January 2: Gen 3:1-4:26, Matt 2:13-3-6, Psa 2:1-12, Prov 1:7-9

Genesis 3
The Temptation and Fall of Man

1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;
3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
13 And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the LORD God said to the serpent:
“ Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”
16 To the woman He said:
“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
In pain you shall bring forth children;
Your desire shall be for your husband,
And he shall rule over you.”
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:
“ Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”
20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
21 Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—
23 therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.
24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 4
Cain Murders Abel

1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD.”
2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD.
4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering,
5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
6 So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
8 Now Cain talked with Abel his brother;[a] and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?”
He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.
11 So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
12 When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”
13 And Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear!
14 Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.”
15 And the LORD said to him, “Therefore,[b] whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.

The Family of Cain

16 Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden.
17 And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch.
18 To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech.
19 Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah.
20 And Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.
21 His brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute.
22 And as for Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.
23 Then Lamech said to his wives:
“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
Wives of Lamech, listen to my speech!
For I have killed a man for wounding me,
Even a young man for hurting me.
24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold,
Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”

A New Son

25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.”
26 And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh.[c] Then men began to call on the name of the LORD.

Matthew 2

The Flight into Egypt

13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”
14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt,
15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”[b]
Massacre of the Innocents
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.
17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:
18 “ A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted,
Because they are no more.”[c]

The Home in Nazareth

19 Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,
20 saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.”
21 Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.
22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee.
23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

Matthew 3

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,
2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:

“ The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

‘ Prepare the way of the LORD;
Make His paths straight.’”[a]

4 Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
5 Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him
6 and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

Psalm 2

The Messiah’s Triumph and Kingdom

1 Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision.
5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
And distress them in His deep displeasure:
6 “Yet I have set My King
On My holy hill of Zion.”
7 “I will declare the decree:
The LORD has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
8 Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
9 You shall break[a] them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’”
10 Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son,[b] lest He[c] be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

Proverbs 1: 7-9

7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
8 My son, hear the instruction of your father,
And do not forsake the law of your mother;
9 For they will be a graceful ornament on your head,
And chains about your neck.

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In Genesis, we get to the Fall of Man, and the subsequent "fallout" as it were. We're all familiar with the story: tree, fruit, serpent, Eve, Adam, inappropriate eating, exile, certain death, etc. From that point followed every tragedy, every death, every disappointment, every failure, every ruin, every mistake and every misfortune ever suffered by you, by me, and by anyone you've ever heard of. We also see that the same animus that led to the violation of the “no-eating” rule was followed by outright murder in Chapter 4.

From the story, we can point out several aspects of that animus:

(1) Disbelief and Disobedience of God: Not just intellectual objection to existence of God, or Judeo-Christian theology, or church teachings. Outright disbelief and disobedience of the words of the God who's was clearly right in front of you, telling you what not to do, i.e. "Eating from that tree will kill you". Think of the horrific philosophic implications of holding such a disbelief: God is lying to you, God made you to be ignorant and inferior, God is your enemy, you live in a malevolent universe; rebellion against God is in your self-interest, but probably impossible; it's better if you were dead, if it's even possible for death to stop your suffering . . . . and so on. For Adam, Eve, Cain, Lamech, and many others, such beliefs became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

(2) Evasion of the Laws of Identification and Causation: "A is A". "If A then B." Objectivists argue that human suffering is rooted in avoiding, ignoring, or outright violating these epistemological laws. Although it may not be as simple as that, elements of such evasion are present in Genesis 3. "Tree of knowledge's fruit is not for eating". "If you eat from tree, you will die." Since God said it, these axioms were as fundamental as the Laws of Thermodynamics. But Serpent, Eve, and then Adam instead said "A is not A" "B won't happen if A". They were wrong. When you look at it this way, the scene is pregnant with irony: evasion of the rules of how to get knowledge, result in seeking knowledge, which result in unwanted "knowledge" of evil, which ultimately result in ignorance of God's grace. Adam and Eve literally had to learn the hard way.

(3)Magical Thinking: How will eating a piece of fruit make you as powerful as God, when God created the fruit, the tree, the garden, the Earth, the Universe and you? What does it say about Adam and Eve's mindset that they would believe that, or want to believe that?

(4)Solipsism: "I should not please God by sacrificing in a way acceptable to him. Instead, God pleases me by accepting the sacrifice I choose to give to him." If you think it's deranged to think that everyone should follow your whims, liking what you want them to like and doing what you want them to do, imaging thinking that God should also follow you whims.

(5)Social Metaphysics & Hatred of the Good for Being the Good: More Objectivist terms--Social Metaphysics, in essence, is the belief that the status and opinions of other people determine reality. In Cain's case, he felt that he was unrighteous because Abel was more righteous, even though God made it clear that wasn't the case. Like Stalin, Cain thought "Death solves all problems - no man, no problem." In light of the above attitude, envy is not a strong enough word for what Cain felt toward Abel.

These and other sinful attributes of humanity are commonly described as Original Sin. This begs the question: Whence did "original sin" originate? Was it Adam/Eve's choice which led to Man's sin, or Man's sin which led to Adam/Eve's choice. If so, would that mean that God designed Man to be evil? For satisfactory answers, we'll have to ask Adam/Eve/God when you see them.

My opinion is that the "Fall of Man" was inevitable. God made man in His own image, with the same powers to be self-aware, to make identifications of the world around him, and to make volitional choices. Like God, Man's thoughts affect reality, and man must use his thoughts to affect reality in order to survive, to thrive and live in the nature of a man. But unlike God, Man's thoughts cannot make reality or affect the fundamental laws of reality. As Sir Francis Bacon said, "Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed." But Man's designed desire "to command" fundamentally interfere with his ability to obey nature, or nature's God. Thus Adam and Eve, and all their children, have to learn the hard way. It can be said that this entire age of sin and repentance, from Genesis to Revelation, is God's way of fixing this inherent flaw in making "godlike" creatures.

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Note that Matthew is ripe of old testament prophecies of the Messiah. It's traditionally thought that Matthew's gospel is the most "Jewish" of gospels, making the case to Jews, using their Torah and prophets, that Jesus was the Messiah. Some have also noticied that, or all the New testament narratives, Matthew most closely resembles an Old Testament book.

Psalms 2 contains some of those Messianic prophesies. Enlightenment-era Biblical Skeptics centuries ago (who had no clue what they were talking about!) use to argue that these Old Testament books had to have been were written--or changed--well after the New Testament. This view has been thoroughly discredited by the discovery of the The Dead Sea Scrolls, which contained Old Testament scripture from every book of the traditional Old Testament Canon except Esther. Included in this find was a more or less complete copy of the Book of Isaiah, one of the most prophetic books in the Old Testament regarding the Messiah, virtually unchanged from what you would find in any King James Bible.