§1. Introduction

The creation and fall of man depicted in the book of Genesis is frequently compared to creation myths in other cultures, with the implicit understanding that these stories are meant to merely symbolize essential truths about our human condition without the need for deep philosophical reflection. Like the story of Pandora’s Box, we are not supposed to carry the implications of the innocence of Adam and Eve too far, beyond the didactic purpose of the story, and formulate an anthropology of man from the parable. We are supposed to suspend disbelief and see in this a primitive explanation of the social patriarchal order, man’s thirst for knowledge, and the abundance of apparently meaningless pain in our world. Such a naïve reading, however, leaves us wondering why the writer of the Prometheus myth can come up with such a powerfully original story for the origin of fire but the writer of Genesis cannot produce an origin of rationality without falling into internal inconsistency. Was the ancient Hebrew author simply a poor writer, who did not notice that the God he intended to affirm as single-handedly having created the universe, the ultimate source of life and meaning, came out looking like a cosmic wimp after Adam’s disobedience? Man’s altruistic benefactor of Greek fame gets his liver plucked out for eternity for his transgression, but Adam is merely condemned to a pastoral life while the duplicitous snake is made to crawl around on his belly; not such terrible consequences for achieving God-like knowledge.

The consequence of the very first commandment given specifically to Adam, with its attendant curse of death, is shown by the serpent to be without power. Adam and Eve transgress what is certainly the most important personal directive [1] that they have received from Yahweh, and yet the threatened punishment never falls; there is not so much as a nod or wink from God that He has relented. Was the serpent right after all? "You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Gn 3:5) [2] Did God lie, or was he impotent to carry out his threats?

As for Adam and Eve, what are we to make of our great-grandparents? Eve claims that the serpent has "beguiled" her (3:13) with what is likely the simplest deception that ever made it into literature. One might suppose that if this were the extent of Adam and Eve’s intellect before the fall, it was for everyone’s benefit that they ate of the forbidden fruit—until one reflects that she offers her poor excuse after she has become like God (cf. 3:22).

But what if the story of Adam, Eve and the serpent were a much more meaningful sign to a deeper truth? What if the brief narrative were really only a selective excerpt from a much longer tale, one that had its origins from eternity in the plan of God and played itself out on the material and spiritual plane? Like a riddle that juxtaposes seemingly transparent ideas in impossible relations, Genesis 3:1-7 is intended to reveal to us a cosmic war in heaven and how man becomes caught up in that battle through the envy of Satan, the Adversary. We will see how God established the Garden of Eden as the Holy of Holies for the created cosmos, and how Adam was set as the Royal High Priest of the Universe and the champion of God. By examining similar conflicts in the Old Testament, we will understand that the conflict between God and Satan prompts the latter to enter the Garden in the form of a terrifying and deadly beast in an effort to coerce Adam and Eve into a demonic pact forbidden by God. By understanding the context of the battle into which Adam and Eve are thrust, we will make sense of the seemingly illogical fall of the first couple from a relationship of grace with God to one of estrangement and spiritual death.