Genesis Chapter 3
The following points are a partial synopsis from our commentary On Genesis, Part 3: Sustainable Plausibility.
As we had explained in the overview for Genesis chapter 2, since these chapters contain many allegories which are not literally true, they are actually a parable representing historical events, and not a chronicle of those events. So the narrative found in Genesis chapter 3 does not present an account concerning a literal snake or the eating of a literal apple, a tale which was obviously invented for the benefit of childhood innocence, which sadly many children continue to believe even after they become adults. The offense which caused the fall of Adam from immortality into mortal decay and death, as Paul explains in Romans chapter 5, is much more serious than the eating of some literal fruit.
Rather, Genesis chapter 3 is a parable about sex, and specifically fornication, which is sex with those who are not of one’s own kind (Jude 7), and a violation of the first laws of Genesis, that of “everything after its kind”. This story is portrayed as a parable, and not as a historical account, and it is told using allegories as euphemisms, rather than providing an explicitly graphic detail. An examination of these allegories along with an assessment of the aftermath of the act as it is related in the second half of the chapter makes it perfectly clear that this interpretation is the only one plausible and valid in all respects. That is why we had titled our commentary on Genesis chapter 3 sustainable plausibility. The tales which the denominational churches fabricate around this chapter are not at all sustainable upon scrutiny.
The “serpent” here is not a literal snake, but “The Devil, and Satan”, as we learn in many later Scriptures, and notably in Revelation chapter 12.
Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
These are the angels which the apostle Jude had described as having "left their first estate", and in Genesis chapter 6 we read that "There were giants in the earth in those days", speaking in reference to the days of Noah. There the word for giants is nephilim, and in our commentary for Genesis chapter 6, The Giants and the Sons of God we demonstrated that the word nephilim actually means fallen ones, as it was translated in centuries past. These fallen ones must have been from of the fallen angels who, in turn, must have fallen before the creation of Adam, because the serpent with whom they are identified was already in the garden when Adam was created. Collectively speaking, they are the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
The “fruit of the trees of the garden” are clearly contrasted to the trees which were "in the midst of the garden”, which were not explicitly described as bearing fruit which could be eaten. The verbs understood here to mean touch and eat are on many occasions clearly used in later Scriptures as euphemisms for sexual relations. So we had written in our commentary on this chapter that:
The act of eating is often used as a euphemism for sexual intercourse, for instance in Proverbs chapter 9 where it warns of an adulterous woman and says “Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” Where it again discusses such a woman we read in Proverbs chapter 30: “Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.” The act of touching is also often a euphemism for sexual relations, such as in Genesis chapter 20 where Abimelech had designs on Sarah, the wife of Abraham, “6 And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.” Likewise, we read in a Hebrew parallelism in Proverbs chapter 6: “29 So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.”
The ability to be “as gods” and the acquirement of knowledge in this context are both related to sexual awakening in the literature of Mesopotamia which had been extant at the time of Abraham and Moses, specifically the very ancient Epic of Gilgamesh. All of this is discussed at length here in a recently updated version of our 2007 essay: Shemitic Idioms and Genesis Chapter Three, Revisited , along with numerous other essays also available here (click here for an index). These papers explain all of the allegories, idioms, dictionary definitions of the words in question, and examples of how they are used elsewhere in scripture in order to substantiate the claims which have been made here.
As soon as Eve was seduced, and had Adam shared with her in the forbidden “fruit”, they both became suddenly ashamed over their nakedness (Genesis 3:7). It must be noted that before this event, Adam and his wife are depicted as being naked, but not ashamed (Genesis 2:25). This is properly interpreted only with an understanding of the operation of conscience regarding the source of one’s guilt following an act of wrongdoing. Here the wrongdoing must have been of a sexual nature, since it is directly connected to nakedness, and in response they had immediately covered their loins. Passages found throughout the Song of Songs, or Canticles of Solomon also contain many similar allegories describing sexual intercourse with gardens, trees and the eating of fruit as poetic euphemisms.
Following the seduction of Eve by the serpent, Yahweh God had dictated the consequences of what had occurred. With this we see that the woman would bear children in sorrow, that her desire would be to her husband, and that her “seed”, or offspring, would forever be at enmity with the “seed”, or offspring, of the serpent (Genesis 3:15-16).
In the course of the announcement of their punishment, Eve's having conceived had been acknowledged three times, first where "her seed" is mentioned as God spoke to the serpent in verse 15, then where God told the woman of her conception in verse 16, and finally where Adam had acknowledged her conception in verse 20 and we read that he had "called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living." These three times Eve's conception was acknowledged even before the demonstrably corrupt verse of genesis 4:1 is encountered.
All of the punishments dictated to Eve clearly indicate that the offense involved was sexual in nature: hence the resulting “seed”, or offspring, along with the stated fact that Eve’s desire would be to her husband, rather than to another, and that those offspring would cause her sorrow.
This is cause and effect: the punishment is a result of the crime. Anyone who dismisses this interpretation is simply refusing to view these things as a rational and responsible adult, preferring instead to believe the tales which he learned as a child. The same essays cited in the above paragraphs also explain that the children born to Eve as described in Genesis 4:1, Cain and Abel, are the “seed”, or offspring, of both Eve with the serpent, and Eve with Adam. This will be further discussed in the next section of this overview, concerning Genesis chapter 4.
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