Precursors to the Eden Narrative (Gen 2:4b–3:24)
This chapter offers a diachronically informed synchronic reading of the Garden of Eden story (Gen 2:4b–3:24) as a complex meditation on a mix of themes surrounding human identity and mortality that are well attested in Mesopotamian literary texts. Where some scholars (including the present author) have been inclined to see Genesis 2–3 as formed out of distinct literary levels focusing on wisdom and (later) mortality, this chapter argues on the contrary that these themes cannot be separated in Genesis 2–3—that numerous integral components in the Eden story (e.g., the snake) relate to both, much as earlier Mesopotamian traditions (especially the Gilgamesh and Adapa epics) reflect on how humans might have godlike rationality but have no access to godlike immortality. In addition, there are signs that key elements of Genesis 2–3 may have originated from its being loosely modeled on the structure and emphases of an earlier oral tradition about brotherly fratricide that is more closely reflected in Gen 4:1–16.