Notes
Introduction
5787: PEY/ZAYIN
PEY: Words
ZAYIN: (shaped like a sword) Movement and Warfare
1 Peter 5:8 (CJB) “ Stay sober, stay alert! Your enemy, the Adversary, stalks about like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
I. The Temptation of Eve
Gen. 3:1-6 (CJB)
- The enemy divided Adam and Eve by speaking to her instead of him.
- Saw that the tree was good for food.
- Saw that it had a pleasing appearance.
- Desirable to make one wise.
- Eve was drawn away by what her eyes saw instead of being anchored by the instruction of the Lord.
- She should have spoken against the pull of the enemy and driven the serpent out of the garden.
Jas. 1:14-15 (CJB) “each person is being tempted whenever he is being dragged off and enticed by the bait of his own desire. 15 Then, having conceived, the desire gives birth to sin; and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.”
- Eve bought into a lie that said God was withholding something from her.
- That tree was a way for them to honor God by obeying His command not to eat from it.
- When Eve allowed herself to be drawn away, she went from seeing through the eyes of the spirit to the eyes of the flesh.
- Adam and Eve were both given the opportunity to repent, but instead they chose to shift blame.
- Gen. 3:23-24 (CJB) “therefore Adonai, God, sent him out of the garden of ‘Eden to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. 24 So he drove the man out,…”
- God physically drove them out of the garden.
- God separated Himself from being their provider.
- Gen 22 – God provides a ram for Abraham, and he calls the name of the place ‘The Lord Provides’
- The temptation of Eve teaches us to guard our eye gate.
II. The Warning to Cain
Gen. 4:1-8 (CJB)
- Cain was angry because his offering wasn’t accepted.
- When God said to do right, Cain refused to acknowledge his error.
- Cain’s anger should have been towards his own action of bringing God his leftovers, and that should have brought about repentance.
- God warned Cain that sin was at the door.
Eph. 4:26-27 (CJB) “Be angry, but don’t sin — don’t let the sun go down before you have dealt with the cause of your anger; 27 otherwise you leave room for the Adversary.”
Matt. 5:21-22 (CJB) “You have heard that our fathers were told, ‘Do not murder,’ and that anyone who commits murder will be subject to judgment. 22 But I tell you that anyone who nurses anger against his brother will be subject to judgment; that whoever calls his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing!’ will be brought before the Sanhedrin; that whoever says, ‘Fool!’ incurs the penalty of burning in the fire of Gei-Hinnom!”
- The lesson we get from Cain is to guard our minds.
- We can rule over the sin that crouches at the door.
2 Cor. 10:3-5 (AMP) “For though we walk in the flesh [as mortal men], we are not carrying on our [spiritual] warfare according to the flesh and using the weapons of man. 4 The weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood]. Our weapons are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying sophisticated arguments and every exalted and proud thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Christ,”
- We must guard the gates of our lives; eyes, ears, minds, mouth, heart, relational gates.
III. The Idolatry of Mankind
Gen. 4:26 (Kehot) “the name of God was invoked profanely.”
Gen. 4:26 (ArtScroll) “the name of Hashem became profaned.”
- Heb. Comm.: Men began ascribing God-like qualities to themselves.
- Tower of Babel, Gen. 11, a name for themselves.
- Is AI our Tower of Babel?
- Heb. Comm.: Men began making idols and worshipping angels.
Col. 2:18-19 (CJB) “Don’t let anyone deny you the prize by insisting that you engage in self-mortification or angel-worship. Such people are always going on about some vision they have had, and they vainly puff themselves up by their worldly outlook. 19 They fail to hold to the Head, from whom the whole Body, receiving supply and being held together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God makes it grow.”
- All idolatry, no matter what form it takes, is ultimately worship of the devil.
- In America, we may not have carved idols, but we do have celebrities and the latest and greatest technology.
- Spiritual warfare is looking beyond the natural to what, in the spirit realm, is influencing the things you are seeing, hearing, and participating in.
- Nothing is neutral; it’s attached to a kingdom. We have been brought out of the kingdom of darkness and into the light (1 Pt. 2:9). We are to have no fellowship with darkness (2 Cor. 6:14).
Resources
The Chumash (The Torah with Rashi, Targum Onkelos, Haftorot, and an interpolated translation and commentary based on the Works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe)
ArtScroll Stone Edition Chumash (The Torah, Haftaros, and Five Megillos with a commentary from Rabbinic writings)
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