Read Genesis 2:4-3:24 at Bible Gateway.
I study the Torah every year using the teaching tools of Scripture. (Why?)
The Hebrew paragraph divisions are as follows:
Gen 2:4-3:15 {s} Disobedience to YHVH Elohiym’s command is sin
Gen 3:16 {s} Consequences for the woman (painful toil)
Gen 3:17-21 {p} Consequences for the man (painful toil)
– Disobedience to YHVH Elohiym = sin = painful toil or work, and death
Gen 3:22-24 {s} Exile from YHVH Elohiym’s presence (Eden) is the consequence of sin
All of the triennial cycle schedules I have seen begin this parashah with Gen 2:4. Some end it at the end of Gen 3:21, where the strong paragraph division is. Others end it at the end of Gen 3:24, where the next weak paragraph division is. The schedule I was using some years back, ends it at the end of Gen 3:21 which is why you will see this discrepancy if you look through the Genesis index at this site.
I believe it matters, and I believe there is a way to tell which division is the Spirit- inspired division. The more years I study through Torah uncovering the chiastic structures, the more I noticed a pattern: the Torah divisions, whether annual or triennial, themselves form single chaistic structures from beginning to end.
Why does God do this? He is using His ingenious and elegant structuring of Torah to teach more than one lesson at a time. The small structures that cover single parshas teach profound spiritual truths. But then when you list the central axis’ of these single parshas from end to end, you find they themselves also form a greater structure and so on. The depth, elegance, and symmetry absolutely blows me away.
So now back to whether this triennial parashah should be considered Gen 2:4-3:21 or Gen 2:4-3:24. I believe the latter. And it is because I keep finding different chiastic structures with these bounds! Not so with the Gen 3:21 boundary. Here are the ones I have uncovered so far:
Gen 2:4-3:24 chiastic structures
1A) Gen 2:4-3:13 Disobedience to YHVH Elohiym’s command is sin;
1B) Gen 3:14 Consequences for the serpent;
CENTRAL AXIS) Gen 3:15 {s} The promise of the Messiah;
2B) Gen 3:16-21 {s+p} Consequences for the woman and the man;
2A) Gen 3:22-24 {s} Exile from YHVH Elohiym’s presence is the consequence of sin.
and …
1A) Gen 2:4-8 YHVH Elohiym made man and established him in the garden of Eden and in His presence;
1B) Gen 2:9-14 Three lifes: breath of life, tree of life, river of life;
1C) Gen 2:15-17 The command of YHVH Elohiym given;
1D) Gen 2:18-24 Woman, the helper of man;
CENTRAL AXIS) Gen 2:25 “And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed;”
2D) Gen 3:1-5 Woman, the downfall of man;
2C) Gen 3:6-13 The command of YHVH Elohiym broken;
2B) Gen 3:14-21 {s+s+p} Three consequences: the serpent, the woman, the man;
2A) Gen 3:22-24 {s} YHVH Elohiym exiled man from the garden of Eden and from His presence.
and …
1A) Gen 2:4-15 YHVH Elohiym made man and established him in the garden of Eden and in His presence;
1B) Gen 2:16-25 Commandment + Adam named the creation + his wife + they were naked:
1) Gen 2:16-17 YHVH Elohiym spoke His commandment concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil;
2) Gen 2:18-23 Adam named the creation;
3) Gen 2:21-24 Adam’s wife;
4) Gen 2:25 The man and his wife were naked and were not ashamed;
CENTRAL AXIS) Gen 3:1-14 Adam did not walk with God due to sin coming from doubt, disbelief;
2B) Gen 3:15-21 {s+p} Consequence + Adam named his wife + Eve the mother of all living + they were clothed:
1) Gen 3:15-19 YHVH Elohiym spoke His consequences because of the disobedience to His commandment;
2) Gen 3:20a Adam named his wife Eve;
3) Gen 3:20b Because she was the mother of all living;
4) Gen 3:21 {p} Also for Adam and his wife YHVH Elohiym made tunics of skin, and clothed them;
2A) Gen 3:22-24 {s} YHVH Elohiym exiled man from the garden of Eden and from His presence.
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