The Story of Adam and Eve
Exported from Holy-Writings.com on 2026-06-21 - 1 clipping

Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Karl Weaver, The Story of Adam and Eve, bahai-library.com.
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

The Story of Adam and Eve

Karl Weaver

2025

This describes the explanations of the story of “Adam and Eve” from the Book of Genesis as
given by ‘Abdu’l-Baha, and then further speculations about it on my part.

To reflect on this story, it is necessary to go back to the story itself in English translation. The
copy I am using is from the “New Oxford Annotated Bible”, also called the “New Revised
Standard Version”, which is extensively annotated. I am picking up the story beginning in
Genesis Chapter 2 verse 4:

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 herb of the field had yet sprung up – for the Lord
God had not yet 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 the east; and there He put the man 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.

[Here I mention a few of the annotations. There was a “word play” originally in ancient
Hebraic with the term “adam”, which meant a human being, and the word “adamah” which
meant ground or soil – emphasizing the idea that man’s body is formed from the earth and it is
the “breath of God” which brings it into physical and/or spiritual life. The term “Eden” meant
“delight”, and was the source word for this original “garden” from God. The ancients believed
that the tree of life conferred eternal life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
conferred wisdom.]

A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes
four branches…

[The four branches are not important for our purpose, but they were conceived as watering the
four corners or four directions of the middle east, although two of the four run closely aligned
for much of the way: the Tigris and 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 the 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.

[The annotation notes that the term translated as “helper” did not have the sense of a servant
or slave, but a relationship of mutuality and interdependence; a partner. There seems to me
an inherent tension already in the potential understanding of the scripture concerning the
relationship between man and woman: on the one hand she is to be his “helper” but on the
other hand he is created first, and she is created afterward to be his companion.]

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, then he slept; and 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 He brought her to the man.

[The annotation notes another word-play immediately below here, with the word “ish”,
designating a male, and “ishah”, designating a female. So now, gender distinction clearly
comes into play. The annotation also observes that having been created from a rib, the
woman bears an intimate relationship to the man which is not shared by any of the other
animals, which were all created independently of man.]

Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one
shall be called Woman [ishah], for out of Man [ish] 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 annotation suggests that this verse indicates the sexual, procreative impulse is not sinful
but was created as a God-given impulse for a man and a woman to join together…therefore
the relationship between them, and between them and God was so far without guilt.]

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 open, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

[The annotations note that here there is a suggestion, with the serpent, of evil already existing
in the world. The serpent begins by insinuating some doubt as to what God actually
commanded, and proceeds to cast suspicion on the true motive for God’s prohibition. The
annotations also state that in the Septuagint version the phrase here is “you will be like gods
(plural)” - the “divine beings of the heavenly court”]

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.

[The annotations suggest that “knowing good and evil” symbolizes the “entirety of knowledge”
and that their bodily shame indicates the loss of an innocent, trusting relationship with God
and each other.]

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 [God] 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 oVspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his
heel.” To the woman He said, “I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing; 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 annotations have comments here – among them the observation that the serpent
originally did not “crawl on its belly” but that this was its punishment; also this suggests an
explanation of man’s seemingly innate fear of serpents, and an observation about the pangs
of childbirth – apparently being related to the woman’s carnal lust for her husband, being as a
punishment for this. Another punishment was her now being explicitly placed in a
subordinate position to him, rather than in “the ideal equality of creation”. They also note that
man must now “work” for food; also that “work” is not inherently evil, but it becomes “toil”
when man’s relation to God is broken. They note that the mortal nature of man was “implicit
in the circumstances of origin from dust”, but it now becomes a known inevitable fate, which
haunts humans throughout life due to their disobedience. They note that beginning in chapter
3 verse 17 (“and to the man He said”) the word Adam has shifted from a generic term for
human beings into a personal name for this man. Much more, not in these annotations, must
be covered in order to discuss the concepts of “original sin”, of “knowledge” and of
“mortality”.]

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

[Annotations: the Hebrew for “Eve” sounds much like the Hebrew word for “living”. In
providing “garments of skins” the annotations suggest that this showed God’s care for man,
even at a time of judgment.]

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 – therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of
Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken (ie, having been formed out of
dust). He drove out the man, 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. (this
ends Chapter 3, with the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden).

[Annotations: Here “like one of us” more explicitly suggests the idea that man would become
not like the Lord God, but like the “divine beings of the heavenly court”. Note that the
temptation story itself only deals with eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil,
although the tree of life was also mentioned in the beginning. The cherubim were conceived
to be winged creatures, half human and half lion like the Egyptian sphinx, and statues of them
were often placed as guardians of sacred places. Note that the “flaming sword” is not stated
as being wielded by the cherubim, but rather is placed near it or them, “to warn banished
human beings of the impossibility of overstepping their creaturely bounds”]

Now let us turn to an explanation of the symbolism by ‘Abdu’l-Baha, found in “Some Answered
Questions” Chapters 29 and 30.

Chapter 29 briefly touches on Adam and the notion of original sin as follows: “But the
majority of the Christians believed that Adam sinned and transgressed by eating from the
forbidden tree, that the dire and disastrous consequences of this transgression were
inherited for all time by his descendants, and that Adam has thus become the cause of
the death of man. This explanation is irrational and clearly mistaken…”

This is followed by a more detailed discussion of the story of Adam and Eve in chapter 30.
In this session, or chapter, Laura Cliford Barney asks ‘Abdu’l-Baha to explain “the truth of the
story of Adam and His eating from the tree?” ‘Abdu’l-Baha explains some of the symbolic
meanings in the story. He states, “These verses of the Torah have...numerous meanings.
We will explain one of them and say that by Adam is meant the spirit of Adam and by Eve
is meant his self [the human condition]. For in certain passages of the sacred scriptures
where women are mentioned, the intended meaning is the human self. By the “tree of
good and evil” is meant the material world…in the material world light and darkness,
good and evil and all manner of opposing realities are to be found. The meaning of the
serpent is attachment to the material world. This attachment…led to the banishment of
the self and spirit of Adam from the realm of freedom to the world of bondage…By the

“tree of life” is meant the highest degree of the world of existence; that is, the station of
the Word of God and His universal Manifestation. That station was indeed well guarded
until it appeared…In the all-highest Paradise the tree of life alludes to…the universal
Manifestation of God. For from the days of Adam until the time of Christ, there was little
mention of life eternal…This tree of life alludes to the station of the reality of
Christ…attachment of the spirit and self to the material world – which is sin – was
inherited by His [Adam’s] descendants. This attachment is the serpent…Note that if
these words were taken literally…it would be sheer injustice and absolute
predestination” [ie, that all the generations of Adam’s descendants would also be punished
by God for Adam’s sin]

He concludes with the statement, “This is but one of the meanings of the biblical account
of Adam. Reflect, that you may discover the others.”

This is an invitation for us all to meditate on the meanings in scripture – for in many cases, in
the stories, allegories and parables the meaning is not meant to be found in the literal
account, but they are rich with multiple symbolic meanings, which are relevant for all time. At
this point then, I should explicitly state my general view of this story of Adam, Eve and the
garden of Eden. I think of it as both divine and human – I’m tempted even to say “divinely
human”.

The surface layers of the story can be read as an “explanation” for many aspects of life in this
world. Why do many people fear snakes? – this is a fairly common fear (as is fear of spiders,
or of darkness, of heights, of dangerous animals, etc.) Why is childbirth so painful (and in the
past, it was often even fatal). Why must mankind struggle, “by the sweat of our face” to eke
out our existence and eat bread from the grain we painstakingly grew and harvested, threshed,
ground, and baked – while all the other animals find their food seemingly with little efort on a
daily basis? Why, in most cultures, were women subordinate to men? Was this only due to
the superior brute strength of the men – or could some greater rationale be invoked? Why
must we die? If God loves us, then why are our lives so hard? These are some of the
questions which, in the literal reading, the garden of Eden story seems to address – and for
much of history, most people did not look further than the literal or the surface story. Today
however, many people dismiss religion altogether, due to the seeming absurdity of stories like
this one, when taken literally – yet still without meditating on what deeper meanings can be
found in it. ‘Abdu’l-Baha assures Laura Cliford Barney, and through her, all future readers that
other meanings also exist in this story, and that we may discover some of them by meditating
deeply in a prayerful way on the verses. With this in mind, I will ofer some further thoughts,
step by step, in reviewing the language of this story as quoted above.

Note that the story begins very briefly with the creation of the earth, noting that there was not
yet rain nor any living, growing things on the earth, but water was on the “whole face of the
ground”. Interestingly in modern scientific views of the origin and development of the earth, it
is thought to have gone through an early, very hot phase – in which the surface was all molten
like lava [it was called the “hadean” phase – literally “hellish”] and then a “late heavy
bombardment phase” between 4.1 and 3.8 billion years ago, in which huge quantities of water
were dumped on the earth by comets and asteroids as our young solar system rearranged
itself. It is thought that at the end of this “late heavy bombardment phase” the whole surface
of the earth in fact was covered by water – an idea hinted at by this language, that there was
not yet rain nor any growing things, but the water was coming from the ground and it covered
“the whole face of” the earth.

After this very brief introduction, God is then said to have created Adam and placed him in a
garden called Eden, which was “to the east”. God forms man from “the dust of the ground”,
and then breathes life into him. Of course, our physical body is indeed from the earth and
returns to it in death. As for the meaning of “breathing life” into Adam – here the meaning is a
bit mysterious. Are we to take this as only bringing our physical life to us? [We are still
struggling to understand how life even arose on earth]. Or is this “life” meant to be
understood as a spiritual life – the existence of consciousness, of a soul, of an ability to
recognize our Creator and understand the Creator’s wishes as to how we are to conduct
ourselves in the world? Is this a reference to eternal life? Was “Adam’s” (or humankind’s) life
intended by God to be an eternal life, once we are brought into existence? The story clearly
seems to depict an idyllic or ideal state in which we were fully in harmony with the “Lord God”.
The “garden of Eden” then, is but an external representation of this idyllic existence, in which
all food is provided for Adam and Eve without any efort on their part.

Note that there is little mention of animals until the serpent appears in the story. There is the
Lord God, Adam, and all kinds of wonderful trees with variegated fruit. We might even ask: are
many of these “fruit trees” types which are now unknown on earth? If we saw a literal garden
of Eden, would we recognize what we saw there, or would it look more like heaven than like
our earth? The implication in the text is that there was no pain, no unpleasantness, no
stinging, biting or other nasty critters – clearly a contrast with the curse later placed on Adam
and Eve, that they would have to struggle with “thorns and thistles” and would earn their food
“by the sweat of the face”, from tilling the ground rather than simply plucking from the trees.
They walked nude in the garden with no concern about stinging insects, stepping on thorns or
thistles, or anything at all requiring any sort of protection from the environment.

Also note that being formed from earth (dust) and air (the breath of God) refers to two out of
the four “primal elements” which the ancients thought formed all things, these being earth,
air, fire and water. These formed two pairs of opposites: earth (heavy) was the opposite of air
(which is light) and water (cool) obviously is the opposite of fire (hot). So this story has us
formed of two opposing primal elements: earth representing our material body, and air
representing our spiritual nature, which is our true connection to the Creator.

Why is this garden designated as being “to the east”? There may be actual historical reasons
for this designation in the story – some scholars have even attempted to place an actual
approximate physical location for the “garden of Eden” on a map of the Middle East – but as
Baha’i writings also observe, historically many great religions have arisen in this area and then
spread westward (and spread further eastward too) – but note that Mesopotamia, Persia,
Arabia etc. are all located east of what is now Israel. Many of the prophets of history and in
the Old Testament, prior to the time of Christ actually did live “to the east” of Israel – as also
did Mohammad after Him - thus we can also contemplate this direction, “to the east” as
symbolizing not necessarily a physical place, but as the origin of spirituality, of a state of
connectedness between humanity and the “Lord God”, via His prophets and messengers.

Next in the text, after the creation of Adam and the placing him in this garden, we have a
comment about the tree of life being planted “in the midst” of the garden, and then also the
tree “of the knowledge of good and evil.” Later the location of this latter tree is even specified
by Eve as being “in the middle” of the garden – not tucked away in some remote corner which
they might not frequent, but prominently placed, and not to be missed. The location of the
“tree of life” however is not specified so it is left to us whether to think it is immediately
adjacent to the tree of the “knowledge of good and evil”, or at some distance away from it. I
think it is important to note that the tree of life is mentioned first, and immediately after it is
mentioned the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This brings us to the heart of what I think is
perhaps the most important metaphor in the entire story. Before they ate of the fruit of the
tree of knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve were like the other animals: they were in a
condition of “natural grace”. Not knowing of good and evil (like the animals) they could not
alienate themselves from the grace of God. This is the essence of what distinguishes what we
call “man” from the other animals – our ability to recognize that we have a Creator, and that
the Creator asks certain behaviors from us and prohibits other behaviors. This means that we
become conscious of a “moral imperative”. When we violate it we can become even worse
than the animals, who sometimes kill each other out of instinct and natural emotions – but
when we recognize God and strive to obey His commands, we become something far greater
than the animals who are not able to do this. Thus God warns Adam that if he ate of the fruit
“on that day he would die”. Note that Adam and Eve both ate of the fruit and they did not
physically die on that day, or on the many succeeding days: they produced ofspring, and they
lived for a very long time according to the scriptures. No – this refers to a spiritual condition –
that once they recognized good and evil, the purpose of their free will became apparent. If
they disobeyed or ignored God they could spiritually die, by having separated themselves
from Him. To be human is no longer to be in a state of “natural grace” but to strive for
consciously-chosen grace – to draw closer to our Creator, through our thoughts and deeds.
The fruit of the “tree of life” is the life of eternal progression toward God in a way which is
unique to “man”, unlike the animals who do not even understand that they have a Creator.
Thus the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil leads to both possibilities: spiritual death in
turning away from God, or an eternal life in striving to approach nearer to “Him”. The literal
text leads one away from this true meaning, in my opinion: God did not “fear” that they would
eat of the fruit – indeed God knew that they WOULD. This was the actual purpose of this fruit.
Nor did God fear that by eating the fruit of the tree of life they would become “too much like
Him” or even like the angels – indeed the fruit of that tree of life (which named first in the story)
actually comes only after having first eaten of the other fruit – the knowledge of good and evil.
One might say that the fruit of the tree of life was the most important thing about the entire
garden and the reason that man was put there – but first came the knowledge of good and evil.
Without that knowledge, Adam and Eve – though they had an awareness of God in this story
which the other animals did not – did not yet have much awareness of God’s wishes for them,
and thus no way of “gaining or losing God’s pleasure” – to put it into human terms. In this
sense, the “garden of Eden” represents some pre-existing state of nearness to God, which we
all have in our full innocence before birth, and our being “driven out” of this garden is the
whole point of our life on earth – which is an endless test and a struggle to draw nearer to that
condition of nearness to Him, which we will only reach in its fullness after death – which is
indeed an inevitability for us all.

Note that the text does not make explicit whether or not Adam and Eve would physically die
even if they never ate of the fruit of the tree of good and evil. Some believe that because their
bodies were material, inevitably they would have died anyhow, but they did not yet have an
understanding of this – just as most animals seem not to understand, until near the end of
their life, that they will die. They live each day without worrying about tomorrow, whereas we
are constantly thinking about the future and also aware that our lifespan is limited. Thus, one
might say that along with the knowledge of good and evil, they also became aware of the
reality of death – on that very day, they realized that their life on earth was finite. I believe this
is a story about why we are in this world, how we are diferent from the other animals, the
nature of our free will, of the knowledge of God, and about the consequences of our choices.
The importance of the story is not about the garden itself, but about how “Adam and Eve” (how
all of us) must leave the garden and live among the “thorns and thistles”, and struggle with the
“sweat on our faces”, until we die to this world in the end.

But this is getting ahead of the text. Let’s turn back to the chronology. After creating Adam
(man) and placing him in the garden, God creates all the other animals and asks Adam to
name them. This story is told in a more beautiful fashion in the Qur’an, in which God asks the
angels the names of all the animals and they do not know. Then God asks man, and man
gives them names. The angels then realize that man has some creativity in him, which they do
not have, as they only follow God’s instructions. And it is true: we do give names to each type
of animals. God did not dictate to us any names for them. The animals also do not seem to
have any “names” for other animals. They recognize which ones are like them and which are
not like them, but without any names. And man also individually names some animals who
come into close contact with him (like our pets) and they learn our names for them, which
they had not for themselves before. One might say that when God “names” something, it is a
creative act, bringing it into being (as in the beginning of Genesis when God says, “let there be
light”, and there was light). When we name something, we do not create it, but we do
distinguish it and analyze it and its relationship with other things in the world.

Next in the story, God wishes to give man a partner like himself yet not exactly alike: so he
causes a “deep sleep” to fall upon him, takes from him a rib, and out of that fashions Eve. This
almost sounds like giving him anesthesia to perform surgery on him, does it not? Like a good
surgeon, He even closes up the wound when He is done. And Adam delights in having a true
partner, like himself but not identical. Some read this literally, as a scriptural designation of
man as being somehow more important than woman. I believe this might be understood
better as an acknowledgment that throughout history and in most cultures, men were in fact
dominant over women in most aspects. That is, this is descriptive, not really proscriptive,
regarding the relationships between the sexes. Furthermore as the annotations said, the term
“helper” did not imply an inferior status -that only came later. Also note the verse,
immediately after Eve’s creation, that “therefore a man leaves his father and mother and
clings to his wife, and they become one flesh”. This is descriptive, not proscriptive,
regarding men and women leaving their families of origin and bonding intimately with each
other, thus forming a new family. Those words were not written as being God’s words, but they
were a human reflection on the nature of society and civilization, which adds more credence
to the idea that Adam being formed first and the one to whom God speaks first, essentially
reflected then-current cultural concepts about men and women. “And they were both
naked, and were not ashamed – here they were still like the animals, who do not wear
clothing.

Now comes the story of the “temptation” and the eating of the fruit. Here the serpent plays
the role of the “bad guy”, tempting Eve to eat the fruit. But it should be noted that in ancient
cultures the serpent was not always seen as “bad”. Serpents are ancient symbols of power
and wisdom as well – take for example the famous “staf of Asclepius” – which is still used
today as a symbol for physicians and the healing arts – depicted as a staf with two serpents
woven around it (a sort of a double helix, like the shape of DNA!). Other ancient drawings and
traditions also attribute wisdom and power to snakes.

The snake approaches Eve – why? Is this because she is somehow more “weak-willed” and
gullible than Adam? No, not necessarily so. Recall that God’s prohibition was given to Adam.
Adam presumably passed this on to Eve, so for her this is second-hand information. How
closely had Adam conveyed God’s command? [In a trial, this would be called “hearsay
evidence” and usually excluded, because it was not heard directly]. First the serpent asks her
exactly what did God say? Did he say don’t eat any of the fruits, or was it only this fruit? Eve
replies that it was this specific fruit – and then goes beyond what the scripture records as
having been told to Adam, by saying that they are not even to touch the tree. (Other traditions
have her saying that they aren’t even supposed to look at the tree.) So the serpent having
aroused curiosity (the desire for more knowledge), Eve examines the tree and the fruit. She
finds that the tree is attractive, and the fruit seems to be good. Being thus encouraged, then
Eve eats the fruit and gives some to Adam – who apparently is standing right next to her. If
we were to blame Eve for breaking God’s commands, how could we not blame Adam equally –
since he made no attempt to stop her, not even with any verbal reminder, and he himself
seems immediately to eat when she hands the fruit to him. One might call them “co-
conspirators”, if this was in fact some crime.

Now that they have eaten, they realize their “nakedness”. Well, apart from the fact that we are
“naked apes” (as Desmond Morris put it in his book title) unlike most animals which are
covered by hair, and we do need clothing for protection from the elements – there is also, I
think, an implication that they now became aware of sexual impulses and of the procreative
nature of their genitals. Even in cultures where only loincloths are worn, this may be in good
part to limit indiscriminate physical desires for people of the other gender, and to encourage
the choosing of only particular spouses with whom to share our most intimate physical
aspects.

Now we have the rather strange and very literal image of God “walking” in the garden in the
cool of the evening and calling for Adam. By the way, in a famous German novel referencing
this story, God calls out to Adam not “Where are you?” but “Where were you?” [Lit: “Wo
warst du, Adam?” Like a mother asking a child if he touched the cookies and knowing full well
that he did – God doesn’t want the information – He already knows, and He just wants to hear
Adam tell the truth. And Adam’s response is also instructive. He says that he was aware of
God being in the garden, and they hid – not specifically because they feared God’s anger
about their eating the fruit – but rather because they were aware of their nakedness, as being
an undignified state in which to encounter God.

Next comes a “circle of blame” – which interestingly is incomplete. God asks Adam why he
ate the fruit. Adam says in efect “well, it was Eve’s idea”. God then asks Eve why she did it
and she in efect says, “well, it was the serpent’s idea”. Note that God doesn’t even ask the
serpent why it prompted the act – had he done so, the serpent might have replied “Well why
did You, Lord, place the tree smack in the middle of the garden then tell them not to eat from
it – you must have known they would succumb to curiosity, so you have only yourself to
blame!” Completing this “circle of blame” is entirely reasonable, but left to the reader to
realize.

Then come the “punishments”. The serpent is punished most severely, as the instigator: arms
and legs are removed; he must forever crawl in the dust and “eat it”, and from then on people
will strike at the serpent, and the serpent will bite at them. Eve is punished secondarily, by the
pain and danger inherent in childbirth (which presumably never would have even happened,
had they not been awakened to the purpose for their genitals) and by explicitly being placed in
a subordinate position to man, and then man is punished to a lesser degree by now having to
toil for a living, eating the plants of the field [i.e. this is the origin of agriculture out of a hunter-
gatherer society], amid “thorns and thistles” and by the “sweat of his brow (or “face”) shall he
eat bread, rather than just gather fruits.

After this comes the naming of “Eve” (woman) with a name that sounded like “living”, because
we are all brought into life by our mothers. After this comes the provision of clothing from
animal skins – and note this is the very first implication in the story that mankind would eat
meat, and not just plants and fruits, for the skin of animals comes after having slaughtered
them for food! Presumably, prior to this they were vegetarian.

Then they are driven out of the garden, “to the east”, and both a cherubim and a “flaming
sword” are placed to guard the entrance to the garden. Why are both necessary, and just one
apparently is insuficient? Clearly in my mind there is more symbolism here. The “flaming
sword” is a physical sort of object and the cherubim is more like an angel – a living creature,
and an unworldly one at that. One interpretation may be that we do not return to the garden
until we die (the flaming sword of death cuts us down) and then some angelic being must
judge whether or not we are then worthy to enter the garden of paradise. In fact, the reality of
death is strongly emphasized in the ending to this story – just a couple of lines prior to the
mention of the cherubim and sword, God states that “to dust you shall return”.

It is fascinating how strongly this story continues to resonate in our collective consciousness
thousands of years after it was recorded. Immediately I think of John Milton’s epic poem
“Paradise Lost”; John Steinbeck’s novel “East of Eden”, which he considered his greatest work
and which was adapted to a movie starring James Dean; the novel “Wo Warst Du Adam?” by
Heinrich Böll; and the novel “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt”, also
made into a movie - just to mention a few of the innumerable works of art and literature
reflecting on the meanings in this ancient scripture.

–   Karl Weaver M.D.

January 2026
-- The Story of Adam and Eve (Used by permission of the curator)