What really happened in the Garden of Eden?

Ziony Zevit

Book - 2013

The Garden of Eden story, one of the most famous narratives in Western history, is typically read as an ancient account of original sin and humanity's fall from divine grace. In this highly innovative study, Ziony Zevit argues that this is not how ancient Israelites understood the early biblical text. Drawing on such diverse disciplines as biblical studies, geography, archaeology, mythology, anthropology, biology, poetics, law, linguistics, and literary theory, he clarifies the worldview of the ancient Israelite readers during the First Temple period and elucidates what the story likely meant in its original context. Most provocatively, he contends that our ideas about original sin are based upon misconceptions originating in the Secon...d Temple period under the influence of Hellenism. He shows how, for Ancient Israelites, the story was really about how humans achieved ethical discernment. He argues further that Adam was not made from dust and that Eve was not made from Adam's rib. His study unsettles much of what has been taken for granted about the story for more than two millennia and has far-reaching implications for both literary and theological interpreters.

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Subjects
Published
New Haven : Yale University Press c2013.
Language
English
Main Author
Ziony Zevit (-)
Physical Description
xxvii, 368 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9780300178692
  • Introduction: The Fall is with us always
  • Part 1. Now and then. The Fall in interpretation ; The Fall in the Hebrew Bible ; Who wrote the garden story and when? ; What is a reader-response approach to interpreting the garden story? ; Reading, presenting, and evaluating the garden story
  • Part 2. Before then. A down-to-earth story (Gen 2:4-7) ; Why Eden? Why a garden? Where were the trees? (Gen 2:5, 8-10) ; Where in the world was Eden? (Gen 2:10-14) ; The gardener and his tasks (Gen 2:15) ; The second commandment (Gen 2:16-17) ; The first social welfare program (Gen 2:18-20) ; The first lady (Gen 2:21-23) ; Why "therefore"? (Gen 2:24) ; How bare is naked? (Gen 2:25) ; Clever conversation and conspicuous consumption (Gen 3:1-6) ; Dressing up for a dressing down (Gen 3:7-11) ; Interrogation and negotiation (Gen 3:11-13) ; Procreation in the garden (Gen 3:14-19; 4:1-2) ; Not a leg to stand on : the serpent's sentence and the Israelite culture of "curse" (Gen 3:14-15) ; No bundle of joy : Hawwa's sentence and Israelite predilections in legal reasoning (Gen 3:16) ; Toil and trouble : Adam's sentence and the rights of laborers (Gen 3:17-19) ; Out of the garden (Gen 3:20-24)
  • Part 3. Then and now. The essential plot of the garden story ; A literal translation of a literary text ; Allusions to the garden story in the Hebrew Bible ; Contra the common interpretation ; Beyond the Tower of Babel
  • Appendix: Transliterating Hebrew for tourists in the garden.
Review by Choice Review

Zevit (American Jewish Univ., Los Angeles) asks how Israelites in the First Temple period understood the garden story. His conclusions, based on detailed analysis of biblical Hebrew, challenge numerous popular views, e.g., that Adam was created from dust; that woman was created from a rib; that Eve is cursed; and that reproduction occurred only after the expulsion from Eden. Uncovering subtleties in the Hebrew language lost as early as the Hellenistic period, Zevit finds not a story of sin, judgment, and curse impacting mythical figures, but an explication of life lived by real people in the care of a compassionate deity. Citations include Paul, Augustine, Rashi, Calvin, Mark Twain, and Proust. Appeals to Sumerian, Akkadian, Hurrian, Hittite, Ugaritic, Egyptian, Arabic, Ethiopic, and rabbinic texts, paleobotany, and human anatomy secure many of the arguments. However, whether ancient Israelites would have had the polyglot facilities and grammatical knowledge Zevit adduces remains speculative. The opening summary of select feminist readings is a bit precious; the conclusions on human nature, ethical self-awareness, and acquisition of knowledge are seriously thought provoking. Zevit's captivating style makes this material not only accessible but also fascinating. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. A.-J. Levine Vanderbilt University

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review

Using linguistic and historical analysis, -Zevit (Distinguished Professor of Biblical Literature & Northwest Semitic Languages & Literatures, American Jewish Univ.; The Religions of Ancient Israel) addresses the story of the Garden of Eden from a Jewish perspective, in contrast to the standard Christian interpretations (e.g., the "Fall") that inform popular understanding. He separates his book into three units, each addressing a question about the story. Part 1 discusses why books in the Hebrew Bible other than Genesis seem unaware of the Fall. He examines them with their original audience in mind. Part 2 examines Adam's and Eve's motivations and guilt. The last section studies the treatment of the Eden story in the Hebrew Bible's other books. Zevit's goal is to place the story in its original, pre-Christian context. His close reading indicates that the Israelites who first told and recorded the story believed it to describe historically distant but true events. Ultimately, according to Zevit's analysis, the story is not one of loss but of gain, as humanity acquires the wisdom necessary to make conscious decisions. VERDICT Zevit successfully aims his study at serious general, rather than specialized, readers. His multidisciplinary yet accessible approach to the Garden of Eden story provides insights outside of commonly known interpretations. Recommended for lay readers in ancient history or Judeo-Christian religion.-Matt Rice, Philadelphia (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.