Copy Book Archive

Adam and Eve Adam and Eve are set in a Garden of carefree delight, but the Snake swears they are victims of a cruel deception.

In two parts

Music: Sir Charles Villiers Stanford

© Paul Buckingham, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0. Source

About this picture …

Paradise in Eden... A view over the valley of the River Eden in Cumbria, seen from a train rattling over the Settle and Carlisle Railway. The tale of Adam and Eve is deservedly one of the foundational tales of civilisation, a tale of breathtaking imagination weaving together ancient Near Eastern mythology, Israelite history and inspired reflection. Every story in the Old Testament enriches it and is enriched by it, and in the New Testament and the liturgical worship of the Christian church it opens upon new worlds of wonder.

Adam and Eve

Part 1 of 2

Early in the 6th century BC, the leaders of Jerusalem were forced out of their land and scattered across the Near East, as a punishment for ignoring God’s laws. It was then that they wrote the story of Adam and Eve, drawing on ancient traditions to fashion a profound reflection on the ongoing story of mankind’s troubled yet hopeful relationship with his Maker.

IN the beginning of Days, God spoke and said, ‘Let us make man in our image’. So he formed Adam out of the dust of the earth, and breathed life into him. He crowned Adam with such godlike virtues that he was only a little lower than the angels, and set him in Eden, a Garden of Delight.*

Seeing that Adam was lonely, God cast a sleep over him, and fashioned from one of his ribs a woman named Eve. Together they dwelt naked in Eden as stewards of his Creation, and only the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was forbidden to them, on pain of death.

But the artful snake whispered to them that God had forbidden the fruit of that Tree in jealousy, knowing they would become gods like him if they but tasted it. So Eve picked the fruit, and with bated breath tasted it; and she handed some to Adam, and he too tasted it.

Jump to Part 2

St John Damascene states that it is free will and these virtues, not any physical or biological characteristics, that mean that Man (i.e. every human being) is ‘in the image and likeness’ of God.

Précis

When God made Adam and then Eve, he set them to live in Eden, a delightful Garden, which was theirs to use except for one tree, which they must not eat from. A snake, however, convinced them that the tree would make them divine, so one after the other they tasted its forbidden fruit. (54 / 60 words)

Part Two

© Andrew Tryon, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0. Source

About this picture …

The way is closed... The elegant iron gates of Dunrobin Castle in Scotland (midway between Inverness and Wick) are silhouetted against the sky as the sun rises in a blaze of glory one January morning. After Adam and Eve were banished from Paradise, Eden’s gates were closed and an angel with a flaming sword set to guard them. In the Christian communion service, the gates separating the altar from the congregation are likewise closed, and a lighted candle set before them, shortly before they are reopened to allow the bread and wine to be distributed.

ADAM and Eve did not become gods. They became overwhelmed with doubts and anxieties, something God had hoped to spare them. Their nakedness now shamed them, and when they heard God calling for them in the Garden, they hid.*

They soon confessed everything, and the lies of the snake were laid bare; but it was now imperative that Adam and Eve should not taste also of the Tree of Life that granted immortality, or else they would remain fixed in this wretched state forever. So God banished them from the Garden, and set guardian angels and a flaming sword at its East Gate.

Adam and Eve endured a life of sorrow and hardship, returning at last to the dust from which they had come, until One should come to open to them the gates of Paradise once again. That tale begins not with the whispered lies of a snake, but with the clear voice of an angel crying, ‘Hail, Mary, full of grace.’*

Copy Book

See also The Emperor and the Nun, where the tense relationship between the nun Cassiani and a young Roman Emperor takes another twist thanks to this passage.

See Cynewulf’s meditation on Adam, Eve and the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary in Annunciation.

Précis

The forbidden fruit did not make Adam and Eve divine, as the snake had promised. It made them ashamed and anxious, instead of carefree as they had been before. To ensure that this state did not last for ever, God banished them from Eden and the Tree of Life, until such time as they could safely return. (57 / 60 words)

Source

Based on Genesis 2-3, and ‘An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith’, Book II Chapter 11 by St John Damascene.

Suggested Music

1 2

Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor

1: Allegro moderato

Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924)

Performed by Finghin Collins with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra.

Media not showing? Let me know!

Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor

3: Allegro molto

Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924)

Performed by Finghin Collins with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra.

Media not showing? Let me know!

Related Posts

for Adam and Eve

Bible Stories Retold

The Judgment of Solomon

The tenth-century King of Israel demonstrated his legendary wisdom in a delicate custody battle.

Bible Stories Retold

The Story of Esther

A young Jewish girl is chosen as the Queen of Persia, but quickly finds she has enemies.

Bible Stories Retold

Elisha and the Fiery Horsemen

The King of Syria goes on a mole-hunt, but Elisha does not seem to mind being his prime suspect.

Bible Stories Retold

Noah’s Flood

God’s love proved to be bigger and stronger than all man’s wickedness.

Bible Stories Retold (47)
All Stories (1522)
Worksheets (14)
Word Games (5)