Insights

Rev Gav

Can we ‘Adam and Eve’ it?

Genesis 2.4-3.24

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no vegetation of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground, but a stream would rise from the earth and water the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold, and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle and to the birds of the air and to every animal of the field, but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called Woman,
for out of Man this one was taken.”

Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

The First Sin and Its Punishment
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die, for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.” The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,
cursed are you among all animals
and among all wild creatures;
upon your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman
and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.”

To the woman he said,

“I will make your pangs in childbirth exceedingly great;
in pain you shall bring forth children,
yet your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.”

And to the man he said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
about which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”

The man named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all living. And the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife and clothed them.

Then the Lord God said, “See, the humans have become like one of us, knowing good and evil, and now they might reach out their hands and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever”— therefore the Lord God sent them forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which they were taken. He drove out the humans, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.

Reflect

Introduction

The story of Adam and Eve is a type of writing that we don’t really have in our modern, contemporary culture, but it’s best thought of as a kind of drama or play. It’s found in the book of Genesis, and although it does have a heading ‘Another account of the Creation’ it is not a parallel to the creation accounts but is a story about human destiny, power, and freedom. Humanity is the pinnacle of God’s creation and the story of Adam and Eve is a story about how humans were called to live in God’s world, with God’s creatures, and on God’s terms, however as the story develops we learn about a crisis and the alienation of humanity from God.

Before we explore the text in a little more detail, it is worth bearing in mind that there is probably no other text that has been more misinterpreted, misunderstood, and misused by the Christian Church, and before we explore what it is, we need to understand that it is not a definitive text on which everything else that follows hangs. For example, it is not a proof that humans cannot ever be obedient to God; it is not an explanation for how evil came into the world; it is not an explanation of how death came into the world (note that no-one dies in the story); and it is not in any way a definitive text to be used to teach about sex and sin!

Now, for those of you who have read the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, you may be thinking, “but doesn’t Paul  refer to Adam in terms of sin and death?” Well, yes, but Paul’s explanation has been relied on more heavily by the church than Paul himself, and he is less concerned with an analysis of the origin of evil, sin, or death, but is dealing with a specific issue in the Roman church and with the proclamation of the good news. This is beyond the scope of this Insight, as we want to focus on the story itself.

Perhaps the most difficult thing for us to overcome in our Christian culture is our approach to the Bible where we see it as an answer-book for our questions such as, how did sin and death come into the world? We can project such questions onto a text that was never designed to answer them. The truth is that there is a lot of stuff we don’t need to know and a lot of stuff we just don’t know, however, as Christians, our job is to focus on the gospel that has been entrusted to us.

So, to summarise, the story of Adam and Eve is not a treatise on sex, sin, evil, or death, but to affirm our divine calling to live in God’s world, with God’s creatures, and on God’s terms. The rest of the Bible, and specifically the gospel message, is about God’s unwavering determination to overcome our alienation from God.

The Story of Adam and Eve

The story of Adam and Eve was written to be read or listened to as a whole, therefore, now is a good time to pause and go and read Genesis 2.4 – 3.24. Try not to bring any cultural assumptions or questions to the text but simply sit with it and try and gain a flavour of the whole.

[Read Genesis 2.4 – 3.24]

The story is a drama in four parts:

Firstly, humans are placed in the garden in which we are called to work — to tend it, to care for it, and to shepherd it — and it is our vocation as human beings. The garden will provide and sustain us and in this garden there are things we are permitted to do (freedoms) and things we are prohibited from doing.

Secondly, we are not called to do this work ‘alone’ but in community. As humans are created in the image of God, humanity itself creates and bears humanity. Adam literally means ‘human of the ground’, and Eve literally means ‘bearer of all life’. Humans are ‘one’ in vocation and purpose in the garden and are to live in mutuality and equity.

Thirdly, a serpent appears in the story — not as a phallic symbol or satan, or representing evil or death, but as a player in the story to move the story along and introduce and also represent a new idea. The prohibition is now presented as an option, and obedience is replaced by theology or ‘thinking objectively about God’. Adam and Eve eat the fruit and they are no longer focused on the garden but on themselves. The prohibition is violated, the permission is perverted, and the vocation to be stewards of creation is neglected.

And finally, humans wanted knowledge and once they had gained this there was no place to hide. God’s will and purpose had never changed and God still wanted the garden to be tended, cared for, and shepherded. Remember how Adam and Eve focused on themselves rather than obedience to God and the garden? This pride is found in their answer to God — “I was afraid.” I. Me. One commentator remarked that, “life had turned back on itself.” Yet, importantly, God doesn’t smite Adam and Eve but lets them live. Yes, they are sentenced, but they are sentenced to life — a life separated from the goodness of the garden, and a life filled with conflict, pain, sweat, and a desire, not for God but for each other — but, and this is super important, God provides for them.

What does it mean?

So, what is this Adam and Eve drama all about? What is the dramatist trying to convey in this play? Well, I suggest it is all about how the acquisition of knowledge over trust and obedience relates to human self-sufficiency and independence, and how this separation from God leads to death. This concept is not something relegated to ancient texts, but we see it in our modern, contemporary world. The more we know and discover, the more we become ‘godlike’ and think we don’t need to trust in God, and this, as the writer of this play suggests, is a very dangerous thing indeed.

As I previously asserted, none of us approach biblical texts without bringing to them our own perspectives, agendas, and cultural baggage, and it is very possible to ‘betray the text’ and Christians have historically done this in two significant ways.

Firstly, some have used this text to justify the subordination of women — firstly because the woman was derived from the man, and secondly, because they argue that she tempted the man. It is important to note that no-where in the text itself does it imply or suggest the subordination of women! God’s will for creation was that there should be mutuality and equity between man and woman, and any resulting distrust or distortion of God’s creation due to their actions is not how things are meant to be. Therefore, rather than projecting misogynistic biases and prejudices onto the text, we can, perhaps, hold our culture to account and use it to advocate for mutuality and equity between genders and extend this to include races, ages, and abilities.

Secondly, some have used this text to justify the rampant consumption and use of resources. I recently heard a Christian radio show where a Christian — harking back to the texts in Genesis — asserted that God had provided us with fossil fuels, therefore we should continue mine them and use them. There is great wisdom in the text that perhaps is more relevant today that it was thousands of years ago, given the environmental disaster we have wrought on the planet. The play reminds us of our vocation as gardeners, carers, and shepherds of creation, and that this is a combination of freedoms and prohibitions. Yes, we are free to be sustained by the world — to eat of its fruit — but not to decimate, plunder, or violate it.

Of course the subjugation of women and raping of the environment are two of the consequences of taking knowledge into our own hands, and this thinking we know ‘better‘ than God — our arrogant superiority — leads to oppression and persecution, the denying of rights, and a whole raft of situations where we exploit others and the world around us.

The story of Adam and Eve does not definitively answer questions, but should give us thought to the nature of humanity and God’s will and purpose for us all. There is nothing wrong with the acquisition of knowledge, and we are absolutely called to explore and understand the world, but we are to do so remembering that it is God’s world filled with God’s creatures, and we are to do so on God’s terms.

Amen.

This Insight draws heavily on the work of the late Walter Brueggemann. If you’d like to read more, I recommend his Interpretation commentary on Genesis.

Photo by Andy Bodemer on Unsplash