Genesis 3:14: “And the Lord God said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this, thou are cursed above all animals and above every beast of the field, upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.”
Sometime ago I did a study on the word dust. Someone recently asked me a question about Genesis 3:14 and why the serpent was forced to eat dust. This led me to revisit this study and the reports of people experiencing the presence of gold dust during a worship service.
I discovered that there seems to be a spiritual element to the word dust. Man is the only creature to be formed out of aphar or dust. Now it is not my place to question someone’s spiritual experience nor to condemn it. I feel my role is to only provide a Biblical point of reference for their experience. Now to be sure, I know little about this and have not had such a personal experience so I am not saying yea or nay on the topic, just defending these sincere brothers and sister who with a Biblical point of reference should they be called upon to provide such. So, let’s assume for the moment that this experience is real and gold dust does fall from heaven. There have been test run on these particles and they were not found to contain gold. It has aluminum and various other metals in it (I do know that glitter uses aluminum) But does it really matter if it is real gold or not. Biblically, I don’t think so. These particles just happen to be gold in color. I have not really found anyone who has been financially enriched by the appearance of gold dust, in fact I am told it often fads away. So the purpose is certainly not embedded in a financial or material one. Also, I am not saying by this that these demonstrations of gold dust were staged, just that the natural elements that make up the gold dust are unimportant. I tend to believe there is a miraculous element here although I personally have not experience such a demonstration. Like most of the miraculous, you cannot prove it in a laboratory. It is not the natural elements that make up the gold dust that is important, but the spiritual element which cannot be demonstrated in a laboratory. The first question that comes to my mind when I hear about gold dust appearing in some worship service is not whether it is a fake but what is the purpose? Is God trying to enrich his people? Is he trying to show how pleased He is with His people? Or is He giving a warning?
Our first thought when we think of gold is wealth, and prosperity. Yet, gold has many other practical uses. More and more gold is being used in microelectronics for its sensitivity to electrical impulses. Astronauts have a thin layer of gold on the visor of their helmets to reflect not only the light rays but the harmful radiation. There seems to be some connection between light, light reflection and the color of gold.
My point is this, if you happen to be in a service where gold dust appears, I would not be too quick to shout praisealleujah. Maybe it is a loving, gentle warning. What I am offering is simply a theory, not a proven fact, definitely not dogma, or theology, but only a thought for your consideration. So let me take a step off the reservation here and test some new ground.
Here is my theory. Satan was the light bearer; he lost that position when he fell. Jesus said in John 1:4: “In Him was the light and the light was the life of man.” I believe this gold dust has something to do with light and the reflection of light. God took the dust from the fertile soil and added His light to it, something supernatural. Perhaps the reflective nature of gold made this dust gold in color as we were meant to reflect the light of God. God intended for us to take the place of Satan as the light bearers. So it is not so much us that he wants to devour in Genesis 3:14, but the light within us from the very substance from which we were formed. The word dust is ‘aphar spelled Ayin, Pei and Resh. The enemy wants to devour the Resh, in the Ayin, Pei and Resh (‘aphar – dust) the spiritual part of us and leave us with the natural, earthly part. He seeks to get us to focus all our attention on the Ayin (mind) and Pei (body), on this natural world, all our hopes, desires, plans, dreams are to be filled with the natural world less the Spiritual (Resh). Remember now that the Hebrew word for dust (aphar) is spelled Ayin (mind), Pei (body, language or communication) and Resh, (spiritual). The enemy wishes to remove the Resh (spiritual) and replace it with the Lamed. There are only three root words that can be form with an Ayin and Pei in Classical Hebrew. It is Ayin Pei Resh which is our word for dust. There is the Ayin Pei Lamed which is the word for pride. Then there is the Ayin Pei Hei which is the word for a branch or personal creation. Satan seeks to remove the Resh from the Ayin Pei and replace it with a Lamed – pride and a Hei – branch or a personal creation. We spend our lives building our personal little empire, our homes, wealth, and position and then we take pride in what we have built. The enemy causes us to lose complete focus on the spiritual aspect of our lives, to the point where we extinguish that light. Jesus told a parable about a man who had a great harvest. He decided to tear down his own barns and build new ones and make a nice retirement. But then God said: “Thou fool, this day your soul (spiritual accounting – Resh) will be required of you.”
As I read Genesis 3:14 in the Hebrew I am seeing a statement of fact. I do not see God putting a curse on the serpent but only declaring what has taken place. The word that is rendered as curse here is ’arar which is to declare one to be despicable and despised. God was telling the serpent that because he did this thing he was despicable and despised and would be upon his belly. This word for belly is gachan which has the idea of making evil appear good, creating obedience through fear and dualistic thinking. Dualistic thinking is to separate the supernatural from the natural that is reaching for a natural means to resolve a natural problem rather than seeking a spiritual solution. This is how the serpent operates, crawling on his belly (making evil appear as good) so to speak to catch one unawares. The purpose will be to devour that Resh (spiritual) in your aphar or dust. I don’t believe God put a curse on the serpent, he merely revealed to us his secret modus operandi (Latin for mode of operation) and his purpose which is making evil appear as good.
So, if you happen to be in a service and it begins to rain gold dust, you might want to consider my wacky theory and take it as a warning. That gold dust is not to enrich you or to tell you God is pleased with you (He already is pleased with you) but to remind you that you are a reflection of the light of God, you are his light bearer and made of dust with a Resh (spiritual light) and He is reminding you that you must seek the spiritual first and the natural second.
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