John D. Brey
Well-Known Member
The Zohar, Be-Re****, 1:33a, discusses a unique people of God whom the sages refer to as "benei meheimanuta." ----In Professor Daniel Matt's translation and interpretation of the Zohar (Pritzker Edition Vol. 1, p. 204-205), Professor Matt translates "benei meheimanuta" into English as "scions of faith."
In the thread on Isaiah 53:2 [condensed into an essay here] it was pointed out that in Hebrew "scion" is a "branch" or "shoot" growing out of the original root-stock of a tree. The term "scion" implies something other than the original tree and its branches. The scion can be a foreign branch "grafted" onto the root-stock (after the original tree and branches are removed), or it can be an identical facsimile of the root-stock growing out of the root-stock after a new branch has been grafted in.
The passage in the Zohar grows out of Genesis 1:9-11:
The implication is that the root-stock of the original Tree in Genesis 1:11 is male/female (x and y chromosomes) while the Tree of Knowledge is a new genus of tree grafted onto the root-stock of the original Tree.
Genesis 1:11 doesn't distinguish between the two trees except to point out that the Tree growing out of "dry land" is a "he," a masculine, such that the KJV correctly interprets the Hebrew to say this particular Tree "yields fruit after his kind, whose fruit is in itself." The "itself" is masculine in the Hebrew so that it should read that the Tree yields his fruit that is already "in him."
The sages are aware that the "fruit tree" in Genesis 1:11 is the root-stock of all fruit that will ever come from the earth. Their phrase "scions of faith" plays on the fact that although the Tree of Knowledge is a new tree whose existence is related to the new gender in Genesis chapter 2, it's grafted onto the root-stock of the original fruit tree such that by speaking of "scions of faith" (branches born of the original root-stock through faith) the sages are ferreting out the garden metaphors in Genesis chapter one in order to unveil the mysteries of the creation of Adam and Eve, their sin, and their redemption, found in Genesis chapters 2-5.
John
In the thread on Isaiah 53:2 [condensed into an essay here] it was pointed out that in Hebrew "scion" is a "branch" or "shoot" growing out of the original root-stock of a tree. The term "scion" implies something other than the original tree and its branches. The scion can be a foreign branch "grafted" onto the root-stock (after the original tree and branches are removed), or it can be an identical facsimile of the root-stock growing out of the root-stock after a new branch has been grafted in.
The passage in the Zohar grows out of Genesis 1:9-11:
. . . Let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth. . And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding the fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself . . ..
To this verse the Zohar responds:
What is fruit tree? The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, who generates fruit. Bearing fruit---the Righteous One. Of its kind---for every human being endowed with a holy spirit, fruit of that tree is signed with an insignia of its kind.
The zoharic sages play on two kinds of trees. One "generates" fruit, the other "bears," or yields fruit of its kind whose seed is in it. The sages are aware that in the Hebrew text the Tree of Life is male, while the Tree of Knowledge is female. Furthermore, according to Genesis chapter 2, the seed of the Tree of Life is plural (x and y chromosomes), while the seed of the Tree of Knowledge is singular (x only). Male and female are already in the seed of the Tree of Life, its plurality, while only the female seed is in the Tree of Knowledge (its singularity). It requires the male seed to "generate" life.
The implication is that the root-stock of the original Tree in Genesis 1:11 is male/female (x and y chromosomes) while the Tree of Knowledge is a new genus of tree grafted onto the root-stock of the original Tree.
Genesis 1:11 doesn't distinguish between the two trees except to point out that the Tree growing out of "dry land" is a "he," a masculine, such that the KJV correctly interprets the Hebrew to say this particular Tree "yields fruit after his kind, whose fruit is in itself." The "itself" is masculine in the Hebrew so that it should read that the Tree yields his fruit that is already "in him."
The sages are aware that the "fruit tree" in Genesis 1:11 is the root-stock of all fruit that will ever come from the earth. Their phrase "scions of faith" plays on the fact that although the Tree of Knowledge is a new tree whose existence is related to the new gender in Genesis chapter 2, it's grafted onto the root-stock of the original fruit tree such that by speaking of "scions of faith" (branches born of the original root-stock through faith) the sages are ferreting out the garden metaphors in Genesis chapter one in order to unveil the mysteries of the creation of Adam and Eve, their sin, and their redemption, found in Genesis chapters 2-5.
John