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Adam
Adam
But lordship of Adam and Eve over other created
life does not entail destructive domination. Some readers with an empassioned environmental consciousness
have asserted that the roots of our ecological crisis
reside in the biblical doctrine of Adam's lordship over
creation, which meant his power to do with the created order whatever he saw fit to do. But the act of
calling the -animals by name invokes the images of a
protector and steward rather than a dictatorial ruler.
This is made very clear in the story of Jonah. In this
tale the fate of man and beast are inextricably linked.
Because domestic animals lived in close proximity to
human beings, should human civilization fall so would
the animals. Indeed our author makes a special point of
declaring that God had mercy on Nineveh because of
the great number of people and animals that dwelled
therein (Jonah 4:11).
A third manner of indicating the special status of the
human person is by way of their gender. To be sure, the
person's animals also possess gender, but the fact that
the Bible passes over this detail in silence is significant.
Here the biblical writer has in mind the unique form of
companionship and lifelong marital bonds that have no
counterpart in the animal world (Gen 2:24). As a result,
man is not considered complete until he is rendered in
his full sexual complementarity: "This at last is bone of
my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called
woman (!"ltJN 'ishah) for out of man .(ETN Msh) this
one was taken" (Gen 2:23; Tob 8:6).
Fourth, but by no means last, humanity is singled
out from the rest of creation by being made the subject
of a command that is tied to the faculty of moral discernment (what the Bible calls "the knowledge of good
and evil"). In linking that status of humankind to the
keeping of a commandment, the story of the garden of
Eden shows a rather broad parallel to Israel's national
story as Jewish midrashic tradition was wont to point
out. Both Adam, and Eve as well as Israel, are subject
to a divine edict. Adam's was a single command, while
Israel subjected herself to the totality of the Torah. Violation of this edict will entail exile from a land of life
and beatitude. God makes this explicit when he conveys the command to Adam (Gen 2:16-17); whereas
Moses conveys the same idea when he exhorts Israel to
obedience just before their entrance into the promised
land: "See, I am setting before you today a blessing and
a curse: the blessing if you obey the commandments
[ . . . ] and the curse if you do not obey the commandments" (Deut 11:26-27). Keeping the commandments
will yield a life of blessing in a land flowing with milk
and honey; disobedience will bring in its wake the
curse of exile and death.
One problem that has long perplexed readers of the
story is whether Adam and Eve would have attained
moral discernment had they not eaten of the tree.
The position of the ancient Gnostics that has been
adapted by many moderns is that God was jealous of
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Adam
these creatures and withheld knowledge until they had
sinned and became mortal (see Gen 3:22, which offers
some support). Though there is some ambiguity in the
Genesis account, it is more likely that the Bible imagines that moral discernment would have been granted
to Adam and Eve but by other means. Because of the
rapidity of their fall, we will never know what they
might have been. This view is more in keeping with
the rest of Biblical teaching that regards wisdom as a
gift that only God can bestow and then, only to those
who fear him.
In any event it is clear that as a result of attaining
moral discernment by improper means Adam and Eve
are driven from Eden. This makes the story of the fall
very much like the other tales found in Gen 1-11:
Humankind comes upon natural goods by improper
means. So in Gen 4 we are witness to the -founding of
cities, musical instruments, and the tools of agriculture
all which were thought to be the result of a divine
gift elsewhere in the ANEas the result of the murderous offspring of Cain. Our narrative is not scoring
points to the favor of some sort of primitivism (a la
Rousseau). Cities, music, and agriculture are all items
worthy of praise elsewhere in the Bible. The point is
that these benefactions originate by sinful means, as
does the moral consciousness of man. They will only
be put to beneficial use by God's dramatic intervention
into history to elect the nation Israel.
In the priestly account of creation (Gen -1:12:4a)
the account of the creation of humankind is more brief.
Here the key motif is that humankind is created in the
image and likeness of God (1:26). It is worth emphasizing that the status of this first being as the "image and
likeness" is not limited to the male gender. The parallelistic form of expression rules that out:
So God created humankind (adam) in his image,
In the likeness of God he created them;
Male and female he created them (1:27).
Adam
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