Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?' "
And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden; neither shall you touch it, lest you die.' "
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."
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate.
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.
4 comments:
Is "naked" the same as "evil"??
Not my perspective, I'm afraid...
One of many odd things about this passage--including the fact that the Jews haven't interpreted it in anything like the Christian midrash on the story. We have, for example, no indication that Eve munched first, and then, with malice aforethought, passed on the Bad News... and the Jewish assumption has been that what the two of them acquired was not Sin, but simply a less than pleasant sort of wisdom. Another odd detail-- Have you ever picked a fig off a tree? Those leaves itch!
I first started to really grok Christianity when someone suggested... that Jesus came to offer an escape from "The Knowledge of Good and Evil"-- that mentality we see at work here, in the effort to hide themselves, and later in the way they blame each other.
And one could see this 'nakedness', not only literally, but in the sense of having no ideas to cloth their minds, nothing to talk about but fruit juice on the chin and an uneasy stomach.
I don't see "naked" as evil. My take on this passage is that the basic "nature" of humans is a direct relationship with God, but when we begin to choose OUR way which is different than God's we build barriers between each other and God. The significance of covering our most intimate parts is evident in God's question. I believe God "knew" where they "were" but wanted to point out that a barrier had been raised between the human and Divine.
"Naked" is not "evil" so much as "busted." There you are, wishing you could kid yourself or at least someone else (because you really don't look like much in this psychological condition, at least not to yourself) and it isn't working.
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