I once heard this story from the animal kingdom. The hare committed a grievous crime and had to be brought to the judgment seat. The lion and all the animals sat in judgment. So they brought up the hare and said, what shall we do? This hare has committed a grievous deed and brought shame to all the animals in the animal kingdom. What shall we do, they asked again? So, they brought the hare forward.

What does the hare have to say? The hare came forward. Throw me into the fire, but do not throw me into the bush, throw me into the deepest ocean, but do not throw me into the bush. The hare continued, in crying out in a louder voice, throw me into the deep pit, but do not throw me into the bush, throw me into the desert but do not throw me into the bush.

So the animals decided, the bush must be the severest punishment they could ever mete out to the hare. This was after consulting amongst themselves. So, they decided to throw the hare into the bush. And what happened after they did this, guess? Your guess is as good as mine. The hare simply ran away, because, that was where it could run the fastest, the bush.

When I think about this story, I am always reminded of the nature of Human beings in general, how deceitful, wicked, and sinful they can be. The Bible says in Jeremiah 17:9-10, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it?
I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins even to give every man according to the fruit of his doings"
The word "deceitful" is the Hebrew word 'aqov and the one translated "desperately wicked" is the Hebrew word, actually 'anush, a derivative of 'anash. There are four major words used for man in the old Testament. 'Adam, the generic name for man, 'ish,man itself, Gever, sometimes connoting one who is strong or a hero, and 'enash or 'enosh, 'enash, being the Chaldic version of 'enosh, man usually having or should I say connoting weakness, that is man that is weak and feeble.

The Bible says in 1 peter 3:7 " likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them(wives) according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered. Men are also "weak" but women are "weaker vessels", in the Greek "asthenestero skeuei."

Ever since sin entered into the world, Man, has found it difficult to go back to the original way God intended him to be. In Exodus 34:5-7, the word of God says, "And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the gulilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children,unto the third and to the fourth generation. (See article below, The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge about what this means)

The word translated "iniquity' is the Hebrew word 'awon, the one translated "transgression" is the Hebrew word Pesha', and the the one translated sin is the Hebrew word Hata'ah. The Hebrew word Hata'ah is more common in the Bible than the other two,that is Hata'ah, and similar words for sin like hata', and I believe includes both. That is, I think it is because of sin, that we have iniquity and transgression, though I might be wrong about this.The Bible says somewhere in 1 john, sin is the transgression of the law, that is, in the King james version of the Bible The basic meaning of Hata'ah is to fall short or to miss the mark. Hata'ah is also used in another feminine form hata'ath in Genesis 4:7. Hata'ath is also the form used in in Isaiah 6:7.Sometimes you seem to think sin as a "lady" plays a sinificant role in the Bible.The Bible actually and sometimes mixes words of feminine and masculine genders with the other gender for numerals, for example, so that one should not go by the feminine gender here for sin.

The Bible in Romans 3:23 says, "for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Pastor Ock Soo Park of the Goodnews Church whose headquarter is based in South Korea, I think, is one of the few to understand this and the actual message of the Bible. The Bible is not really a historical book or a book of a particular race, the Jews. The Bible is a book about sin, man's redemption from sin, and the sacrifice of the Son of God, Jesus Christ to redeem Man from sin. Most of our pastors, here in Nigeria, even if I should say the vast majority, have not comprehended the message.

These Nigerian Pastors preach "Prosperity", "Wealth", "Enlargement of Coasts" whatever "enlargement of coasts" should mean, I must say I am slow to understand their message. The actual message of the Bible is sin and man's redemption from sin. In the Hebrew Bible one of the symbols for man is the letter Shin, which has a shape like a bow and arrow. The arrow, I think is represented by the letter Zayin, having the number seven and represented by a sword. In one of Annick De Souzenelle's books, though I have not seen any as the time of writing this essay, I think she explains that also in this symbol for the letter Shin, it is regarded in Hebrew mysticism that love(Eros) flows in the bow. I saw excerpts on the Net.

I think without God's commandment, there can be no sin or transgression. That is why God gave Adam the commandment in the garden of Eden. The Bible says in Romans 7:7 " what shall we say then? Is the the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet." The Bible actually says in Romans 5:13 "for until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. So you see why God told Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil? Actually the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil in my opinion just represented something Adam should not do. Take for instance God showing in a vision, and telling you, do not drink from that wine bottle. The wine bottle is not the actual thing, but the wine and the wine bottle might actually just represent this, do not interfere with the love and friendship of this married couple for the wine and wine bottle represent the the love and affection they have for each other. God' s commandment to Adam was good. God can never be wicked. God forbid! Far be it from it!However, the tree of the knowlegde of Good and Evil might not be litteral only or symbolic only for Adam and his wife hid among the trees in the garden.
Without God's commandment, even though Adam sinned, if ever he did by taking from the tree without God's commandment, he would not know so without God's commandment. It is also useful to know that sin also has to do with God's Glory or should I say the Glory of God. Remember, in the wilderness, when the Israelites sinned, the Glory of God usually appeared. So sin is what makes us fall short of the Glory of God, hence the number six(6) for man, always falling short of the number seven(7). Sometimes the number five could be nearer to the number seven than the number six, for the number six is so near to the number seven but never gets there, whereas the number five is always far from the number seven and gives us no rejoicing of being near the number seven, which in the Bible represents perfection rest, etc.
Sin and the redemption price paid by Jesus Christ is what the whole Bible is all about, apart from giving us the knowledge of God. Jesus paid the price for our sins. Hence, according to the book of Romans we are no longer under the law, being crucified to the cross with Christ. We only obey the law of Christ by walking in the Spirit(Romans 8), something symbolized by the letter Shin, and this walking in the Spirit is the same as walking in love. If you really love a woman the way God wants you to, you will not think of sleeping with her or taking her to bed, even though she is not your wife. You will then be obedient to the word and commandment of God symbolized by the letter Zayin, representing the word of God, in the letter Shin, representing the symbol for man. The commandment and walking in love go together.

Again, the message of the Bible is sin and man's redemption from sin. When sin is removed, the blessings of God automatically follow and flow. Things like the so called "prosperity" automatically follow when sin sin is removed. Israel was an individual and is also a nation. Just as a person's sin needs to be removed, a nation's sin needs to be removed. It is high time our Nigerian Pastors understood this. The problem is sin, and not poverty,wealth,riches and so on. Nigeria is under a curse because its sin has not been removed. That is what I think!