The Fall Reconsidered

A Literary Synthesis of the Primeval Sin Narratives against the Backdrop of the History of Exegesis

German

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781498228473
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

The sin narratives of Genesis 3 and 4 have been scrutinized by biblical interpreters throughout the centuries. Some exegetical traditions have separated the story of Cain-Abel from the preceding Edenic narrative, thus undermining the unity of the Primeval History. The book synthesizes the sin narratives of Adam-Eve and Cain-Abel and examines a wide range of premodern biblical interpretations attesting to their literary and theological unity. This study makes a case for reading these primordial narratives as one familial saga that conveys to the reader the origins of human defiance against God.

Chapter 1

Review of Secondary Literature

Introduction

The present study explores the question of the literary unity of the narratives of Adam-Eve and Cain-Abel in light of the history of Jewish and Christian interpretations. The primeval history begins with the creation of the world and ends with the dispersion at Babel as the formal conclusion of the Urgeschichte (Gen 1:1—11:9).1 The narrator unfolds the model of creation and affirmation (Gen 1–2), proceeds to the narratives of indictment and sentence (3:1—4:16), and concludes with a reversed pattern of indictment and sentence, affirmation, and the new creation (6–9). Chapters 10–11 are post-flood materials (the Table of Nations, the Tower of Babel, and the ten generations from Shem to Abram).2 According to the Documentary Hypothesis (hereafter DH), the juxtaposed narratives of creation, temptation, and fratricide are putatively penned by the Yahwist (J) who is considered a sophisticated storyteller who compiled dynamic narratives full of action, crises, humor, irony, anthropomorphism, and emotional tension (Gen 2:4b–25; 3:1–24; 4:1–16).3 Some of the key etiological elements within those early chapters of Genesis include the formation of man and animals from the ground (2:7, 19); the formation of the woman from the man’s rib (2:21–22); the serpent’s curse (3:14); childbirth pains (3:16); building the first city by Cain (4:17); the invention of music by Jubal (4:21); and metallurgy by Tubal-Cain (4:22).4

The internal unity of each account of creation and sin under study has rarely been challenged by modern biblical scholars. In Gen 2:4b–25, the second creation narrative is earthy, folkloristic, and can be divided into four parts: 1) YHWH God forms the first male Adam, plants a garden in Eden, makes it grow trees, including the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and puts man in the Garden of Eden to till and keep it (vv. 4b–15); 2) YHWH God commands man to abstain from eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (vv. 16–17); 3) YHWH God forms a female helper to Adam (vv. 18–22); and 4) this female helper becomes Adam’s wife (vv. 23–25). The temptation story of Adam and Eve in Gen 3:1–24 consists of three interwoven pericopes: 1) the human couple partakes in the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (vv. 1–8); 2) God deals with the offenders judicially (vv. 9–21); and 3) Adam is banished from the Garden of Eden (vv. 22–24).

Genesis 4 proceeds outside the Garden of Eden. In the first pericope (vv. 1–8), two siblings, Cain and Abel, offer sacrifices to the Lord. Abel and his blood sacrifice are preferred over Cain and his vegetarian offering. Cain’s anger results in the first actual transgression against his brother and God himself. Cain claims Abel’s life, which passes away like a vapor (הבל). The Hebrew word for sin (חטאת) appears first in Gen 4:7. In the second pericope (vv. 9–16), Cain is being cursed from the ground, granted a protective mark, and destined to be a wanderer (Gen 4:9–16). After its first appearance in Gen 4:10, the motif of the innocent blood has found its place in other biblical traditions (Gen 18:20–21; Exod 22:21–22; Num 35:30–34; Job 24:12). The post-Edenic fratricide might be seen as a prototype of a legal record. While Abel’s blood is a type of plaintiff, the divine mark protected Cain from “spiralling violence.”5 The death of Abel is not the end of the familial story of Adam and Eve. Seth was born to Adam and Eve only after the tragic loss of their son Abel (Gen 4:25). The Cainite and the Sethite genealogies appear in Gen 4:17–24 and 5:1–32.6

Review of Secondary Literature

The current section offers a chronological assessment of major commentaries, monographs, and articles written in the period from the end of the nineteenth century until the present time. Both Jewish and Christian voices are represented across the discipline of biblical studies with their new hermeneutical methods such as canonical criticism, narrative analysis, reader-response criticism, liberation theology, feminist criticism, and history of reception (Wirkungsgeschichte).7 The remainder of this chapter will disclose the thesis statement of this study, its methods, and overall structure.

Historical-Critical Scholarship in the Nineteenth Century

Some of the most important developments in biblical scholarship took place in continental Europe, specifically those related to the demise of the field of Hebrew Bible (hereafter HB) theology and the rise of the history of Israelite religion. For example, William Robertson Smith, a prominent Scottish biblical scholar, in his lectures The Old Testament in the Jewish Church, has voiced his dissatisfaction with the traditional Christian view of the Bible, considering the emerging historical criticism as the most viable means to uncover the roots of the Hebrew religion and their writings.8 Another paradigm shift had taken place as a result of the research of Karl Henning Graf, Abraham...

Table of contents

• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: Review of Secondary Literature
• Chapter 2: The History of Interpretation from Antiquity to the Reformation
• Chapter 3: A Literary Synthesis of the Sin Narratives
• Chapter 4: Summary
• Bibliography