Havah (35 page)
Authors: Tosca Lee
Tags: #Fiction, #Historical, #Christian, #Religious, #Thrillers, #Suspense
In addition to the questions with which I plagued academic and theological thinkers alike (“If the no-death-before-the-fall thing applies to animals, wouldn’t the earth have been overpopulated if Adam and Eve hadn’t eaten the fruit?” “Uh, is it possible that the garden might have existed but in another dimension, and
that’s
why we can’t find it?”), were other questions of translation (Did God increase Eve’s
pain in childbirth
or her
pregnancies?
Was she Adam’s
helper
or his
sustainer?
), and even whether to include rain or meat-eating in the antediluvian world—a matter of significant theological importance to some.
If one assumes a literal garden and literal first couple, there are many things we simply cannot know.
There is also no way to determine the kind of language an adam might have spoken with his god. Some Midrashic sources assume it to be Hebrew, but the Torah was written in the vernacular of the Israelites. I did choose Hebrew names for my characters and nontransliterated names for the principals mentioned in Genesis, simply to help escape the felt-board Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel. I wanted to examine them anew.
I used
the adam
for most of the book because, as Havah notes in the story, Adam was never properly named.
Ha-Adam
means merely “Man from the (red) earth,” or “earthling.” Additional sources reason that the adam became distinctly male (Ish) only after Isha was created from him. Dozens of great morsels like these—too many to list here—are within the footnotes of Alter’s
Genesis
and the other sources listed above.
“Eden,” or the “fertile plain,” was the place within which the garden was situated—but not the garden itself. I have refrained from openly basing the garden of this book on any one location, but found
Legend: The Genesis of Civilisation
by David Rohl (Arrow, 2000) and investigation into the theories of American archaeologist and Middle East specialist Juris Zarins fascinating. Regardless of the compelling nature of these and other theories, if one believes in a literal Eden, we can safely assume that we know more about the terrain of Mars than we do about Eden’s garden today.
It is my opinion that we have placed far too great a weight on English translations of the Scriptures. It is my personal belief that those of us who base our conduct on biblical principles even do ourselves and our relationships potential harm by not investigating the more complex subtleties of the Hebrew Scriptures. We also miss out on the delightful intricacies, poeticisms, and even puns of the text by going no deeper than our English versions.
Last, and from my heart, I think we are remiss if we do not examine the nature, meaning, and equality of genders as designed by God, recorded by the Genesis author, and influenced—for good or ill—by the world. Too many poorly applied translations of this story have fueled the subjugation and even abuse of women throughout history (and to this day). I do believe it is possible to seek the heart of God with the best of intentions and still grossly miss the mark—and injure ourselves or others in the process.
I was challenged and encouraged by Katherine Bushnell’s
God’s Word to Women
(Christians for Biblical Equality, 2003) and Susan Greiner’s article “Did Eve Fall or Was She Pushed?” (
Bible Review,
August 1999).
Whether you subscribe to a literal or figurative Eve, a young or old earth, one thing remains unchanging: the aspects of our nature formed in the image of the One—the propensity to love, to create, to feel pain and joy.
In that way we are all the same.
Selah.
To learn more about Tosca and her books, please visit www.toscalee.com.
For additional bonus material on
Havah: The Story of Eve,
go to: www.pureenjoyment.com.
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