I
It was a sunny morning. Adam and his wife were walking in the Garden of Eden when they heard a whisper from a serpent hiding in the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The serpent 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.” So when the woman saw that the tree was a delight to the eyes, she heeded the serpent’s tempting, devious advice and took of its fruit. The sky darkened and the clouds blocked out the light that God had brought to the earth on the first day. Adam and his wife heard the footsteps of the Lord God walking in the garden and hid themselves from his presence as they were overwrought with guilt over their wrongdoings. God called out to Adam, “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man blamed his wife for his unauthorized actions, while his wife blamed Satan’s serpent for having deceived her. The Lord then punished Adam and his wife for their sins and drove them out of the Garden of Eden forever. They suffered from pain and toil for the rest of their lives and were sinless no more.
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In this version of Genesis Three, Adam and Eve committed the original sin when they ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. This belief is the basis behind Christian theology, for man is condemned to a life of sin until death unless he is redeemed by obtaining salvation from God. In the beginning of the story, Eve tells the serpent that she has been told to stay away from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, yet she allows the snake to deceive her into thinking that God had lied. The serpent is Satan in disguise, and Eve’s inability to follow the word of God in the presence of Satan ultimately leads to the fall of humanity. By eating the fruit, Adam and Eve are responsible for humanity’s corrupt nature and desperate existential situation. All generations of mankind are now destined to a life of sin and death. When the Lord God discovers that Adam and Eve had disobeyed him, the two hide because they know that what they did was immoral. For Eve to think that her judgment, or that of the serpent, is greater than God’s is a tragic mistake. By violating God’s boundaries, all relations have been disrupted and the story of Adam and Eve takes on a universal and paramount importance.
II
Early one morning, Adam and his wife were walking naked through the Garden of Eden when they ran into a wise serpent that was more astute than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He asked 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 reassured the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will know good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and gave some to her husband to eat. She did not die upon its touch or upon the first bite, as the snake had foretold, and the eyes of both Adam and his wife were opened. They suddenly became aware of their nakedness and stitched together loincloths made of fig leaves in order to cover their exposed bodies. When they heard the Lord God walking through the garden that evening, they hid in the bushes because they knew they had deceived him. Though Adam and his wife were punished by God for their immoral deeds, they now enjoyed a life of compassion, love, free will, desire, pride, envy, and ambition. Adam worked hard and lived happily for nine hundred and thirty years with his many sons and daughters.
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This version of Genesis Three is the foil of version one because it attributes the actions of Adam and Eve to the rise of humanity from a primordial to a fully human state. In this version, the serpent is a knowledgeable creature rather than a deceptive one. He points Adam and Eve in the direction of wisdom and convinces them that eating the fruit will open their eyes to human emotions and morals. This version argues that their eating of the forbidden fruit is not a sin because they had no knowledge of the repercussions of their actions without having any morals. Eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil proved only to be advantageous. Although women were condemned to a life of difficult childbearing, their love for their children is that much stronger as a result of the pain they endured to have them. Even though men were condemned to a life of toil in the fields for food, their appreciation for life and emphasis on survival is that much stronger. Without the actions of Adam and Eve, humanity may not have existed as it does today. Humans would not enjoy emotions like love, compassion, or ambition, without Adam and Eve’s desire for wisdom.
III
Early one morning, Adam and his wife were walking naked through the Garden of Eden when they ran into a wise serpent in the center of the garden roaming about the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. He asked 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 reassured 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.” Hearing this, the woman grasped at the apple in the tree and took a bite, with the desire of gaining wisdom. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. She did not die upon its touch or upon the first bite, as God had deceived them into believing, and the eyes of both Adam and his wife were opened. Later that night, they heard the heavy footsteps of the Lord God walking in his garden and hid from him in hopes of escaping his powerful rage. The Lord God shouted at Adam and interrogated the couple harshly about the fruit they had eaten from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. After admitting to having eaten its fruit, God cursed Adam and his wife and condemned them to a life of pain and toil. The Lord shouted, “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.” He also promised Adam’s wife that he would greatly increase her pangs in childbearing. Then the Lord God said, “See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.” Upon realizing this, the jealous and harsh-ruling God sent Adam and his wife from the Garden of Eden, to till the land from which they were taken. He then placed a flaming sword at the east end of the garden in order to guard the way to the tree of life. Thus, the Lord protected his own immortality and prevented Adam and his wife from achieving his own god-like existence.
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In this version, the Lord is viewed as a powerful, harsh-ruling, and jealous god who deceived Adam and Eve into avoiding the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in order to protect his own god-like powers. Adam and Eve are portrayed as innocent individuals with no moral sense and therefore God’s retribution and punishments seem unwarranted and unfair. After eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and his wife do not die as the Lord had proclaimed they would. This leaves room for suspicion that God acted out of selfish means. He punishes them to death and forbids them to eat of the fruit of the tree of life in order to protect his own immortality. He uses a flaming and turning sword in order to scare Adam and Eve away from the Garden of Eden so that his power remains unrivaled. This version makes God seem like more of a legal judge than a compassionate overseer. He interrogates Adam and Eve severely and immediately punishes them with no regards for their testimony. He is so angry that he punishes the rest of humanity for years to come out of his rage.
IV
There once was a naked man named Adam who lived with his wife in the Garden of Eden. Early one morning, the two mortals ran into a sneaky serpent with the power of speaking. He was roaming about the center of the garden, around the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, when he summoned Adam’s wife over to the tree. “He asked 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.” So when she saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, she grabbed fruit for herself and her husband, and they ate. Then the eyes of both were opened and they became aware of their nakedness. They stitched together loincloths made of fig leaves in order to cover their exposed bodies. Late that night, the Lord God had discovered what the two had done in the Garden of Eve, and he punished them for disobeying. The Lord 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 thus, that is why a snake slithers on the ground without feet. The Lord said to the woman, “I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.” And thus, that is why a woman suffers from so much pain during childbirth. The Lord said to Adam, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you were dust and to dust you shall return.” And thus, that is why man is mortal and needs to grow food for survival.
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In this version of Genesis Three, the story of Adam and Eve is a mere myth with the sole purpose of explaining human nature. This version is for those who are unable to suspend their disbelief when reading Genesis. It is a spiritual allegory rather than a history with a moral and is not to be taken literally. Those that like this version, for example, would argue that people are not able to acquire morals by eating fruit and that snakes are unable to talk. The serpent in the story, therefore, is a symbol of evil and deceitfulness, as it commonly was in the ancient world. The Tree of Knowledge is not an actual tree but rather a symbol of wisdom. The idea of man being naked is symbolic of his innocence. He is only fully clothed once he has gained wisdom from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and a moral sense. The story is used to explain certain aspects of human nature that seem otherwise unexplainable. Man must struggle for survival, woman must suffer through childbirth, and snakes must slither on the ground as a result of Adam and Eve.
Leann Gerlach....