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III. Falling Down

A. Figures and Riddles

How are we, sophisticated, 21st-century Catholics that we are, supposed to read the account of Adam and Eve’s fall from grace in Genesis 3 - with its fable-like setting, its talking trickster snake, its gullible couple, oddly named trees, and forbidden fruit?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church gives us some good advice here:

"The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms a primeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of man. Revelation gives us the certainty of faith that the whole of human history is marked by the original fault freely committed by our first parents" (see no. 390).

What’s the Catechism getting at here? First, the story in Genesis 3 is written in "figurative language" - it’s more like poetry than journalism, more like a painting than a documentary film.

Nevertheless, the story "affirms" an actual event that indeed "took place" at the beginning of human history. What’s more, that event, "the original fault" of Adam and Eve, forever "marked" human history.

We can’t, then, read Genesis 3 like we’re reading a newspaper. But we can’t read it like it’s a myth or a fairy tale or a fable - as if it’s about something that never happened.

Scholars tell us that Genesis is best understood as an example of the ancient literary style know as mashal - "a riddle" or a "proverb" in which there are layers of double meaning.

And when we read Genesis 3 closely, we find the story turns on a number of tricky passages, and words filled with multiple meanings: life, death, wise, trees.

B. That Snake Adam Saw

Let’s back up a few paces. Let’s look at our characters. First, who’s this "serpent"?

We’re all used to the storybook Bible image of the long, thin snake slithering around the apple tree. But we might have to change our visual image of this scene.

The Hebrew word used to describe the "serpent," nahash, implies something much more deadly.

Throughout the Old Testament nahash is used to refer to powerful, even gigantic, evil creatures. Isaiah calls the nahash a sea dragon, the great Leviathan (see Isaiah 27:1). Job also uses nahash to depict terrible sea monsters (see Job 26:13).

This is clearly the image the Book of Revelation has in mind when it describes "a huge red dragon" in the heavens, "the huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world" (see Revelation 12:3,9).

The Church, of course, has always interpreted the serpent in Genesis 3 as Satan, the Devil in slithering form (see Catechism, nos. 391-395). So we know, as readers, something that Adam probably didn’t know - that this encounter with the serpent was a test against evil, a battle for the soul of mankind.

But we need to see what Adam saw. Once we appreciate that the serpent was a lot more than a little garden-variety snake, we begin to understand why Adam failed in his duties to "guard" his wife and Eden (see Genesis 2:15).

C. Scared Unto Death?

To put it bluntly: Adam was scared to death, scared of dying. He saw the serpent as a threat to his life.

We know that Adam understood what death was. How do we know that? Because God warned him that he if he ate the fruit he would die (see Genesis 2:17). If Adam didn’t know what death was, God’s warning wouldn’t have made any sense.

Adam was scared that if he didn’t do what the serpent wanted he would be made to suffer and die.

This story, this understanding of Adam’s failure, may be behind a passage we find in the Letter to the Hebrews. It says the Devil has "the power of death" and says also that "through fear of death," the human race had been held "subject to slavery" (see Hebrews 2:14-15).

That doesn’t mean Adam didn’t have any moral choice or responsibility in the matter.

He chose to save his life, but wound up losing it. He feared dying more than he feared disobeying the Father who loved him and gave him paradise. And in this he plunged the whole human race into slavery.

D. Left Holding the Fruit

Hold on, a minute. Why are we talking about Adam? Why is it his fault? Isn’t the whole story about Eve?

After all, the serpent first addresses "the woman." In fact, the phrase, "the woman" is used four times in six verses and the man doesn’t come into play until the very end, when it’s mentioned that "her husband" was also "with her."

Clearly, it would seem, Genesis wants us to know that it’s the woman’s fault: She did all the work, negotiating with the snake, weighing the pros and cons, and finally taking the fruit. The man just ate the fruit the woman gave to him.

But is that really the point? Why does St. Paul and the tradition of Church teaching after him, understand this episode as depicting the sin of Adam (see Romans 5:12-14; 1 Corinthians 15:22, 45)?

First, we need to stress what the story only tells us at the end - that Adam was with her all along (see Genesis 3:6).

In fact, in the Hebrew, every time the serpent says the word "you" he’s speaking in a tense that we don’t have in English - something like "second-person-plural." He’s saying, in effect, "you guys" or "y’all."

So Adam was on the scene the whole time. Why didn’t he speak up, why didn’t he take up the serpent’s challenge?

That seems to be the point. In his fear for his own skin, Adam left his wife hanging, left her to fend for herself. He was "her husband," the text emphasizes. Husbands are supposed to stand up for their wives - even lay down their lives for them. That’s what marital love is (seeEphesians 5:25).

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