# habitual or daily walking implied in Genesis 3:8



## smackaliley

Hi,
I need help from someone with knowledge of Biblical Hebrew.  In Genesis 3:8, is there anything in the original Hebrew that would indicate that God "always walked" and "walked daily" with Adam and Eve in the garden, or could this have just as easily been a singular event?  I often hear it taught that God walked daily with them in the garden in the cool of the day, but it certainly doesn't appear in the English versions, so I am wondering if it is embedded in the Hebrew, or if this is a man-made idea.

Thanks,
Scott (smackaliley)


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## scriptum

smackaliley said:


> is there anything in the original Hebrew that would indicate that God "always walked" and "walked daily" with Adam and Eve in the garden, or could this have just as easily been a singular event?


To the best of my knowledge, the verb used in the cited verse means simply  "to walk about".


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## smackaliley

Thanks Scriptum,   So I take it that you see nothing in the verb tense that would indicate that this walking about was a daily occurance?  I apologize for my ignorance.  I know nothing about Hebrew, but I am doing a Bible study, and I am curious why Christians so often teach that God walked daily in the Garden with Adam and Eve.  This is the only verse that mentions anything close to that, and I just don't see the evidence for it, unless it is embedded in Hebrew that is not getting translated into the English versions of the Bible.  Thanks again, and if you have any other thoughts on it, let me know.


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## Nunty

The verb in the Hebrew original is imperfect (מתהלך "walking about"), so I would translate it as "walking about". There is nothing in the tense to confirm _or to rule out_ that this was a daily or usual occurrence.


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## smackaliley

OK, thanks.  You all have answered my question.  I have a few more about the Hebrew in the Genesis garden account.  I suppose beginning a new thread would be the appropriate thing to do?  I am new to boards/forums.


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## amikama

smackaliley said:


> I have a few more about the Hebrew in the Genesis garden account.  I suppose beginning a new thread would be the appropriate thing to do?  I am new to boards/forums.


Yes, a new thread is the appropriate thing. Welcome to the forum.


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## dkarjala

Nunty said:


> The verb in the Hebrew original is imperfect (מתהלך "walking about"), so I would translate it as "walking about". There is nothing in the tense to confirm _or to rule out_ that this was a daily or usual occurrence.



The verb itself is not a verb here, but an adjective: a verbal adjective or participle which is, of course, based on the imperfect but bears no time information itself (like 'walking' in English "am walking, was walking, will be walking" etc.).

It does, however, indicate aspect, i.e., that the action is viewed as lasting for a period of time and not as a single, complete moment. This doesn't mean, however, that it was habitual.

The main problem I have with the interpretation is not grammatical - as you mention, there is no mention that God is walking "with" anyone...in fact, the verb form, from my perspective as a scholar of Semitic languages in general, indicated only that the person walking is making the choice to walk wherever he wants, rather than walking in one direction for a specific reason.

Let me translate the verse my personal way: "They heard the sound of "Y.-God" moving around through the garden in the evening and Adam and his woman hid themselves from "Y.-God" in the woods of the garden"


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## smackaliley

Thanks dkarjala and others.  I'm new to forums in general, and don't exactly know all the rules, but I'd like to explain why I'm asking this question in case anyone has any further thoughts on it.  And if this is too far beyond the scope of what this site is for, I apologize in advance.  But the common teaching (espcially among Christian pastors) is that Adam and Eve had perfect communion and fellowship with God prior to sinning, and that they gave that all up when they sinned.  And one of the primary evidences for this so-called fellowship was how God used to walk with them every evening in the garden.  I, for one, do not see one single 2-way conversation between God and mankind noted in Scripture until after they sinned, nor do I see any evidence that God walked with them ever.  And this is why I thought maybe by some tense or sense of the verb "walking" that perhaps it was embedded and not getting translated well into English (I have zero knowledge of Hebrew by the way).  What I see throughout the Bible, old and new testament, is that it is only after man sees his sinfulness and God's mercy, that we can really have a relationship with God, and the garden account appears to reflect that very well, because after they sinned, this is when we see 2-way communication and when we see God's mercy in covering their nakedness beyond what their feeble attempts were accomplishing.  Yes there was punishment, but there was mercy and relationship as well.  Any thoughts?  Does anyone who knows Hebrew see anything in the original language that looks like relationship, fellowship, or communion between God and mankind before man sinned, because I sure don't see it in the English?  Thanks again.


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## origumi

Oh, that's all right. They can call it a flower if they want to; We don't mind.

I'm afraid that theological questions can hardly be solved by linguistic considerations. That would be too medievalish.


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## clevermizo

smackaliley said:


> Thanks dkarjala and others.  I'm new to forums in general, and don't exactly know all the rules, but I'd like to explain why I'm asking this question in case anyone has any further thoughts on it.  And if this is too far beyond the scope of what this site is for, I apologize in advance.  But the common teaching....



I agree with Origumi above that one can interpret things theologically often as one wishes and sound linguistic argument is of little import.

However, that said, I also agree with dkarjala that there is no implication from Gen. 3:8 that God habitually walked in the garden with them. The participle used simply means that they heard him walking about (interpret as you will) at that time - meaning that aspectually, the "walking around" occurred over some length of time, however it is not a habitual meaning.

You can take that as evidence for whatever theological implications that you'd like, but I personally can see no way anyone can interpret this verse to mean that God habitually communed with them in the garden. There may be other verses that imply as much but I can't think of them right now.


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## smackaliley

clevermizo said:


> Thanks for your help, Clevermizo.  I don't see it either, but this is how this is consistently taught in mainstream Christianity.  And I'm not trying to knock Christians.  I actually am one.  I just think we teach a lot of strange unscriptural ideas, and I'm spending some time trying to get to the bottom of a few of them.


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## Nunty

I'm a Christian, too, and also a native Hebrew speaker. While I agree that there is nothing to indicate the walking about was habitual, there is also nothing to rule it out. "While God was walking about in the garden" could have been a one-off or a frequent occurrence. I see no linguistic evidence in the verse either way.


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