In His relationship with mankind, God operates within a paradigm of measure for measure. This is elaborated upon in the Adam and Eve story by a number of wordplays that expand the meaning of the text.

 

Man and woman wished to transcend their humanity and reach into God’s realm. Their punishment will be awareness of their earthliness and mortality. 

 

Let us look again at the speech of the serpent as he attempts to tempt the woman:

 

The serpent said to the women: “You will not surely die; for Elohim knows that on the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened (venifkuchu eyneichem) and you will become like Elohim [i.e., you will become Godlike], knowing (yodei) good and bad” (Genesis 3:4). 

 

In fact, no sooner did the couple eat of this fruit than their eyes were indeed opened. However, rather than awareness of the supernatural realm they were anticipating, they became aware of their own physicality and sexuality:

 

Then the eyes of both of them were opened (vatipokachno eiynei sheneihem) and they knew (vayeidu) that they were naked (arumim); and they sewed together a fig leaf and made themselves aprons (Genesis 3:7). 

 

The serpent was the first to sin and will therefore be the first to be punished. By means of its skills in promoting the occult, it had tempted man and woman to transcend their humanity. Therefore, its ability to engage in this type of activity will be severely curtailed. Instead of standing upright towards the heavens (as in its mythological representation), it will now be bound to the earth in a most definitive way.  

Just as the serpent transcended “all”” other animals in its shrewdness and cunning for evil, its curse surpasses the curse of “all the cattle and beasts of the field.” The word “orum” (cunning) that described the nature of the serpent is very similar in Hebrew to the word “orur” (cursed) that describes its fate as well as the word “arum” (nakedness) that describes the self-awareness of Adam and Eve: 

  

Now the serpent was cunning (orum) (עָרוּם) beyond any beast of the field that the Lord God had made . . . . (Genesis 3:1). 

 

And the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, accursed (arur) (אָרוּר) are you beyond all the cattle and beyond all the beasts of the field, upon your belly shall you go and dust shall you eat all the days of your life (Genesis 3:14).  

 

The serpent tempted woman and man to reach out to the supernatural realm. It is appropriate, therefore, that his punishment will be to eat nothing but earth. Cassuto points out that the expression “to lick the dust” is also a biblical expression of defeat.1  

 

The paragraph continues:

 

And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He will pound (yeshufecha) (יְשׁוּפְךָ) your head, and you will bite (teshufanu) (תְּשׁוּפֶנּוּ) his heel (Genesis 3:15).

 

There is another wordplay here. The words to “pound” and to “bite” sound similar in Hebrew, (although their roots are different). Again, this is measure for measure. You attempted to create discord between God and man. Now, God will arrange for enmity between you and man. Man will be able to pound your head, but you will be able to “bite” and injure his heel.

 

One might well ask — who cares what happens to the serpent? Moreover, the serpent’s fate seems hardly realistic. Serpents eat reptiles and not dust. However, the fate of the serpent would have been of considerable interest to listeners at that time, since the serpent was considered a means of reaching to the occult. In effect, this story is attempting to curtail the popularity of magic by bringing the serpent down from its upright position to crawling on the earth. Much later, the Torah will ban seeking the occult altogether. This is expressed most fully in the Book of Deuteronomy:

 

When you come into the land that YHWH your God is giving you, you shall not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, a soothsayer, a diviner, an enchanter, a sorcerer, or one who casts spells, or one who consults ghosts or familiar spirits, or inquires of the dead. For whoever does these things is an abomination to YHWH, and because of these abominations, YHWH your God is dispossessing them before you (Deuteronomy 18:9-12).

 

It is now the turn of the woman to be punished, since she was the next to sin. Since the couple have lost any possibility of immortality, it will now be the role of woman to bear the travails of pregnancy so as to maintain the human race: 

 

And to the woman He said, “I will greatly increase your suffering (etzvonech) (עִצְּבוֹנֵךְ) and your childbearing; in pain (be’etzev) (בְּעֶצֶב) shall you bear children. Yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” (Genesis 3:16).

 

One word in particular stands out in this sentence because of its repetition – “travail” or “pain” (in Hebrew etzev) (עֶצֶב). You, woman, previously had a life without any responsibility other than to provide companionship to your husband. Now, the text emphasizes, you will experience the pain of childbirth and raising children. Note the similarity in sound between “etzev” (עֶצֶב) (pain) and “eytz” (עץ), (tree), the source of her travails. Moreover, just as you influenced your husband, you will now be subject to his desires.

 

What is the significance of “he will rule over you”?  A number of suggestions have been made by the medieval Jewish exegetes. Sexually he will be the initiator (Rashi), his will is destined to be more powerful than yours (Ibn Ezra), and your longing will be to your husband for intimacy (Nachmanides). These explanations sound sexist to the modern mind. Few women appreciate learning that dominion over them by their husband is embedded within nature! 

 

Nevertheless, when a woman chooses to live with a man and bear his children, she is to a degree subjecting herself to the will of her partner. Women have a choice. They can forgo matrimony and childbirth.  As such, they are free from male domination. However, as soon as a woman develops a permanent liaison with a man, she subjects herself to her partner/husband. Becoming pregnant and raising children entails dependency on him for protection and financial security. It is not in her interest that he seeks other sexual liaisons. She is now dependent on his faithfulness and she needs to assure this by fulfilling his sexual desires. Men are also physically stronger than women and built for a more active role in sex. However sexist this comment appears, it reflects the reality of the human condition. On the other hand, matrimony is also meant for companionship and this is incompatible with a domineering husband.

 

Finally, it is the turn of Adam, the last to sin and the last to discover its consequences:

 

Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate of the tree about which I commanded you “You shall not eat of it,” accursed is the ground because of you; through suffering shall you eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you and you shall eat the grain of the field. By the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread until you return to the ground from which you were taken; for you are dust and to dust shall you return (Genesis 3:17-19).

 

The land is cursed and naturally grows thorns and thistles. No longer sustained by God in a luscious garden, Adam will now have to work the land tirelessly to produce “the grains of the field.” 

 

Moreover, like the serpent that crawls on its belly and eats dust “all the days of your life,” you/man will continue working the earth “all the days of your life” until your death. 

 

With mention of death and dust, the story has come full circle. Adam was created from the dust — “And YHWH/ Elohim formed man of dust from the ground. . . . .” (Genesis 2:7) and after a life of travail he will return to the dust from which he was created — “until you return to the ground from which you were taken” (Genesis 3:19).

 

Cassuto comments:

 

You wished to be like God and to transcend the status of earthly creatures, but you must not forget that although you were created in the divine image, your body was derived from the ground, and everything in nature must return in the end to its original source.2  

 

Nevertheless, there is no explanation in the text as to why death is a necessary part of the human condition. Could not God have created man in a way other than being organic and destined to decay? The Tree of Life could also potentially have bestowed immortality upon the couple.

One answer is that if humankind was immortal and banded together in opposition to God’s will, the world would get “stuck” in a man-made morality. In fact, this will happen with lifespans of hundreds of years as described at the beginning of Genesis and when a flood becomes necessary to recharge the earth. Only if the world’s population is continually replenished can humanity progress both socially and spiritually.

 

References:

 

1. A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, Part One, From Adam to Noah by Umberto Cassuto, Second paragraph, The Judgment and the Sentence, p160, The Magnes Press, Jerusalem, reprinted 1998. Examples are Psalms 122:9, Isaiah 49:23 and Micha 7:17.

 

1. A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, Part One, From Adam to Noah by Umberto Cassuto, Second paragraph, The Judgment and the Sentence, p169, The Magnes Press, Jerusalem, reprinted 1998.