2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Let me pose a strange question. How old were Adam and his as-yet-unnamed wife at this point?
It sounds like a trick question. Of course, his wife was freshly created from a rib, and he'd been molded from mud just a few days ago, give or take.
But that's not what I mean. How old did they appear? I usually picture them being around 22 years old, young but full-grown. And, you know, naked. But, from what we've read so far, they could be pretty nearly any age.
We can rule out old and decrepit. Perhaps not so much from what we've had so far, but they've got work to do later on, an entire planet to populate.
But they could easily be 42, like me. Or 14, like Romeo and Juliet. Or, and this is where it gets weird, 4 years old. Adam is referred to as 'the man' rather than 'the boy', which you wouldn't normally do for a 4 year old. But, if the 4 year old were the only male of its species, perhaps. Adam can talk and make decisions, but so can 4 year olds. Four year olds don't usually get married, but there's no discussion of passionate sex right here.
I know, the 4 year old thing is pretty weird, but this is what half-sells it for me: 4 year olds are not ashamed to wander around naked. That's something it takes a while for us to teach them.
Now, there's a strong sense in this passage that it's obviously fundamentally evil to be naked. Or at least to be naked and unashamed. I don't want to get bogged down in a discussion of whether that's valid, so I'll just go with it, except to note that it's another insight into the author's culture. But little kids don't have that sense of shame because they're too young and innocent to know better.
Which brings us around to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We generally accept that young children are lacking in their ability to distinguish right from wrong, good from evil. If we want to go all metaphorical, as you grow up, society (your parents, teachers, etc.) feeds you the fruit of the tree, by teaching you right from wrong, the commonly accepted social values, and so on. Maybe the whole Garden of Eden is just a metaphor for childhood.
Or maybe Adam and his wife were naked little children whom some wealthy landowner had locked into a large walled garden for his own amusement.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
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Es muy silly y extran~o, ya perdi el punto...
ReplyDeleteEs como una de mis ecuaciones del Citric Acid Cycle, en el medio del ciclo me olvide que era lo que estaba pasando... ???