Genesis 3 Bonus Episode: The Tree of Life and Paul's Theology of Eve

Commentary:

Last week, we touched on the phrase “beast of the field” or “living thing of the land” and how the nachash was wiser than all of them. The phrase does seem to refer mainly to animals, but there is a homonym that can refer to human life as well. So, it is possible that the description could be implying the nachash was wiser than even the humans.

Regarding the nachash’ being jealous of the human, I came across a passage this week from Josephus’ Antiquities, written shortly after Jesus’ life. It reads,

“At that time the serpent, which then lived together with Adam and his wife, showed an envious disposition, at his supposal of their living happily, and in obedience to the commands of God; and imagining, that when they disobeyed them, they would fall into calamities, he persuaded the woman, out of a malicious intention, to taste of the tree of knowledge, telling them, that in that tree was the knowledge of good and evil; which knowledge when they should obtain, they would lead a happy life, nay, a life not inferior to that of a god: by which means he overcame the woman, and persuaded her to despise the command of God. Now when she had tasted of that tree, and was pleased with its fruit, she persuaded Adam to make use of it also. Upon this they perceived that they were become naked to one another; and being ashamed thus to appear abroad, they invented somewhat to cover them; for the tree sharpened their understanding; and they covered themselves with fig leaves; and tying these before them, out of modesty, they thought they were happier than they were before, as they had discovered what they were in want of.”

Now, just because Josephus believed that does not mean it’s accurate, but I did want to evidence that this is not a new view. People have read the text this way for at least 2,000 years now.

I also wanted to take another little Biblical theology detour, this time about the Tree of Life. The image of a life-giving tree is extremely common in ancient mythology. Sometimes it’s even paired with a tree that can provide wisdom or knowledge. So, the Bible is drawing on very common genre tropes by including a life-giving tree in its creation story. We’ve focused a lot on the Tree of Discerning Good and Not Good. But that tree disappears after this story; whereas, the Tree of Life shows up 4 other times in the Tanakh and 3 times in the New Testament. What exactly the Tree of Life did is unclear. In Genesis 3:22, God says that eating from the Tree of Life would allow humanity to live “to the age,” a Hebrew expression for a very long time that is often translated as “forever” or “eternal” in many English Bibles. And humanity is specifically driven from the Garden so that they wouldn’t eat from this tree of long life according to Genesis 3:24.

But then the tree shows up 4 more times, all in the book of Proverbs. So, you have two trees—one that grants discernment and one that grants longevity, and the Tree of Life is only again mentioned in a book that is all about having the discernment to live a long and good life. That’s no coincidence.

Let’s look at these references.

Proverbs 3:18- “She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: And happy is every one that retaineth her.”

Wisdom, already personified as a beautiful woman, is now portrayed as a tree of life. All of these references in Proverbs speak of “a tree of life,” not the tree of life. That’s because this is metaphorical language. The original tree of life itself may very well have been metaphorical also, depending on how you read that story. But now, there’s more than just two humans, and so, we each have to make our own decisions to choose trees of life in our own lives. The Tree of Life is a picture for life choices that bring more life or more fullness into your life.

Proverbs 11:30- “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; And he that winneth souls is wise.”

First, let me disavow you of the notion that this has anything to do with going door to door with gospel tracts. I’ve heard people use this verse as a proof text for their soulwinning endeavors— “He who wins souls is wise!” But that’s not even close to what the passage is saying. This is Old Testament; you didn’t have people going door to door and sharing their faith. So, do your best to keep that thought out of your mind. And look instead at the specific words used. Do any of the words stand out to you as a little odd? How about fruit of righteousness? This is quite a while before Paul writes about the fruit of the Spirit, so that’s a unique idea. And the fruit is paired with a tree, particularly a Tree of Life. We were never told in Genesis that the Tree of Life bore fruit. We assume it because the humans could eat from it, but it’s never specifically stated. So, the author in Proverbs has inverted from which tree we’re taking fruit.

The Hebrew word translated souls here is nephesh. It literally means throat but can also mean life or the non-physical part of a person.

The word for wise has the connotation of worldly-wise, someone who has lived a while and learned things. They’re a skilled jack-of-all-trades; they can get in and out of any situation. Since we’re talking about trees and fruit and nephesh, can you think of a creature from early in Genesis that showed some street smarts and tried to peddle his own brand of wisdom to a couple in a Garden? So, now, instead of the serpent, you’re the one being cunning if you do this.

But what exactly is it that the author is trying to get you to do? Remember, this has nothing to do with soulwinning. The word translated “wins” in many versions is the word take. Can you think of someone who took fruit from a tree to gain wisdom? So, the point of the verse is that living rightly leads to long life, and the person who takes from the tree of nephesh is wiser than the serpent.

(Granted, there are other manuscripts that suggest the verse should read, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, but the violent take lives.” That option leads to a different meaning.)

Proverbs 13:12- “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: But when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.

Put into modern English, the verse means, “When expectation is drawn out, the heart grows weak, but fulfilled desires are a tree of life.” In other words, many of your frustrations in relationships come from unmet and uncommunicated expectations. But when you’re able to accomplish your heart desires and fulfill your dreams, you feel the most alive. Genesis left us without access to the Tree of Life, and now, the author is saying that living out our dreams is a way to experience what eating from the tree would have been like.

Proverbs 15:4- “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: But perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.”

The word wholesome means healing. Have you ever had someone who knew just what to say to help calm you down and bring healing into your life? That’s what eating from the Tree of Life feels like. Also, you use your tongue in eating, so the part of the body Adam and Eve used to bring death is conversely an avenue for life when used wisely. The word translated perverseness carries the idea of a bait and switch. So, a tongue that speaks half-truths is a break in spirit. Can you think of a creature from Genesis that promised one thing and delivered another? The word for wind or breath used of the Spirit of God that hovered over the uncreated chaos waters is the word translated spirit here (ruach). So, calming words are like eating from the Tree of Life, and doublespeak feels like getting the wind knocked out of you. You could even say it stops the creative work of the Spirit of God.

These words of wisdom sound quite modern and relevant even today. That’s Proverbs for you. It makes you work for the wisdom within its words, but when you get it, it really makes sense.

You can even find references to the Tree of Life throughout the Bible that aren’t quite as obvious as these. For example, Psalm 1 describes the person who studies the Torah as being like “a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth fruit in season; his leaf also shall not wither and whatever he does shall prosper.”

Or consider how we’ve described Eden as a temple. When Solomon builds the first structural temple, here’s part of the description:

1 Kings 6:29- “And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, within and without.”

So, if the Garden was the first temple where heaven and earth met, it only makes sense to fill the first structural temple with wood carvings of trees and fruit all around. And recall what guarded the Garden after humanity’s exile—cherubim. And what does Solomon place throughout the temple near the central location of God’s presence? Cherubim. But wait there’s more. Many scholars believe the menorah, the golden lampstand within the temple, was designed to evoke a tree with seven branches.

Fast forward to the time of Jesus, and His final test is in a—wait for it—Garden before He’s crucified on a tree that is later said to bring life to all.

And to cap it all off, the Bible ends with the Tree of Life finally accessible to all.

Revelation 22:2- “In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

Genesis begins with humanity being exiled from the Tree. Revelation ends with all people reunited under the healing power the Tree. What a story!

With that, let’s continue last week’s discussion about Eve and how her sin doesn’t mean that all women are gullible or less reliable than men. After Genesis 4, Eve is only directly referenced two other times in Scripture, both by Paul, and both passages have caused tremendous debate. The first one is easier to handle, so let’s start there.

2 Corinthians 11:1–6 “Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. 2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. 5 For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles. 6 But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.”

Some people have taken this to mean that Eve was stupid or even to suggest that women are more gullible than men. It continues today with the stereotype of a woman being duped by car salesmen/repairmen without their husband or father there with them. Personally, I think statements like that are harmful because they perpetuate those stereotypes, discouraging many women and convincing other women that they really can’t function on their own in society. And as you can see, there’s no Biblical basis for that in this passage. Paul is warning the entire church of Corinth, men and women, that they could be fooled by preachers who talk about Jesus but in a way that doesn’t actually line up with how He actually lived.

The other passage is 1 Tim 2:11-15. 1 Timothy 2 is arguably one of the most controversial chapters in the entirety of Scripture. It is extremely complex and not the easiest passage to understand, even after several re-readings. So, any position that bases its view on anything from this chapter needs to be taken with a grain of salt as there are multiple understandings of pretty much every verse in the chapter.

1 Timothy 2:11–15 “Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. 12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. 13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. 15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.”

To us, these verses sound quite restrictive, like Paul wants women to shut up, sit down, and be happy with a quick delivery if they’re lucky. We don’t have time to do a deep dive here, but we have to remember a key principle of Bible interpretation—when a few verses seem to contradict the message of a larger number of verses, interpret the few in light of the many. When you read the Bible, the overarching message is that God privileges the poor, forgotten, and overlooked in society. God is not known for putting down anyone but rather for lifting people up into better and greater positions than they may have had before. So, when you come across verses like this that sound like they’re putting women down, you have to consider the overall message of the Bible. If the way you’re reading these verses seems to contradict the Bible’s main trajectory, that likely means that there’s more to learn about this particular text before you make claims about its meaning.

For example, 1 Timothy was a letter to the leadership of the church of Ephesus. Paul was close with a young man named Timothy who was either one of the pastors or deacons of this church. It’s actually not clear which, but Timothy was definitely in some form of leadership there. And Paul had heard that there were some major issues going on. Ephesus was the center of the Artemis cult— a counter-cultural female-led religious group that encouraged extreme sexual license. Most Greeks believed Artemis was a divine virgin huntress, but the Ephesians swung that pendulum to the other extreme and depicted Artemis as an extremely sexual being. Either way, both cultures believed Artemis could influence the ease of a woman’s pregnancy and childbirth.

So, as the church at Ephesus grew, it gained people who had previously been associated with the Artemis cult. And they carried over their familiar religious practices and beliefs to the church. We can’t miss that in interpreting this passage. Paul wasn’t dealing with a Baptist church that only let women teach children’s Sunday school classes. He was addressing a church where women were transferring over from the worship of Artemis and trying to take over the preexistent leadership of the church. They were used to leading worship and viewing religion through the lens of sexuality. Imagine if Williamstown was known for prostitution and extreme expressions of sexuality. Then imagine that Open Bible had some sort of outreach where we really reached out to that community and saw a number get saved and join the church. But they were used to being busy and active in their community, so they immediately try to jump in and lead Bible studies and maybe the choir and the Wednesday night prayer meeting. Can you think of some problems that might arise? That’s what Paul’s dealing with. He’s not telling your average Baptist woman to shut up and just be submissive. He’s talking about specific women who were dominating the church gatherings and trying to turn the church into something that looked more like what they were familiar with from their days worshipping Artemis.

So, Paul draws from the story of Eve to remind these women that they are not more important than men. He’s not saying that women as a whole are less than men or more easily deceived as a rule. He’s speaking to a specific group of domineering women and telling them that just like male superiority is wrong, so is female superiority. We’re all equal as human beings, regardless of gender.

Skipping ahead to Genesis 3:16, we teased out how a position that puts men in authority over women is rooted in the fall, not in God’s ideal for humanity. We’ll cover that more in the next couple weeks.