Adam and adamah -- Part 4

Here are the links to

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

I didn't think I would make a part 4, but I keep coming back to these three levels of the state of adamah (Hebrew for ground/earth)

1. Garden of Eden. No cultivation needed because the ground brings forth "every tree" (Genesis 2:9)
2. Cursed ground outside the Garden of Eden. Needs cultivation by man to bring forth fruit. (Genesis 3:19,23)
3. Both ground and tiller of the ground (Cain) are cursed. The ground no longer yielding its strength. (Genesis 4:12)

One reason is because three levels like this is a recurring temple theme. In our modern temples and theology, we talk about the telestial, terrestrial and celestial kingdoms or worlds. In the ancient tabernacle/temple, there were different names but the same structure. There was the outer court, the holy place within the temple and then the inner sanctuary referred to as the most holy place or the holy of holies. These three levels of the temple correspond to the three levels of man. The NRSV Cultural Backgrond Study Bible explains

Ancient Israelite society operated on the understanding that there were three distinct categories or states in which persons (and objects) could find themselves: the state of uncleanness, the state of cleanness and the state of holiness. Yahweh inhabited the last, and animals unfit to eat inhabited the first. Persons could move between being clean and unclean, depending on what they had recently been doing, eating, touching, etc. Persons in a state of uncleanness were not allowed to approach anyone or anything deemed holy. Even persons who believed themselves to be in a state of cleanness could suffer dire consequences for coming into contact with that which was holy without authorization (e.g., 2 Sam 6.6–7). One of the goals of Yahweh’s covenant with the Israelites was to make of them a “holy nation” (Ex 19.6).

The three different states of adamah in Genesis 2-4 therefore follows a recognizable pattern

Unclean - clean - holy

Outer court - holy place - holy of holies

Telestial - terrestrial - celestial

In the outer courts of the tabernacle/temple, there were bronze basins for washing to become clean. For the high priests, who were the only one who could enter into the inner sanctuary, there were sanctification/purification rituals to make them holy (Hebr. qodesh). The Garden of Eden is where the tree of life and God's presence is found. Man was cast out for his disobedience. But if we enter into and keep covenants (somehow associated with tilling the earth), we can be clean and prepare to become holy. If not, we are stained with blood and the earth will not yield its strength. 

I have discussed in the previous parts how Christ and covenants prepare a reversal of these curses and can help us progress through the three levels to a holy state back to the tree of life. What I did not fully realize is how the atonement of Christ symbolized this reversal. In the second part, I discussed the blood of Christ falling to the ground in Gethsemane. This is related to the third state where ground and man is cursed after the blood of Abel was swallowed up by the ground. Christ reverses the curse by spilling his own blood. The next day, Jesus is mocked and beaten prior to the crucifixion. The soldiers make a crown of thorns and put on his head. This reminds us of the second state of adamah, where it is cursed after Adam's transgression. Remember what the account says about the curse

cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field (Genesis 3:17-18)

Jesus voluntarily takes upon him the sting of thorns from the cursed adamah as he walks with us back to the tree of life. As a reversal of the curse, he wears them on his head as king. Finally, he is crucified by being "hanged on a tree" (see Acts 5:30, Acts 10:39, Acts 13:29, 1 Peter 2:24). Most likely, this was not a tree with roots and branches. The Greek word, xulon, that is used can mean both tree and wood. But the symbolism is clear, nonetheless. Xulon is used both for the cross where Jesus was hanged and the tree of life in Revelation 22. In a sense, this wooden cross that "the firstfruits", Jesus Christ,  (see 1 Corinthians 15:20) was hanged on becomes the tree of life for us and the reversal of curses is complete. 

Through Christ, we have gone through blood and thorns, from unclean to clean to holy and can finally enter into the inner sanctuary, the celestial world, the tree of life and God's presence. I love how earth and man follow each other on this path. As Adam goes from unclean/telestial to clean/terrestrial to holy/celestial, adamah goes from blood-stained and not yielding its strength to yielding through sweat and thorns to growing a tree of life. Adam becomes El and adamah yields elah. I know I am repeating myself a bit with this post but I just love to see previous and new themes coming together.