O Adam, Where Art Thou?
Busted!
The Beginning of Dragons?
Kings, and Giants, and Gods. Oh, my!
Snake in the Grass
Enter the Villain.
It’s a serpent. That does not mean a snake. A snake is a serpent, but not all serpents are snakes.
A serpent has the lithe mobility of a snake. An eel can be called a serpent: a water serpent. It is usually described as serpentine.
We will see later that this serpent has legs. It is a wild animal, not livestock.
The serpent was the wiliest wild animal God had created.
It wound its way through the garden’s grove of amazingly beautiful trees that were bearing various delicious fruits. It looped between them until he saw his targets: Adam and Eve.
The serpent moved alongside.
“Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”
The question drips with feigned innocence.
O Adam, Where Art Thou?
Adam says nothing, and that is his first mistake.
In fact, Moses, writing in his signature extreme minimalistic style, doesn’t even mention Adam until Adam takes action much later in the story!
Eve speaks and the more she talks, the deeper she gets into trouble. But the first thing strange to us is that speaking to the serpent seems normal to her!
Eve says, “We may eat the fruit of the trees except for the tree in the middle of the garden. He says if we touch that tree we will die.”
Oh, Eve! It’s plain that the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil has been dominating your thoughts. There is another tree in the middle of the garden: the Tree of Life. But Eve doesn’t mention that. She also adds a prohibition of not touching the forbidden tree. It’s not smart to add to God’s words.
Still, Adam says nothing.
The serpent zeros in on Eve, the weaker prey. “You shall not certainly die. (emphasis mine)” The serpent follows Eve’s lead and inserts doubt by adding to God’s instructions.
Adam remains silent.
“God knows that when you eat the fruit of that tree, you will be like God (by) knowing good and evil.” The serpent appeals directly to pride in the guise of wisdom.
Now we are at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Have we been strolling there while Eve and the serpent were talking? Or has Eve already been there admiring the tree?
Eve ticks off the virtue of the tree’s fruit. Good for food. Check. Pleasing to look at. Check. Desirable for gaining wisdom. Check.
She reaches for the fruit and—Adam says nothing. He does nothing.
Feeling very brave, she picks the fruit. She notes triumphantly that she hasn’t “died” from touching it (whatever dying means). Therefore, there is no harm in eating it. (Terrible logic!)
She eats it. Adam sees all of this and does nothing.
Eve is still living. She gives some fruit to Adam, and he eats it. (This is the first time Moses mentions Adam: “She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” Moses doesn’t even deign to name Adam!)
Then BAM! Their brains are barraged with all kinds of new thoughts. They have the knowledge of evil. They know how to cheat, how to steal, how to murder, how to wreck their relationship of perfect partnership. They feel shame and guilt and hate.
Their brains were not created to endure this knowledge. The pain! The stress! They want to die. No, not that! Dying sounds like something really awful.
If you logically accept what Genesis says, you have just learned the source of all mental illness. And you see that mental illness can never be cured, only contained and alleviated.
Is mental illness sin? No, Moses doesn’t say that. Mental illness is the result of Adam and Eve’s sin.
Busted!
God walked in the garden in the cool of the day. No humans came running to meet Him. “Where are you?” (As if He didn’t know!)
Adam: I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.
God: Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the forbidden tree?
Adam: The woman you put here with me gave me some fruit, and I ate it.
Here is the original blame shifter! It’s God’s fault because he made the woman. It’s her fault for giving the fruit to Adam. Okay, he admits, he did eat it. But he doesn’t admit which tree grew the fruit.
God to Eve: What is this you’ve done?
Eve learns fast. “It’s the serpent’s fault! He deceived me! (This translates to “It’s not my fault. I didn’t know any better!)
God doesn’t give the serpent a chance to answer the charges. God is now the judge handing out justice.
God to Serpent: You are cursed above all animals, wild and livestock. You will crawl on your belly and eat dust for the rest of your life. Your offspring and the woman’s will be at war forever. (This refers to Jesus.) You will damage Him, but He will crush you!
God to Woman: Your childbirth pains will be extremely severe. Your desire will be for your husband (there is no agreement on what this means) and he will rule over you.
The equal partnership is destroyed.
Since that time, any relationship will have times of honest disagreement, and someone will have to make the decision. This is not a demotion to housemaid. But it is a demotion from co-president to vice president.
Interestingly, each person will be confronted with his or her weakness.
To Adam, who was never deceived by the serpent: Step up! Take responsibility!
For the woman: If a tie vote is broken in the direction you don’t like, step back and get with the program!
It is important to recognize that this hierarchy is specifically within marriage. It does not relate to professional relationships, for instance. And it in no way negates the brains or skills of women.
Women, if you don’t choose to be Vice-President, do the man a favor and don’t marry him. Marry someone else you do trust, or stay single.
God judges Adam: The command to subdue the earth stands, but it will no longer be a joyous walk in the garden. Thorns and thistles will thwart you (whatever they are). Gardening now becomes hard work. You will sweat to grow your food. In the end, “you will return to the dust from which you came.”
And then God threw them out of the garden and placed an angel with a sword to prevent them from returning and eating from the Tree of Life.
Now, that sounds petty. But, actually it was love. If they ate from the Tree of Life now, they would live forever in the miserable, stressful, guilt- and shame-ridden lives we all find ourselves in. That’s hell, not heaven.
But never fear. God has a plan.
The Beginning of Dragons?
Although this whole incidence of loss of innocence is ignored in cultural legends, the “serpent” is part of worldwide consciousness. Sometimes it is legless and wingless. Sometimes it has multiple heads and/or horns. It may have legs but no wings. It may have a beard. Some do have wings. Some breathe fire. And in Mesoamerica, it has feathers but not wings.
These are all forms of what we refer to as a dragon. In all cultures, serpents/dragons are supernaturally powerful and clever.
But there is a difference of opinion about character. In China, dragons are benevolent and wise. In European civilizations, they are destructive and evil.
Interestingly, ancient Mesopotamia, the earliest literate culture, describes both benevolent and destructive dragons! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon
May I share my personal hypothesis? Mesopotamia is closest to the truth as told by Genesis because the serpent presented itself as benevolent and wise, but it was really destructive and crafty. Its intent was evil.
Some cultures emphasize the dragon/serpent as it was created, but some describe it after its punishment.
Kings, and Giants, and Gods. Oh, my!
And now, we continue to the time when these beings existed. Guess what? They were all humans!
Read it for yourself: Genesis chapter 3
Photo credit: Photo by David Clode on Unsplash
