USU78 Posted July 1, 2019 Posted July 1, 2019 There is a conversation smack dab in the middle of East of Eden on the subject of freedom between Adam, the father, and Lee, the employee/friend/housekeeper/cook/fixer/nanny right after the death of their mutual friend, Samuel. It centers on the interpretation of the Hebrew in Gen 4:6-7, where G-d speaks to Cain after Cain's sacrifice is rejected. It goes like this: Quote “Don’t you see?” he cried. “The American Standard translation orders men to triumph over sin. . . . The King James translation makes a promise in ‘Thou shalt,’ meaning that men will surely triumph over sin. But the Hebrew word, the word timshel—‘Thou mayest’—that gives a choice. It might be the most important word in the world. That says the way is open. That throws it right back on a man. For if ‘Thou mayest’—it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.’ Don’t you see?” . . . . . . “‘Thou mayest’! Why, that makes a man great, that gives him stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth . . . he has still the great choice. He can choose his course and fight it through and win.” [Chapter 24, part 2; emphasis original]. G-d thus neither foretells Cain's victory nor commands Cain's victory over sin. He lays out a choice, and we see from JSJr's work on Genesis what that choice looked like. We already saw that "thou mayest choose for thyself" applied both to Adam and to Eve. Now we know it applied to Cain as well. We LDS believe it applies to all. So what are we to make of Calvin and those others who reject human freedom? Are they ignorant of the Hebrew and its implications, or do they just not address it? See, also, https://magazine.byu.edu/article/thou-mayest/. 1
Recommended Posts