The Serpent in the Garden, in Play Form: Genesis 3.1-3.24
[Open on Man and Woman, loafing before the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam remains interested in the action, though silent, until he answers God.]
[Enter Serpent, the craftiest animal in the garden.]
Serpent: Did got tell you not to eat of any tree in the garden?
Woman: We can eat pretty much whatever we want. But God said, "Do not eat the fruit of that tree in the middle of the garden - in fact, don't even touch it - because you will die."
[In fact, this is not entirely true. For irony, display a flashback sequence of God speaking to Man before Woman is created: "Eat the fruit of any tree you wish, except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The day you do that you will die."]
Serpent: You won't die! It will open your eyes! God just doesn't want you to be like him, knowing good and evil.
Eve: Well the fruit seems edible and looks delightful and if it makes me wise...
[Woman takes the fruit and eats. She gives some to Man, who also eats. They look each other up and down, both seeing for the first time each other's nakedness.]
[Exit Woman, stage right. Exit Man, stage left.]
[Enter Woman in fig leaves, stage right. Enter Man in fig leaves, stage left.]
[Sound of whistling. Woman and Man give each other a nervous glance and hide behind the tree. Enter God, from audience.]
God: Hey Man, where are you"
Man: I heard you coming, and I didn't want you to see me naked, so I hid myself.
God: Who told you you're naked? [Thinks] Did you eat of the tree I told you not to?
Man: [Points at Woman] It's her fault!
God: [To Woman] What have you done!
Woman: [Points at Serpent] He tricked me!
God: Curses all around! [To Serpent] You bastard! You will now be cursed to crawl on your belly and eat dust. You will try to bite heels and be stepped on. [To Woman] For the pain you've been to me, I'm making childbirth painful for you. Also, you shall desire your husband and he will rule over you. [To Man] Fie on you for listening to your wife and eating that fruit! Because of you the ground will be cursed. You will have to work for your food, weeding and plowing and sweating until you return to the dust you come from!
[Exit God and Serpent, to opposite wings. Man and Woman stand sheepishly looking around the garden.]
Man: [Using his newfound power] So, uh, your name is Eve now, since the Hebrew word eve resembles the word for living.
[Enter God (presumably with his court of angels), bearing garments of animal skins. Man and Eve put on the clothing]
God: This man is like us now, knowing good and evil. Now he might eat of the tree of life, and live forever. [Turning to Man] You are banished forever from Eden! Go till the ground until you turn to dust yourself!
[Exit Man]
God: You! Cherubim! Get your flaming sword and go to the east of the garden, that you may guard the way to the tree of life.
[Exit God (presumably with his court of angels)]
[Lights fade on Eve, lamenting her new position, and wondering why the story did not explicitly have her expelled from the garden as well.]
Cain and Abel: Genesis 4.1-4.16
The first family cannot escape wordplay. Adam (man, punning on dust) and Eve (woman, punning on man) have a child that Eve names Cain (punning on produced, because Eve produced him with the help of the Lord). Cain tills the cursed ground and his younger brother Abel keeps sheep.
The brothers decide to bring a sacrifice to the Lord. Cain brings fruit, and Abel brings the firstlings of his flock. For some reason, perhaps because Abel brings the first of his production, the Lord favors Abel's offering. When the Lord sees Cain is disappointed, he admonishes, "Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it" (Gen. 4.6-7).
Then comes something "found" in translation. Genesis 4.8 in the Latin Vulgate and Greek translations, as well as the NRSV reads, "Cain said to his brother Abel, 'Let us go out to the field'." In the Jewish canonical Masoretic text, however, the verse simply reads, "Cain said to his brother Abel." What Cain says here is anyone's guess. For some ancient readers it was a suggestion to go to the field. In any case, something is missing, and there is a long tradition in Judaism of trying to fill in that blank.
Immediately after these words, Cain kills his brother. The Lord asks where Abel is, to which Cain retorts, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" (Gen. 4.9). The Lord knew all along, however, and admonishes Cain for his actions: "What have you done? Listen; your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground! And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth" (Gen. 4.10-12). The ground is now doubly cursed from the actions of Adam and Cain. When Cain laments that he will be killed as a fugitive, the Lord puts a mark on him, so that anyone who kills him will suffer a sevenfold vengeance. Cain then leaves and settles in Nod (meaning wandering), east of Eden.
Notes
Linguistically the brothers' names mean metalworker (Cain) and emptiness (Abel). From the Harper Collins Study Bible on Gen. 4.1-2: "In many traditional societies metalworkers belong to marginal ethnic groups and are looked upon with suspicion and disdain." Hence Cain's actions. Abel's name is also fitting with regards to his fate.
Beginnings of Civilization: Genesis 4.17-5.32
Following Cain's flight to Nod are two genealogies of Adam. Below I have constructed a visual representation of the decidedly patriarchal lineage.
Genealogy 1
This genealogy shows the cursed Cain's descendants getting into such trades as construction, tending livestock, music, and of course metalwork. But the line still bears the mark of Cain, and still has a penchant for murder. Lamech poetically proclaims to his wives:
Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say:
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for striking me.
If Cain is avenged sevenfold,
truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.
(Gen. 4.23-24)
Good thing Adam and his wife have another son, Seth, who God appoints for Eve instead of Abel. In classic first family fashion, Seth puns on the Hebrew word for appoint. Seth has a son, Enosh, and around this time there is a devout line, and people begin to worship God, or "invoke the name of the Lord" (Gen. 4.26).
Genealogy 2
The second genealogy, a P-source insertion into the story, begins with a recap of the creation of humans, quoting Genesis 1: "This is the list of the descendants of Adam. When God created humankind, (adam) he made them in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them "Humankind" (adam) when they were created" (Gen. 5.1-2).
Each explanation follows a specific formula: "When _A_ had lived _B_ years, he became the father of _C_. _A_ lived after the birth of _C_ _D_ years, and had other sons and daughters.Thus all the years of _A_ were _E_ and he died."
There is one exception: Enoch, whose years number 365. "Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him" (Gen. 5.24). Wait. what does that mean? Noah "walked with God" (Gen. 6.9) as well, but whether this is a physical walk or more metaphorical indication of belief is unclear. And if you are taken by God, do you die? And why is Enoch so special?
There are extra-biblical stories, part of the Pseudepigrapha ("false writings") concerning Enoch. The fact that he does not die, but that he walks with God and is taken by God, leads to accounts of him as a heavenly scribe and intellectual. Not surprisingly, the pseudepigraphic book Jubilees uses Enoch's life of 365 years to argue for a solar year of 365 days, rather than the lunar year in vogue at the time.
Then there is Noah, with his three sons. Look for his story tomorrow.
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