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 12 of 19, proposed that the story of the Garden of Eden is actually a story of evolution and the evolution of humans and discusses how the story shows the beginning of cooperation between humans.

Preview of this post.

This post, post number 13 of 19, presents speculates that God had Adam and Eve leave the Garden of Eden for their own protection.

Other Thoughts Regarding the Garden of Eden Story

God had Adam and Eve leave the Garden of Eden for their own protection

As discussed elsewhere^[1], it could be argued that God forced Adam and Eve to leave the Garden of Eden for their own protection. That is, so they would not be tempted to eat from the Tree of Life and become immortal, thereby defeating the effect of partaking of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge and their gift of imagination and free will by having immortality allowing men to outlive the consequences of their mistakes thereby removing consequences from the equations associated with choices. It was not banishment for disobedience or for any other transgression, but movement on to fulfill their destiny and use the gift of imagination that they were granted in the First Creation Story that caused Adam and Eve to leave the Garden of Eden.

As discussed above, the “curses” were not intended as punishments, but as consequences for actions. As is well known, God pronounced that the serpent will be required to crawl on its belly and to eat dirt and to be eternal enemies with women; and pronounced that the woman will have severe pangs in childbearing and to be ruled by her husband; and pronounced that the man will have a life of toil; and pronounced that both will return to dust. While all of this sounds, at first blush, to be quite severe and punishment, as discussed above, it is really merely stating what the new state of the situation will be now that they have left the ease and protection of the Garden of Eden. With regard to matters of procreation for the Biblical audience, the man must be dominant in some respects since he was charged with having dominion over the earth and its inhabitants^[2]. Therefore, the woman must be subservient to him even though she is next in line. Since man is dominant, there really is no natural check and balance on the number of humans, and without such a check, humans could overrun the world and drive out the other creatures whom man is supposed to be protecting; however, if child birth is painful and the gestation period is so long that a human female will only be able to produce once a year, humans, and especially females, will be judicious in creating more humans than the earth can sustain, which means women dominate in this aspect. If the woman suffers pain during child birth, she is more likely to protect the child than if she does not experience such pain as she will be less likely to desire to go through the pain again. Furthermore, with regard to pain of childbirth, it might be concluded that while in the Garden before the episode with the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, these two humans were immortal and hence did not need children to replace them. Now, after eating the fruit and becoming humans, and mortal, they would need to replace themselves. This was not a curse, but a simple “heads up” as to what to expect in the future as a human being. The same can be said of the statement to the man that he would now have to work, it was a “heads-up” of what to expect now that he was no longer an infant in the Garden of Eden and had to make his own way in the world as a human being. Adam and Eve were not being cursed, they were being given a “heads up”. With regard to the serpent, with regard to crawling on his belly in the dust, this may be the easiest place for the animal to find food as man and the other animals may have a monopoly on the food located well above the ground. This will place the serpent in a position of being stepped on; therefore, the natural enmity between the serpent and women seems to be for the protection of the serpent so humans will stay away from him especially since he is crawling in the dust and could easily be stepped on and killed. Other crawling animals do not receive the same protection. Thus, it could be argued that this is not a curse, but a reward for his service as “God’s early warning alarm[3]”. It is also noted that with regard to the serpent, the serpent is the only member of the group that is not interrogated by God. This implies that God did not need to ask any questions of the serpent or its motives since God already knew them as God had placed the serpent in the Garden as His early warning system regarding the development of man’s imagination and the serpent accomplished this task.

Thus, the Garden of Eden story illustrates the first instances of man’s development of his imagination to a level of sophistication which will allow him to exercise dominion over the earth and all of its inhabitants. Concomitant with the developed imagination, came the development of free will, the ability to choose between various options, the ability to visualize consequences associated with choices, the ability to communicate, the ability to remember, the ability to translate knowledge from one form or situation into another form or situation, the ability to convert sensory impressions into other forms of expression and the sense of personal responsibility. These are all abilities needed to survive and prosper in a world outside of a Garden of Eden where everything is provided, and all are certainly required to exercise dominion over the Earth and its inhabitants. Therefore, once man demonstrated these abilities, God considered man sufficiently equipped to venture forth into the world and fulfill his destiny of exercising his dominion over the earth and its inhabitants and acting as God’s partner in the experiment.

The Garden of Eden story is the story of evolution: man’s evolution from a mere pet to a human being capable of being God’s partner in developing the work that God began in the First Creation story.

It appears that this evolution-centered story fits nicely into the theocentric story mentioned at the beginning of this discussion. Both stories end with Adam and Eve leaving the Garden of Eden, with Adam being forced to work and Eve being forced into a role of family nurturer. The difference is the reason for Adam and Eve leaving the Garden.

Preview of the next post.

The next post, post number 14 of 19, discusses how human imagination affects human free will.

^[1] See the series “God’s Ground Rules”.

^[2] Leave aside the observation that the Bible was written by men or that at the time the Bible was written, men were dominant and this writing merely reflected this state of affairs.

[3] ^[3] On the other hand, it should be noted that every year venom from snakes kills nearly 200,000 people and leaves hundreds of thousands disfigured or disabled. This leaves snakes as being the second most deadly animal to humans (only mosquitoes exceed this by spreading protozoa that cause malaria).