MAN AND TREES

Now that we have seen Tree 1, we will lock it into place with Tree 2 in the overall Plan of God. There are three Hebrew words commonly translated as "man" in our Bible. Studying these three words leads to an understanding that they may represent three different TYPES of "man". Though the uses of these three terms sometimes overlap in our text, and aren't always as you would expect to find it, yet the meanings in Strongs Concordance and the Zodhiates Lexical Aid seem to point to the potential of certain designated qualified meanings. The three types are as follows:

1. "adam" - Strongs 120 - earth. - Zodhiates Lexical Aid - the human race; refers to generic man as the image of God, the crown of His creation, distinct from the rest of creation. God created human beings by a special immediate act. God put Adam and Eve in a position of honor, and had great plans for them. However, even after their fall, adam is used for mankind.
2. "nos" (or per some references "enosh") - Strongs 582 - man, humankind, mortal with an emphasis on frailty; another, familiars, mortal man. related to anos (605) - incurable, desperately wicked. - Zodhiates Lexical Aid - an individual, man in general, mankind, a mortal, where man's weakness or frailty is emphasized.
3. "is" (or per some references "ish" or "iysh") - Strongs 376 - man, sometimes in contrast to animal, a certain one, one of a kind. - Zodhiates Lexical Aid - may be related to 582 ("nos"), it can refer to animals.

As I see it, the three main types of man are as follows:

1. "adam" is Tree 1 seed. This is the offspring of the unaltered seed of a Tree 1 human male with a Tree 1 human female. Such offspring have a completed soul.
2. "nos" is the seed of Tree 2. Though there is a soul, it has been inactivated. The link to our Living God has been blocked, and it is almost impossible for this link to be reactivated or brought to life in this lifetime.
3. "is" is the blended seed. Tree 2 has merged its seed with the Tree 1 seed in intermarriage. Further contamination might occur via incubus and/or succubus activity. Because such a soul has some genetic capacity of Tree 1, it may be possible for it to be activated, though it is highly unlikely - at least for a number of generations.

In John 8:42-44 we find:

Just maybe "OF your father the devil" is even literal here. The devil may have successfully defiled the seed of their fathers. Maybe these were "is". It is interesting to note that the 1990 Strongs Exhaustive Concordance has many renderings of "man" listed as "nos". This agrees also with the notations in Zodhiates. Then, when researching this in the newer 2001 version of the Strongs Exhaustive Concordance, almost every entry which had previously been coded "nos" had been reclassified to "is". Just what are they trying to hide here?

Now let's look at how the soul becomes complete. As "adam", we are born with a completed soul. We are a tripart being, spirit, soul, and body. I Thessalonians 5:23 leaves no doubt of that, making mention of spirit, AND soul, AND body. The body is pretty easy to identify. We deal with it continually. The concepts of spirit and soul are a bit more evasive, so let's take a close look at them.

1. "ruach" - Strongs 7307 - breath, wind; by extension: spirit, mind, heart, as the immaterial part of a person that is designed to ultimately respond to God, the seat of life; spirit being, especially the Spirit of God: - spirit - Zodhiates Lexical Aid - the element of life in a person (i.e. his natural spirit), and even in animals; Sometimes ruach and nephesh overlap - Both nephesh and ruach leave the body at death.
2. "nephesh" - Strongs 5315 - breath; by extension: life, life force, soul, an immaterial part of a person, the seat of emotion and desire. - Zodhiates Lexical Aid - Nephesh CAN DIE or stop; it can be killed and poured out with the blood. Animals have nephesh. OK - now that is the spirit and the soul as we find it in Biblical context. However, there is another Hebrew word that is linked with the soul which we don't find in the Bible but seems to have bearing here.
3. "neshemah" - not listed in Strongs - The Meridian Hebrew/English English/Hebrew Dictionary - soul; spirit; life. YashaNet.com Studies on Revelation states: "The Neshemah however, is an additional part of man's spiritual make-up." This author very appropriately lists two separate and distinctive definitions. 1) the spiritual faculty given to man that connects with the Ruach haKodesh (God's Holy Spirit). 2) 'spiritual connection' given by God when a person through faith/trust, begins to truly seek Him.

Genesis 2:7 states:

Adam had just received "neshemah". He became a LIVING soul - his soul was activated, animated, quickened unto life by suddenly being connected spiritually to God so that he could receive from God what he needed to be in right standing with God. Souls without "neshemah" still function, but are accounted as dead, because they have yet to be quickened by God unto "life". When Adam fell, his ruach (spirit) died, but he retained his "neshemah". All of mankind who would proceed from his loins would inherit this dead spirit, but maintain the soul quickened by neshemah. Man can only come to the Son if the Father draws him per John 6:44. Due to the dead spirit, it is only through the neshemah link to the soul that God can reach man after the fall to draw him unto the Son to salvation. This salvation then requickens the spirit unto life and seals it. The spirit is thus "born again". During this rebirth process, the spirit will be sealed so it will retain its purity, and can never again die. From that time forward, man has only the need to worry about the condition of his soul and body before God. Only these two portions of the spirit saved man can come unto condemnation. The "neshemah" is the key to whether one is or is not able to be spirit saved in this age. It is THE link to God the Father. Without it, spirit salvation appears to be impossible.

Matthew 13:10-15 states:

Yeshua isn't saying here that He wouldn't WANT to heal (save) them, He seems to be indicating that they aren't ABLE to come to belief upon Him. They see, but they don't see. They hear, but they don't hear. They have no neshemah, and God's saving message cannot be integrated by their intuitive capacity. Because they could not receive the spirit salvation He offered, neither did Yeshua want them to understand the secrets of the Kingdom, which would encourage them to try to secure these blessings by alternative means, as those who "climbeth up some other way" per John 10:1.

Recall now that some men have mixed seed and have somewhat the capacity to hear and understand God, but they must make an inordinate effort to seek Him in order to overcome the powerful hold of Tree 2 upon them. They have the seed of Neshemah within them, but it appears that they must CHOOSE to develop it through thirst of God's Truth before the Father can draw them through it.

Now let's review our three types of men again. When our Tree 1 Adam was formed, God breathed into him and he became a LIVING soul. His soul was quickened with the LIFE of "neshemah". Henceforth, all future "adam", who are offspring of the UNALTERED seed of Adam will also be born with a "neshemah", or a COMPLETED soul. However, the "nos" were of the seed of Tree of 2. Their souls are without neshemah, thus, they can never be spirit saved in this life. The "is" is a combination of "adam" and "nos". If they genuinely seek God and study Torah to find Him and honor Him, God can increase their "neshemah" link to Him, opening the lines of communication which will enable them to be drawn to the understanding of the Son unto spirit salvation. (Incidentally, we all need Torah to grow and mature properly in Christ.)

Now let's journey back into the garden. There we see Adam, and God is speaking to him. Genesis 2:16-17 states:

Then Adam relates the danger of the tree to Eve, but he embellishes a bit. It seems he tells her that if she TOUCHES the tree she will die. Maybe he feels that this will keep her further from the temptation to taste the fruit. The devil then enters the serpent, and encounters Eve near the forbidden tree. He asks her if she is free to eat of any tree of the garden. She answers him. In Genesis 3:2-3, we hear her response:

The devil within the serpent knows that God has only forbidden their eating of the tree, but that touching it will not hurt her, so he cleverly pushes her into the tree, and then says that it is obvious that touching the tree did not hurt her, so eating of it will not harm her either. Trusting this serpent, she succumbs to his seductive tactics, and partakes of the forbidden fruit, then proceeds to share it with her husband. There are indications in the Bible that he was not deceived as she had been but eats the fruit anyway - probably because he understands that by adding to the word of God he had been partly to blame for her deception. So - just exactly what might this tree have been? It will help to get a glimpse of the character of God. We find an interesting tidbit in I Corinthians 14:33, which indicates that God is not of confusion, but of peace .... Had Adam and Eve not eaten of the forbidden fruit, there would never have been any confusion - only a beautiful, peaceful, and eternal cohabitation with God. It could have been so good ...!

In His INFINITE and ETERNAL Ain Sof or Jah form, our God of sovereignty and perfection decreed that He would allow a part of Himself to be manifest into a FINITE form that would be subject to certain spiritual laws and bound by the dictates of time in order to bring about and supervise life in the form of a creation. In MESSIAH Volume 3 by Avi Ben Mordechai, we find the speculation that He "compressed some of His Infinite essence into Himself" and "formed a vacuum or 'black hole' much like a womb within Himself. ... It was in this mystical 'womb' that all of creation began."

Genesis 1 gives us the progression of the creation, and it was good. Upon the formation of Adam, God planted a garden. Genesis 2:8-9 says:

Within the Tree of Life, maybe the ten Sefirot are the Sod symbolism for these trees which were GOOD for food. Then there was the Tree of LIFE (Tree 1) and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Tree 2). I believe that these were twin Da'at Trees, with very real fruit. Tree 1 was the undefiled knowledge of God and pure holiness. Tree 2 was the defiled counterfeit version thereof, a mixed knowledge of good AND evil. When viewing illustrations of the Tree of Life, the Da'at, or hidden Sefirah is usually shown as different from the others, somewhat superimposed upon the tree - an eleventh Sefirah. It is interesting that many would tell you that eleven is the number of Anti Christ. Whereas eating of the right Da'at Tree (the Tree of Life) might have sealed the spirit, soul, and body of Adam all at one time so that he could never be subject to evil, he ate of the wrong one (Tree 2). This Da'at tree was the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. I believe it offered a very real fruit, which was probably the red grape.

Regarding Da'at, Messiah Volume 3 says: "a JOINING or CONNECTING, i.e. KNOWLEDGE, which comes from the Hebrew root Yada meaning 'to know.'" The author continues, "Knowledge can be expressed in many different ways, and there are numerous shades of knowledge that can be gained by our human senses, everything from TORAH learning ... to the intimate experience of human SEXUAL RELATIONS. ... There is a knowledge that leads to LIFE, and that knowledge is in the TORAH. However, there is also a base of knowledge that is not Torah grounded, but is derived from the WAYS OF MAN; this knowledge leads to arrogance ... . Da'at knowledge can be broken down into two aspects: TRUE knowledge based on the Divine Torah; A FORM OF knowledge based on man's intellect. A form of Da'at is not true Da'at but only an image of it."

This image of the True Da'at would be the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Tree 2) portion of Da'at. The counterfeit Da'at is the connector to the dualistic version of creation that where good and evil coexist. When Adam ate of it, God's pure knowledge of Truth was suddenly clouded with the counterfeit version thereof, and from this time on to the end of the age, the seed of "adam" would "see through a glass darkly" per I. Corinthians 13:12.

Let's look again at the Sefirotic Tree of Life. There has always been a hang-up in my spirit regarding the trinitarian doctrine and a verse in Revelation. Maybe we should look at it now. Revelation 3:1 says:

The common teachings regarding the Holy Spirit do not allow for a good understanding of this verse. How can there be seven Spirits (capital S) of God? We will see if we can get to the base of this matter. Maybe the answer lies herein. The various Sefirot are said to be supernatural but finite beings called Aeons. These beings appear to be composites of the attributes of God. It is believed that the first three Sefirot represent 1) the head of God, (i.e. His will), 2) His wisdom, and 3) His understanding. The last seven portions represent the body of God. Maybe they are linked with God's seven Spirits who encourage mankind in the Godly attributes, achievements, and ultimate reward which he is to supposed to acquire. It is my contention that if Adam and Eve had not eaten the forbidden fruit of the counterfeit Da'at Tree, that the last seven portions of the tree MAY not have been manifested. It is my belief, that Adam and Eve would have been eternally secure and blessed in total understanding and wisdom of God without confusion. However, because man fell, God had to make provision to apply MERCY AND LOVINGKINDNESS with a great deal of MIGHT AND STRENGTH against the enemy who would oppose it. He would have to send His own SON OF GLORY to take on mortality to die for us. This would acquire ETERNITY AND VICTORY whereby SPLENDOR AND MAJESTY could be given to mankind. The FOUNDATION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS would bring the DAUGHTER of God to her inheritance of God's KINGDOM. We have discussed how the hidden Da'at Sefirah connected the pure, all good and Godly knowledge of the seed of "adam" man to the counterfeit version of good AND evil knowledge of the seed of "nos" man, bringing in confusion.

Now let us look at an even more troubling aspect. Revelation 22:16 says:

Isaiah 14:12 says:

Some versions refer to the Hebrew word for "son" here as "star", making Lucifer also depicted as a STAR OF THE MORNING. Could there be TWO morning stars - a real and a counterfeit?

Let's take a look at the Book of Job for a moment. Job 38:5-7 says:

We would recall from Scripture that Yeshua is our light, but we must likewise be aware that the name Lucifer means "light bearer". Now stars bear light. Are we seeing a duality here? I think so! Maybe even this was foreshadowed on day four of creation when the sun and moon were hung in place. Just as the Sun is our true light, there is a counterfeit version. Writings about the sun and moon include the concept that when they were originally created the moon shone too. However its light was somewhat inferior, and it became jealous of the sun. This may have Biblical merit, as Genesis 1:16 refers to it as the "lesser LIGHT". As a result the light that the moon had was taken away from it, and now it can only reflect the light of the sun, a counterfeit form of light. But while the moon is only a darkened sphere, it seems to claim the brilliance of the light that reflects from it as its own. In like manner, we have a counterfeit version of light in the world today. It is merely a reflection of the true light, and in the process of refracting the light, the light is distorted. However, it pretends to be the original and true source of light. We will view this more closely momentarily. When the sun (natural light) is bright people feel good - when it is missing for a while, depression tends to set in. When the moon (counterfeit light) is brightest (full moon) some people go a bit crazy, but they are in a more normal state of mind when it is new. Malachi 4:2 says:

Heavenly beings are often referred to as stars because even the heavens shout the unfolding of the saga of God and man. You see, Yeshua, the SON is the symbolic SUN. Lucifer, the counterfeit can only reflect (mimic) the light of the TRUE. As the symbolic moon, and in so doing the light is refracted or bent and becomes distorted causing deceit to those who receive it as truth. Yes, the moon is beautiful. Even in its mimicry, there is beauty within it. As mortals, we can not yet stand to see the phenomenal beauty of the Son of righteousness, as it is too bright for us to look upon. When we are able some day, it will put all other measures of beauty to shame. Likewise, the teachings of the Luciferic countertype will maintain much of the beauty of the Truth, but will be bent and distorted, and we are not to receive it as the True light.

Matthew 6:22-23 states:

We have a spiritual eye. If we maintain a single spiritual focus upon God's truth, as presented by our true light, Yeshua, the eye will bring light to the entire body. If, however, we receive the darker counterfeit refracted light as our spiritual truth, the whole body shall be full of darkness, and how GREAT IS THAT DARKNESS! This dark light is, the false light offered by the morning star which fell, as offered by the false light bearer, Lucifer, and the darkness that fills us due to the deception that enters by this refracted light can land us in OUTER DARKNESS. To research Lucifer a bit further, we go to Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 28:14 states:

Lucifer was a spirit (angel or star) of COVERING, and he fell. I believe that when mankind fell, he fell under the cover of Lucifer, the fallen one. It is not until we believe upon Yeshua that this cover is changed. We read about it when Paul addresses the Brethren in Christ.

When talking about covering in I Corinthians 11:3, Paul says:

So we see that both Yeshua and Lucifer are not only light bearers, but are also a type of covering. I believe a broader picture is starting to form here. You see, out of the darkness came light, but, it appears that there may also be a lingering darkness of a much larger scope which (until its final demise) will always attempt to oppress the light. New Agers call this contrast Yin and Yang.

Whereas these New Agers are right that it exists, they would throw their own spin on it, and claim that the true source of light is within their movement. Beware, however, for this light is the false light of Lucifer. To get the more expansive scope of this problem, however, we might want to go back to Cain and Abel.

It is my belief that Cain and Abel were born together. Genesis states it as follows in 4:1-2:

Now note that I didn't say I thought they were TWINS, because I actually believe they were quadruplets! You see, extraBiblical sources indicate that in the beginning of the population of the earth, before interfamily marriage was condemned there was a female child born with each male child so he would have a wife later in life. So - maybe the very first conception of HUMANKIND resulted in two male and two female offspring.

There is a concept which has much merit that what is patterned in the earthly realm is a shadow of what is happening or has happened in the spiritual realm. We will see shortly how this quadruple birth could be exactly what has happened within the spiritual realm. But before we pursue that thought further, let us look closer at Cain and Abel. Cain was the firstborn son. However, his brother Abel found more favor in God's eyes, which made Cain jealous. It was a result of this jealousy (a form of smitten pride) that he fell. Do we begin to see a parallel between the jealousy of Cain, the jealousy of the moon, and the jealousy Lucifer?

Ezekiel 28:15 says of Lucifer that he was "perfect IN HIS WAYS from the day that he was created, till iniquity was found in him". Cain too was not condemned right away. God indicates to him in Genesis 4:7 that if he would do well, he too would be accepted of God. However, if he did not do well, God warned him that sin lieth at the door. Cain CHOSE the door. The iniquity of his jealousy blinded his heart to the ways of God, and he CHOSE to let his rebellion reign. It would cost him everything.

We find this duality repeated over and over in the Word. It is the duality of the two Trees of creation being repeatedly patterned through the ages. If we take just a moment to look at some other "twin" births of the Bible, we see a similar scenario. The Firstborn of the twin males is almost always the one who is ill-favored. We see it here in Cain and Abel, in Esau and Jacob, and even in the instance of Pharez and Zerah (Genesis 38:28-30). Though the Bible doesn't specify in Genesis 41:50-51 that Ephraim and Manasseh were twins, the wording leaves that possibility dangling there as well, and this theme was likewise courted in Jacob's blessing of the two boys in Genesis 48:5-14. In each case, God turns the table and sees to it that the second is blessed. The first, however is either subject to obscurity or even downright cursing.

To court this issue one step further, we might look at Genesis 3:13 where Eve relates her experience with the serpent to God. She says: "The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." Now the term beguiled here is sometimes translated "seduced", which is entirely acceptable from the Hebrew perspective of the word. Indeed we have learned that one of the forms of knowledge connected with the Da'at Tree she ate of is the intimacy of sexual knowledge. While the Bible indicates that Adam fathered Cain, might not some form of intimacy have occurred when Eve was seduced which caused the seed of Cain to be corrupted when she conceived by Adam a short time later? Maternal twins are identical, but fraternal twins are NOT. The seed of Fraternal twins can be different, yielding very different results. Some sources say that all of this happened in one literal 24 hour day. If this was the case, then it would mean that Cain would be an "is" form of man. His neshemah is questionable. This could explain why God specifically warned him to do well that he might be accepted, but if not sin lieth at the door. If he chose to seek God's way, God could expand his neshemah and he would be redeemable, but if not the penalty of death lied in wait for his decision to choose sin over righteousness. He chose to walk in rebellion, and would suffer terribly for this choice. Maybe the same thing applies to Esau and his descendants, as well as to others.

Now let's look again at the concept that this may be a portrayal of what has occurred in the spiritual realm. Science has confirmed that sexual reproduction as we know it in the animal kingdom is not the only means of reproduction. In some life forms, asexual reproduction occurs. In yet other forms of reproduction, both male and female counterparts are involved, but there is no sexual union, as the egg is fertilized outside the female body. In all cases the genetic profile of the parent(s) is passed on to the offspring. All of this was within the confines of God's creation. If life in our physical realm was designed by a combination of such methods, might not a God of pattern have used a combination of these techniques to develop life forms in the spiritual realm as well?

Let's take a look at a passage in II Peter for just a moment which deals with some attributes that God desires for us to attain. II Peter 1:4-8 reads:

Here we see a formula of sorts as to the process by which we might aspire to the divine nature and escape the "lust" of the false light. Maybe there is more here than meets the eye. We are to apply all diligence to this process. It begins with the cornerstone of faith. To that we add virtue, then knowledge, then temperance, then patience, then godliness, then brotherly kindness, then charity. So, we see that we start with the "head" of faith, then attach the body by diligently adding each of the next seven attributes, until we attain unto the divine nature, i.e. the very privilege of entrance into the next Kingdom.

Whereas each of the labels affixed to the various Sefirot are for a specific purpose, it might be that various subtraits are embedded within the Sefirot as well - maybe even the seven we just found in our passage in II Peter. Maybe the seven Spirits of God cohabit the seven Sefirot and work simultaneously with mankind to help him achieve the divine nature we are intended to have. As we apply each layer with diligence, we progress from the head to the feet - the entrance to the divine Kingdom to come.

After we believe upon Christ, our spirits are sealed with His Truth, but our souls can still fall prey to deception and pollution. Tree 2 beacons us as Believers today to draw away from the fruit of the Tree of Life, and to taste of the deadly poisonous counterfeit fruit. To establish our primary premise, let's look quickly to Leviticus 16:8, which reads:

The the lot for the scapegoat is labeled "to Azazel", Azazel means "goat of departure". The other lot is labeled "to Adonai", one of several terms for God. Other texts tell us that the two goats had to be virtually identical.

Now consider for a moment the choice the people made when asked whether to release Yeshua or the murderous criminal Barabbas. We find that "bar" means "son of" and "abbas", making the meaning of Barabbas to be "son of the father". So here we have the virtually identical scapegoat to the Son of the Father (Yeshua) who would die for us. This virtually identical goat is offered to Azazel, he is sent to the wilderness and pushed over a cliff to be torn to shreds by the briars as he tumbles to his death. (I often wondered what happened to Barabbas after he was released).

These two identical goats and the mountain of blessings (Gerizim) and the mountain of cursings (Ebal) are key to understanding the two trees. Whereas the goat to Adonai represents the Tree of Life, the Goat to Azazel represents Tree 2. Gerizim represents the blessings of life, and Ebal, the cursings of death.

Zohar seems to refer to Tree 2 as the "mirror tree". It states that the mirror tree to that of the Tree of Life is under the ground. They are said to grow root to root, and the Malchut Sefirot of each of these two trees is linked at the roots. It is an up side down image like unto the upright image above the ground. It seems that we are working our way through the defiled tree in the here and now. Tree 2 where we now reside is this tree that we are to overcome (in Revelations 2 & 3) as we look to and progress toward the Tree of Life. It is our belief upon Yeshua which will gain us the privilege to eat of the SPIRITUAL fruit of the Tree of Life, which will ultimately bring us back into oneness with the Supreme FINITE embodiment of holiness, Keter. When we are wed to Yeshua, it is my belief that we will cross into the physical entrance to sample the PHYSICAL fruit of the Tree of Life, and as the TRUE BODY of Christ, we will enter the Millennial Kingdom, the other side of the roots, and move from there up through the tree to the fullness of the GodHEAD. When the Millennial Kingdom has run its course in time, it will be transferred to the Head of Tree 1, to the Kingdom of the Father. Keter and all of the lower Sefirot as well as those who have been absorbed into the body through Christ will then be united with the One who originally orchestrated creation within His womb, fulfilling I Corinthians 15:28. It reads:

Oh to be all in all - one with He who first thought to create us - living eternally with Him.

In the meantime, we wait. We look for the moment when we will be taken to meet our Bridegroom. The typology in Genesis 24 depicts the Holy Spirit finding and bringing the Bride of Messiah to meet Him. We think of Ezekiel and the wheels within wheels, the Hayoth creatures and their ofanim (wheels or chariots). Ezekiel 22:18 & 30-31 states:

Could it be that the reason none could be found to stand in the gap is because the First Fruits have been taken home? Maybe the Shekinah is just waiting for the word. Maybe it will be given very soon!

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