A Promise Never Made

Christians will often say that mankind was meant to always dwell with God for eternity, but lost the chance, and was kicked out of Eden because Adam ate the forbidden fruit.

That’s not actually in the story.

We are going to go with the second Creation myth of Genesis 2, where the only reason God created a man was because He needed a gardener to protect and manage his magical fruit. The fruit that would make man like God (see Genesis 3:22), to know good from evil, was forbidden. Another fruit, one that was permitted, the fruit of eternal life, was also there.

After Adam ate the fruit (when Eve ate, nothing happened), their minds changed, and were embarrassed about being naked, which I am assuming was evil. They were then punished, and cursed, but they could remain in the garden until YHVH-Elohim realized that it is one thing to make a slave who has no mind of his own, another to have a rebellious servant who can make choices of his own, but to have one who can live forever?!

And so Adam was evicted. (Eve isn’t mentioned.

Now, there are those who wonder, if Eve wasn’t kicked out, how come in chapter 4, Adam and his woman are together?

Remember, these are independent stories from different authors, and one author was not concerned with the writings of another. (Plus, they were only kicked out of the garden, not all of Eden!)

But this is a perfect illustration of how different authors can cause problems with the texts of their predecessors.

Conflicting Stories

Here is the verse from Genesis 3:22-33 –

“And YHVH-Elohim said, ‘Behold! The man has become like one of us, to know (distinguish) [between] good and evil, and now, lest he stretch-forth his hand and also take from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.”

And [so] YHVH-Elohim sent him from the garden of Eden, to till the ground [elsewhere] (adamah) from whence he was taken (made).

Now, three chapters later, when YHVH is getting upset about the sons of Elohim sleeping around with the pretty human maidens, (Actually, 6:1-6:8 are several stories all mixed up, which is obvious when you see how 6:4 should be before 6:2 and verse 6:3 should come after 6:4, plus some other issues that I may address in the future).

Here is an important verse 6:3 –

And YHVH said, ‘My [animating] spirit (ruach) will not be forced to dwell in man forever. After all, he is also [made of] flesh. And so it shall be that his days will be [limited to] 120 years.”

God decided that man should not live forever, and therefore was going to limit it to 120 years. (It should be noted that The Flood would take place 100 years after that command. And not only the sons of Noah, but also the Jewish patriarchs would live past 120 years, during a period when 40 years was considered ancient).

So, we have Genesis 3:23, where man was cast out by YHVH-Elohim so that he would not live forever, and three chapters later, YHVH (without the “Elohim” attachment) decides that He does not want man to live forever.

Conclusion

The Torah is a collection of stories by a number of different authors, from several different periods, edited, stitched together, and would later be transformed into a single book written by a single prophet who could speak to YHVH face to face.

When one can see the incompatibilities and the cues, it becomes an entirely new text.