What Really Happened in the Garden of Eden? PDF
Preview What Really Happened in the Garden of Eden?
What Really Happened in the Garden of Eden? This page intentionally left blank What Really Happened in the Garden of Eden? ZIONY ZEVIT NEW HAVEN AND LONDON Copyright © 2013 by Ziony Zevit. All rights reserved. Th is book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Yale University Press books may be purchased in quantity for educational, business, or promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected] (U.S. offi ce) or [email protected] (U.K. offi ce). Scripture quotations identifi ed as NJPS throughout this book are reprinted from the Tanakh: Th e Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 Th e Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia. Designed by Mary Valencia. Set in Minion and Myriad type by Westchester Book Group, Danbury, Connecticut. Printed in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Zevit, Ziony. What really happened in the Garden of Eden? / Ziony Zevit. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-300-17869-2 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Eden. 2. Fall of man. 3. Bible. Genesis II–III—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title. BS1237.Z48 2013 222'.1106—dc23 2013017554 A cata logue record for this book is available from the British Library. Th is paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48– 1992 (Permanence of Paper). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 for Zehava and Eli, Noam and Ayelet, Yonatan and Reut whose eyes open anew each day and who see more than what appears This page intentionally left blank Contents A Preface about “Really” ix Ac know ledg ments xvii Introduction: Th e Fall Is with Us Always xix PART ONE Now and Then . Th e Fall in Interpretation . Th e Fall in the Hebrew Bible . Who Wrote the Garden Story and When? . What Is a Reader- Response Approach to Interpreting the Garden Story? . Reading, Presenting, and Evaluating the Garden Story PART TWO Before Then . A Down- to- Earth Story (Gen 2:4– 7) . Why Eden? Why a Garden? Where Were the Trees? (Gen 2:5, 8– 10) . Where in the World Was Eden? (Gen 2:10– 14) . Th e Gardener and His Tasks (Gen 2:15) . Th e Second Commandment (Gen 2:16– 17) . Th e First Social Welfare Program (Gen 2:18– 20) vii CONTENTS . Th e First Lady (Gen 2:21– 23) . Why “Th erefore”? (Gen 2:24) . How Bare Is Naked? (Gen 2:25) . Clever Conversation and Conspicuous Consumption (Gen 3:1– 6) . Dressing Up for a Dressing Down (Gen 3:7– 11) . Interrogation and Negotiation (Gen 3:11– 13) . Procreation in the Garden (Gen 3:14– 19; 4:1– 2) . Not a Leg to Stand On: Th e Serpent’s Sentence and the Israelite Culture of “Curse” (Gen 3:14– 15) . No Bundle of Joy: Hawwa’s Sentence and Israelite Predilections in Legal Reasoning (Gen 3:16) . Toil and Trouble: Adam’s Sentence and the Rights of Laborers (Gen 3:17– 19) . Out of the Garden (Gen 3:20– 24) PART THREE Then and Now . Th e Essential Plot of the Garden Story . A Literal Translation of a Literary Text . Allusions to the Garden Story in the Hebrew Bible . Contra the Common Interpretation . Beyond the Tower of Babel Appendix: Transliterating Hebrew for Tourists in the Garden Notes Bibliography Index viii A Preface about “Really” Even people who have never read the Garden story in Genesis know its essential elements and are familiar with its interpretation as the story of “the Fall.” God fi rst made Adam out of the dust of the earth and placed him in the idyllic Garden of Eden as a caretaker. Later, he made Eve out of Adam’s rib and presented her to Adam as a helpmate. God placed only one restriction on their activities: Th ey were not to eat fruit from a cer- tain tree commonly referred to as the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Th e snake, however, tempted Eve into consuming the forbidden fruit. Eve in turn seduced Adam, who ate also. Th is great sin and its aft er- math constitute the drama of the Fall. Once everything came to light, the three involved in violating God’s prohibition were punished harshly. Th e snake lost its feet, so now every snake crawls on its belly. Eve’s punishment was more severe. She and her female descendents were sentenced to suff er pain and anguish in childbearing, to long for their husbands sexually, and to be under their husbands’ control. For her descendents to behave otherwise was, by implication, to act unnaturally and to violate God’s explicit directives. Adam and his male descendents were sentenced to a life of constant la- bor, each earning bread by the sweat of his brow. Th at was not all. Con- cerned that humans might also eat from the Tree of Life, the couple were driven from the Garden in Eden and left to fend for themselves. ix
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