The Politics of Genesis
A Nonviolent Commentary on the Garden Narrative
2:15 Humanity works in the garden. Our tendency to envision paradise as a place where people do not work is an indictment of how coercive domination has defined and debased work.
2:17 The phrase “knowledge, good and evil” signifies our presumed ability to use evil means for good ends. Presuming this ability for ourselves is humanity’s greatest temptation, and is used to justify all manner of evil. The phrase reappears in reference to the discernment of kings (2 Sam 14:17, 1 Kings 3:9) who justify capital punishment, revenge, war, and slavery to secure their kingdoms and their legacies (1 Sam 8:11-18).
2:20 God creates the animals to be Adam’s partners but Adam gives names to all of them, symbolizing his dominion over them. None are his equals.
2:23 God creates the woman and Adam recognizes her as his equal. He does not name her. Although he does call her woman, the Hebrew word for name is not used.
3:1 The serpent is cunning or shrewd, words used to describe adeptness at using manipulative means and deception for one’s own ends. Whenever we are tempted to use evil means for a perceived good, we have fallen victim to a cunning justification and self-deception that often places the welfare of a selected group of humanity above others.
3:5 The ability to use and control evil means for good ends is beyond human capability. Its use by human beings is often justified by claiming divine authorization or inspiration. Violent behavior in animals is sometimes used to bolster the deification of the inequity and violence of the status quo.
3:7 In Hebrew, the word for naked looks like the word for shrewd. The humans now hide their intentions from each other.
3:12 The male is willing to sacrifice the female to save his own skin. He has learned how to morally justify his actions to himself.
3:14 “Having flagrantly exalted itself in a challenge to God, [the serpent] is now doomed to a posture of humiliation.”- Etz Hayim. Our image of God is to be learned from examples of human love and solidarity, not nature red in tooth and claw, which is decidedly not an image of god.
3:15 Our desire to affirm coercive domination as “natural” or necessary on the basis of violence in nature makes it harder for us to see the abundant examples of mutual aid in nature.
3:16a “The word etzev is not the usual biblical word for ‘pain.’ It recurs in 6:6 referring to God’s regret at the way humanity turned out in the days of Noah.”-Etz Hayim. Throughout history mothers have always suffered most and been the most active in opposing war.
3:16b,19 Coercive domination so debases our marital relationships and our working lives that for many it makes what should be joyous and spiritual into a curse. God is not doing the cursing. God is stating the consequences of our actions when some portion of humanity tries to act “like a god” over another part of humanity.
3:20 Adam names Eve, the Hebrew word for name is used just as it was used when Adam named the animals in 2:19-20, signifying inequality and domination entering into human relationships. Adam is acting “like a god” by adjusting the divinely created boundary between humanity (which is created in the image of God) and animals (which are not) so that some of humanity is placed with the animals. Alternatively, Adam can be viewed as “acting like a god” by creating a new boundary between humans of perceived higher and lower value. A third interpretation, which will reappear in the story of the tower of Babel, is that Adam is transgressing the boundary between heaven and earth, whereby he now perceives himself “like a god” with the divine authority to subjugate other humans. This act immediately precedes the expulsion from the garden and is concomitant with it.
3:24 God places winged sphinxes or cherubim with a flaming sword at the entrance to the garden. One can not enter back into the garden through the same means with which one left it, the means of domination of humans over humans. Instead we are called to model our communities on the basis of cooperation, equality, and love, in the image of God to get back home.
A Nonviolent Commentary on the Garden Narrative
2:15 Humanity works in the garden. Our tendency to envision paradise as a place where people do not work is an indictment of how coercive domination has defined and debased work.
2:17 The phrase “knowledge, good and evil” signifies our presumed ability to use evil means for good ends. Presuming this ability for ourselves is humanity’s greatest temptation, and is used to justify all manner of evil. The phrase reappears in reference to the discernment of kings (2 Sam 14:17, 1 Kings 3:9) who justify capital punishment, revenge, war, and slavery to secure their kingdoms and their legacies (1 Sam 8:11-18).
2:20 God creates the animals to be Adam’s partners but Adam gives names to all of them, symbolizing his dominion over them. None are his equals.
2:23 God creates the woman and Adam recognizes her as his equal. He does not name her. Although he does call her woman, the Hebrew word for name is not used.
3:1 The serpent is cunning or shrewd, words used to describe adeptness at using manipulative means and deception for one’s own ends. Whenever we are tempted to use evil means for a perceived good, we have fallen victim to a cunning justification and self-deception that often places the welfare of a selected group of humanity above others.
3:5 The ability to use and control evil means for good ends is beyond human capability. Its use by human beings is often justified by claiming divine authorization or inspiration. Violent behavior in animals is sometimes used to bolster the deification of the inequity and violence of the status quo.
3:7 In Hebrew, the word for naked looks like the word for shrewd. The humans now hide their intentions from each other.
3:12 The male is willing to sacrifice the female to save his own skin. He has learned how to morally justify his actions to himself.
3:14 “Having flagrantly exalted itself in a challenge to God, [the serpent] is now doomed to a posture of humiliation.”- Etz Hayim. Our image of God is to be learned from examples of human love and solidarity, not nature red in tooth and claw, which is decidedly not an image of god.
3:15 Our desire to affirm coercive domination as “natural” or necessary on the basis of violence in nature makes it harder for us to see the abundant examples of mutual aid in nature.
3:16a “The word etzev is not the usual biblical word for ‘pain.’ It recurs in 6:6 referring to God’s regret at the way humanity turned out in the days of Noah.”-Etz Hayim. Throughout history mothers have always suffered most and been the most active in opposing war.
3:16b,19 Coercive domination so debases our marital relationships and our working lives that for many it makes what should be joyous and spiritual into a curse. God is not doing the cursing. God is stating the consequences of our actions when some portion of humanity tries to act “like a god” over another part of humanity.
3:20 Adam names Eve, the Hebrew word for name is used just as it was used when Adam named the animals in 2:19-20, signifying inequality and domination entering into human relationships. Adam is acting “like a god” by adjusting the divinely created boundary between humanity (which is created in the image of God) and animals (which are not) so that some of humanity is placed with the animals. Alternatively, Adam can be viewed as “acting like a god” by creating a new boundary between humans of perceived higher and lower value. A third interpretation, which will reappear in the story of the tower of Babel, is that Adam is transgressing the boundary between heaven and earth, whereby he now perceives himself “like a god” with the divine authority to subjugate other humans. This act immediately precedes the expulsion from the garden and is concomitant with it.
3:24 God places winged sphinxes or cherubim with a flaming sword at the entrance to the garden. One can not enter back into the garden through the same means with which one left it, the means of domination of humans over humans. Instead we are called to model our communities on the basis of cooperation, equality, and love, in the image of God to get back home.
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