LIST307t
(C) Dr Hendel, Jan-03
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#4 in a series of 7
Alignment of Gn01-11 vs Gn01-12. As can be seen the
trees were ordered to have FRUIT that resembles the
TREE but instead produced FRUIT having no resemblance
to the tree (Further details are presented below)
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VERSE
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PHRASE1
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PHRASE2
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PHRASE3
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Gn01-11d
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Let earth bring forth
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TREES
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OF FRUIT
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Gn01-12
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The earth brought forth
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TREES
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That make Fruit
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Differs
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*1
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*2
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*3
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COMMENTS
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*1 Gn01-11 deals with what was commanded to happen
Gn01-12 deals with what actually happened
*2 Both verses deal with creation of trees
*3 God ordered TREES OF FRUIT while what was actually
made was TREES THAT MAKE FRUIT. The phrarse TREES
OF FRUIT denotes something INTRINSIC while TREES
THAT MAKE FRUIT is more neutral
The nuances implicit in these different phrases
seem to be that
- TREES OF FRUIT refer to TREES that have the
attribute of the fruit (eg their bark tastes
like the fruit) while
- TREES THAT MAKE FRUIT refer to trees and fruit
that may differ and have nothing in common*10
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LONGER FOOTNOTES
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*10 Rashi elaborates further. If the trees were ordered
- that their fruit should taste like them but
- the trees disobeyed (fruit did not taste like them)
then we can view this as a rebellion against a Divine
command. Therefore the punishment on the plant world
mentioned in Gn03-17 -- the earth is cursed ---
would be a punishment for this sin.
However, my real purpose here was simply to alert
the reader to the existence of the alignment and
the fact that this alignment points to different
nuances.
To fully understand what really happened we would
have to use the symbolic methods developed in
http://www.RashiYomi.com/h19n11.htm. Very roughly
- Plants symbolize people (eg Dt20-19)
- Plants that taste like their fruit would
symbolically refer to a continuance of traditions
between parents (Trees) and children (Fruit)
- Plants that differ from fruit refer to severance
of ties between the generations
Thus the commands here are that people should
integrate their individuality with their heritage
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