In which an alternative view is offered regarding the exit of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, the action of women and the relationship of men and women are explored and the story of Cain and Abel is reinterpreted in light of the actions taken during the Garden of Eden Story.

In order to fully appreciate this discussion, it is recommended that the posts comprising the series “In God’s Image” and “Imagination and the Mind of Man” be read before reading the posts in this series.

Another Interpretation of the Garden of Eden Story

Review of the previous post.

The previous post, post number 16 of 19, discussed the role of women in the Garden of Eden story.

Preview of this post.

This post, post number 17 of 19, speculates why God did not interrogate Adam and Eve.

Why did God have to interrogate Adam and Eve?

In Genesis 3:11, God asks “Did you eat of the tree from which I had forbidden you to eat?” This question raise the question “if God knows everything one has done, why did He have to ask Adam and Eve what they did?”

One answer might be tied to the evolution concept discussed previously as well as the question regarding repentance.

Could it be that God actually did know, but was trying to teach the concept of consequences and actions? Could this be the first lesson in what repentance is all about? That is, actions have consequences, and one must first understand that it is one’s action that caused the consequences before one can correct the action and correct the harm associated with the action. God’s question could have been God forcing Adam and Eve to accept ownership of the act. Maybe the question was part of God teaching the elements of repentance. If so, it might even be concluded that it was actually God who orchestrated the act? The evolution argument still holds as this line of reasoning has God waiting until the imaginations of Adam and Eve had developed sufficiently to understand the concepts associated with repentance before He began the lesson. This development was signaled when Eve demonstrated that she was aware of the prohibition in a complex conversation (as opposed to a simple pet-like knowledge of a “stay off the furniture” with no understanding beyond memory). But the concept of the evolution of man proposed in the series still holds. Adam and Eve could now leave their sheltered existence in the Garden because they now understood the concept of repentance and its use in human development. To wit: human progress through learning from one’s mistakes and what it takes to complete this learning.

God knew what happened, but he wanted Adam and Eve to admit it. This is the first lesson in teaching repentance: learning to accept that it was your action that caused the consequence-owning the act. But Adam and Eve had to develop sufficiently before the lessons could begin. This was shown when Eve answered the complex question. The concept of evolution still holds, but now it is more specific and is now concerned with evolution sufficient to understand learning from one’s mistakes as opposed to the broad concept of evolution by itself.

Adam and Eve were not punished. They were taught a lesson. So the basic statement which gave rise to this portion of the series changes slightly from “why weren’t Adam and Eve given a chance to repent?” to they weren’t given a chance to repent because God was teaching them how to repent. Thus, they were given a “chance” to repent. As this episode should not be considered as being the “downfall” of man, but the beginning of the humans we have become.

Preview of the next post

The next post, post number 18 of 19, discusses the relation between the Garden of Eden story and the Cain and Abel story.