Читать книгу Bad Boys of the Bible: - Barbara J. Essex - Страница 11

Adam exhibits imagination (he named all the animals—gnat, zebra, aardvark, firefly) and tenderness (Eve was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh). He was created in the image and likeness of God and had a solid connection to the earth. But he was mute during Eve’s theological conversation with the serpent. He experienced shame and guilt and hid from God and got defensive when God interrogated him. He blamed God for giving him the woman in the first place and blamed her because he ate the fruit. He assumed no responsibility for his own actions and did not correct Eve’s understanding of God’s command although it was given directly to him (she had not been created when the command was given). He rightly got the roughest of the sentences as a consequence of his eating.

In many ways, our lives as humans would be less complicated if Adam had never been created! His influence is keenly felt, although he occupies a fairly small place in the Bible. His story is embedded in the creation stories of Genesis, and that is part of the problem.

It is generally and widely agreed by scholars that there are two creation stories in the early chapters of Genesis. Some believe that the stories received their final shape during the time that Israel was in Exile. Through several cycles of good times and bad times, the people tried to figure out the logic of their history. Their history was marked by bondage in Egypt, miraculous liberation under the leadership of Moses, instability under the leadership of judges, a golden age of prosperity under the leadership of David and Solomon, rapid decline and exile marked by spirited preaching and warning by prophets, and partial restoration to nationhood. The people lived through these ups and downs, and over the generations they tried to make sense of what happened to them. Given the bittersweetness of their existence as a nation, the wise persons of Israel asked the questions: How did these things come to be? Who is in control of our destiny? If God is in control of all there is, what kind of God must ours be?

As they contemplated, they concluded that their God must be One who “in the beginning created the heavens and earth.” Further, theirs was a God who was personal and involved in their lives in intimate ways. It is clear that the Israelites knew other creation stories—all cultures have them. But unlike other gods, the Israelite God was active, knowable, available, and disclosing. They knew this God and could ask for things and understanding. Their God dispensed and withheld blessings, punished them when they were wrong, forgave them when they sinned, and absolved them when they repented. Their God was gracious, slow to anger, and nurturing. Their God was wrathful, mighty in battle, strong and invincible. Their God was omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. Their God spoke the world into being and created human beings in the same manner (Gen. 1:26–31).

Genesis 1:1–2:3 is the creation story shaped by the P (Priestly) tradition. On the sixth day, God created humankind—male and female—in the divine image. After creating humankind, God gave the commandments: be fruitful and multiply; have dominion over the earth and its inhabitants. Male and female are created as equal partners, and neither is to have dominion over the other. In this creation story, the humans are not given proper names and both are created from the stuff of the earth. Both male and female are created to live and work in partnership. They have the capacity for creativity, collaboration, and compassion. Further, they have the capacity to think, make decisions, take action, and live with consequences. In other words, they are created in the “image and likeness” of the divine Creator.

Two words used in Genesis 1:27 are crucial in understanding God’s creative act:

So God created humankind in [God’s] image,

in the image of God [God] created them;

male and female [God] created them.

The Hebrew selem (image) and demut (likeness) are used together to convey the total and complete similarity to the divine. In every way, mentally, physically, and spiritually, the male and female are like God. They are to be what God would be if God were human, exhibiting a remarkable capacity to be and to do.

It is clear that God is the Creator even though humans have the gift of creativity. God is in charge:

God saw everything that [God] had made, and indeed, it was very good. (Gen. 1:31a)

God blesses the humans and provides for their every need. The P tradition uses the generic elohim as the designation for God. The tradition places emphasis on the orderliness of creation, the creative power of God’s words and actions, the goodness of all creation, and the equality of male and female at the very beginning of creation.

The narrative then makes a rather abrupt shift at Genesis 2:4. Another creation begins here. We are signaled that a different tradition is shaping this story. Scholars widely agree that Genesis 2:4–25 is shaped by the J (Yahwist) tradition; part of the consensus is based on the designation of God as “Yahweh Elohim,” which is translated in our Bibles as “LORD God” (compare Gen. 1:1 with Gen. 2:4b).* In this beginning, the earth is a lifeless sphere, although there is a stream that rises from it. Further, there is no one to till the earth even if there were vegetation. Seeming to take a practical tact, God creates “adam,” or earth-creature, from the dirt.

The earth-creature is called the generic adam to indicate its origins from the dust or ground. The earth-creature is lifeless until God gives mouth-to-mouth and breathes life into it. The “breath of life” is not simply an infusion of oxygen; it is the very essence of the divine. The breath of God is what makes the earth-creature human. Without God’s breath, the earth-creature is no more than an animal, living by instinct. But God’s breath creates a being capable of reason and creativity.

God then creates a bountiful garden containing the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam is placed in the garden, and its job is to till and to keep the garden. Both God and adam are farmers and gardeners. Adam is to care for the garden and to bring forth its full potential and growth. As a caveat, God gives adam a specific command:

And YHWH Elohim commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

(Gen. 2:16–17)

There is no conversation between God and the earth-creature. The command is clear, and we can only assume that adam’s silence is its consent to follow the command. At the very beginning of this creation story, adam is faced with choices: to eat or not; to live or to die. God has created a world where humans can exercise choice and where death is a possibility. Some scholars hold that death in this text is something more than mere physical death. Here, death symbolizes alienation and separation from God on a spiritual level. Death means a disintegration of adam’s relationship both with God and with the earth from which adam is created.

In the paradise God has created there are limits and choices. If adam obeys the command not to eat, it maintains a right relationship with God and all of creation. In this case, adam has no worries and life will move smoothly as intended. However, if adam chooses to eat, the consequences will prove fatal—only death is a suitable consequence for overstepping these boundaries. To eat would represent adam’s declaration of independence from the Creator. Such independence implies separation. Adam risks a return to lifelessness if it chooses to violate the trust between it and its Creator. The choice to eat or not is clearly adam’s. God does not do anything except present the options.

God takes inventory of the divine handiwork and discovers its incompleteness. Recognizing the enormity of the gardening task, God decides not to leave adam companionless (Gen. 2:18). God goes back to the dirt and out of it forms every animal and bird. Adam names each, and what imagination both God and adam exhibit—aardvark, zebra, rhinoceros, dodo bird, eagle, nightingale, elephant, giraffe, ant, firefly, hippopotamus, gnat, frog, hummingbird, lion, canary. God shows a leaning toward serious diversity and difference! God makes it so and declares it good.

Despite the multitude of living creatures, a suitable partner for adam is not yet created. God tries again but uses a different strategy this time:

So YHWH Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that YHWH Elohim had taken from the man was made into a woman and was brought to the man. (Gen. 2:21–22)

God presents this new and different creature. God creates woman, and adam is not aware of God’s creative work until it is completed. She is created from adam’s rib and therein lies an issue. Some commentators equate the mode of her creation as a sign of her status with adam. That is, since she is created from adam, she must be inferior and subordinate. These two short verses have set the tone for the treatment of women for as long as we can remember. Woman, created from adam’s rib, is destined to be inferior and subordinate to man, the theory goes. There is no indication in the text, however, that her status is one of subordination. God creates her, just as God creates adam. She is the only creature not created directly from the dirt; but adam’s essential nature is dirt and indirectly the woman’s nature is also dirt. Their ultimate origin is rooted in the dust. God creates them both and does not indicate a ranking. Both are the result of God’s creative act. Day is not better than night; cows are not better than flies. They are different and no status or hierarchy is implied.

Male and female, man and woman, are connected and share the same essence. They are different, but they are complementary. The Hebrew words for “man” and “woman,” ish and ishshah, share a common root. They, the words and the creatures, are the same and different. Together they are greater than either alone. Upon seeing the helper, adam speaks for the first time. Adam observes and finally names this helper:

Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

this one shall be called Woman,

for out of Man this one was taken.”

(Gen. 2:23)

Adam expresses wonder and awe at finally having a partner. He expresses their inexplicable connection, and there is joy and love in his poem. Adam remains on good terms with God. The earth-creature is creative, nurturing, active, and imaginative, exercising a wide range of freedom and staying within the will of God. The relationship between God and adam is good, close, and easy. God turns over the management of creation to the man and the woman and lets them take care of business. The man and woman establish a close relationship with each other; they are naked and not ashamed. All is well.

Or is it? Chapter 3 opens with a line designed to pique our interest and curiosity (Gen. 3:1a). The shift from creation to this story is abrupt. We eavesdrop on a theological discussion between the serpent and the woman. They discuss God’s command prohibiting the consumption of the fruit of a certain tree in the garden (a command that neither received directly; see Gen. 3:1b).

The woman clarifies the situation by stating what she believes is the command (Gen. 3:2–3). She does not identify the tree as that of the knowledge of good and evil. She embellishes the command—they are not to eat or even touch the tree. And the serpent tells her that God is a liar!

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Gen. 3:4–5)

God has withheld important information, for rather than die, they will live with open eyes and knowledge. If they eat, they will be even more like God; the serpent implies that the knowledge of good and evil will make them more divine. If they eat, they will know as much as God, and that is a positive thing. The serpent raises the idea of doubt. It implies that God does not want the humans to know as much as the Creator even though God has commanded them to continue the creative process. Notice that the serpent speaks to the woman. Adam is silent, although we learn later that he is present during the conversation.

The woman looks at the tree again and she eats. She seeks wisdom and shares with her partner (Gen. 3:6). She makes a choice and adam eats without hesitation or resistance. He is not tricked or coerced or seduced. He is as willing as she to take a chance.

The consequences of their choice are dramatic. Remember that chapter 2 closes on a positive note (Gen. 2:25). Now there is a shift in their lives:

Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. (Gen. 3:7)

The ease with which they have lived and related to each other is now disrupted. Their harmonious and shameless relationship has changed into one of discomfort. They hide their bodies from each other and each is filled with shame and embarrassment. It is not surprising that some have equated nudity and sexuality with shame and guilt. A simple reading of this text and the verses following leads one to think of the body as a necessary evil rather than a thing of beauty created by God.

The stage is set now for the drama that haunts us to this day: God confronts the man and woman about their decision (Gen. 3:8–19). God reenters the story and interrogates adam. Adam behaves differently and speaks again for the first time since his love song to his companion and partner. And his speech is filled with fear and accusation and anger. Adam expresses dread at standing naked before God. Adam hides from the eyes of God. And God is puzzled and continues the interrogation. Then adam unleashes his anger—“the woman you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree and I ate!”

Rather than claim his responsibility in the deed, adam tries to shift the blame to God and the woman. If God had not given the woman, adam would not have eaten. If the woman had not offered, adam still would have not eaten. Adam is fearful, embarrassed, ashamed, and resentful. Adam tries to justify himself before God by seeking a scapegoat. Adam does not state his willingness to eat despite God’s direct command to him not to eat. Adam does not confess his silence when offered the fruit—he never said a word in protest. He does not state the accurate command nor does he try to dissuade the woman from eating. He gives in and then blames the woman and her Creator.

Likewise, the woman does not own up to her role in the eating of the fruit. She blames the serpent, but she does not blame God for creating the serpent. Further, she does not seek to blame adam. God quickly passes judgment upon all three. They must suffer the consequences of their actions. First, the serpent is cursed and alienated from its fellow creatures. It is forced to crawl on its belly and to eat the dust from which it was created. Both indicate total and complete degradation and humiliation. The serpent is to be an enemy of the woman and her children.

Second, the woman is not cursed, but her world has changed. It is not clear from the text exactly what is intended. We know that there is increased pain during childbirth, which mirrors the labor her husband is to experience in bringing forth food from the earth. Despite the pain of childbirth, she will desire her husband sexually. She is to be “ruled” over by her husband. And here lies the “curse” upon women throughout history. Some have interpreted this to mean that women are to be subordinate to men. This verse has been used to justify male dominance over women. Women have been second-class citizens and prevented from living a full life because it “says so in the Bible.” Feminist and womanist scholars, however, argue that only this particular woman is sentenced to a subordinate role to this particular man because of their mutual transgression. God has not assigned such a role to all women for all time. The status of the woman here has changed, as has that of the man. She is not declared more sinful than he; in fact, the word “sin” is not used in the text at all. The text does not declare the woman responsible for the downfall of humanity, nor does it indicate that she tricked or seduced or tempted the man to eat the forbidden fruit. This story has been distorted to place the ills of the world on the woman.

In addition, the Hebrew word that is translated “rule” is the same that is used when adam is told to have dominion over creation. The point to remember is that the power to “rule,” masal, comes from God and God appoints those to rule or have dominion over. This power is to serve God’s higher purpose. The humans are to care for creation. The use of “dominion” implies service. In the changed world, however, dominion is connected to judgment; dominion is now a kind of punishment for the woman and the man. Her freedom is restricted; she is no longer the creative, active, independent woman. She is under the control of adam.

Adam now has the added responsibility of providing for the woman. His world has changed dramatically. Adam is not cursed but the ground from which he gets his food and livelihood is. He is to labor long and hard to bring forth the earth’s bounty. And now he has to wrestle with thorns and thistles in order to grow his food. Contrast his new reality to his passive eating of the fruit. Now he can eat only by the sweat of his brow. The dust from which he was created is now his enemy and may not yield its fruit. He lives in fear that he will not be able to survive if the earth withholds its bounty. This fear may even carry over in his relationship with the woman: he may not be able to “control” her. She may withhold herself so that no offspring are produced and Adam’s task of providing food becomes even more difficult.

The garden had been a place of comfort and ease, a place where shame, guilt, and fear were absent. God had pretty much left the man and woman alone to manage things. But things are different now. God does not and cannot trust them to do the right thing, and the possibility of things going from bad to worse is still present:

Then YHWH Elohim said, “See, [adam] has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—therefore YHWH Elohim sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. YHWH Elohim drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden YHWH Elohim placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life. (Gen. 3:22–24)

While God did indicate that the tree of life was off limits, God can no longer trust the humans to leave it alone. God evicts them from the garden after giving them suitable clothes to cover their nakedness. Even in the midst of the mess, God extends divine mercy and care. But the humans are exiled from the place of harmony and innocence. They can never return—this is, in a sense, a death sentence!

ADAM DOES NOT SPEAK either to argue with God or to nurture or console the woman. He plays a passive role again. Adam is elevated to the wise “first” man, but such designation is a stretch. While adam shows some creative and imaginative leanings in naming the animals and birds; and he shows tenderness and compassion in composing his love song to the woman, he is fairly passive. He does not communicate directly with the woman. He does not correct her understanding of the command given specifically to him by God. He does not enter the theological discussion with the serpent. He does not refuse to eat the fruit when offered.

When adam does speak, it is to whine to God about the woman he had been given as a partner. He has gone from a lovely love ballad in Genesis 2:23 to an unhealthy whine in Genesis 3:12. His gratitude has changed into scapegoating. Adam takes no responsibility for his silence or his decision to eat. He exhibits no care or defense for himself or for the woman. He passes his responsibility off to her and accuses her and God of making him disobey the commandment. And adam pays a heavy price for his transgression and silence.

Of course, we might wonder if adam has been set up to fail. In both creation stories, it is God who sets the agenda. If humans are truly created in the image and likeness of God, then they have the capacity to choose. In creating them, God has left open the possibility that they will choose against the divine will and purpose. That is, God must live with the freedom given to the humans. So God should not be surprised or dismayed when the humans exercise their freedom, and the humans should not be penalized for exercising this freedom.

Further, God placed the possibility of death in the midst of creation. In the place where humans live, breathe, and have their being, there is also the specter of death. God has given the humans both freedom and limits. It is not clear how the humans are to distinguish between the two; as creative, thinking, active beings, they will push boundaries to the limit. The judgment of God is quick and unequivocal—and may seem too harsh to our sensibilities about punishment fitting the crime. But remember that the shapers of the tradition have a larger theological message to convey; complete and total reliance on God results in good choices and a good life. Disobedience brings alienation, separation, disunity, and disharmony. Disobedience disrupts creation and all relationships. Instead of open, caring, and loving relationships, now we must deal with suspicion, distrust, anger, shame, and hostility.

God did not make it easy for adam. But adam did what he did and paid the price!