Sunday, January 21, 2024

Genesis 3:12

Earlier this month, I read Genesis 3 and realized the significance of the pleonasm in verse 12:  "The man said, 'The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.'"  This is also in the Hebrew:
וַיֹּאמֶר הָֽאָדָם הָֽאִשָּׁה אֲשֶׁר נָתַתָּה עִמָּדִי הִוא נָֽתְנָה־לִּי מִן־הָעֵץ וָאֹכֵֽל׃
Adam is trying to shift the blame away from himself and onto Eve, and this unnecessary pronoun in his explanation is an-other tactic he uses to try to divert God's attention.