Genesis Chapter 3 - The Fall of Man

Chapter 3 of Genesis is the classic tale of the Fall of Man and the expulsion from Eden. It starts with the description of the Serpent as "the most cunning of all the animals that the Lord God had made." No where in the Chapter is the devil mentioned - it is just the serpent using the skill granted more to it by God than to any other of God's animal creations - cunning. Interestingly, God has apparently created another creature with intelligence.

Next, the serpent entices the woman to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We are not given any reason why the serpent would do so; it is simply because of his cunning. It reminds me of the story of the turtle and the scorpion, in which the turtle agrees to ferry the scorpion across the river if the scorpion promises not to sting him. The scorpion agrees but stings the turtle anyway, drowning both animals. The scorpion's only explanation was that it was his nature. Apparently, the only reason the serpent corrupts the woman is that it is his nature to do so. Maybe the scorpion lacks the free will to do otherwise. The serpent suggests that God only wants to hide what is good and evil from the humans in order to keep them from being "like gods who know."

The woman eats the fruit (not explicitly an apple, seems more likely to be a date or olive or something like that). She eats it because, in part, it was "desirable for gaining wisdom." Gen 3, 6. The man eats it simply because she offers it to him. This would appear to be another opportunity for modern feminists to point out the nature of the woman to seek out wisdom, and the man's blind obedience.

Once they eat the fruit, they realize they are naked and cover themselves with fig leaves. Gen 3, 7. I am intrigued that the symbol of knowledge of good and evil is nakedness. If the knowledge of the difference leads to covering up nakedness, that would suggest nakedness is an evil. But then why does God originally place the humans in Eden in an "evil" state?

The humans walk around the Eden and the humans hear him and hide. An curious human physical behavior for God. When God finds out the humans know they are naked he reasons they ate the forbidden fruit. Then there comas a lot of passing the buck by the man (who blames the woman) and the woman (who blames the serpent). Then we have the punishments God metes out, of which we are probably all familiar. First, he curses the serpent to have no legs, crawl on the ground, be "banned from all the animals and from all the wild creatures" and eat dirt. Gen 3, 14. To me, this sounds more like an earthworm than a snake. Since when do snakes eat dirt and stay separate from other creatures. However, Gos also states that the woman and her offspring will be enemies of the serpent and "he will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel." Gen, 3, 15. Unless there are some scary, biting earthworms, that seems more like a snake. Second, God curses the woman with the pains of childbirth, but still with the "urge" for her husband (nice innuendo there), and makes man her "master." (Maybe the feminists would want to skip that part in their modern interpretation of Genesis). Third, he curses man with having to work an unpleasant earth for food and lastly, with death. Gen 3, 17-19. Note that woman is not cursed with death directly. Apparently, just a small lapse by the author.

For some reason, after God curses the three wrongdoers, the man decides to call the woman "Eve" "because she became the mother of all the living." Gen 3, 20. God has already told the people to be fertile and multiply, the name must relate to the working of the Earth for food. According to the New American Bible the Hebrew word for Eve is related to the Hebrew word for hay. So Eve is the mother of the fruits of the Earth. Mother Nature?

Now God shows a bit of ego. He banishes the man and Eve from Eden. He notes that by knowing the difference between good and evil, the man has "become like one of us." Gen 3, 22. Note the plural "us." Some have suggested that the original conception of the Hebrew God was simply one of the numerous Gods worshipped in the ancient world, and that that explains the ability of the Jews to live relatively peacefully with certain other cultures, whereas the Christians had more difficulty because they seemed to care so much about rejecting the worship of other gods by other people.

So the significant difference between "us Gods" and the humans ends up being that the humans will not live forever by eating the fruit of the tree of life. This is an interesting concept: that what separates God and man is not the knowledge of what is right and wrong but immortality.

Finally, God kicks the man and Eve to the east of Eden "to till the ground from which he had been taken," and stations "the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword, to guard the way to the tree of life." Gen 3, 24. This is the first appearance of non-God yet unearthly beings. Where did this cherubim come from? Is the cherubim one of the "us" with the knowledge of good and evil? As for the "fiery revolving sword," I've got nothing. Clearly, God really wanted to keep humans away from that Tree of Life. But why wouldn't he just destroy it? A quick Google search shows that some believe he did not destroy it because the Tree of Life (read: immortality) would be available to humans after Jesus. Personally, I think God would be hesitant to destroy something he created which was so powerful and, therefore, would keep it. It is also possible that the Tree of Life was necessary for life to exist, and destroying it would end all life. That is just a guess, however.

Genesis Chapter 2

Sorry it has been so long - I was in Milwaukee defending a deposition that took longer than expected. But on to it -

You want a traditional creation myth? This is it. Man formed out of mud and a deity breathes life into it. This is very unoriginal. But there are some other very interesting things in here as well.

For example, Chapter 2, verses 1-4 are actually the natural completion of Chapter 1's creation story. They are a description of God's decision to rest on the seventh day. Why the editor decided to place this at the beginning of Chapter 2 instead of Chapter 1 is a mystery to me. My initial thought is that it is an attempt by the compiler to meld together two very different styles and stories. Chapter 1 is the story of God's creation of the universe, and is very well-structured. Chapter 2, however, is a description of God's creation of Man, and is more of a traditional fable. Maybe the beginning of Chapter 2 is meant to hide that there were two separate authors.

Another item of interest is the content of Verses 10-14. It is a very clear description of where Eden is, (note that Eden is not mentioned in Chapter 1), and the rivers to find there: Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, Euphrates. It is almost a travelogue for wherever the land of Havilah is. Havilah apparently has "excellent" gold and has bdellium (interestingly, a cheaper relative of myrrh - great foreshadowing), and lapis lazuli. The other place mentioned - Cush - is not given any such advertisement. It is just where the Gihon flows.

Anyway, God places man in Eden and tells him of a special tree - the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad (which God created when he also created the Tree of Life). God tells the man that he cannot eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, or he will be surely doomed to die. Gen. 2: 16-17. Given that we know that man eats the fruit and doesn't immediately die, this suggests man would have been immortal prior to eating the fruit, but eating it fated him to eventual death.

God decides man should not be alone and creates the animals and birds for man to name and to see which would be a suitable partner. Gen. 2: 18-20. Two important things jump out at me from these three verses. First, God decides, in Verses 18-19, to create the animals in order to find a suitable partner for man. God parades the animals before man in order for man to name them, and to see which would be a suitable partner. One would think God would know what would be a suitable partner for man, but God apparently does not. Once more, god is not omniscient. Second, this is the first example of man's free will. Man gets to choose the names for the animals and whether any of them is a suitable partner.

As we find out, none of the animals is a "suitable partner" and so God puts man to sleep, takes his rib (no informed consent necessary apparently), and creates another being. Again, man gets to choose the name, "woman." She was suitable, and according to Verse 24, "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body." For modern purposes, I note that the verse does not necessarily say that every man will join with a woman, but only that when one does leave his parents to be with a woman this is why.

Finally, you may have noted that I have not used the names Adam and Eve. Why? Because this translation does not. From what I can glean, the name Adam simply comes from the Hebrew word "adam" which literally means "man." And Eve is not named until the next Chapter. Once the New American Bible uses the names, so will I.