A big thank you to instructor Cathryn Torgerson-Wade, for these great answers to your questions on Adam and Eve!
Q: In my high school Bible study, I thought we had identified four stories of Creation?
A: Throughout the whole Bible we find many narratives of Creation – I can think of eight! So, I would definitely suggest there are more than four. There was a popular academic theory that the first five books of the Bible are drawn from four different oral traditions/authors, so that might be where the “four” is coming from. There is more about these four author strands in the back of the Wenham textbook “Exploring the Old Testament: The Pentateuch” for those who have that book. You can also research “JEDP theory of the Pentateuch” online to learn more. It should be noted that not all scholars today agree with this “four-author strand” theory.
Q: Why did God make the Tree of Life and why did Adam and Eve not eat from that tree?
A: This is another example of the Bible not giving us all the details! We find the image of the Tree of Life in other parts of Scripture as something that offers supernatural life to those who are faithful. In that sense, we can think of how it could be pointing us to the plan God had for humanity, and particularly to the Eucharist, which offers us life. We can choose to accept or reject this offer, just as Adam and Eve could choose which plants to eat.
Q: Are both Adam or Eve are responsible for the fall and original sin?
A: In the Garden, we see Eve taking action against God’s word, and Adam not acting in accord with God’s word. This is similar to what we confess at Mass: “I confess . . . for what I have done and what I have failed to do.” The Catechism concurs and points out: “By his sin, Adam, as the first man, lost the original holiness and justice he had received from God, not only for himself but for all human beings. Adam and Eve transmitted to their descendants human nature wounded by their own first sin and hence deprived of original holiness and justice; this deprivation is called “original sin”. (CCC 416-417)
Q: Why did Adam and Eve not realize the evil of the serpent? How could they know the evil if they had not yet eaten of the tree?
A: I’m not sure how much they were supposed to know. What they were to do was trust God. C.S. Lewis wrote what he called his Space Trilogy based on the Garden. This offers another example of using a different style of storytelling to reveal deep theological truths! He imagines Eden before the fall as a place where simple Trust in God rules. No questions, no fears, just trust. It’s a beautiful image of how simple it could be, and how hard we make it when we get our eyes off of God and onto ourselves.
Q: How did Mary become associated with crushing the serpent’s head when it’s supposed to be her seed, Jesus?
A: Without knowing the full history of Church customs surrounding Mary and her role in salvation history, I can say that there are some ancient copies of Genesis that say “she will crush” rather than “he will crush.” So that has been used to defend Mary as part of this process since her “yes” was vital to bringing Jesus into the world to be our ultimate Savior. For more on the proper roles of Mary in salvation, be sure to read more about the recently released Church documents on the use of the term Co-redemptrix.
Q: In the Ancient Near East, women were not believed to be part of creating the baby since they had no knowledge of the woman providing the egg. So, why is whether or not someone is Jewish determined by the mother, not the father?
A: This is more a question of current Jewish practice than the Bible, but I happen to know the answer! A child always has two parents, yet the only parent who can be known without question is the mother who gives birth. We can trust the father is who she says he is, but, prior to DNA testing, it could not be proven. Thus, the mother was/is used to determine if someone is ethnically Jewish or not.
Q: We only hear of Adam and Eve having three sons – where did their sons’ wives come from? Where did the people come from that Cain thought would kill him?
A: The Bible leaves A LOT of information out. This includes other children and Adam and Eve had, which would be the origins of other people to help populate the world. We have no idea how much time went by once Cain and Abel were born to when Cain feared for his life – was it 20 years? 50 years? What we do believe, and which scientific researchers also contend, is that all humanity is descended from one set of parents. There were not humans appearing in different parts of the world. Everyone is related to one another through this shared lineage to one father and one mother.
Q: Why was Cain’s offering not accepted?
A: There are several viable options to consider, and your Study Bible may have answers that you find more satisfying.
1. Perhaps God did not accept Cain’s offering because there was a difference in the value of the sacrifice. Abel offered the “firstborn” – he offered his best and accepted the greatest risk. We are not told that Cain offered the first cuttings.
2. Perhaps this reveals to us that blood is better than grain. Yet, we do find grain offerings in Scripture, and this was Cain’s crop.
3. Perhaps this was not about the offering but the attitude. What we see through the rest of the narrative is that God tries to get Cain to deal with his self-righteous attitude. As the eldest son, Cain may have assumed he would always receive benefits and approval. And God, in His mercy, uses this rejection as a wake-up call for Cain to be humble. When Cain rejects the advice God provides and whines about his circumstances, God allows consequences to happen, yet He also promises to be with Cain and avenge him if necessary. In this light, the rejection of Cain’s offering becomes a teaching moment for when God says “no” to us. We need to discern how to respond!