|
|
The following hermaphrodite picture is not my own drawing. It is included to be a visual teacher. I'm not sure who the artist is but the drawer may be Boyd Rice. If anyone knows the copyright credits please send them to me via e-mail so the right person gets credit. As a picture, it may not be a totally correct portrayal of what the hermaphrodite Adam looked like.
ADAM HERMAPHRODITE:
According
to the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts of the book of Genesis, Adam was a hermaphrodite. The following are translations of
Genesis 1:26-27; 2:7, 15-16, 21-22 from both the Hebrew and Aramaic texts. HEBREW TEXT: “And God said, We will make a man in Our image, according to Our likeness;
and they shall rule over the fish of the sea, and over the bird of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth,
and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And God created the man in His image, in the image of God (or the angels) He created him; male and
female He created them…And YHWH God formed the man from the dust of the earth, and He breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; and the man became a living soul…And YHWH God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till
it and keep it. And YHWH God commanded to the man, saying, from every tree of the garden, you shall surely eat…And
YHWH God made fall a deep sleep (or trance) upon the man and he slept. And He took one of
his sides (or ribs) and closed the flesh in its place. And YHWH God built from the
side (or rib) that He took from the man into a woman. And He brought her to the man.”
(Hebrew Masoretic text).
The first man, Adam, is described with both singular
pronouns (“he,” “his,” “him”) and plural pronouns (“they,” “them”)
just like God is described with both singular pronouns (“He,” “His”) and plural pronouns (“We,”
“Our”). This man was formed in the image of God (or the angels). The Hebrew word Elo-him can mean both “God” and “angels” (see Ps. 8:5; 1 Sa. 28:13). It is not likely
that Moses was saying the same thing twice at Genesis 1:27, even though elo-him is translated
both times as “God” in both the Aramaic and Greek translations. These translations are not perfect.
Lastly, the Hebrew text perhaps is saying that God took one of Adam’s sides to make the woman. Adam would have at least two sides. The Hebrew word tsela can mean both “side” and “rib.” However, Adam later referred to the woman as being “…bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh…” (Gen. 2:23 Lamsa). If we just look at what Adam said of Eve by his statement of her being “bone of my bones,” then that sounds like the Hebrew text may be saying the woman was made from Adam’s rib, but Adam continued with an additional statement. He said Eve was also “flesh of my flesh,” which a rib is clearly not “flesh.” It could be that the “side” God took from Adam was made up of both bone and flesh. The Greek text also translated the Hebrew word tsela as pleuron “side.” ARAMAIC TEXT: “And God said, We will make the man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and they shall rule over
the fish of the sea, and over the bird of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over every living beast of the earth, and
over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And God created Adam in His image, in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them…And the LORD God formed Adam from the dust of the earth, and He blew into his nostrils
the breath of life; and Adam became a living soul…And the LORD God took Adam and left him in the paradise (or garden) of Eden that they should till
it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded Adam, and said to him, from all the trees that are in the paradise, you shall surely
eat…And the LORD God caused the deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept. And He took one of his ribs and
closed the flesh in its place. And the LORD God made from the rib that He took from Adam into the woman. And He brought
her to Adam.” (Aramaic Peshitta Text).
The Aramaic word Adam doesn’t have a definite form (i.e. it doesn’t
end with a) and means “a man” in at least one place in the Peshitta Bible
(see 1 Sam. 17:32). Most of the time, Adam is a personal name in the Peshitta Old Testament and Peshitta New Testament. The
Hebrew word a-dam was translated with different Aramaic words when a-dam carried the meaning of “the human, the man” or “humankind.”
The words “a” and “the” are relative to a particular language.
The word “a” before a noun to an Aramaic person’s ear may not sound right in his language. So when the Hebrew
and Greek say “an angel of the LORD” because it is correct for their grammar, the Aramaic will
say “the angel of the LORD.” So, the Aramaic language doesn’t always translate
an indefinite noun as indefinite but often translates it definite; that is why the Aramaic text says “the woman”
instead of “a woman” at Genesis 2:22. However, the meaning of the Hebrew text is still correctly translated into
Aramaic. The Aramaic text also describes Adam as being both a singular
and plural being.
TRANSGENDER: “The armor of a man shall not be on a woman, and neither shall a man wear
the clothing of a woman..” (Deut. 22:5 Masoretic Hebrew Text). The Greek translation of this verse also agrees with the above translation from the Hebrew text. This translation
is the most obvious meaning of the Hebrew verse so I am going to say this is the correct meaning. The Hebrew word cli means “an outfit, armor, weapon and vessel.” Cli means
instrument (Lamsa) or weapon (KJV) at Numbers 35:18 and armor at 1 Samuel 14:1. There is no evidence that cli means “clothing” anywhere in the Hebrew Old Testament. Additionally, there are
other Hebrew words that mean garment, clothing or apparel. I believe there was a particular reason for the man and the
woman to be exchanging outfits. If someone was pursuing a soldier, that soldier could hide by pretending to be a woman. The
woman could hide her hair inside the soldier’s helmet if she has long hair or didn’t cut it; thus appearing to
be a male soldier. Another scenario that this verse could apply to is if a hetero eunuch wore the clothing of a woman to get
into the king’s harem to try and sleep with his wives. One of the king’s wives could feign to be the eunuch soldier
or guard to safeguard him.
I don’t believe the Aramaic translation
is totally correct at this verse. Sometimes I agree with the Greek interpretation over the Aramaic interpretation or vice
versa. When there is a disagreement of interpretation between the two traditions I look at the Hebrew text to see what it
most obviously says. I also make sure the Hebrew text hasn’t been changed by comparing it with the Dead Sea Scrolls
text. About half of the disagreements I agree with the Aramaic text, and about the same amount I agree with the Greek text.
The Aramaic text literally says: “The
armor (pl. ma-ne) of a man shall not be upon a woman; and a man shall not be clothed
with the armor (pl. ma-ne) of a woman. The LORD your God abhors all those doing
these things.” By armor, I’m referring to the outfit and the weapon. Ma-na
(singular) is the normal translation of the Hebrew word cli, which means: an outfit, armor,
weapon, and vessel. The Aramaic word ma-ne also means “clothing.” So this verse can be translated as: “The garments
(or clothing) of a man shall not be upon a woman; and a man shall not be clothed with the garments of a woman…”
A distinguishing word or context needs to surround the word ma-ne for it to refer to garments
though. This is because it is not its most obvious meaning. It usually means a vessel, instrument or weapon of some type.
Ma-ne carries those meanings over three hundred and thirty times in the Aramaic Old Testament.
One has to wonder if the Aramaic translator really
meant “clothing” here since the original Hebrew text has the word cli (armor)
at this verse. Nevertheless, this interpretation agrees with Dr. Lamsa’s polished version of the KJV translation of
this verse.
“Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long (qa-yem erect)
hair, it is a disgrace to him? But if a woman have long (dam-rab-bai)
hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given her for a covering.” (1 Cor. 11:14-15 Lamsa). The
Aramaic text really talks about women having long hair. The Aramaic text says something different in regards to the hair of
men. The text says that nature teaches us that a man is not to have erect hair. Qa-yem
means: “standing, erect and upright.” The next word after long is the word sa-ra, meaning hair. The
Aramaic text has two words here while the Greek text just has one word. Dr. Lamsa retained the KJV translation here but polished
up the text. The Greek text has the conjugated
word ko-ma, which was translated as “long hair” when talking about the hair
of both men and women. According to James Strong, ko-ma-o means: “to wear tresses
of hair.” The Latin text says this: “Doth
not even nature itself teach you that a man indeed, if he nourish his hair, it is a shame unto him?” (latinvulgate.com). The interpretation of
ko-ma-o as “long hair” is an English interpretation. Note: I am still going through the Aramaic Old Testament.
More information about transgender people and the Bible will be posted as that information is brought to light. Is the Bible Against Homosexuality? by Mattai "the Preacher"
© 2003-2009. All rights reserved.
|
