Before I read it, I'm going to articulate some of the questions I have. There are so many things that don't make sense to me about (what I've heard about) this story, such as:
- How does an omniscient being NOT know they're going to eat the fruit?
- Since A&E are innocent (have not yet eaten from the tree of knowledge), how can they be expected to know the difference between right and wrong in the first place?
- If God was so worried about A&E eating the fruit of this tree, why put it there in the first place?
- If the punishment for eating from the tree of knowledge was mortality, does that mean they were immortal before eating from the tree; and if so, why prohibit them from eating from the tree of life? And mostly:
- Why is knowledge considered a bad thing in the first place?
Commentary
Skeptic's Annotated Bible
3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Those evil snakes, sheesh. Here we have the first occurrence of talking animals, which makes this a fable. Unless Adam's last name is Slytherin.
More interestingly, though, isn't the serpent also one of God's creations? I guess snakes have free will too, huh? Who knew? Okay, the commentary says that the snake is actually Satan. We'll have to see if that gets explained later, or if that's just an unjustified rationalization at this point.
3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
I can't even take this story at its face value, because it's so ludicrous. Magic trees, talking snakes, being set up by God for punishment that he must have known was coming. I know that we have to explain the human condition, but the author could have gone to at least a little more trouble to make this story, you know, less ridiculous. Though it sets up a strong basis for accepting things on faith and rejecting reason. (No reasonable person would accept this crazy story as fact.)
3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Again with the problems with nudity. Aren't they husband and wife, and the only 2 humans in existence? What a strange thing to worry about.
3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
So here God has a physical form, can be heard walking through the garden (and is apparently talking to himself).
3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
Don't you KNOW?
3:12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Thank you for your honesty, Adam. That was a virtuous response (except for the part where you try to blame Eve), and since you didn't know the difference between right and wrong before eating of the tree of knowledge, how could I punish you for that? Plus, I embody forgiveness.
3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
3:14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
Whoa, what now? Apparently up until now snakes didn't slither; and after this, snakes eat dust. I'm pretty sure snakes don't eat dust, so this must be metaphorical.
3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Enmity between thy seed and her seed. Offspring? I have no idea what this means. Also not sure what to make of the bruised head and heel. Well, so much for a fair and forgiving God, let's start doling out the punishments.
3:16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
More subjugation of women. :( Wow, knowledge must be really, really bad to warrant this kind of suffering for all women after this point.
3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Because you listened to your wife, you're going to be a sad farmer. But, I'm not going to kill you like I said I would earlier, that was just an empty threat! So you've got that going for you.
3:18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
More water than dust.... But here is where man becomes mortal (implying that man was immortal before, even though he had not eaten from the tree of life). Were all creatures immortal before this and share in Adam's fate? Or were all creatures created mortal except man, saving mortality as punishment (which God must have known was going to happen)?
3:20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
God kills some animals and makes clothing for them. How nice. The commentary suggests that this is the basis for animal sacrifice: "This implies the institution of animal sacrifice, which was undoubtedly of divine appointment, and instruction in the only acceptable mode of worship for sinful creatures, through faith in a Redeemer." Talk about reading between the lines!
3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
One of us? US? More majestic stuff, or are there other gods? Here, God is saying that man is now mortal, so let's kick him out of the garden before he can eat from the tree of life and become immortal again. I wonder what would have happened if they had eaten from the tree of life first? Would God have been able to punish them with mortality after having eaten the immortality fruit?
Also, at this point, God could have very simply reset the clock by a few minutes, put a taller fence around the tree, put up a "Beware of the Snake" sign and given A&E a second chance. An omniscient, omnipotent being has more options than we typically allow in a linear story, right? Again, the author of this story is not very creative, making it difficult for the reader to suspend disbelief. The only real conclusion I am left with is that God wanted mankind to suffer. Why else set him up so?
3:23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
I wonder if we'll find out later what happened to this flaming sword and the Cherubims? Maybe they got washed away in the flood too?
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