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Media, Video and Lectures From The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies of the University of Arizona, Teaching the Bible in Public Schools and Higher Ed, Scholars, Frauds, the Media and the Public, Essays on Minimalism from Bible and Interpretation, Final Reports on the Yehoash Inscription and James Ossuary from the Israeli Antiquities Authority, Essays on the James Ossuary and the Temple Tablet from Bible and Interpretation, University of Arizona, Center for Judaic Studies, Department of Archaeology and Art History, University of Evansville. In Luke 10:18 Jesus said, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. This suggests that Eden and heaven are one and the same place, and that God likewise banned the devil from the Garden. Reply to Walter R. Mattfeld #12 - Walter R. Mattfeld - 05/09/2015 - 15:39. For YHVH stands in the council of the elohim and judges However, contrary to Adam, Noah can eat meat, being, therefore, a part of the cattle culture (Gen. 9:3). To stand as an (adversary = HaSatan) against balaam to block his path. [14]See J. God told Adam and Eve that they could eat the fruit of God put Adam and Eve in charge of tending and And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Thanks for your comments. Father and son walked together, each looking but fifteen years of age.. "Monotheization" with regard to Yahweh was one of the distinctive features of the Old Testament (though in the case of the Flood, I see the underlying source as the Atrahasis epic rather than Gilgamesh [though Atrahasis itself lay behind Gilgamesh epic; see my book From Creation to Babel regarding all this). I was successful. It is said that the garden was planted in the east.. Answer. The problem? Genesis 2:1617, Genesis 3:2223 ). Today (27 May 2015), I acquired Shlomo Izre'el's _Apapa and the South Wind, Language Has the Power of Death_ and was surprised to discover its earliest recension is Sumerian of the Old Babylonian Period (see p.7): Sharp teeth and claws, a short digestive tract, powerful limbsall these features suggest predator, not tame and gentle pet. Note further the Yahwists liking for word play in referring to the first couple as naked (arummim) in Gen 2:25, the verse immediately preceding the allusion to the serpent as crafty (arum). Either 1) God had no intention of evil appearing but it crept in accidentally anyway, 2) God knew that evil might appear but he intentionally took a neutral stance Here I think we need to distinguish between exegesis (what the text originally meant) and hermeneutics (how intelligent people of faith might try to appropriate the text today). 104. This is that it would be remarkable if the Septuagint understood the he as referring to the Messiah, since such an understanding is completely lacking in subsequent Jewish understanding of the verse. By the way, you twice refer to "Rawlinson" as "Rawlings" - doubtless a typo! Available in PDF format at Degruyter.com. John Sailhamer says: It should not be overlooked that the serpent is said to be one of the beasts of the field which the Lord God had made (cf. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:9). Arrows at the top turn pages. As Jesus proclaimed in John 8:31-32, Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. , 2023 The Times of Israel , All Rights Reserved. And only for one of them are you able to cite a text in Akkadian (the Mesopotamian language contemporary with the Old Testament) in which the deity in question is attested with serpentine form. It seems obvious in this case that an adversary rose up against Israel and David was convinced by the situation that he had to number the forces in order to see how strong he was to oppose this adversary. In transliteration the word is sakal, which means to have insight and comprehension. The word "dominion" in genesis is the hebrew word radah. p. 156: "Mountains that step to heaven: "In your house on high, in your beloved house, I will come to live, up above in your cedar-perfumed mountain, in your citadel, O Nanna, in your mountain of Ur I will come to live" (from a song). The hebrew word for Dog is Kelev. Scholars are aware from cuneiform inscriptions that Mesopotamia's gods numbered in the hundreds. They leave edin clothed. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eden's location, is determined via its motifs, and is to be found in multiple sites too, in the myths. [7]See the data presented in K.R. In this article you say, ""it was a serpent that tempted Adam and Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit, thereby denying them access to the tree of life which granted immortality. It seems to be a more Orthodox phenomenon. MYTH N UMBER TWO has Enki of Eridu, emerge from the watery depths of spring (called the ABZU), he then ejaculates and his semen fills the empty river beds of the Euphrates and Tigris which were dug with hoes by the Igigi gods. Hence, Professor John Day, using modern geographical knowledge, realized the source of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers is NOT the flat steppe land of Iraq (the floodplain associated with the Sumerian EDIN), it is the mountains of Armenia. The LORD God commanded the man, saying, From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die. (Genesis 2:15-17) The warning is clear enough, disobedience to Gods command leads to death (both physical and spiritual). If you are interested in pursuing the background of the Garden of Eden story, please see chapter 2 of my book From Creation to Babel. It is significant that Josephus,Antiquities1.1.4 similarly attributes the serpents temptation of Eve to jealousy, namely jealousy of the blessings which he thought Adam and Eve would receive if they obeyed God. Right there, near the tree of the knowledge of This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. The Uruk clay map shows gardens within its walls and clay tablets mention that some city gates were called abul-edina, the edin-gate, the way to the edina steppe land surrounding all the cities of Sumer, which bumps the total of pre-biblical Eden locations to well over a dozen locations fused together and recast as one site in Genesis. Moreover, sinceadmoccurs everywhere else in Ugaritic as a word for man, rather than a personal name, this is most likely the case here too (Korpel and de Moors finding a personal name inKTU1.179.9 again requires textual reconstruction). Recently James Charlesworth has written a massive book entitledThe Good and Evil Serpent[15]in which he argues that in the ancient Near East and classical world the serpent was mostly viewed positively, not negatively, and he claims this is also true of the Bible, including the serpent of Genesis 3. #35 - Adylson Valdez - 12/11/2017 - 13:11, Submitted by Walter R. Mattfeld on Sat, 08/15/2020 - 12:15. I discovered from PhD scholars that edin was _a common_ logogram substitute for Akkadian Seru, "the steppe." Another note is that the author (we will go with Moses), knows who Satan is and would use his name - see other scriptures throughout the bible. Ningishzida is portrayed in art as human with serpent dragon heads erupting from his shoulders. Ergo, Enkidu's (EDIN) is not the only prototype. This is how Satan can be understood to have used the shrewd snake that tempted Eve. Heaven will be like the pre-Fall world, and there will be no more death or suffering or pain. The lying pen of the scribes have been a foot. Mythologists don't have to obey nature and commonsense, they can take reality and turn it upside down and on its ear. On the day that you were created they were prepared. See my book The Garden of Eden Myth: Its Pre-biblical Origin in Mesopotamian Myths (2010) available at Lulu.com in preview mode for the details. This passage of Genesis thus became known as theProtoevangelium, the first declaration of the Gospel. Enki/Ea's ejaculate was the one source of two of Edin's two streams that provided life-giving water for the fruit-tree gardens in EDIN's floodplain, cared for by naked man, the gardening slave, on the god's behalf. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.. Rather, as I mentioned in my article, the tree of life of Genesis 3 is comparable to the plant of life in the Gilgamesh epic: eating from these gave one respectively immortality or rejuvenation. The animal in the tree could have been like a lizard (think Iguana or Komodo Dragon) Who God cursed by turning him into a snake (without legs). I also have two grown children. (1) MYTH NUMBER ONE has the water monster Tiamat, slain by Marduk of Babylon. But there is no better place to be than where God has set you down. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. The Tree of Life, however, obviously cannot be destroyed and in the Book of Revelation we learn that it is situated in the middle of the new Jerusalem in heaven. This indirectly suggests that the devil also ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil before he tempted Eve. After Adam and Eve sinned, they were expelled from the garden. Issue 1, June 2014. What are the spiritual attributes that HaShem gave the Kelev. A later depiction of the nephesh is two snakes on a pole; the second representing childbirth. It was the place where God reigned and peace abounded. In the Bible, the theological meaning of the word death is separate. Soggin[6]saw the serpent as symbolic of the Canaanite fertility cult. Does this release offer corrections, revisions and expansions? So, Sumer's edin has led us to Eden's pre-biblical origin, Eridu and its god Enki/Ea who boasted of allowing Adapa (symbolizing mankind) to obtain wisdom like a god, but not immortality, a motif picked up later in Genesis. Hebrew eden has been determined by scholars to mean "delightful, abundant," etc. 1992. We have to remember that while animals are not capable of speaking, there are powerful beings out there (God, the angels, Satan, the demons) Jesus possibly hinted at this when he said that Satan was a murderer from the beginning, and the father of lies in whom there is no truth (Jn 8:44). ),In the Shelter of Elyon: Essays on Ancient Palestinian Life and Literature in Honor of G.W. DepartmentBldg Tucson, AZ 85721 TEL 520-621-6897 FAX 520-626-9014. While mankind had not yet fallen, the angels had already been given a choice to serve God in his kingdom. Williamson (eds. The difference between Jesus and Eves encounter with the devil is that Jesus resisted what Adam and Eve did not. Click on "more info" and an image of the cover will again appear. From the internet, the British Museum stated ziggurats were likely mountains: "ZigguratThe mountains to the east of Mesopotamia were thought to be where some gods lived (especially celestial deities which appeared to rise up from them). Eden is generally a symbol in the OT of what is lush and fertile, which again does not fit your proposed etymology but fits perfectly the well-attested Hebrew root 'dn, which has to do with luxuriance and delight (cf. Vriezen,Onderzoek naar de Paradijsvoorstelling bij de oude Semietische Volken(Wageningen: H. Veenman, 1937), 177. the east, in Eden; and there he put the man. Brandon,Creation Legends of the Ancient Near East(London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1963), 130, 135, 139; J.H. kinds of trees grow out of the ground trees. But once Adam and Chavah ate the forbidden flesh, the forbidden meat. In other myths Dumuzi is turned into a sagkal serpent to slither out the bonds tying his hands and feet to sticks to be carried off to the underworld at Inanna's pleasure. There is no indication that one side would be victorious over the other in the ongoing hostilities (even if striking the head sounds more severe than striking the heel) and an eschatological meaning would be completely out of place in this aetiological context. And at that point HaShem did not put the fear and dread into his animals regarding mankind. For Adam and Eve the serpent in the Garden of Eden represented the voice of temptation but it needs to be noted that for the original writer, the Yahwist (or J) source, the serpent was not equated with Satan (the Devil). However, it is more likely that the flood story in Genesis 6-9 is dependent on the Atrahasis epic rather than on Gilgamesh; see Day,From Creation to Babel, 98-112. For Israel, entering the Promised Land was a kind of restoration back to Eden. Perhaps the temptation to know about good and evil was not the real appeal for Eve, but rather prosperity and power. Moreover, it is incorrect to say that the mere fact of talking indicates an evil animal, since this is clearly not the case with Balaam's donkey in Numbers 22:28-30, which is said to have been inspired by God to speak. It is not just the fall of Man that brought evil into the world, but the fall of Satan. WebThe only primary information in the Bible, regarding life in the Garden of Eden, is to be found in Genesis chapters 2 and 3. [15]Charlesworth,The Good and Evil Serpent(see above n. 13 for full details). The tempter used his craftiness to cause them to sin. Adaba being of Eridu located in the midst of the Sumerian edin in myths, and his Sumerian god Enki boasting I gave him wisdom but not immortality, which is a theme reappearing in Genesis' Eden, said boast made by God. It is true that my suggestion is speculation (although not fanciful) and is why I began with perhaps. The second version is related to an ethereal concept rather than a physical one and is called the Higher Gan Eden.The second paradise is said to appear at the end of the world. From what I have read and heard, the garden of Eden Day, Foreign Semitic Influence on the Wisdom of Israel and its Appropriation in the Book of Proverbs, in J. It is because the EDen story is an anti-thesis, in response to an earlier thesis, about how man came to be made in location called the EDIN, denied knowledge that it is wrong to be naked, and destroyed in a flood at a later date (the Shuruppak flood of circa 2900 BC). While we are on earth evil and good dwell together. Two trees distinct from the rest of the trees in the Garden of Eden were placed in the middle of the garden - the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life. He proposed the Babylonian goddess Tiamat who fought Marduk of Babylon in the Enuma Elish as being Eden's serpent's pre-biblical prototype. Genesis 2:14 gives the location of the Garden of Eden. Just some fundamental things to ponder. Sumerian word equivalents to Akkadian words do occur in Akkadian myths. 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, who was with her, and he ate. In other myths Ea, Dumuzi, and Gishzida all bore the Sumerian epithet ushumgal, ushum= serpent, gal= great, or "great serpent." #13 - Walter R. Mattfeld - 05/10/2015 - 18:02. Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson by 1854-1860 had proposed that behind Eden's serpent was a Babylonian god which lived at ancient Eridu in Babylonia, whom he called Hea, rendered today as Ea. The message is that the Garden of Eden was a delight. The Biblical meaning of true freedom is freedom from sin. Gilgamesh and Enkidu access this Lebanese cedar mountain and after killing its guardian, Humbaba, they chop down cedars to float down the Euphrates to Uruk to refurbish/build a temple for the god Anu and goddess Inanna. Satan spoke peace to Adam and Eve in opposition to God's testimony. Alternatively, God created him, and other divine beings, with the ability to know the difference between good and evil. And they have stronger eyesight then man does. I'm not sure that the author of Gilgamesh thought that it was literally the case that serpents are like this because one of them had stolen the immortal flower and all that but he weaves natural observation and allegorical reflection together to beautiful effect. He created the first man, Adam, in the garden of Edena place of spectacular beauty. His best friend. of Penna. As you are interested in anthropology you should know that James Frazer's Golden Bough is now widely discredited as out of date by modern anthropologists. The first mention of the garden of Eden is in Genesis 2:8: And the Lord God planted a garden eastward toward Eden, and there he put the man he had formed.. The passage below was extracted from my work "O Livro do Apocalipse: uma interpretao conforme a Histria e o Simbolismo Bblico.". Satan was their leader, and he and the other disobedient angels were banished from heaven. Or, perhaps he had access to do so after his fall. Biblical writers were perfectly capable of transforming ancient Near eastern traditions. I found no mention of ushumgals or basmu in the Sumerian account. Especially the conferring of godly knowledge and denial of immortality. The story of the Garden of Eden tells us why evil exists in our world. The purpose of this statement is to exclude the notion that the serpent was a supernatural being. The good news is that this is achievable outside the gates of Eden by trusting in God in what He defines as true and right. In Matthew 10:28 Jesus said, And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.. WebTHE GARDEN OF EDEN HAVING TWO TREES. HaShem YHVH created HIS animals on the same day HE created Adam and Chavah. But Dr. Bob Whiting, editor of the Assyrian State Archives series (of Helsinki Finland) says EDIN is a very common logogram substitute for Seru. This is what the devil did with Eve, and it is his all-consuming goal for everyone. Eden, of course, is the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve enjoyed creation perfectly as God had created it. It includes 'an incantation-like passage' at the end, as does the Akkadian version represented by Fragment D. Furthermore, the myth is the second part of a longer narrative, the first part of which describes the time just following the deluge and describes the feeding of the gods and the organization of mankind.". http://mesopotamia.co.uk/staff/resources/background/bg/teachersheet.html. I actually posted three comments. Moreover, Genesis 3 does not speak of worship of the serpent. And to love them. When one holds a piece of fruit in the hand. So, Ezekiel prophesied that Satan fell from grace and his own anointed guardian cherub drove him out of Eden. Genesis 3 :2 (NKJV) But in addition to a life-depriving serpent and a life-giving plant or tree of life, both works imply that immortality is beyond the grasp of humans." The serpent is none other than a serpent. 3. Rawlings understood the Hea (Ea) was mankind's creator. She follows Wyatt in thinking that the expulsion of Adam and Eve symbolized the destruction of Jerusalem and exile of 586 B.C.E. Turning to the ancient Near Eastern background, it should be noted that a few scholars have tried to see the Eden serpent as symbolic of Canaanite religion. Thank you for your further comments, which I have again pondered carefully. All this happened in the beginning, suggesting that after becoming corrupt, but before his fall from Eden, he managed to tempt Eve in the form of a snake. for it is written, `You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. I quote their arguments. However, the bronze serpent Nehushtan is viewed positively in Num 21:8-9 (unlike in 2 Kgs 18:4, when it had become idolatrous), as are the apparently partially serpentine heavenly seraphim of Isaiah 6. One is called Lower Gan Eden and refers to a physical place. Out of concern that they might also eat from the tree of life, and thus gain immortality and effectively become gods, YHWH expels them from the garden and tells them that their lives will be filled with pain and suffering (Gen Reply to Martin Hughes [22]In the light of all this it seems more likely that the Septuagints he is simply an over-literal translation of the Hebrew. we find in Eccles 9:7-9 a virtual paraphrase of the words of Shiduri in the Old Babylonian version of the Gilgamesh epic (10.3.6-14) about the purpose of life. The single source of these two rivers is Eki's penis, and its stream of water/ejaculate. His name: Nin=Lady, Gish=Tree, Zida=Upright (there are other translations). Ergo, Professor Day, surmises Eden must be in mountainous Armenia. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel nor its partners assume any responsibility for them. east. which means to trample on by force. Day, R.P. And God said as he did so, verse 22 To repeat, the real clues to Eden's location and events are not to be found in the Bible, the Bible's clues will only send you on a wild goose hunt, the real clues exist only in the pre-biblical myths of Sumer and Babylonia. If you fall for temptations, it is far worse for you if you then lead others down the wrong path. 1. The Hebrews or Jews, via a series of inversions, are refuting the Mesopotamian myths' explanation for why man was created, allowed to possess wisdom like a god and denied godly immortality. Day,From Creation to Babel: Studies in Genesis 1-11(LHBOTS 592; London/New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2013), 41-44. You are not where you are by accident but by the plan and the purpose of God. And HaShem also gave them stronger attributes then he gave man. Again, it should be noted that thoughKTU1.100.65 refers to a tree of death, nothing in the actual text implies that this had been transformed from a tree of life. Interestingly, the serpent/snake speaking to Adam and Eve is not the only instance in the Bible where an animal speaks. Job 38:4-7 . WebHere he is told that God gave the Garden of Eden to man "in earnest, or as a pledge of eternal life," but man was only able to dwell there for a short time because he soon fell from grace. Then Paul adds, then Eve.. (10)" Thus the Bible differentiates between the Garden of Eden, and the land of Eden as we touched on above. One is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and one is the tree whose fruit yields eternal life. US, 2019) and God is not Alone: Our Mother the Holy Spirit (Avalon publishing, UK, 2015) developed out of a thesis that was published 2005 in the late Professor Noel Freedmans journal the Biblical Historian and called Gods Wife. On a personal note I love animals and work on a private horse-farm, and have many other interests such as dancing, judo, ping-pong, running, swimming and skiing. Twilight Time. And if it was, why was chokmah not used instead of sakal? His proposal reigned supreme from circa 1854 to 1876. He is the persecutor and prosecutor of humans. But in addition to a life-depriving serpent and a life-giving plant or tree of life, both works imply that immortality is beyond the grasp of humans. Then Eve. And to take care of them. Man acts like an animal. Other myths at Babylon where Ea's son Marduk lives, has the source of the two rivers as flowing out the Tiamat's eyes, conceived of as springs. #14 - Walter R. Mattfeld - 05/11/2015 - 00:20. As, for example, Sumerian Edin occurs in the Gilgamesh Epic as a substitute (technically called a logogram) for Akkadian Seru/Tseru, meaning a "grassy plain."