1 Corinthians 9:10 -- Unbeaning Carob Beans Unto Life

Genesis 3:24 (KJV, according to Ethelbert Bullinger's interpretation), was one of my favorite passages of the Bible. In the margin of The Companion Bible, he explains that God stationed ("to place in a tabernacle") east of Eden the Cherubim who would later be stationed in Shem's tents, and a flaming sword acting as a beacon to preserve the way back to the Tree of Life. The protective blockade at Eden's gate seemed more an invitation than a restriction.

So I was shocked to read Genesis 3:24 according to Victor Alexander's translation from the ancient Aramaic (here beginning at verse 22):

"And the Lord God said, 'Behold, Adam wanted to be like one of us, to know the good and the evil; now, that is why he extended his hand and took from the tree of life and ate, so he could live forever (to the end of the universe).' And the Lord God sent him from Eden's Paradise to work the earth that He consecrated off from there. And so the Lord God ejected him, and there shot up for them from the East of the Paradise of Eden the plants of carob and a perishable life at the edge of the sword, so as there would be one day a return to the way of the Tree of Life (or, And ejected him the Lord God, and climb up from the Easterlies the Paradise of Eden carob and the swords teeth and returnable would be to guard the road of the Tree of Life)."

Wait, what? Whoa, we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto. Adam took from the Tree of Life and ate (the Tree of Life thus equaling the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil)? No lest, but rather "that is why he...ate." Carob and swords teeth? Carobs? To guard the road of the Tree of Life? Its road? Why carob? What is "climb up from the Easterlies the Paradise-of-Eden-carob? And what are swords teeth and "the edge of the sword"? What is a perishable life at that edge? How do these guard the road OF the already eaten Tree of Life? What is the meaning and the message here?

The puzzle was duly noted, and I went on with my life. The word 'carob' is not even in the King James version. God had some answering to do. He is a good teacher, and He did not disappoint.

A suggestion is found in Luke 15:16, where the Greek word keration (ker-at'-ee-on), the pod of the carob, is translated as the "husks" the prodigal son's swine found to eat in the field, food the prodigal envied. He was destitute. Carob is associated with poverty, with hardship, with just getting by...by eating the food of last resort. Carob bears fruit only when stressed, when the plant is thirsty and conditions are bad (see links provided). It is eaten by those who hope to make it, to at least survive and maybe make some sort of progress. "Carobs only bear fruit under stress, where no other fruit will grow...They symbolize the people who 'bore fruit' in a desert of evil and immorality."

Hmm. Having eaten of the Tree of Life, having eternal life, Adam is made subject to temporary, "perishable" lives of poverty and hardship--having to eat carob (its husks swords teeth?)--AS THE ROAD OF THE TREE OF LIFE. Popped into, crucified into the flesh, of God's development program, in the hope of becoming as God is. Eden dried up (Easterly sun?), became a desert to man.

1 Corinthians 9 Alexander (footnotes in parentheses, bold emphasis mine):
7. Who engages the labor of others for his own personal benefit (who utilizes workings for outcomes of his own self)? Or, who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or, who tends a flock and does not drink of their milk? (Or, who that watches over the feeding of sheep and of the milk of his congregation does not eat)?
8. Then what, do I say these things as a human being? Behold, even the Law says these things.
9. For it is written in the Law of Moses, "Do not ride the threshing ox." Why, is God wondering over an ox?
10. Except, he conveys this knowledge for our sake, for it is written [in Scriptures,]
"Because of hope and not the extraction of the bean (to unbean the bean[pod] carob)."
And he who threshes, does so in the hope of the result.

That last reference is to Deuteronomy 25:4, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out." I suppose one might ride a threshing ox to keep it from extending its neck to eat the grain it could reach. That ox is us. "Because of hope and not the extraction of the bean (to unbean the bean[pod] carob)," is Vic Alexander's translation of Deuteronomy 25:4. We are allowed to eat in our poverty and hardship, to learn, to grow, to expand in maturity, understanding, and development. The husks/swords teeth--perishable lives--have purpose beyond themselves, beyond the bean. ("Eat more beans!" my father always teased.) They are the way of the Tree of Life, our return to what God was--we were--before He became us crucified. Which HAS BEEN DONE by Jesus Christ. Now, we just have to catch on.

https://evangelicalfocus.com/zoe/3148/the-carob-tree

https://miriamfeinbergvamosh.com/carob-trees-the-bible-and-righteous-gentiles/

https://ww2.odu.edu/~lmusselm/plant/bible/carob.php

https://www.gardenindelight.com/recounting-the-carob-story/

https://www.scripturespeaks.org/word/Carob