Part One
PEOPLE AND EVENTS
I. GENESIS
1. In the Beginning
GENESIS, CHAPTER 1
âIn the beginning, God created the heavens and the earthâ (1:1). The first and most important fact established in the Bibleâs opening chapter, indeed in its opening sentence, is that God, and God alone, created the world. This assertion represents a complete break with the prevailing view at the time, that nature itself is divine. Ancient man worshiped nature; the sun was its most common manifestation. Interestingly, the Hebrew word for sun, shemesh, from the root meaning âservant,â* leaves no doubt about the divine order of the universe: that which other people worship as God (i.e., the Babylonian sun god was called Shamash), the language of the Bible makes clear, is but Godâs servant.
Underscoring Godâs supreme and supernatural capabilities, the Bible declares that God can create through words alone: âGod said, âLet there be lightâ and there was lightâ (1:3).
The order of creation in Genesis 1 is:
Day 1: light Day 1: the sky
Day 3: the earth, oceans, and vegetation
Day 4: the sun, moon, and stars
Day 5: fish, insects, and birds
Day 6: the animal kingdom and human beings
Despite arguments advanced by biblical fundamentalists, Genesis 1 need not be understood as meaning that God created the world in six twenty-four-hour days. Indeed, given that there were no sun and moon prior to the fourth day, it is meaningless to speak in terms of standardized, modern time units. Many religious scholars understand each of the six âdaysâ as representing eons.
Humans are the only beings described as being created âin the image of Godâ (see entry 146) and thus apparently represent the apogee of creation.
Many Bible readers have long puzzled over differences in a second version of the creation story presented in Genesis, chapter 2. While 1:27 suggests that man and woman were created simultaneouslyââin the image of God He created him; male and female He created themââ2:7â8 speaks of God fashioning Adam alone, from the earth.* Eventually, God concludes, âIt is not good for man to be aloneâ (2:18).â He puts Adam into a deep sleep, withdraws one of his ribs, and from it fashions Eve, the first woman (2:21â23).
Is such an explanation of womanâs creation demeaning to women? On the one hand, the claim that man was created first, and woman formed out of a part of him, might suggest the maleâs inherent superiority. On the other hand, the fact that every new creature depicted in the divine creation is more highly developed than the one that preceded it might indicate that woman, who is last to be created, represents the apex of creation.
In any event, the account in chapter 1, which states that both sexes are created in Godâs image, clearly suggests that they are equal in Godâs eyes.
Yet good as it was, creation was still unfinished. The Rabbis of the Talmud deduced from Godâs ceasing to create that it is humankindâs mission to serve as Godâs partner in finishing His creation and perfecting the world.
2. Adam, Eve, and the Garden of Eden
GENESIS 2:7â3:24
The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
GENESIS 2:15â17, CHAPTER 3
Adam and Eve, the Bibleâs first man and woman, are the prototype for all people. The Hebrew for âhuman beingâ is ben adam, a child of Adam.
The couple begin their lives in a paradise, which the Bible calls the Garden of Eden. There, God provides for all their needs, in return for which He imposes several commandments: They are to be fruitful and multiply (see entry 147), fill the earth and master it (1:28), restrict their diet to fruit and vegetables (1:29), and refrain from eating from the âtree of the knowledge of good and evil.â* God gives this commandment to Adam before He creates Eve, and offers no rationale for it. Adam simply is warned that âas soon as you eat [of the tree of knowledge], you shall dieâ (2:17).
Immediately after imposing this prohibition, God creates Eve from one of Adamâs ribs. Absent any recorded communication between God and Eve, we must assume that she learns of the prohibition concerning the tree of knowledge from Adam.
Enter the serpent, who we are told is âthe shrewdest of all the wild beasts that the Lord had madeâ (3:1). He speaks human language (the Bibleâs only other talking animal is Balaamâs donkey; see entry 50), and challenges Eve: âDid God really say, âYou shall not eat of any tree of the garden?ââ (3:1).
The serpent, in his shrewdness, challenges Eve, who unlike Adam has not heard the prohibition directly from God. Thus, she is more open to disbelieving that God had ever promulgated such a decree.
Eveâs response to the serpentâs question indicates that Adam may have treated Eve as a simpleton, for she now attributes to God words that He never uttered, but which Adam seems to have told her He had: âIt is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said: âYou shall not eat of it or touch it, lest you die.ââ Fearing that Eve might be tempted to eat the forbidden fruit, Adam apparently told her that God prohibited them from even touching the tree.
The Midrash, which consists of rabbinic commentaries on the Bible, suggests that the cunning serpent utilized Adamâs additional, and erroneous, instruction to convince Eve that her husband had lied to her; he pushed Eve against the tree, waited till she realized that she had remained unharmed, then told her, âYou are not going to die [if you eat of the treeâs fruit].â
The serpent tells Eve that God wishes to deter her and Adam from eating of the tree because He doesnât want them to be Godlike: âGod knows that as soon as you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like divine beings who know good and evilâ (3:5).
It remains a mystery why such knowledge would upset God: Indeed, traditional Jewish theology teaches that the meaning of the creation of people in Godâs image is precisely that they resemble Him in being able to distinguish good from evil.
In any case, Eve is seduced both by a serpent who urges her to eat of the treeâs fruit and by the treeâs delightful appearance. She eats of the treeâs fruit, then gives a fruit to Adam, who eats it as well.
Now, for the first time, Adam and Eve become conscious of their nakedness,* and cover themselves with loincloths. Soon after, the couple, sensing Godâs presence in the Garden, hide. God calls out to them, âAyechaâWhere are you?â
Obviously, the all-knowing God does not ask this because He canât find them; rather, God wishes to encourage Adam and Eve to acknowledge their sin. But they donât. Instead, Adam responds by explaining that he was hiding because he feared to confront God while naked. The Lord asks him, âWho told you that you were naked? Did you eat of the tree from which I had forbidden you to eat?â (3:11).
We now encounter an age-old problem: the inability of most people to acknowledge their guilt forthrightly but, instead, to âscapegoatâ someone or something else. Adam blames Eve, and, by implication, God, for his sin: âThe woman You put at my side, she gave me of the tree and I ate.â In turn, Eve blames the serpent: âThe serpent duped me, and I ate.â
God now decrees punishment for both the serpent and the two humans:
The serpent will lose his ability to walk; instead, he will crawl on the earth and eat dirt, and live in a state of constant enmity with human beings, who will strike at his head. Strangely, nothing is said about his losing the ability to converse with human beings (perhaps because this was a one-time occurrence, as in the case of Balaamâs donkey, see entry 50).
Eve receives two punishments: Childbirth will be painful for her, and her husband will rule over her. Although this is often cited as a biblical mandate for men dominating their wives, the Bible never says or implies that this punishment is intended to apply to Eveâs descendants. Why should it? Eve alone sinned. All that the text declares is that her husband will rule over her, presumably as punishment for her having led him to sin.
Adam is punished by having to labor hard for his food: âBy the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread until you return to the ground ⊠for dust you are, and to dust you shall returnâ (3:19).
The final punishment decreed for Adam and Eve is expulsion from the Garden of Eden. No longer will they be surrounded by fruit-bearing trees; from now on they will have to labor for their food.
âImagine that a young woman marries a young man whose father is president of a large company. After the marriage, the father makes the son a vice president and gives him a large salary, but because he has no work experience, the father gives him no responsibilities. Every week, the young man draws a large check, but he has nothing to do. His wife soon realizes that she is not married to a man but to a boy, and that as long as her husband stays in his fatherâs firm, he will always be a boy. So she forces him to quit his job, give up his security, go to another city, and start out on his own. That is the reason Eve ate from the tree.â
Significant as this episode is in Christian teachings, it does not, as Jewish theologian Louis Jacobs argues, âoccupy an important place in [conventional] Jewish theologyâ (The Jewish Religion: A Companion, page 14). The prevailing attitude among Jewish scholars is that people sin as Adam and Eve sinned, not because they sinned.
However, Jacobs does note that among students of the mystical kabbalah, a doctrine similar to Original Sin did evolve that argued that because all human souls were contained as sparks in Adamâs soul, all of humankind was contaminated by Adamâs sin. However, this kabbalistic doctrine about the significance of Adamâs sin remained a peripheral teaching in Jewish life. Furthermore, âeven in those [kabbalistic] versions of Judaism in which the idea of Original Sin is accepted, it differs from Christian dogma in that God alone, not a savior like Jesus, helps man to overcome his sinful natureâ (page 370).
3. Cain and Abel
GENESIS, CHAPTER 4
âAm I My Brotherâs Keeper?â
4:9
Although people often think of the world as becoming ever more violent, according to the Bible the violence in menâs natures has existed since the beginning. Nothing conveys this somber fact more dramatically than the murder committed by Cain, the first child born to Adam and Eve, of his brother Abel.
Cainâs life starts with high hopes: His mother chooses a name for him that means âI have gained a male child with the help of the Lord.â A short time later, Abel is born, although we are not told the reason for his name.
When the two brothers grow up, Cain becomes a farmer, Abel a shepherd. One day they each bring a gift to God; Cain brings fruit from the land he has tended, while Abel brings âthe choicest of the firstling of his flock.â The Bibleâs choice of language implies that Abel has worked at bringing God something more precious t...