Although everyone is familiar with
the story of Adam and Eve, this narrative has been interpreted and re-interpreted countless times and numerous ways throughout Judea-Christian history. Precisely what mankind's first sin was and how it subsequently effected the human condition continues to be a source of debate.
What is the meaning of the Eden account? And what relevance does it have for today?
According to
the biblical account, our first parents lived in an idyllic setting, the paradisaical Garden of Eden. God told them they could freely eat of all the fruit from all the trees in the garden. However, there was just one exception: the fruit from The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was off-limits.
"If you eat of its fruit," God said, "you will surely die" (Genesis 2:17, NLT). Subsequently, a sly serpent questions God's motives and beguiles Eve to go ahead and eat.
"You won't die!" the serpent hissed (3:4, NLT). Eve just can't resist the luscious fruit. She takes a bite. Yummy! Then she persuades Adam to do likewise. Suddenly, out of the blue, something unusual happens; they discover their nakedness and they don't like what they see.
So before sin enters the world, they are naked, feeling no shame whatsoever (2:25). Then, moments later - voilà! - their eyes are opened wide... though probably not in the way they had anticipated. Now they feel a profound sense of bodily shame. Their newly-acquired inhibitions prompt them to take fig leaves and manufacture aprons, thereby covering their nakedness (3:7).
Toward evening, they hear the Lord God walking about in the garden, so they hide themselves among the trees.
The Lord God calls to Adam,"Where are you?"
He replies, "I heard you, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked." "Who told you that you were naked?" the Lord God asked. "Have you eaten the fruit I commanded you not to eat?" (3:9-11, NLT)First, Adam blames Eve (3:12). Then Eve blames the serpent (3:13). God pronounces judgement on all three of them, beginning with the serpent:
So the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, you will be punished. You are singled out from all the domestic and wild animals of the whole earth to be cursed. You will grovel in the dust as long as you live, crawling along on your belly. From now on, you and the woman will be enemies, and your offspring and her offspring will be enemies. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel" (3:14-15, NLT).
Next, God pronounces judgement on the woman:
Then he said to the woman, "You will bear children with intense pain and suffering. And though your desire will be for your husband, he will be your master" (3:16, NLT).
Lastly, God pronounces judgement on the man:
And to Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate the fruit I told you not to eat, I have placed a curse on the ground. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.
It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. All your life you will sweat to produce food, until your dying day. Then you will return to the ground from which you came. For you were made from dust, and to the dust you will return" (3:17-19, NLT).
Next, Adam names his wife Eve.
And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living (3:20, KJV). Etymologically, "Eve," from the Hebrew word "hawwah," means "to live." The Septuagint rendering in this passage is "Zoe," which means "life," or "life-giver." In two other passages, Genesis 4:1, 25, her name is transliterated "Eua." Notice that it wasn't until after being booted from Eden that Adam named his wife "Eve," which means "The Mother of All Living." This begs several questions:
1. Would Eve have become "The Mother of All Living" if she had not sinned?
The word "woman" means "man with a womb." Mother goddesses were worshiped throughout history because of their ability to procreate. Some interpreters believe that Adam and Eve acquired the ability to procreate as a result of sinning with the serpent, an ancient symbol of fertility.
2. Is it just a coincidence that Asherah, a prominent fertility goddess among the neighboring Canaanite fertility cults, also held the title "The Mother of All Living?"
3. Is it just a coincidence that Asherah, like Eve, was often depicted nude with a serpent?
4. Is it just a coincidence that the serpent was, among other things, a prominent phallic symbol, worshipped as a god of fertility among these same neighboring fertility cults, not to mention many if not most primitive religions?
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