Well according to the interlinear translation on Bible Hub mowt tamut (מ֥וֹת תָּמֽוּת) means surely you will die. So why are you suggesting it means something else? One can certainly explain it further, but the actual words have been correctly translated.
Because "
mowt" is derived from the Hebrew Root word
muth מוּת H:4191 and its short definition is "die."
In the context of where it is found in Genesis 2:17, it is speaking of the consequences of sinning against God and without repenting the future consequences is to "die the second death" at the time of the Final Judgement when the person is deemed either righteous or unrighteous. The righteous are allowed to enter into the everlasting Kingdom of God while the unrighteous are dispatched into the Lake of Fire.
In Genesis 3:4, Satan was truthful in telling Eve that if she ate of the forbidden fruit that she would not "die" at that time, but he neglected to also explain that at a future time, because of her sinning by eating of the forbidden fruit, that she would still die the second death, if she did not repent of her sin. Scholars have provided many explanation as to why Adam and Eve did not immediately die when they ate of the forbidden fruit without acknowledging that God was speaking of the second death to Adam when He gave them the simple command to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Even in the Age of Abraham, the people understood that if they "sinned" against the most high God that they would die the second death and what the consequences of dying the second death meant for them personally.
The error in people's understanding developed after this time, because they could not understand or explain what was meant by God in Genesis 2:17. The understood that if you sin you will die, but the lost the understanding of the time frame when the person would die because of their sin. So they have introduced the concept to a "spiritual death" or a separation from God, which occurs immediately upon sinning. However, this explanation make the redemption possibilities harder to explain to people and the need to have a repentant heart because of the nature we have to sin easily.
Because the error was introduced into Genesis 2:17 in the understanding of "
mowt", the error has been repeated elsewhere in the Old Testament where this particular Hebrew Word has been used and this error tradition of misunderstanding has grown into acceptance.
If the second death can be found in the Book of Revelation, then why do people find it difficult to also find the second death referred to in the Book of Genesis.
Shalom
