An Atheistic Bible Study Of Genesis Chapter Three - The Fall

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Barely created, Adam & Eve are about to get into a whole heap of trouble thanks largely to a talking snake. The snake, or Serpent, is often assumed to be Satan (Lucifer) making his first appearance in the Bible but this is never suggested, stated or even hinted in the text itself. The Serpent, described as crafty (cunning or intelligent) arrives from nowhere and its creation or back story are never given. God has clearly created it along with every other land animal. Why? What is the source of its motivation for corrupting fledgling humanity? We receive no clues. That the snake talks is no surprise or shock to Adam or Eve. We do not know if they have a Dr Doolittle ability to talk to the other beasts of Eden or all of Earth. The Snake knows that God has told Adam not to touch the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil under threat of death. How did the snake learn of this? Has God told it or has it eavesdropped on Adam & Eve discussing it? Eve was not created when God ordered Adam not to touch the fruit from this particular tree. Whether Adam or God told her later is not stated. Which type of fruit it is in particular is never stated anywhere in the Bible though later tradition makes it an apple. The serpent tells the truth in stating that Adam & Eve won’t die on eating the fruit, but it does lie in promising it will make the first humans god-like through their knowledge of good and evil. What they will gain is free will, guilt and hereditary shame. As to our understanding of good and evil, we will just get very confused. Eve gives in to temptation first and eats some of the fruit. Adam is right beside her when this happens and makes no effort to prevent her from trying the fruit. He tries it immediately after she does. Immediately the humans feel vulnerable and ashamed of their nudity. They make clothes out of fig leave for themselves right away. God comes ‘walking’ round Eden. Walking? I had to do a double-take on reading that description. Walking! How can an infinite being walk round a finite garden somewhere in or near Turkey? Adam & Eve hide from him, and God, who is supposed to know everything and see everything, can’t find them. He calls out asking where they are. Adam steps out of hiding and only then does God seem to realize that something is wrong. He asks questions about why Adam has fashioned clothes for himself and whether Adam touched the forbidden fruit. Adam admits the offence but quickly blames Eve for succumbing to temptation first. Eve blames the Serpent. God strips the serpent of its legs and forces it to crawl forever, eating nothing but dust. It is not shown if the Serpent had to be caught, chased or freely admitted to its part in the Fall. God then makes it clear that Adam & Eve will face hurt and friction from their offspring and each other. The supposedly loving God also curses Eve so that giving birth will be excruciating pain for her and all pregnant women. This is the first of many acts of sadistic cruelty we will see from God in the Bible. Adam gets off a little more lightly but he is told that he and all his descendants must do back-breaking work to grow and reap harvest for food all their (our) lives ever afterwards. He also tells the orchard raiders that they will become as dust when they die. Adam and Eve are now finally named (Adam chooses Eve’s name, though who picks his is unstated). God now make clothes of skin (from which creature is unstated) to replace the fig-leaf outfit and banishes Adam & Eve from Eden. The garden has a tree bearing fruit that makes the consumer immortal, but God won’t let Adam and Eve touch that. Cherubim (angels) and a flaming sword guard the only entrance to Eden to ensure we never get back in (though not giving clues to its location makes regaining Eden impossible anyway). The burning sword seems to be independent of the Cherubim, so it is not stated who if anyone wields it or if it has magical independent life or power. God’s challenge to not take the fruit is pretty dumb. Why did he just not hide the tree and it fruit and never mention it to us? It’s as though God wants to set us up for the fall. God also created the serpent and fails to either see it home in on Eve or find them when they play hide and seek with him. Why should we not have liberty and free will or any kind of Knowledge anyway? Arthur Chappell