Deep Sleep In Genesis

1067 Words5 Pages
Within the Genesis narrative the concept of deep sleep, which one Jewish Bible translates as tardemah, is employed on two watershed moments that occur within the first fifteen chapters. In Genesis 2:21, Adam enters into a deep sleep during which Eve is created. Much later, in Genesis 15:12, Abraham is also cast into a tardemah in which he hears the Lord speak. These examples are just two of a handful of instances where deep sleep is mentioned. Nonetheless, the use of this term is far from casual and seems to signify more than merely a state of exhaustion. That is to say that there is a purpose to the state of being in a deep sleep which places it apart from sleep as a natural bodily function. A comparison of the deep sleep of Adam with the…show more content…
With the deep sleep of Adam, a holy couple comes together as the bridegroom is given his holy bride. God sees that man should not be alone and blesses him with a woman with whom he can fill the earth. God blesses Adam with the ability to live in communion as a family in their perfect dwelling, Eden. When Adam and Eve fall from grace, they are cast out of the garden. As a consequence, they loose their home and their blessed family. In God’s great mercy, he casts a deep sleep upon Abraham, promising him a tribe, an even larger community than the first and a holy land. However, following the thread of deep sleep from the Genesis narrative to the time of Christ, one can see that these men who slept a temporary sleep only to awake to blessings prefigure Christ who was sent temporarily into the deep sleep of death by God the Father and awakes at his resurrection to again bless the world. For through rising from a deep sleep of death, Christ brings forth a great community through his Bride the Church and casts open the gates of heaven as a new holy land for his Bride, the Church faithful, to rest in

More about Deep Sleep In Genesis

Open Document