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Hello po Fr. Abe, good morning.
Na confuse lang po ako sa Genesis in chapter 3 Father. Masyadong malalim ang kanyang mga sinabi dito para sa akin Father. Hindi ko masyadong na intindihan ang ibig sabihin ng mga sinabi ng ating Panginoon.
Genesis 3:14-15
(14) Then the Lord God said to the snake, "You will be punished for this; you alone of all the animals must bear this curse: from now on you will crawl on your belly, and you will have to eat dust as long as you live.
(15) I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's heel.
In verse 14, God punished the snake "will crawl on your belly" and "eat dust", we know naman po na ang snake ay gumagapang talaga kung sila ay lalakad. At hindi naman sila kumakain ng "dust" eh kundi mga karne ng mga hayop.
My questions for verse 14:
1. Bakit pinarusahan ng Panginoon ang snake na gagapang siya gamit ang kanyang tiyan eh sa natural po ay gumagapang naman talaga ang snake? Ano po ibig sabihin nito "you will crawl on your belly"?
2. At ano po ibig sabihin ng "you will have to eat dust"?
My question in verse 15:
1. Ano po ibig sabihin ng verse 15?
Thanks po Father Abe and God bless you po. -
Fr. Abe, CRS said...
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[My questions for verse 14:
1. Bakit pinarusahan ng Panginoon ang snake na gagapang siya gamit ang kanyang tiyan eh sa natural po ay gumagapang naman talaga ang snake?]
HA HA HA... SHENGTON PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT THE BIBLE HAS A LITERAL MEANING AND SPIRITUAL OR THEOLOGICAL MEANING. YOU ONLY LOOKED AT IT IN A LITERAL SENSE. WHICH IS NOT ACTUALLY PROPER BECAUSE WE ALL KNOW FROM CHILDHOOD THAT THE ONE BEING REFERRED TO HERE IS NOT THE LITERAL SNAKES BUT SATAN THE TEMPTER OF MAN.
ANG SNAKES NA ANIMALS AY CREATURES OF GOD. SILA AY NILIKHA NG DIOS AT BAHAGI NG NATURAL ORDER AND BY NATURE TALAGANG GINAWA SILA NG DIOS NA GUMAGAPANG. KAYA IF YOU WILL LIMIT YOUR UNDERSTANDING SA LITERAL MEANING TALAGANG IT DOES NOT JIBE. BUT AS I'VE SAID THE SNAKE IS A MERE REPRESENTATION OF THE SPIRITUAL MEANING OF THE TEXTS. THAT SIN ENTERED INTO THE WORLD BECAUSE OUR FIRST PARENTS WERE TEMPTED BY SATAN.
IN OTHER PARTS OF THE BIBLE, INSTEAD OF A SNAKE THE TERM USED IS 'DRAGON':
Revelation 12:9 At inihagis ang malaking dragon, ang matandang ahas, ang tinatawag na Diablo at Satanas, ang dumadaya sa buong sanglibutan; siya'y inihagis sa lupa, at ang kaniyang mga anghel ay inihagis na kasama niya.
AT SA HALIP NA PARUSA NG PAGGAPANG, PARUSA NG PAGKAKATAPON MULA SA LANGIT ANG SINABI. IBIG SABIHIN YUNG 'CRAWLING' SIGNIFIES THAT SATAN WAS GREATLY HUMILIATED BY GOD FROM A LOFTY POSITION TO A VERY LOW STATE. IN THEOLOGY, FROM BEING A GOOD ANGEL HE BECAME A DEVIL THE LOWEST AND THE WORST OF THE OUTCASTS:
Isaiah 14:12 Ano't nahulog ka mula sa langit, Oh tala sa umaga, anak ng umaga! paanong ikaw ay lumagpak sa lupa, ikaw na siyang nagpahina sa mga bansa!
Isaiah 14:13 At sinabi mo sa iyong sarili, Ako'y sasampa sa langit, aking itataas ang aking luklukan sa itaas ng mga bituin ng Dios; at ako'y uupo sa bundok ng kapisanan, sa mga kaduluduluhang bahagi ng hilagaan:
Isaiah 14:14 Ako'y sasampa sa itaas ng mga kaitaasan ng mga alapaap; ako'y magiging gaya ng Kataastaasan. -
[Ano po ibig sabihin nito "you will crawl on your belly"?]
IN OUR MODERN EXPRESSION IT MEANS SATAN WAS "HUMBLED TO THE GROUND". IBINABA AT PINAHIYA SIYA NG DIOS. TULAD NG TAKSIL NA MANAGER NA BIGLANG GINAWANG JANITOR O ALIPIN.
ANG PHRASE NA "HUMBLED TO THE GROUND" AY COMMON EXPRESSIONS GIVEN TO PERSONS WHO WERE BROUGHT LOW OR GREATLY HUMILIATED FROM LOFTY STATUS TO THE LOWEST STATUS, FOR INSTANCE, THE RICH PEOPLE WHOSE ATTITUDES WERE SO UNCHARITABLE THEN WHEN THEY SUDDENLY LOST THEIR POWER, INFLUENCE AND RICHNESS THEN WE SAY THEY ARE BROUGHT TO THE GROUND.
[2. At ano po ibig sabihin ng "you will have to eat dust"?]
IT MEANS HE IS LOWER THAN DOGS OR ANIMALS. SATAN IS BROUGHT SO LOW THAT HE LOST ANY HONOR, DIGNITY AND PRESTIGE. EVEN OUR DOGS AND THE BEASTS OF THE FIELDS ARE EATING MEAT OR VEGETABLES OR HERBS. TO EAT DUST MEANS THAT PERSON HAS BECOME SO LOW AND VALUELESS. SA MODERN EXPRESSIONS NATIN SA FILIPINO: "YAGIT NA YAGIT, NANLILIMAHID SA DUMI."
SA SPORTS PAGSINABING "PINAKAIN NAMIN NG ALIKABOK ANG KALABAN" IT MEANS KULELAT NA KULELAT. BUGBOG SARADO. TAMBAK ANG LAMANG. SATAN WAS LIKE THAT IN FRONT OF GOD.
[My question in verse 15:
1. Ano po ibig sabihin ng verse 15?]
ANG GEN. 3:15 AY NAPAKA HALAGA SA BIBLIA. ANG TAWAG DIYAN NG BOTH CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT BIBLE SCHOLARS AY "PROTO-EVANGELION" IBIG SABIHIN THE FIRST GOOD NEWS... THE FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH, REDEEMER AND SAVIOR. THE FIRST DECLARATION MADE BY GOD THE FATHER HIMSELF THAT SATAN SHALL BE DEFEATED TOTALLY... TO BE CRUSHED RIGHT ON THE HEAD.
THIS IS MONOLOGUE OF GOD THE FATHER TALKING TO SATAN:
Gen 3:15 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.
THE FATHER TOLD SATAN THAT THERE WILL BE A 'WOMAN' WHO WILL BE IN ENMITY WITH SATAN. THIS WOMAN IS NOT EVE BECAUSE EVE BECAME A FOLLOWER OF SATAN. BUT THE WOMAN SHALL BE IN ENMITY. IN TAGALOG: "PAG-AALITIN KO IKAW AT ANG BABAE." SO THIS WOMAN WILL BE AN ENEMY OF SATAN.
NOW WHO IS THE WOMAN?
THE VERSE GAVE A HINT OF HER IDENTITY. THE SEED OF THE WOMAN SHALL CRUSH THE HEAD OF THE SERPENT. CLEARLY IT REFERS TO THE SON OF THE WOMAN WHO WILL DEFEAT SATAN.
WE ALL KNOW THAT THE ONLY ONE WHO DEFEATED COMPLETELY BY DESTROYING HIS HEAD [SIN AND DEATH] IS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST - THE KING OF KINGS AND THE LORD OF LORDS. AND WHO IS THE MOTHER OF JESUS? OF COURSE ITS THE VIRGIN MARY.
WHY SEED OF THE WOMAN? BECAUSE DURING THAT TIME THERE WAS NO MICROSCOPE YET. PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW YET THE EGG CELLS. THEY ONLY KNOW OF THE SPERM CELLS BECAUSE THE MAN RELEASES IT INTO THE WOMB OF THE WOMAN. NOW, SINCE JESUS IS BORN NOT DUE TO THE SPERM CELL OF A MAN SO HE IS THE SEED OF A WOMAN [cf. Isaiah 7:14/Matthew 1:23/Luke 1:26-27,31-32]. BECAUSE MARY CONCEIVED JESUS AS VIRGIN AND SHE GAVE BIRTH TO JESUS AS VIRGIN AS WELL.
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SO THE TEXT REFERS TO:
1. JESUS AS THE DESTROYER OF SATAN, THE REDEEMER AND SAVIOR OF THE WORLD.
2. MARY THE MOTHER OF THE SAVIOR.
(a) SHE IS PART OF GOD'S PLAN OF SALVATION BECAUSE SHE IS INCLUDED IN THE PLAN BY GOD THE FATHER AS THE PRIMARY INSTRUMENT OF GOD FOR THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH. THEN,
(b) MARY IS AN ENEMY OF SATAN. THUS, SINCE EVE THE FIRST WOMAN WAS A TRAITOR WHO BECAME A DISOBEDIENT CREATURE OF GOD AND FOLLOWER OF SATAN BY TEMPTATION, MARY THE WOMAN-MOTHER OF THE MESSIAH SHALL BE AN ENEMY OF SATAN. THUS, SHE IS IMMACULATE. SHE IS AN ENEMY OF SIN AND WILL NOT FALL INTO THE TRAPS, DECEPTIONS AND TEMPTATIONS OF SATAN BECAUSE GOD THE FATHER HIMSELF ALREADY DECLARED THAT SHE IS AN ENEMY OF SATAN: "Kayo ng Babae'y LAGING MAG-AAWAY" [Mabuting Balita Biblia].
IN OUR THEOLOGY WE CALL MARY IMMACULATE OR SINLESS BECAUSE ANYONE WHO SIN BECOMES A FOLLOWER OF SATAN AND SHE WILL CEASE TO BE AN ENEMY OF SATAN. THIS CANNOT BE BECAUSE OF THE WORDS OF GOD THE FATHER. IT CANNOT BE BROKEN.
(c) MARY IS THE NEW EVE OR THE NEW WOMAN. THE FIRST WOMAN [EVE] BECAME A TRAITOR TO GOD. THE NEW WOMAN... THE SECOND WOMAN WHOM GOD THE FATHER CALLED WOMAN IS THE MOTHER OF THE SAVIOR. AS CHRIST IS THE NEW ADAM [cf. 1 Corinthians 15:45/ 1 Cor 15:22/ Romans 5:12-13] SO GOD THE FATHER BY THIS PRONOUNCEMENT MADE MARY THE NEW EVE, THE NEW WOMAN. THAT TIME ONLY EVE WAS THE EXISTING WOMAN BUT GOD THE FATHER CALLED 'WOMAN' THE COMING MOTHER OF JESUS. SO MARY IS THE NEW WOMAN, THE NEW EVE.
[Thanks po Father Abe and God bless you po.]
WELCOME.
IF YOU WANT MORE DISCUSSIONS AND MY DEBATES OR EXCHANGES ON GEN. 3:15 PLEASE READ THIS:
http://thesplendorofthechurch.blogspot.com/search/label/Gen%203%3A15
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![ST. JEROME EMILIANI [1486-1537]](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_6dKQTchkJaA/R0lo013dyBI/AAAAAAAAB_4/XzUAPDESwwQ/s1600/St.+Jerome+in+prayer,+small_1.jpg)
There is something about Mary.
ReplyDeleteCatholic devotion, teachings, and Marian prayers to our Mother Mary are rooted, based and from the Bible.
A lot of non-Catholics do not agree on how we view our mother; they think that we put to much attention to her. They have this view about us because they do not understand the Catholic teaching about salvation history. They do not understand how we connect the dots. They do not understand that the story of Jesus and his Mother cannot be understood apart from the story and history of Israel. That God uses covenants to bring people to his fold, to his family. In the divine plan of God in which the covenant oaths of the God the Father swore to Abraham and David are fulfilled in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. By using typology we connect the Old and the New Testaments. Typology is used by our Lord Jesus, the apostles and the early Church fathers. Typology is used to illuminate our understanding of Mary. By using typology we see her as:
1. The New Eve
2. The ark of the covenant
3. The Queen Mother
By understanding the Old and the New Testaments passages, and the doctrines of the Church we see how the Assumption, the Immaculate Conception, The Mother of God, and the Queen of heaven and earth teachings GIVES glory to her son our Lord Jesus Christ and to the Church.
THANK YOU FOR FURTHER EXPLANATION BRO. FERDINAND. YOU ARE ALWAYS GIVING US VALUABLE AND HELPFUL EXPLANATIONS. OUR GRATITUDE.
ReplyDeleteJust sharing Father, please correct me if my interpretations are wrong. Thank you also father Abe for giving us your valuable time and effort. I know that priests are busy and for you to take time and effort answering our questions is a blessing from God.
ReplyDeleteTo Shengton:
Genesis 3:15 is used by the Church in the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. Just like what father Abe said we MUST go beyond the literal sense and see what the theological sense is teaching us. If you get stuck in the literal sense, you will be like the BAs, INCs, SDAs, atheists, and agnostics who malign and abuse the scriptures to further their own agenda. It doesn’t make sense if you approach Genesis 3:14-15 and the surrounding verses in their literal sense only. For example in verse 14:
“You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.”
If you are going to use a “literalist interpretation” then ask yourself, do snakes eat dust all the days of their lives? What about water snakes? Have you seen snakes prefer eating dust than meat? How about a talking snake, have you seen one and heard it talk too?
The literal meaning of “and you will eat dust” is a means of sustenance as the literal meaning of “You will crawl on your belly” is a means of moving around or transportation.
The theological meaning of “and you will eat dust” is humiliation and “You will crawl on your belly” is rejection. This is what ancient literature scholars call parallelism.
If the first part of the parallel “You will crawl on your belly” is literally a means of transportation or moving about, then logically it’s parallel “and you will eat dust” is literally a means of sustenance.
But as you can see there is no sense in the "literalist interpretation" of Genesis 3:14 since the snakes source of sustenance is meat and not dirt. We have to get what the author really intend to convey. Since snakes crawl, they are so close to the ground that they literally eat dust not as a source of sustenance but because of their condition. The spiritual interpretation makes more sense. You can see the parallelism in the HUMILIATION (“and you will eat dust”) and REJECTION (“You will crawl on your belly”).
I think it this is what the author intends to convey, as you can see while snakes move about on their bellies, they do not have dirt as their diet or sustenance. Therefore it is preferable that we take this passage as a SIGN of the Satan’s total defeat. Sabi nga ni father Abe, “bugbog sarado.”
As for verse 15, what is the point of recording the enmity between man and the snake? If you are going to think about it we have more fight with pests like rats, cockroach, and ants because of the destruction they bring to our lives. Hence you see more pesticides for these animals. This passage has connection with original sin, baptism, the need for a messiah, The Immaculate conception, the connection between OT and NT. But if you use the literalist interpretation you won’t be able to see that and connect the dots. You won't see the theological significance of the verse, the prophesies, the deeper meaning of the text.
ReplyDeleteIn the literalist interpretation, you will only see this as a story, nothing more. But for us Catholic we see the deeper meaning of the texts. Of course there is a theological significance in Genesis 3:15. It is the promise of a redeemer; a redeemer who will save all of mankind.
The promise of redemption is stated in Genesis 3:15:
"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."
In seeking the true meaning of the Bible, it is always valuable to consider the background. So let me break up Genesis 3:1-24 and summarize it for you. Please correct me if I’m wrong Father Abe
1. The Temptation .... vs. 1-5.
2. The Fall .... vs. 6-7.
3. The Inquest .... vs. 8-13
4. The Judgment and promise of redemption.... vs. 14-21.
Genesis 3:15 is the first good news. God promised that there would be perpetual enmity between the woman and the serpent. Enmity is a TOTAL AND COMPLETE OPPOSITION of two parties; some say it is a MORTAL RIVALRY, COMBAT TO DEATH. This is TOTAL WAR between two opposing forces.
The woman in this verse just like what Father Abe said cannot be Eve; she cannot be in total enmity with the serpent of Satan since she took Satan’s side by sinning against the only commandment of God. Who in the history of mankind is this total enmity fulfilled? Some say the Church, or the nation of Israel, or Mary the Mother of God, all are true in some sense. Non-Catholics use the first two ONLY; they do not want to accept that Mary is the fulfillment of this prophesies since it will be contrary to their theology. Once they accepted that the woman in this verse is Mary, they will be forced to accept the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception and their theology cannot accept that. Once they accepted the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, they have to accept the doctrine of The Assumption, the Queen of Heaven and Earth and so on until they are forced to accept the doctrine of Infallibility. It is a domino effect and their pride cannot take it.
The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception makes absolute sense once you understand the deeper meaning and significance Genesis 3:15. Read the book of revelation see how it ends. By connecting Genesis, Revelation and the Annunciation in the Gospel of Luke you will find good evidence that supports the Church’s teaching on the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.
"The Jewish scholar, Aaron Kligerman, noted that three things stand out in this first prediction of the Messiah, “namely that the Deliverer must be—(A) of the seed of woman and (B) That He is to be temporarily hindered and (C) Finally victorious (1957, p. 13, italics in orig.). Kligerman further noted that the ancient rabbinical opinions found in the PALESTINIAN TARGUM testify “that in Genesis 3:15 there is promised a healing of the bite in the heel from the serpent, which is to take place ‘at the end of the days, in the days of King Messiah’ ” (p. 14). [NOTE: The Targums “are interpretive renderings of the books of Hebrew Scriptures...into Aramaic” (Metzger, 1993). Such versions were needed when the major populations of the Jews no longer spoke Hebrew as their primary language. Metzger further explains that the oral Targum began as a simple paraphrase of the text, “but eventually it became more elaborate and incorporated explanatory details.” John Stenning, in his detailed article on the Targum, explained that oral Targum was introduced several years prior to the first century A.D. in connection with “the custom of reading sections from the Law at the weekly services in the synagogues” (1911)."
ReplyDeleteSo Shengton as you can see Genesis 3:14-15 goes deeper than the literalist meaning. In summary Genesis 3:15 has a PROPHETIC NATURE to it, for even though our first parents committed the first sin that implicate us, there is a promise in the future of REDEMPTION, that the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. God's judgment upon the serpent contains a promise of victory through the woman by her offspring. This concept will be developed in a spiritual sense throughout Scripture and the Fathers of the Church. One sample of this is St. Paul who uses similar language to Genesis 3:15 to refer to Christ crushing Satan:
Romans 16:20
“Then the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”
Shengton, in the literalist approach, you will not see the connection between the snake and the devil, Satan. Do you really think that the author "literally" meant serpent ONLY? Revelation showed us that the ancient serpent is Satan. Our Jewish brothers and sisters will deny this since they do not accept the AUTHORITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. There is a deeper interpretation to this, these prophesies are fulfilled in the NT. There are so many passages in the NT testaments that can explain this further. Just the term “woman” used in Genesis has a THEOLOGICAL significance and you won’t see it unless you connect the OT and the NT, the same thing with the OLD CREATION and the NEW CREEATION, the IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, the ORIGINAL SIN, and BAPTISM.
The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is fitting to the human nature of Jesus. God thought that it is only appropriate for Jesus to inherit a sinless Human nature from his mother.
Also if you understand typology, it is only appropriate that the NEW TYPE is better than the OLD TYPE. If Adam and Eve were created without sin so is the NEW Adam and the NEW Eve. The Old is but a shadow of the good things to come.
As the first Eve LED the first Adam to COMMIT his first evil act, the NEW EVE LEADS the NEW ADAM to PERFORM his first miracle.
As the first Eve URGED the first Adam to defy God, the NEW EVE urges people to OBEY Jesus Christ.
As the first Eve was the MOTHER of all the living, the NEW EVE is the SPIRITUAL MOTHER of all who live in Christ.
Remember there are different senses in interpreting the Scriptures; do not get stuck with the literal approach. When in doubt always consult and accept the teaching of the CHURCH, THE PILLAR AND FOUNDATION OF THE TRUTH.