Speaking of proper hermeneutics…I heard something early in the morning from a local preacher that gave me pause. He was discussing Adam's rib and the proper translation that was compelling.
In Genesis 2:21 God took one of Adam’s ribs to create Eve.
“and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof” KJV
“he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh.” NIV, NASB
And it appears that all of the translations say this. Is that what it really said in the original Hebrew manuscripts?
According to Strong's Hebrew Lexicon the word rib, Hebrew צלע 'tsela' (Strong’s 6763) , side or rib from the primitive root word of צלע 'tsala' (Strong’s 6760) which means curve, limp in the sense of bowing, to arc, as in pray.
So what does this all mean? Well what if the translation was indeed wrong and that it was in fact “tsala“(Strong’s 6760) they did not understand that God took from Adam’s curve. So they extrapolated (assumed) that it meant rib. God said Adam’s curve. In other words from Adam’s Double Helix (Curve) DNA.
Understandably, back in 1611 we had it wrong. We had no clue what a curve from Adam was. The very exact Hebrew word צלע could mean rib or curve. The implications of this is huge, Howard huge.
Remember this was written 3000-4000 years before mankind had any clue as to what DNA was. This shows, once again, the supernatural aspect of God’s Word. The Bible is fully and completely inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God. No man can convince me otherwise.
So, should we trust man with the various translations to make decisions about the fallibility and in turn question the reliability of the Bible? Of course not. Should we trust the preserved Word of God with our entire lives? Definitely!
bit.ly/Adamrib