just because trees symbolize people in ezekiel doesn't mean trees are always symbols of people and never real trees elsewhere in the bible...
abraham served food to his visitors under a tree...were they sitting underneath a person?
abraham planted a tree...was he planting a person?
jacob took branches from trees and peeled the bark away from them for his sheep breeding work...was jacob dismembering people and skinning their body parts?
jacob buried his family's idols under a tree...were they buried underneath a person?
in exodus the hail destroys the trees growing in egypt's fields...were there people growing in the fields?
at the feast of tabernacles the israelites were commanded to take branches from trees...were they dismembering people?
in deuteronomy moses gives the israelites permission to cut down non fruit trees to make siege works...were they building machines out of dead people?
the border of the tribe of naphtali began at a specific tree...was there a person standing there for years and years to mark that border?
jesus cursed a fig tree because there were no figs on it for him to eat...was he cursing a person for not carrying any figs with him?
jesus taught about mustard seeds that grew into trees...do mustard seeds grow into people?
and just in case you still don't see the obvious from all of that...
from deuteronomy 20:19..."Are the trees people, that you should besiege them?"
it takes effort to grow crops too...like God said it would when he cursed the ground because of adam...and as lamech acknowledged when he named noah...
mongolian people are probably one of the many nations descended from magog son of noah...which makes them descendants of adam just like everyone else on earth...
the biblical word for 'city' in the story of cain does not have to mean something like new york city...the word can also accommodate something like a cluster of tents within an enclosure...which is probably how cain's city started out...and later on he and his descendants could have expanded it over time as their nation grew until it eventually became a really big city like the kind you are picturing...
Rachel,
Your argument could only stand valid if you weren't angry at the word of God. Sure, the examples you listed most certainly are trees as one would expect, but what are suggesting is that trees aren't metaphorical at all anywhere in scripture. Scripture is replete with metaphors as Im sure most would agree, and there is no reason to think that the accounts in Genesis, probably the most complex of parables given to man, is not symbolic.
Do you realize that 'to eat' means 'to lie with? That "fruit' is 'seed and offspring', as in people? You must look deeper and actually study the original Hebrew as best as possible to even begin to understand what message is truly recorded.
"Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee." Ezekial 28:13-15
The point that must not be missed in these passages is that Yahweh shows Ezekiel this king of Tyre “hast been in Eden the garden of God” and was also “full of wisdom, and perfect in [his] beauty.” Lucifer's knowledge of Yahweh's Law is certainly unparalleled as he was once the protector of it and it's for this cause that he was initially created perfect, or "the full pattern." He is adorned with nine jewels all of which are found in the high priest’s breastplate (Exodus 28:17-20) yet strangely they're all disordered with the third row missing.
Still, in the next few passages Tyre (or Satanel) loses favor with Yahweh and is driven away from the mountain of God by another angel, stripped of the very light emitting from these same nine "stones of fire." Just like Lucifer who fell directly from heaven (Isaiah 14:12), it becomes rather hard to dismiss the reality of fallen angels (or literal adversaries) when both scripture and prophecy directly refer to such creatures as cherubim or Yahweh tells Ezekiel they've “been in Eden the garden of God.”
Most likely seated directly across from Michael on the very mercy seat of God (Exodus 25:17-22), Satan was once “the anointed cherub that covers with overshadowing [wings].” Yahweh casts this angel from His presence at Sinai and another guardian cherub drives him from the “midst of the stones of fire” meaning the aforementioned jewels. This sense of "brightness" is also found in the very name of Lucifer which means “light-bearer” (Strong's #H1966). Ironically, this also makes Satan an inferior “father of lights” (James 1:17).
Consider that the word perdition means “to perish” (Strong's #H7845) or simply death thus Satan is sentenced to die by name as the son of perdition, this is because “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (I Corinthians 15:26). It is death that is mortal man's adversary and it is yet another face of Satan because Christ offers His bride eternal life. In knowing this it becomes much easier to understand why the adversary is "brought down to the pit" or grave (Strong's #H7845) being banished alongside the heathen.
Tyre itself is situated on the shore of the Mediterranean and is a seaport city of trade (Isaiah 23:8) catering to many different nations and at this time foreigners to Israel (I Kings 9:26-28). Like many rulers today, the prince of Tyre used other races as "pawns" in order to gain his gold and silver but this is also his own undoing as they eventually turn on him. There's a great lesson here; as darkness sat upon the face of the deep waters in the very beginning (Genesis 1:2), Satan dies in the sea or “lake of fire” in the end (Revelation 19:20).
One should also notice that it's Yahweh Himself that sends the strangers against "the false rock" Tyre because he'd rather play "god" himself. Because he achieves an almost "godlike" status, part of Tyre's punishment is that he “shalt be a man, and no God” meaning he practically becomes one. Compare this dreary account to the Assyrian “cedar tree” from the garden of Eden, it's practically identical in most regards, even down to dying at the hand of the terrible of the nations (Ezekiel 31:1-18). A private study comparing the two is beneficial.
Still, in the next few passages Tyre (or Satanel) loses favor with Yahweh and is driven away from the mountain of God by another angel, stripped of the very light emitting from these same nine "stones of fire." Just like Lucifer who fell directly from heaven (Isaiah 14:12), it becomes rather hard to dismiss the reality of fallen angels (or literal adversaries) when both scripture and prophecy directly refer to such creatures as cherubim or Yahweh tells Ezekiel they've “been in Eden the garden of God.”
Most likely seated directly across from Michael on the very mercy seat of God (Exodus 25:17-22), Satan was once “the anointed cherub that covers with overshadowing [wings].” Yahweh casts this angel from His presence at Sinai and another guardian cherub drives him from the “midst of the stones of fire” meaning the aforementioned jewels. This sense of "brightness" is also found in the very name of Lucifer which means “light-bearer” (Strong's #H1966). Ironically, this also makes Satan an inferior “father of lights” (James 1:17).
Consider that the word perdition means “to perish” (Strong's #H7845) or simply death thus Satan is sentenced to die by name as the son of perdition, this is because “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (I Corinthians 15:26). It is death that is mortal man's adversary and it is yet another face of Satan because Christ offers His bride eternal life. In knowing this it becomes much easier to understand why the adversary is "brought down to the pit" or grave (Strong's #H7845) being banished alongside the heathen.
Tyre itself is situated on the shore of the Mediterranean and is a seaport city of trade (Isaiah 23:8) catering to many different nations and at this time foreigners to Israel (I Kings 9:26-28). Like many rulers today, the prince of Tyre used other races as "pawns" in order to gain his gold and silver but this is also his own undoing as they eventually turn on him. There's a great lesson here; as darkness sat upon the face of the deep waters in the very beginning (Genesis 1:2), Satan dies in the sea or “lake of fire” in the end (Revelation 19:20).
One should also notice that it's Yahweh Himself that sends the strangers against "the false rock" Tyre because he'd rather play "god" himself. Because he achieves an almost "godlike" status, part of Tyre's punishment is that he “shalt be a man, and no God” meaning he practically becomes one. Compare this dreary account to the Assyrian “cedar tree” from the garden of Eden, it's practically identical in most regards, even down to dying at the hand of the terrible of the nations (Ezekiel 31:1-18). A private study comparing the two is beneficial.
So it is easy to see that Satan was IN Eden, the garden of God. We know that serpent, nachash, is an enchanter, or a whisperer of secrets. He was once an angel, why wouldn't he have seduced Eve in order to corrupt Gods perfect order on this earth. When we look up the common word for "trees" in the Strong's Hebrew dictionary, we find the number # 6086. It reads; "ets, ates; from # 6095, stock tree, timber, wood." It is a common tree.
However the trees in the garden of Eden reads, # 6095. We read in the Strong's Hebrew dictionary; "Atsah, aw-tsaw, prime root, prop. to fasten (or make firm), i.e., to close (the eyes): shut." Under # 6095 Hebrew for trees in the garden) page 90 of Strong's Hebrew dictionary, the other reference to this is # 6096.
The # 6096; "Atseh, aw-tseh, from 6095; the spine, (as giving firmness to the body):-backbone." This # 6096 "atseh" is the tree referred to in Genesis 3:3. In referring to the fruit of a tree, then, you are talking about children.
So we see that the warning to Adam and Eve specifically, was to stay away from Satan [called both the "serpent", and the "tree of good and evil"]. The fruit of that tree was not to be taken; and we know that the "fruit" as the results of a sexual relationship between any man and woman is a child. God's command was that Eve "not touch [lay with Satan]." So by reviewing the Hebrew text, we see that the order by God is that Eve not have sexual union with Satan.
II Corinthians 11:3 "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." In other words, you turn away from the simplicity of reading God's Word.
The word "beguiled" in the Strong's Greek dictionary is # 1818; "exapatao, ex-ap-at ah-o, from 1537 and 538, to seduce wholly, to beguile, deceive." In # 1537 we read; "ex, shows point of origin".
This verse has only one meaning, and that is not to be wholly seduced, and lose your virginity as Eve did. So in the Greek text this verse would read; "I am afraid your going to lose your virginity as Eve did, who was wholly seduced by the serpent [Satan]." Paul will say later in this chapter [verse 14], "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed [fashioned himself] into an angel of light." Upon Satan's arrival on earth very shortly, he will appear just as Jesus Himself will appear. The word "transformed" in the Greek manuscripts is, "disguised" as an angel of light.
When you see it as written, and trust that God is eternal and keeps His promises to His people, then this idea should make sense perfectly. Through Cain, an entire generation of 'vipers'(as Christ put it) was born. And are responsible for the death of Christians worldwide to this very day. He rebukes them in John 8:44 by telling them that they 'are of their father the devil'.
Look around the world today, see the evils that have set in where God once reigned supreme. No ten commandments in public places, no mention of God or creation in school, public support of every form of debauchery you can think of, unthinkable amounts of abortions daily, a growing addiction to pharmaceuticals, the increase in the popularity of porn, the rise of athiests and agnostics from our younger generations. Who lobbies against the Christian world in support of these horrendous things? The people that actually fund and back the lobbies.
They boast about it in their own newspapers and on their own television channels, but we in the countries that they influence can't even get the truth about the weather 90% of the time. Do you think that this is just a general falling into darkness? Or that things are the way the bible have said, a people growing to be the head that are corrupt, evil, and the very people that will be cast into the furnace in the end?
Again, the moment you see the truth of this, you are going to have to make a choice as to whether you will trust God and accept His word, or continue trusting in the hearts of men. Just because a church has been standing in a town for over 100 years, or that your grandparents grew up hearing a 'truth', does not mean that it is the truth. Yahweh tells us that there will be an 'increase of knowledge in the land'..to increase means to add to what is already there, so the truth you know, will be added to in the last days.
I pray for your understanding and that you trust in our God.
