It seems long ago I said I would return to something, but have not specifically done so. I have confirmed the statement in Blog 126 on other occasions, pointing out that God’s way of looking at Good and Evil are not mankind’s way, but I have not shown you specific examples of why the Warning was given.
I share here some specific examples from the Genesis 2:15-25 passage that could be misleading to readers using the cognate permutations methods if they did not remember זכר that God’s eyes and mankind’s eyes “see” differently (“seeing not they see” – Isaiah 6:9, and repeated in Matthew 13:13-14; Acts 28:26 – also see connected verse [NKJV reference] John 3:36).
⦁ Genesis 2:15-25 NKJV
15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
18 And the LORD God said, “(It is) not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought (them) to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that (was) its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
23 And Adam said:
“This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
See the highlighted “God not good” in verse 18 in the following cognate permutation dissections:
I know you have heard this stated many times before, but hopefully this blog will reinforce the statement as another witness. Some things must simply be taken on faith.
Please see the meaning in parentheses of these three cognate permutations groups (and undoubtedly there others that would highlight this same phrase), “God not good” – any combinations of these letters אלהים לא טוב that would lead astray – and there could be many – given the preceding context ויאמר יהוה. Of course, we never include יהוה in the dissections, so really what combinations we should consider would include ויאמר, thus if we look at the phrase ויאמר אלהים לא טוב, “and he says God not good,” or simply “and says God not good,” would be, for some examples: the “consequence duo” Labial plus Palatal, מ plus Labial, ר plus Labial, מ plus Dental, ר plus Dental, and considering מ reflecting נ, include נ plus Labial and נ plus Dental; also see two Gutturals plus Dental, מ plus two Labials (בום raise), and נ plus two Labials (נפף wave; נבב hollow), and this is not an exhaustive list. We won’t go into all of the ones listed, but let’s take just a few examples – we have seen some in our previous shares: we know that there has been a focus on דם, for example, “the soul/life is in the blood:”
דם blood; silent תם complete תן sea serpent cognate permutations (measure; determine limits) our perspective is, we do not appreciate being measured or having our limits set. We like our freedom.
דר/רד cognate permutations (move forward/backward)
We like to think linearly, that we just keep improving, improving, improving (always “building the better mousetrap”). But in this family are generation דור and descending ירד.
קב cognate permutations (consequence)
Of course we like it when consequences are “good,” but we tend to despise “evil” consequences. Again, we don’t like this idea of cycles, negative following positive.
רב great בר expose; separate cognate permutations (“actualize/inhibit” OR “facilitate/restrain”)
And one of our biggest disappointments in life is the fall of the great, whether the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, or the early death of a very popular actor or singer/celebrity.
We have sayings like “the bigger they are, the harder they fall,” and “being knocked off of the pedestal.” It tends to “go to our heads” when life seems “so good,” the perfect example being Solomon.
God is indeed good all the time, BUT our measuring rod may not recognize it. We tend to see with our own eyes, rather that using the eyes that God tries to get us to use.
One wise man said this way, that perhaps we learn better from our failures than from our successes:
Another wise man shared this personal witness:
Hopefully before long we will get to a blog that reflects on the idea of encouragement. We should, indeed, be encouraged by what we tend to see as “failures,” knowing those ways that “won’t work” are great life teachers.
Ⓒ Copyright Philip E. Gates; LogAndSpeck.com November 2025. Please cite if you use this material.