This week’s reading, Parashat Bereshit, covers Bereshit / Genesis 2:4-4:26 according to the Triennial reading cycle. Studying this section of verses, we read that the Lord God forms man from the dust of the earth and breathes life into him making him a living soul according to the Torah text in Bereshit / Genesis 2:7 וַיִּיצֶר יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהִים אֶת-הָאָדָם עָפָר מִן-הָאֲדָמָה וַיִּפַּח בְּאַפָּיו נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים וַיְהִי הָאָדָם לְנֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה: Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (NASB) Then we read that God caused Adam to sleep and taking from one of his ribs, he formed woman. As a result, God declares that the man will leave his father and his mother and join with the woman (as husband and wife) and the two shall become one flesh (עַל-כֵּן יַעֲזָב-אִישׁ אֶת-אָבִיו וְאֶת-אִמּוֹ וְדָבַק בְּאִשְׁתּוֹ וְהָיוּ לְבָשָֹר אֶחָד). Shortly afterwards, Adam and Chavah (חַוָּה, Eve) eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and sin in disobedience to God’s command. After having sinned Adam and Chavah hide from the Lord in the midst of the garden. In the Targum Onkelos, the Aramaic translation of the Torah, we read in Genesis / Bereshit 3:8וּשְׁמָעוּ יַת קַל מֵימְרָא דַייָ אֱלֹהִים דִּמְהַלֵּךְ בְּגִנְתָא לִמְנַח יוֹמָא וְאִטַמַר אָדָם וְאִתְּתֵיהּ מִן קֳדָם יְיָ אֱלֹהִים בְּגוֹ אִילַן גִּנְתָא which says “they heard the sound of the word of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” Did you know that this verse is one of the most important verses for helping us to understand who Yeshua is? The scripture says וְהָאָרֶץ הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ “and the earth was void and without form.” Without these verses from Bereshit / Genesis 3:8 our understanding of Yeshua based on John 1:1-14 may appear “תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ” “void and without form.” How did the first century Jewish believer understand Yeshua as the Word of God in John 1:1-14? They understood Yeshua according to the scroll of the Torah. Read More here.
