The Real Story vs. The Story We Think We Know

I grew up in a Christian household; I have heard, read and been given lessons on the Garden of Eden story many times.  Even so, when I reread the story for this assignment, things I don't remember ever hearing or reading suddenly jump off the page and sat in front of me, saying, "Thanks for finally noticing. We have always been here."  I also reread my version of the story which I had written in class and took note that I had omitted and distorted some details, a few important ones in fact.


My first surprise came when I noticed that the writer used several verses to give the location of the garden, which I left out of my version of the story altogether. "Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden" (Gen. 2:8 NIV).  This gave me the impression that the writer assumes that the audience knows of a place called Eden.  In verses 10-14 the writer gives Eden and the garden a more precise location, at the place where the river that waters the garden splits into 4 rivers (Pishon, Gihon, Tigris and Euphrates).  The text goes into further detail about the rivers, saying that Pishon "winds through the entire land of Havilah", where there is good gold, aromatic resin and onyx, and that Gihon "winds through the entire land of Cush".  It does not given as mush detail concerning the Tigris and Euphrates.  I would suggest that this is because the writer believed his audience knew where the Tigris and Euphrates where but perhaps not Pishon and Gihon.  Nevertheless, by giving such a specific location can put a writer at risk.  If he is to be believed, the facts he is giving must be testable.  If he is wrong someone could journey to this place and prove it.  So, if he is writing a story, why would he be so specific?

As I continued to read the Eden story, I saw that in the middle of the aforementioned verse it says that the Lord God planted two trees in the middle of the garden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  I had left this detail out of my version of the story, although it become important at the end as a reason for Adam and Eve's expulsion.

And then the serpent came on the scene.  I have always been taught that the serpent was an embodiment of Satan.  Whether or not this is true, it is not specified in the original text.  I presume that the reference is made somewhere else in the Bible, but I do not see it here.  It does say that the serpent is crafty, but that does beg the question, if he is part of God's 'good' creation, why is he crafty (clever in a deceitful way, according to Webster's dictionary)?  Another detail that struck me like an elbow to the face was 3:6 where it says that the woman thought that the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil looked "desirable for gaining wisdom".  To which I ask two questions, how can a fruit look like it will give you wisdom? and why would the woman desire wisdom if she is in paradise and can freely speak to her creator about anything she wishes to know?

I continued to read through the verses describing this original sin, noticing that I had omitted the part about the couple sewing fig leaves to cover themselves.  I next read another detail I had forgotten, that the Lord God was walking in the garden in the cool of the day looking for them after they committed the sin.  I wonder, how was God walking in the garden (since he is commonly understood to be formless and outside of earth) and why put in the detail about this event happening in the cool of the day?

And so the story goes, Adam blames the woman, the woman blames the serpent and they all get cursed.  I remembered, the ground is cursed and Adam and his descendants must work it in order to survive, the woman is cursed with pain in childbirth and subjection to her husband, and the serpent must crawl on its belly.  I had forgotten that the Lord God put enmity (hostility) between the woman and the serpent, and their descendants.  It was at this point that Adam named the woman Eve, I thought he had named her when she was created.

They were then expelled from the garden.  When I read this, it took me back to my sunday school days.  I remember when we were studying Genesis we had some pictures on the board of some of the major events from the book.  One was of Adam and Eve's expulsion, and it should Eve crying and leaning on Adam as they walked, clothed in skins, a lush garden to a rocky wilderness with a snake beside them.  Conjuring up this imaging, I remember that in this picture was also a dead lion.  So when I wrote my version on Genesis in class, I wrote that God clothed them in lion skins.  This however is not in the original text.

As the story comes to a close, God says, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."  This is the reason God expelled them.  I knew this but left it out of my version of the story.  After all, now that the man and woman are no longer innocent creatures, perfect and fit to be in the presence of a perfect God, they can not be permitted to have eternal life, not until they are purified.

After comparing the real story with my version of the story, I am left with several unanswered questions:
1) Why is the location specified if the human race is forbidden to go there?
2) What were the serpent's motives for tempting Eve?
3) How was the serpent able to speak?
4) Why would Eve desire wisdom if she is in paradise and can freely speak to her creator about anything she wishes to know?
5) If popular belief is that God is formless, how was he walking in the garden in the cool of the day?