“Because we aren’t ready for it!”
Is the story suggesting the same idea? Adam and Eve would have eventually been ready for the knowledge of good and evil, but they acted too soon—all things in due season. I don’t know if this is the answer or if it is even the right question to ask, but it seems important.
Apply this to other areas of life. Knowledge is a powerful commodity and ought to be used for the good of everyone around us. When we mishandle it, we betray the purpose of our creation. Christian theology calls this the “fall of humanity” or “sin.”
Questions for Reflection or Discussion
1. Does God want people to know the difference between good and evil? If so, when and how?
2. Should children watch PG-13 movies before age thirteen? R movies before age seventeen? Most parents are okay with kids seeing some things in these movies and not others. Discuss the distinctions.
3. A simple definition of sin is doing or thinking things that God would rather you did not do or think. What things in your life does God consider sin?
Symbolism. A symbol has two or more levels of meaning. One, it is the thing that it actually is, but it also conveys some other meaning. Religious culture tends to have a variety of symbols. The book of Genesis, especially the first eleven chapters, has quite a few:
• soil: represents humanity
• apple (or fruit): represents the knowledge of good and evil, and sometimes temptation
• snake: represents a dangerous temptation that can hurt you
• garden: represents a perfect world or Utopia
As you read Genesis 3 about the “fall of humanity,” notice that when God is going to address these consequences, the literary structure changes to poetry. Poetry is highly figurative and full of symbolism. Often people will conclude that means it is “not true.” That could be the case with figurative language, but not always. Poetic language can also mean it is more concentrated or more important than narrative (storytelling) forms. It is one way of saying, “Pay attention, this has particular meaning.”
There is a poetic inset in Genesis 3:14–19 laying out the consequences of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God. Keep in mind that these things are not the Creator’s intention for them:
• Snake. Will now crawl on its belly and there will be hatred between it and the woman and her offspring. One of her offspring will crush the serpent’s head, and the serpent will strike his heel.
• Woman. She will have pain in childbearing and her desire will be focused on her husband and he will rule over her. Again, keep in mind this is not the relationship God intended but the broken version. This suggests that equality between spouses was God’s original intention.
• Man. Work will now be hard. Notice the parallel. The poetic language emphasizes that the ground will become cursed and will not cooperate with the man. Remember, what did God use to make Adam? What was his essence? It was soil. Is this a play on words? Did Adam’s disobedience place him at war with aspects of himself?
God banishes Adam and Even from the Garden and places cherubim at the gate with flaming, flashing swords to keep them out. There are basically three kinds of celestial creatures described in the scriptures. The first type are called malakim, which means messenger, and are often referred to as angels. They appear in human form with some unmentioned aspect giving those around them a clue that they are celestial beings. (Sorry to disappoint you, but they never have wings.) Another type are cherub (singular) or cherubim (plural). They are a hybrid human/animal with wings. A third type are seraphim, which show up in various forms but generally are luminous serpent-like creatures with wings. Cherubim and seraphim are most associated with the worship of God.
Your next reading is Genesis 4. In the next few entries we will work through some of the modern concerns about these stories. Are they literal or figurative? Can they be both? Was the earth created 5,775 years ago or 4.5 billion years ago? Keep those questions in mind as you read the passages.
Questions for Reflection or Discussion
1. Some think that men ruling over their wives is the way God wants marriages to be. What do you think?
2. Most people are freaked out by snakes. Do you have any snake stories?
3. The punishment is set in a poetic form. Why do you think the writers presented it that way?
Read Genesis 4:1–25.
Is the earth 5,775 years old or is it 4.5 billion years old?
That first date is an approximate dating that backtracks to the time of Adam and Eve. It is an estimate because those stories are often called primeval (which means a “young us”), prehistoric (before written histories), and primordial because they deal with origins. The time is generally estimated at 6,000 years ago.
As you read chapter 4, I was hoping it would raise some questions for you as a modern reader:
1. Who was Cain afraid would come and harm him?
2. Who did Cain marry and have a child with?
3. For what group of people did Cain build a city?
As I said earlier, we’re not trying to play “gotcha” with the Bible. The postscientific questions we might be inclined to ask of these stories were not even on the radar of the people who told these stories around the campfire. In this sense, the stories were mytho-poetic.
Myth? The Bible is a myth? It’s very important to clarify what the prefix mytho means. It does not mean false. Rather, myths are the stories that frame a culture’s sense of themselves and their values. So a mythos can be historically true or not. Veracity really isn’t the point. The point is . . . well . . . the point of the story.
For stories like the Garden of Eden, it is about the role of God as creator and the tendency of human beings to disobey the Creator’s directions. The story of Cain and Abel is about the quality of gifts to God, the attitude in which those gifts are given, and the tendency toward jealousy, anger, and violence. (For a peek of this at work in the New Testament, look at Matthew 5:21–26.)
There are three basic ways people tend to interpret these stories. Keep in mind this is a simple version:
1. Literal. The story means exactly what it says.