Something to Whet your Appetite

Even though what follows may cause some controversy, I am hoping that it will whet your appetite and cause you to delve deeper for yourself. Let’s call it a snack for thought.

We are all familiar with this whole debacle concerning Adam and Eve. In Genesis 1:26, Elohim said, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness”

Then, in Genesis 2:7, God formed Adam from the dust of the ground, and breathed life into him. In the meantime, God caused streams to come up from the earth, made full-grown trees that were good for food and beautiful to look at grow out of the ground. After which, God placed Adam in the garden. In other words, everything was already in place in Eden before God placed Adam there. 

Adam was fixed, spending his time puttering about, and naming all the animals and creatures God had created.

God, realizing that that wasn’t satisfying enough for Adam, made Eve. I hope you’re getting what I am trying to show you.

Adam was like an entitled child whose parents are very wealthy, gives the child everything they could possibly need, so said child is spoilt and wants for nothing. I want to believe that Eve, when she was birthed, followed suit. So, the parent now has two spoiled brats.

As you know, in that lovely garden were two particular trees, the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. These two immature humans, having grown accustomed to each other, the animals and creatures, plants and trees, rivers and streams in Eden, are by now, looking for something different to pique their interest.

The serpent, “more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made”, perhaps observing that the brats were bored, comes up to Eve to put a thought in her head. Remember, she is immature, he is crafty – that’s how God made him. Bypassing the normal courtesies, he starts his conversation by talking about the forbidden tree – according to Eve, it wasn't only the fruit they were not to eat but were never to touch the tree.

Eve tells the serpent,

“We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’ ” – Genesis 3:2 (NRSV)

As a child, when your father or mother told you not to touch something, what did you do the first chance you got? Touch the something? Because, after they were so deliberate in pointing it out, you became curious about the something.

And well you know the rest of the story, but here comes the snack for thought, the potential controversial suggestion that could cause me to be struck off the church membership roll.

We can all agree that God is omniscient. So, God must have known that Adam and Eve were going to "eat of the fruit of" that tree. Let us look at a few “What ifs”…

What if Elohim set them up for the fall? What if it was already planned? Before you shut off your laptop and say a prayer for me, continue reading. Remember it’s a snack to whet your appetite.

What if we have been looking at this whole expulsion story wrong? What if Adam and Eve had remained in the Garden immature, having everything done for them, all their needs met, not knowing how to make a decision, with no options, just annoyingly infantile, where would humanity be today? God Himself might have had enough of them?

Maybe after some time had passed, He said, “Let us make adults out of these humans. They’re way too spoilt and juvenile. It’s time for them to grow up, think for themselves, they’ve got to move out, work, and take care of their own children.”

Could this be a possibility? Was this an avenue towards maturity? Was it a way for humans to evolve from a robotic state to free-choice, free-thinking, interestingly chaotic beings?

Was it a necessary separation from God in order that the generations to come would have this yearning to return to Him?

The "trap" was set. Seems like Eve was the more logical choice of the two to enact this plan, but why?

Let’s chew on this for today.

Shelley Johnson “Something to Whet your Appetite” © February 3, 2025