Questions (Jesus, Moses, Earth, Sodom, choice)

[jewscout]

well since i'm late coming in i'll try to catch up...

Originally Posted by Druidus

In Genesis, why does God create man and women twice, once before the non-humans, and once after?

Originally Posted by Mister Emu

God creates more animals in the garden of eden. It also shows a more indepth creation of man.

Kudos Emu! This is one of many opinions on the seeming double telling of the story...

Originally Posted by Chabad.org

Now if you ask: It has already been stated (above 1:27): “And He created man, etc.!” I saw in the Baraitha of Rabbi Eliezer the son of Rabbi Jose the Galilean concerning the thirty-two principles by which the Torah is expounded, and this is one of them [method 13]: A general statement followed by a specific act, the latter constitutes a specific [clarification] of the first [general statement]. “And He created man.” This is a general statement. It left obscure whence he was created, and it left His deeds obscure [i.e., how God created man]. The text repeats and explains: “And the Lord God formed, etc.,” and He made the Garden of Eden grow for him, and He placed him in the Garden of Eden, and He caused a deep sleep to fall upon him. The listener may think that this is another story, but it is only the detailed account of the former. Likewise, in the case of the animal, Scripture repeats and writes (below verse 19): “And the Lord God formed from the ground all the beasts of the field,” in order to explain, “and He brought [them] to man” to name them, and to teach about the fowl, that they were created from the mud.

interesting to note that in verse 7 the hebrew for "formed" when pertaining to man is spelled w/ 2 "yuds" וַיִּיצֶר where as the same word pertaining to animals and other creation has only 1 וַיִּצֶר this symbolizing the creation in this world and the creation for the time of the resurreciton of the dead (taken from Chabad.org's Rashi commentarty)

[jewscout]

Originally Posted by Druidus

Who are the other "sons of God" that are seen in Genesis 6:1-4? (I mean other than Jesus)


Genesis 6:2 That the sonsofGod saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
Genesis 6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

well in my translation it says "sons of nobles"
but there is some commentary saying that it could have been angelic figures...it just depends on the commentator you read i suppose...

[EnhancedSpirit]

Aren't we all children of God?

[jewscout]

Originally Posted by Druidus

How is Moses able to advise God not to kill the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel?

because he begs G-d in the name of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the people He made a covenant and a POSITIVE promise to of bringing them to the land of Canaan creation a nation of priests from them. It was their lineage that was given this promise and Moses was using this knowledge to quell HaShem's anger against the Hebrews.
some of the Rambam's commentary on prophecy is that if the prophecy, such as this promise, is in the positive it can not be changed. If it is in the negative (which i think goes back to your question on Sodom) it is something that can be changed with the changing of the people involved.
Rambam says this is how you can tell a true prophet...one who predicts a positive event and it happens

[Linus]

Originally Posted by Druidus

It implies that you believe you were wrong in your first choice of action.

Sometimes it does. Though, not in this case I don't think. All God is doing is choosing a diferent course of action. There are some choices where the options are neither right nor wrong...just different. I think God is simply making a different choice here.

[Finnyhaha]

Another question to add: Why would the "sons of God" mentioned in Genesis be taken to mean angels, and the phrase "son of God" when applied to anyone other than Jesus mean only favored by God, while Christians believe that the phrase "son of God" when applied to Jesus is literal? Isn't that a double standard?

[Linus]

I think one reason might be the fact that in verse 4 of Genesis 6 it says that the offspring of the "sons of God" and the "daughters of men" were exceptionally mighty. They were called the Nephilim and were probably giants. There really sin't an explanation for their exceptional might and renown if they are just the offspring of normal people.

[Finnyhaha]

. . . that doesn't really explain why the term was interpreted differently when applied to different people in the Bible. What about David, he was called a "son of God" right?

[Mister Emu]

. . . that doesn't really explain why the term was interpreted differently when applied to different people in the Bible. What about David, he was called a "son of God" right?

Context. In the context of Genesis 6 the offspring are considered extremeley mighty, are given their name further expounding that they are different from normal humans, and it is said they are giants. This all points to sons of God being something other than human. Another note is that it says "saw the daughters of men", implying again that the "sons of God" are not human.

[Linus]

Originally Posted by Mister Emu

Another note is that it says "saw the daughters of men", implying again that the "sons of God" are not human.

I'm confused as to how exactly that works. How exactly does the phrase "saw the daughters of men" imply that they were not human. I'm not disagreeing with you, I just need some clarification.