted
My friends, in my last message, you will remember, we considered the vastness of the salt-waved
ocean and the inadequacy of the bucket to contain it. Pour the unresting ocean into the bucket and
the staves of that insufficient little container would burst at the seams and that receptacle would no
longer conform to those laws and "minhagim" regulating the etiquette and social deportment of all
respectable buckets.
Yet something else is equally true of the ocean and the bucket. Although the tumultuous avalanche
descending on the bucket would destroy completely the harmonious contours of the little vessel,
nevertheless, it is true that as it was being swept away upon the swirling billows of watery vastness
it did for a moment contain a bit of the ocean, sufficient to give us an invaluable hint regarding the
quality and essence of the purpling deep.
We found these thoughts helpful when we turned our attention to the Divine announcement with
which the first book of the Hebrew Bible commences. We found that under the oceanic avalanche
of this initial pronouncements the staves of the bucket of grammatical precepts and regulations were
reduced from harmony and contour to disruption and chaos. This pulverising of the rules of
grammar was both necessary and instructive even though unexpected and astonishing, for it
emphasised the UNITY of God yet guarded Him from being thought of in terms of
SINGULARITY.
Listen again to these amazing Hebrew words:

~yhil{a/ ar'B' tyviareB.

Those who know the Hebrew language will observe instantly the rupture of Hebrew grammar by
the use of the singular verb

ar'B

with the plural noun

~yhil{a/

The English language, too, like the Hebrew, is unable to contain grammatically the content of this
great declaration of Deity. With strict literality the opening words of Genesis can be translated as
follows now listen carefully:
"In the beginning GODS created the heavens and the earth."
Yes, the words "Gods" is indeed in the plural, but your English translators have been wise, I think,
to translate Elihim by the word "God" because the rules of Hebrew grammar and the rules of
English gammar are not the same and the English language has no verb-form to counteract a wrong
idea of the plural noun, for the very same form of the English verb "created" is used whether the
noun be "god" or "gods"; I mean that in English it is correct to say both "God created" or "Gods
created." The same word "created" is used for either statement.
Not so in Hebrew. If you use the plural word "Gods" then your verb should be also plural, just as if
you had said "createds." I hope I have made this clear and that you have mustered patience to
follow me, because I assure you your endurance will be amply rewarded by the spiritual
enlightenment to be derived.

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As the resistless waves of this ocean of Divine Revelation burst upon the shores of our willing
consciousness, I invite you to consider some of the damaging, erroneous, and discordant human
opinions that are mercifully drowned and swept away by this initial onrush.
As I itemise some of these errors I am sure you will be grateful I drew your attention to them, and
you will also find the definitions interesting and helpful. Well, here we go.
First. We see ATHEISM the idea that there is no God swept away by the tide of this
declaration God is; God created.
Second. You note that God created; this overwhelms the false doctrine known as PANTHEISM
the idea that tends to identify God and nature and thus deny the personality of the Godhead.
Third. The deadening philosophical idea which regards matter and its motions as constituting the
complete universe, even mind itself a doctrine known as MATERIALISM is caught up and
destroyed by the tornado of truth liberated in this Divine disclosure that matter had a beginning.
Fourth. The false doctrine that all events are subject to fate or inevitable predetermination
known as FATALISM is crested by these billows of announcement and hurled into distant
horizons.
Fifth. NATURALISM a view of the world which takes account only of so-called natural
elements and excludes the supernatural or spiritual; or which postulates the doctrine that all
religious truth is derived from a study of natural processes and denies Divine revelation
naturalism also is wreck-strewn by the waves of Genesis chapter one, verse one.
I imagine you didn't suspect that this was so interesting, did you? Well, let me give you a few
more.
The Sixth Feature. There is a fallacy that reason is, in itself, a sufficient source of knowledge,
independent of the senses; that human reason, unaided by Divine revelation, is an adequate or sole
guide to all attainable religious truth. This concept is known as RATIONALISM, and it is
challenged by the Biblical pronouncement, because the apprehension of revealed truth requires
faith.
Seventh. AGNOSTICISM the doctrine which asserts the relativity and therefore the uncertainty
and "unknowability" of all knowledge, reels back before the sweeping onrush of this Divine
assurance.
Now, let me give you three more precious truths released to us by these majestic opening words of
Genesis; three truths implicit from the grammatically discordant employment and juxtaposition of
the singular verb with the plural noun in the Hebrew text.
This is the Eighth point. Israel's long contact with ancient Persia threatened the Jewish people
with the false religious ideas of Zoroastrianism, which included the concept of two rival gods. How
enlightening to observe that although the Hebrew word for God, Elohim, is in the plural yet it is not
in the dual form; hence DUALISM is carried away on this flood of Divine revelation.
Unfortunately some Persian dualism has crept into Jewish theology as witnessed in the dubious
doctrine of the Yetzer Hatov and the Yetzer Hara the so-called good and evil inclinations in man.
Now, our Ninth Point. The pagan idea of many gods known as POLYTHEISM; and the equally
erroneous idea of three gods, known as a TRITHEISM is swept away because, even though the

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noun Elohim "God" is undoubtedly and admittedly in the plural, yet the verb with which it is
associated is in the singular. What a wonderful Divine safeguard. Do you realise that if the verb
had been !ar'B'
instead of
ar'B' we could have deified as well as immortalised, our
mutual friend, Micky Mouse! But as our great commentator, Rashi, observes Elohim is a noun
plural in form, and when it denotes God, it is followed by a verb in the singular (Chumash p. 548).
Now, let us face bravely the implicates of our Tenth and final point. Although the verb is in the
singular, the noun is in the plural and this feature, detectable throughout our Jewish Scriptures, not
only dislodges dualism, polytheism and tritheism but it also unseats the equally pagan concept of
unitarianism the idea that God is an absolute singularity, like Jupiter is a singularity, or Neptune is
a singularity.
I have gone into this aspect rather more fully in my book "Out of the Clouds."
God is not a singularity; He is a unity. And any system which degenerates our concept of Deity
down to a mere metaphysical monothestic abstraction is doing violence to the revelation of our
Jewish Holy Scriptures.
Well, my friends, to vary the figure of speech with which we commenced our message what an
ocean of error is evaporated by the fervent heat of Divine Scripture enlightenment.