Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7
Chapter 2
God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he placed the man whom he had created.
The Lord God made every kind of tree grow from the ground that is pleasing to the eye and good for food, including the tree of Life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Chapter 3
Sin
Now the serpent was the craftiest of all the wild creatures that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman:
“Did God really say: You must not eat from any tree in the garden?”
The woman said to the serpent: “We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden,
but of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden God said: You must not eat, and you must not touch it or you will die.”
The serpent said to the woman:
but God knows that the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.”
The woman saw that the fruit was good to eat, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining knowledge. She took some of the fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
The woman saw that the fruit was good to eat, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining knowledge. She took some of the fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Commentaries
Paradise.
This new account, also known as the “creation account,” has distinct characteristics compared to the previous one. It is not a hymn. God does not give commands for things to appear. Like a potter, he shapes man from clay and breathes the breath of life into him. He places him in the Garden of Eden and warns him about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He creates all living things from clay to accompany him, and upon finding no suitable helper, puts him to sleep, and from his rib “forms” a creature: woman.
Long ago, this story was retold by the Israelites, primarily to explore the origins of humanity and the distinctions between humans and other creatures.
According to this account, humans share three common characteristics with animals:
1. Both have been formed using “soil clay” (7.19).
2. Both receive from God the “breath of life” (cf. 7:15,22).
3. Both are “living beings” (7.19).
But God makes man in his image and likeness (1:26), and this begins to take shape from the moment God breathes his breath into the nostrils of Adam, who has just been fashioned from “adamah”—clay from the ground—from which the animals were also made. Man’s actions should therefore differ from those of the animals, as he is not only driven by his instincts but also, and above all, by the Spirit of God within him. Thus, a human being is not human solely because they have a body; what is specific occurs when the Spirit of God inhabits them, and they live moved by him. In other words, humanity arises in man and woman when their materiality—their “adamancy”—is animated by the Spirit of God.
From this interpretation, we can draw valuable conclusions about living out our faith and achieving personal growth. This passage invites us to be aware of our natural “adamancy” (our instincts), but also to recognize that within each of us is the presence of the Spirit of God, who moves and waits for us to allow him to humanize us.
Sin.
This story, which is closely connected to the previous one, is based on a Mesopotamian myth. It aims to explore the origin of evil. If everything created by God is good, at what point did evil emerge?
In several places in the Old Testament, we find the expression “knowledge of good and evil” as a reference to the power to make the ultimate decision about things (cf. 2 Sm 14:17; 1 Kgs 3:9; Eccl 12:14). The great temptation for human beings is to position themselves as the absolute measure of reality, disregarding the will of God. Whenever humans have acted this way throughout history, the results have always been, and continue to be, a departure from God’s plan: injustice, oppression, totalitarianism.
The myth effectively illustrates the perspective of the sages of Israel: evil in the world originates in the hearts of human beings when they permit themselves to be trapped and dominated by their instincts—”adamancy”—and act without discernment or the guidance of the Spirit that God infused in them at creation.
Human beings self-destruct when they lose sight of the fact that God, an inherently liberating being, is the only valid point of reference for distinguishing right from wrong. When God is displaced to elevate human beings and their selfish tendencies, the result is sin, death, and perdition.