Adventures in Genesis

by Joel Ramshaw (2023)

Sometimes we envision Adam and Eve eating a literal fruit from a literal tree with a literal talking snake; at least this is the common artistic depiction. Really the first 11 chapters of Genesis are filled with allegory and until the Abraham narrative you are going to have a hard time taking every story literally. Case in point, in the Genesis 1 passage of the creation week, the sun, moon, and stars are only created on day 4 while “evening and morning” exist from day 1 and “light” also comes into being on day 1 before the sun and stars. This is the author’s clue that he is presenting a spiritual riddle to be solved, and not an actual creation account of how the material universe came into being.

Another example is the tower of babel.

Genesis 11:5-6 “But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.”

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Was God really concerned and offended by just a tall brick monument? Our modern skyscrapers are often at least ten times taller than anything ancient technology could hope to build and we don’t see judgement and scattering each time one is constructed. God’s statement “now nothing they propose to do will be withheld from them” seems to indicate these people were doing far more than just a taller than usual building project. The name Babylon means “gateway of the gods” and suggests that the “tower which will reach to heaven” was really a spiritual gateway constructed using all of their advanced spiritual and occult knowledge. The “reach to heaven” meaning they hoped to access divine power and become like gods themselves.


The tree of knowledge of good and evil

The tree of “knowledge of good and evil” is a metaphor for the LAW. The law brings knowledge of what is good and what is evil. This is what Eve learned from the serpent because it looked desirable “to make one wise.” It was not an actual apple or pomegranate or any such thing.

1 Corinthians 15:56 “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.”

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The strength of sin is the law. This is why the serpent, a symbol of sin, is depicted as guarding this tree and its fruit.

Romans 7:5-6 “For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”

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Paul points to the law as the source of sinful passions being aroused. This corresponds with Adam and Eve being sinless until accessing the tree of knowledge and this source, the law, was the origin of sin being awakened in them.

Romans 7:9-11 “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.”

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Regarding the tree of knowledge God said “in the day you eat of it you shall surely die,” Paul makes a similar point and specifies the law as the source of death for humanity. The serpent was natural wisdom and was speaking of natural death when he told Adam “you shall not surely die.” And sure enough, not only was Adam alive 24hrs later, he is mentioned to have lived 930 years. The serpent seemed to be correct, to the natural mind. God was speaking of the spiritual death of severed relationship however. We often make the same mistake and listen to the serpent of natural wisdom when its suggestion seems to make sense and God’s instructions appear confusing.


The Tree of life

The “tree of life” on the other hand, represents relationship with God and access to his presence. Adam had not been eating from the tree of life and is never even mentioned as having ate once from it. Scripture states he was lonely in the garden. Also Adam never spoke or discussed his loneliness to God, this shows a breakdown in communication. Gen 3:8 mentions God would walk in the garden in the cool of the day (this is the tree of life in the garden), yet Adam did not take advantage of this to build a relationship with him.

In Genesis 2:18 God sees that Adam is alone and then creates animal companions for him. None of these prove suitable to solve his loneliness so God then creates Eve. Wouldn’t God have known from the beginning that Adam would be lonely and should have created Eve at the same time as Adam? No, because God himself was suppose to be Adam’s companion. Eve was only created when Adam neglected his relationship with God and thus became lonely.

Genesis 3:24 “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.”

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Cherubim are high level angels which are responsible for guarding the throne of God. When God’s throne appears in scripture it is always surrounded by cherubim. Unfortunately these now had to block access of sinful flesh to the tree of life, the throne.

East is considered the most sacred direction among many cultures and religions and prayer is often made in this direction as it represents the entrance of light, the rising sun. Early Christians would always try to face East when praying. The Bible always mentions the “east of Eden.” It never says “North of Eden” or any other direction. It seems Eden had only one entrance and that is on its east corner. If we take Eden to be a spiritual realm that exists above Israel, “east of Eden” leads directly to Babylon/Chaldees (and we all know the trouble there). The cursed, such as Cain, have to migrate toward the land of Babylon. When God calls Abraham out from Ur of Chaldees and towards the “promised land” of Israel he is trying to initiate the process to reverse the curse and get mankind back closer to Eden.

The flaming sword to guard the path to the tree of life. This symbolizes the Word of God which contains the path to learn to access God’s presence (the tree of life) but also presents a fiery standard which our fleshly nature is inadequate to overcome. This is the sword that “turns in every direction” (God’s word touches on every sphere of life).

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”


Revelation 19:13-15 “....and His name is called The Word of God. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword....”


Ephesians 6:17 “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;”

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Cain’s wife? Multiple Adams??

It is often thought that we are all descended from Adam and Eve. Actually the Hebrew word “Adam” means “mankind” and it is more likely he was not the only human created but that Adam was only the father of the Jewish race and other first humans were created as ancestors of all the other nations on the earth. Adam would have been the leader however with the highest spiritual authority and so when he allowed sin into earth, the other created humans had to bear the consequences just as Adam’s descendants did. The reason for this line of thinking is that Adam’s son Cain after committing his murder says “anyone who finds me will kill me” although at this point in the story the only living humans mentioned besides himself were his parents Adam and Eve.

Genesis 4:14-16 “[Cain said] I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.” And the Lord said to him, “Therefore, 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. Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden.”

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Since Cain became a fugitive this means he would be far away from Adam or Eve and it could not be them whom Cain was worried would kill him. The only other option we have is that God had created many other first humans across the earth besides Adam and these had established settlements and territories such as Nod. Cain would then be fearful while travelling that news would get out about his murder and he would be killed in one of the villages he stayed at, rather than have the locals risk hosting a murderer.

Since ancient times it was often questioned where Cain got his wife from. The usual answer is that he married one of his sisters. Besides the obvious issues that poses there is an even bigger problem with this view which is that he had no sisters yet at this point. Scripture only mentions Eve giving birth to daughters after her third son Seth who was himself born only after Cain was already a grown man and had committed his murder. Cain would have had to wait many years until a daughter was grown before marrying her, but scripture mentions Cain fled far away. He could not stay near Adam and Eve due to the shame of his murder. The idea of many first humans created besides Adam and Eve makes sense based on our current genetic diversity and the many races on earth as well as humans in far off places such as Australia which would have been difficult to travel to with ancient levels of technology and navigation.




Actually the Bible teaches there were already humans created before Adam and Eve:

1 Genesis 1:27-28 “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.””

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The above verse is not referring to Adam and Eve (who are not created until Gen 2:7) but to the many humans that God had already created throughout the earth.

The only passage in the Bible that mentions Adam as being the first man is 1 Corinthians 15:45. Adam being the “first” human does not mean there were none before him however. The NT Greek word for “first” protos often means first in authority, and is many times translated as chief, principle, or head. Adam was set as the spiritual authority, priest, and gatekeeper for the entire earth. Genesis actually never says Adam was the first human, that is just assumed due to the text giving no detailed account of the rest of the human race which were in other lands.

A verse that seems to go against this thesis is Genesis 3:20 where Adam calls his wife Eve because she “would become the mother of all living.” That sounds like ironclad proof that there was only Adam and Eve in existance at this point right? Not so fast. The Hebrew word for “would become” is ha-ye-tah. That word is written in the perfect tense in this passage. Perfect tense refers to something already completed. Young's Literal Translation gives the most literal Hebrew meaning (choppy as the sentances may be). His translation gives 3:20 as follows, “And the man calleth his wife's name Eve: for she hath been mother of all living.” Eve has not had any children at this point yet she had already fulfilled a role as a mother to the nations in her leadership with Adam. He names her for what she has done already. Most translators change the tense to future because they cannot imagine how Eve could have fulfilled the role of mother before having her own children so they do not properly translate the word.

Unlike the rest of mankind outside the cocoon of Eden, I do not believe Adam was created with a body of flesh. His covering was God’s glory and thus he could be exposed and unashamed. After the fall, Adam and Eve have lost their covering of God’s glory and so he covers them with coats of skin (this is the creation of their physical body). I have another article that goes into more detail of Adam and Eve’s fall from spirit to flesh as well as examining the concept of original sin.

Genesis 3:21 “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”

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Did God create outright or by guiding evolution?

It is clear that God began creating life with the simplest forms and continuously innovated to create creatures with greater features and complexity. The same step by step process we use to design new and better products and devices. It is an evolution of design. Evolution can never work without a designer behind it. This does not necessarily mean that God used genetic evolution to create as opposed to creating each creature outright from nothing. We do not know God’s exact process. One thing is clear, if God did happen to use evolution to create he definitely was not a passive observer; he was continuously making the DNA adjustments and adding new code for new features. Even with decades of our accumulated knowledge in genetics, nanotechnology, unlimited chemicals and compounds, controlled temperature and conditions as well as a full time staff dedicated to it scientists still struggle trying to create even the simplest cell in a lab. It’s incredibly foolish to think the process could happen on its own. The most barebones cell requires 480 genes, all of which would have had to miraculously come into being simultaneously at the same location. Only God could do this. If Darwin had access to our modern scientific knowledge on the extreme complexity of life he never would have published his theory as an explanation for our origins without God. With this being said, theistic (guided) evolution has many weakness such as not explaining the large gaps in design between creatures existing; the many “missing links.” In the end you can believe either one, creation outright or guided evolution; what matters is we accept God was directly guiding and controlling the creation process in either case.

In Genesis 1:27 God creates humankind. No mention is given of his practice runs with Neanderthals, cavemen, etc, however we can conclude they were not considered sufficiently close to God’s image and he wiped them out so as not to have them intermingle sexually and corrupt the DNA of his final form of human which was considered as being in God’s image. Often the young earth creationists are mocked for believing in a 6000 year old earth, however there is a partial truth to this. Civilization and writing are quite new inventions dating back to only around 6000 years (contrasted with earlier hunter/gatherer existence). The earth itself is very old, but the enlightened human is not.


Jacob’s ladder, the DNA of salvation (reversing the curse)

We’ve talked about sin and the fall of man. Now lets look at the process of salvation through the generations. We will examine Jacob’s Ladder.

Genesis 28:12-14 “And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

Jacob was given a vision of the DNA helix, the “ladder,” connecting his generations past and future, the 42 generations to bring about Christ. In the above passage the word “seed” is mentioned three times. The ladder is God’s bridge downwards through the generations (seed) of mankind to allow the Messiah to be born. There is a remarkable symmetry in the genealogies:

Matthew 1:17 “So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.”

We have 3 sets of 14 marking major points in the pathway to bring about Christ (according to Vallowe from the book Biblical Numerics, the number 14 symbolizes “salvation/deliverance” and is often used this way throughout scripture).

Matthew gives the spiritual genealogy of Christ, while Luke gives his natural/factual genealogy. Matthew’s is thus shorter because it deletes the names who failed in their mission to carry God’s plan forth on the earth and had to be skipped over.

The number that really signifies DNA and creation however, is the number 22. This is the most powerful of all numbers and represents the building blocks of creation. In the human body, there are 22 amino acids which all our proteins are formed from. These are the building blocks of the human body. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, the “building blocks” of the divine Word. The number 22 even pictorially looks like DNA if you consider it as two serpents intertwined (the number 2 pictorially appears like a cobra). There were 22 generations from Adam to Jacob (Israel). Also, the discovery of DNA was shared between two persons, the scientists Watson and Crick.

Going further, the Bible itself is 66 books and has three major sections each of which last for exactly 22 books:

1st cycle: Genesis to Song of Solomon >>> “History of God’s people” (22 books)

2nd cycle: Isaiah to Acts >>> “Prophets” (22 books)

3rd cycle: Romans to Revelation >>> “Epistles” (22 books)




In Genesis it mentions that Eve was created from Adam’s “rib.” It doesn’t mean a literal rib was taken out, but that she was matched with his genetic code. DNA stands for: deoxyRIBonucleic acid; (notice the “rib” hidden in there).

Genesis 2:22, “And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.”

Note also the numerological significance of this verse being 222 reinforcing the duality of the two intertwining cords of creation in DNA.

Here is another powerful verse with 2222:
Isaiah 22:22, “And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.”

This powerful authority is similar to the keys of heaven and earth Christ promised to the apostle Peter.

The number 22 can also be divided into two sets of twos which is the foundation of creation. In Genesis 2 it mentions the four rivers God created to water His land. These rivers come in pairs of two. There is the Euphrates and Hiddekel (Tigris) going East/West from Babylon, then you have the Pison/Gihon going North/South through Africa. Either the Pison or Gihon refers to the Nile while the exact identity of the other river is unknown. The idea of “four” referring to world foundation was key to all of the ancients. Whether four corners of the earth, four elements, or four rivers this layout was understood to be key to the foundation of everything.




In DNA we have four nucleotides which join as opposing pairs: Thymine, Cytosine, Adenine, and Guanine. These “four elements” are the alphabet of DNA which all our complex organs are encoded from.

Light itself is also seed and contains the same pattern as DNA. There is an oscillating wave of magnetism and another oscillating electric wave. The light wave is an electrical band mated with a magnetic band. When this electric and magnetic wave ‘link’ together, this is what creates light. This is the same model as the male and female DNA strands joining together. Light wave is same shape as DNA. Light is spoken of as being “sown” like seed:
Psalm 97:11, “Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.”

(For decades scientists argued over whether ‘light’ travelled as a wave or as a stream of particles. As they performed tests it only added to the confusion as light displayed both the properties of a wave and of a stream of particles. Finally, they had to compromise in accepting that light is both a wave and a particle. Light comes in “packets” of waves called photons. Again, a ‘packet’ is much like a seed.).

Natural light is electric and magnetic principles united, but God’s light is the union of WORD and SPIRIT. In Genesis it mentions that before God spoke the words of creation into the universe, He first sent the Spirit to hover upon the waters. When He spoke the Word, the Word united with Spirit to provide the LIGHT of creation.

Further study: The fall of man and false doctrine of original sin




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