The Myth of Adam and Eve
by Ava Malcolm
Most of us were raised on a steady diet of Percy Jackson, Magnus Chase, Marvel, and other modern myths. Although we may think of them as retellings of ancient narratives, no one would deny that they feel real, relatable, and immersive. They seem to reflect the stories of our own lives. Even though Bible stories aren’t wrapped up in the Rick Riordan packaging, Bible stories can also be viewed as pertaining to our own lives. We can take a similar approach in applying the principles found within them as we do to myths and demi-god stories.
The story of Adam and Eve is one such tale. In the literal story, Eve wanders peacefully through the most ecologically pristine place that has ever existed, the Garden of Eden. Here, biodiversity flourishes more than at any subsequent time in history, and humans live in perfect harmony with the plants and creatures around them. Meanwhile, the Enemy sets out to “kill, steal, and destroy.” He wishes to bring all the beauty of creation crashing to the ground. The Enemy, in the form of a serpentine dragon, slithers down to Eve, lisping temptations in her ear. Eve succumbs, eating forbidden fruit which will seal her fate, dooming her to a lifetime of suffering and an eventual demise. She acquires the capacity to sin, which will be passed on to the rest of humanity, opening up their minds to doing evil. Eve then offers a bite of the fruit to Adam. Adam knows full well that what he is about to do is wrong, but on the other side of the arm holding the fruit out to him is his beautiful mate, his only companion in paradise. He, too, is curious to know what it feels like to experience the effects of the forbidden fruit. He takes the fruit into his own hand, and takes the second bite. At this moment, the deed is complete; suddenly, “their eyes are opened,” and the fate of all the humans which will descend from Adam and Eve is eternally changed.
To decode the symbolic value of Adam and Eve, we must illuminate what concepts each character represents. In the ancient Greek myths, deities personify the natural world. Many of their names have become our modern English words, and because of this familiarity, that which they symbolize has become concrete to us. In most Biblical stories, however, the characters are not so obviously connected to the concepts they symbolize, but they similarly represent concepts which we can apply to our own experiences. There are a multitude of takeaways from each Biblical story, but to me this story illuminaties the two equal factors that contribute to bad actions, misdeeds or genuine evils.
If we interpret this story symbolically, we should first define its symbols and what its symbols represent. First, we must define the ‘original sin.’ This results from the combined actions of Adam and Eve. Although the sin is separated into two segments, Eve’s temptation and Adam’s giving in, they are two parts of the same act. In the story, the act’s symbolic function was to indelibly change the brains of humans, severing them from being a perfect part of a perfect ecosystem. This act was the “first sin,” but what does that mean? The word ‘sin’ has been hopelessly muddled by centuries of misinterpretation (intentional or otherwise), but in the original Hebrew, a sin is simply a kha-ta, or a mess up. A kha-ta is anything which deviates from what is good and perfect or does not increase beauty and virtue in the world1 . So, the mythical truth of the Garden of Eden applies to anything in your life which has gone wrong, hurt you, or damaged the place where you live and the people around you. In the Biblical sense, this sin could be that senselessly cruel thing your family member said to you, the night out that turned bad, the embezzling politician.
Turning away from the abstract terminology of sin, analysis of the story of Adam and Eve naturally raises the question of what its subjects represent. Who, or what, is Eve? Literally, she is the first one to partake of the forbidden fruit. Some Bible scholars in centuries past have erroneously used this fact to justify misogyny. They place the entire fault of the Original Sin on Eve; however, God makes it exceedingly clear that this was not the case. Metaphorically, Eve symbolizes all external factors which motivate Adam to seal the act. She is the only other human who Adam has to share the planet with, and she provides his only earthly source of conversation, pleasure, and companionship. Her being his sole source of companionship greatly influences her wants and desires. When Eve succumbs to the serpent’s temptation and eats the fruit of the forbidden tree, she is changed forever. If Adam refuses to also partake of the fruit, he would be separated from her forever. This does not mean he is forced to join her; he always retained agency. From this evidence, we see that Eve symbolizes all the motivations, conducive circumstances, and justifications for someone to do something wrongly.
While Eve’s role is more mysterious and requires greater inference to understand, Adam’s part is crystal clear. He chooses to cross the literal and metaphorical gulf between himself and his mate to partake of the forbidden fruit, completing the second part of the unified act. While Eve succumbed to the temptation of the serpent, he reacted to the temptations around him, directly contradicting the instructions which God had given them. The moment Adam takes his fateful bite, the eyes of both humans are suddenly opened. Within this myth, Adam symbolizes the individual person whose desire to make a bad choice is superlative to any reasons not to.
Who is to blame? In order to gain clarity about this, it’s important to note that the myth does not end when Adam and Eve’s eyes are opened. This chapter of Biblical history comes to a close with the punishment that Adam and Eve will suffer because of their actions. Both are thrown out of the garden, no longer capable of living in a perfect ecosystem where they live in symbiotic harmony with all other living things. Further than that, God announces that both will suffer their respective punishments. These punishments are separate in what they prescribe but equal in magnitude. From the equal (yet differentiated) punishments for both of them, we can glean that both Adam and Eve share equal culpability for the original sin, though they are at fault for different portions of the same act.
By decoding the symbolism in the myth, the story of Adam and Eve illuminates how to perceive sin (kha-ta) in our world. Under the framework presented by the story, each kha-ta can be split into two parts which hold equal responsibility for the outcome. One half, the half which Eve symbolizes, is all of the context in the life of the person whose choice it is to commit to a sin or not. This is the poverty which degrades the person’s soul, the childhood trauma which makes them think such a terrible thing is fine to say or do, the corruption of the people around them. The other half, symbolized by Adam, is the person’s ultimate decision in their heart to silence their conscience and accept that the pressure from their surroundings is forceful enough for them to justify buckling.
In many places in our treatment of sin, our division of these two parts of the whole is apparent. For example, in one wing of the judicial system we try the criminal, while the risk factors correlated with such crimes are mediated by separate arms of the bureaucracy through social work and relief programs.2 In the treatment of criminality, this framework is generally accepted as the standard for maintaining order in communities, but in our run-of-the mill daily interactions, full of offenses, irritants, and smaller misdeeds, being observant of each part of these misdeeds can direct our own responses towards a more peaceful and truthful resolution.
Ultimately, this story is not given to us with the intention that we attempt to perfectly punish and control people in order to achieve perfection. No society created by humans will ever completely remove imperfection. The best we can do is strive to create a more beautiful future by changing our own actions, becoming lights to the world around us, just as the dawn illuminates our skies with washes of colorful light. The story of Adam and Eve gives us a vision for how to become like the dawn by reconciling the wrongs done to us and by us.
1 “H2398 - Ḥāṭā’ - Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon (KJV).” Blue Letter Bible. Accessed March 4, 2024. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h2398/kjv/wlc/0-1/.
2 This is not to say that all crimes (for example, peaceful civil disobedience) are sin, or that all sin can be defined by the law. Again, sin, in the true Biblical sense, is a deviation from anything which is perfect and good. In perfectly legal interactions, for example, defamation or gossip would qualify.