A Brief Simple Explanation of the Biblical Drama (2) Act 2: Catastrophe: God’s Dream Rejected (Gen.3-11) The great temptation for humanity was to refuse their created status as royal ambassadors and priests of God over and for creation. And they face this temptation soon enough! A walking, talking snake would not surprise Israelite readers – it would terrify them! Pharaoh of Egypt wore a turban adorned by two female cobras. He was believed to walk the underworld every evening and these two cobras would slay the forces of chaos and disorder maintaining the stability of the empire. Thus, the walking, talking snake that appeared in the garden of Eden brought the primal temptation of all humanity right into the Holy of Holies! To rule our own lives by our own light and might, in short, to be deities in our own right (little Pharaohs) is the siren song that fearfully tests the mettle of our first parents (and every human being since). Adam and Eve failed in faithfulness even before they talk to the snake. Apparently, sloth had already overtaken them and they failed to protect the boundaries of the garden. And once the snake gained entrance, they failed to run it out. Instead Eve talked to it (while Adam stood by mute and stupid) and both taste the forbidden fruit. They soon realize they would henceforth live, not from God’s word and wisdom given freely to them, but from their own words and wisdom. They had swallowed the snake’s deceptive words about God and his intentions for them and grabbed for what C. S. Lewis called “the sweet poison of the false infinite” – becoming each their own “Pharaoh” and running their own lives! This idolatry – for that is what it is, the basic human problem – unravels the good order of God’s creation in successive ripples that span the one couple in the garden to the whole of humanity organized in solidarity against God at Babel. The creation itself is implicated too. The flood virtually undoes creation as it is returned to its watery formless state. Human sin causes alienation at every level: personal, interpersonal, social, and creation. The catastrophe is complete!
Posted on: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 02:20:44 +0000
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