2:21 ribs. The “rib” was actually the “side” of Adam (the Hebrew tsela occurs thirty-five times in the Old Testament, and is nowhere else translated “rib”). The side contained both “bone” and “flesh” (Genesis 2:23), but it may be that both are implied in the blood that would necessarily flow from the opened side. The “life of the flesh is in the blood” (Genesis 9:4; Leviticus 17:11) and a primeval blood “transfusion” would more perfectly fit the event as a type of the opened side of Christ on the cross (John 19:34-36). Even if the operation did actually extract a rib from Adam, this would not suggest that men should have one less rib than women, since “acquired characteristics” are not hereditable.

5:4 sons and daughters. Probably many children were born to Adam during his long life; the ancient quibble about “Cain’s wife” is easily resolved in terms of brother/sister marriages in the first generation. Close marriages are genetically dangerous today because of the accumulation of harmful mutations in the human genetic system over many generations, and incest has been prohibited since Moses’ time (Leviticus 20:11-20). In the first few generations, including those after the Flood, marriages of near relatives were necessary in order for mankind to obey God’s command to “multiply” (Genesis 1:28; 9:1), and accumulated mutations were few.

6:14 pitch. The ark (an ancient Hebrew word used also for the small box in which the infant Moses floated on the Nile) was made of a hard dense wood whose species has not yet been identified; it was made waterproof, not by a bituminous pitch (a different Hebrew word) but by some as-yet-unknown “covering.” The Hebrew word is kopher, equivalent to kaphar, frequently translated later as “atonement” (e.g., Leviticus 17:11). In providing a protective covering against the waters of judgment, it thus becomes a beautiful type of Christ.

9:4 the blood thereof. The profoundly scientific truth that “the life of the flesh is in the blood” (see also Leviticus 17:11) is here mentioned for the first time. This, as well as the other principles of the Edenic Mandate and the Noahic covenant, is still in effect and should be observed by Christians especially. The blood, both in symbol and in reality, is “the life of the flesh.” Thus, it is appropriate to offer in sacrifice (until the offering of Christ, that is) but never to consume, either as food or as a religious ritual.

20:13 kill. The commandment not to kill obviously refers to murder, not to judicial execution. God Himself had ordained the principle of capital punishment for the murderer (Genesis 9:6; see also Romans 13:4), as well as for other crimes (e.g., Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 24:16).

21:24 Eye for eye. This is the first reference to the famous “law of retaliation,” or lex talionis. See also Leviticus 24:20; Deuteronomy 19:21, along with Christ’s modification of this law in Matthew 5:38-39.

22:18 witch. Witchcraft was another capital crime (see also Leviticus 20:27), for if found to be real it involved willing submission to control by demonic spirits, under the authority of Satan himself. Satan is irrevocably opposed to God’s redemptive plan for the world, and such occultic liaisons would constitute deadly danger to God’s purpose for Israel.

22:19 beast. Bestiality was another sin punishable by death. So was any form of sexual perversion (Leviticus 20:10-23).

25:17 make a mercy seat. The mercy seat was a “seat” only in the sense that it was, in effect, God’s throne when He would meet with His people. It served as a covering for the ark and also was where the sacrificial blood was sprinkled on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:14, 15). In the New Testament, the word for “mercyseat” (Hebrews 9:5) is the same word translated “propitiation” (I John 2:2; 4:10).

25:23 make a table. This table was to be the “pure table” (Leviticus 24:6) on which the “shewbread” would be placed each Sabbath.