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Naomi H. Rosenblatt is the author of Wrestling with Angels, which is a psychotherapist’s take on the lessons on Genesis. She has a fascinating chapter on Adam & Eve.
When Genesis describes the Tree of Knowledge it uses the term ‘Da'at.’ Da’at has a dual connotation. It certainly refers to knowledge in general but also to sexual knowledge. It is the emergence of sexual awareness/knowledge that plays a primary role in the “universal human passage from childhood innocence into the world of adult experience.” With the knowledge that comes with age, there is great responsibility.
The Garden of Eden is a metaphor for growing up. The garden itself represents the safe and secure environment of one's childhood home. In the early phase of our childhood, all our needs are provided for by our parent(s). For Adam & Eve it literally grew on trees. They were oblivious to the fact that they were naked, just like children. Suddenly, the questioning of the parent begins. The child begins to challenge the boundaries established by the parent. Why? Why not? What would happen if I disobey?…
Eve is the first person to question. She is also the first person to feel the stirrings of sexuality. This is alluded to with snake imagery. The snake was a symbol of fertility and the phallus. ‘You're curious, it's ok to touch…’ Her curiosity spurred her desire for knowledge. “She realizes that the sheltered greenhouse of Eden will never be conducive to intellectual or spiritual growth.” And so she is willing to “relinquish a world of safety and security for knowledge and experience.”
[This is a radically different way to view Eve than in the past. Here, it is the woman who brings knowledge and personal growth to mankind. She is no longer the temptress but a savior of sorts!]
God acts very much like a parent. He provides for the needs of his children. He gets angry when his children disobey. He may yell and he may punish, yet he is not without conscience or love. He still provides for Adam & Eve as they are made to leave home. God clothes them, thus providing a most basic need!
So it is time for the children to leave. Whether they go voluntarily or not, they are destined to leave the safe and nuturing home. In the Bible, it sounds like an eternal punishment but it is just a reality check. What sounded like a decree of punishmnet was a lesson in the facts of life. As a man, Adam would need to work the fields for a living and in doing so endure toil and hardship. Eve on the other would be subjected to pregnancy and suffer the pangs of childbirth. They could never return to the innocent stage they had lived in prior to coming to the age of knowledge. The path back to Eden forever lost.
God had been torn between holding his children back and allowing them to progress. And so He attempted to shield knowledge from His young. This knowledge was the facts of life. Now it was time for Adam & Eve to live life. God did not abandon them. He just took a step back and gave them space.
As a parent, I so enjoy watching my children during their innocent stage of childhood and I wish it would last forever. But with each level the children master, their curiosity grows. Boundaries are set up and challenges are offered. The children are growing in size and knowledge. They no longer believe in the tooth fairy nor do they take everything literally anymore. I notice as my nephews and nieces enter puberty, they seem different. They are not the cute little innocent beings they once were. Once they are exposed to their sexuality, they can never return to the childlike stage ever again. They have lost their innocence.
A parent tries to retain Eden for as long as possible but must invariably yield to the cycle of life. Children must leave their protective home and (hopefully) find a spouse to travel life’s journeys. And so the safe haven of Eden is traded for the knowledge and gift of life’s experience. Eden is not eternal, its realm is fleeting, but it’s paradise while it lasts.