As a child, and even to this day, the first few chapters of Genesis confuses me. Mostly because of two little verses in Chapter 1. In the King James version they read:

27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

For those who hate that old english, here;s the Contemporary English version:

27So God created humans to be like himself; he made men and women. 28God gave them his blessing and said:

28Have a lot of children! Fill the earth with people and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the ocean, the birds in the sky, and every animal on the earth.

Well, all that is fine and dandy except, there was no EVE! I had always wondered how Adam is supposed to have sex without his wife, or how realizing you're naked is a sin if you are already having sex, but then I heard the story of Lilith.

For those who don't know, Lilith is Adam's first wife, who leaves Paradise because she refuses to submit to Adam, and its a sin for women to be equal to their men as she wanted. Some say she wanted to be on top during sex and that was enough to banish her. Apprently, she becomes a demon that steals the lives of children, or the mother of all vampires as some myths go.

I personally always thought there was something wrong with this story. If Females were meant to be submissive to males from the very begining, why does God make this a punishment for Eve during the fall of man? As a child, I was always told to just accept it and not question God. Well, the Bible does say "come, let us reason together" (Isaiah 1:18) So I continued my study in private.

The reason I bring all this up is because today I feel I may finally have some insight to these questions which plagued me for so long, and i just felt I had to share it.

Today I found a book called Haggadah, which is a Jewish legend from Midrash. It contains its own creation myth which is slightly more detailed than the one in the cannonized bible.

In it, it describes how souls are made and people are born, saying that everything about a person is decided except whether they will be good or evil, thus allowing people to make their own decisions and destiny.

Adam is no exception. He is described as being perfect (although it is mentioned that all his coveted attributes leads to the downfall of other men in the future who possessed them). However, as the story progresses, I find that Adam has let himself become corrupted enough to cause his own downfall.

The book still says that Lilith wanted equality to Adam, seeing as they were made from the same materials in the same manner (implying that she too, started perfect), but Adam refuses to the point where she flees, inlisting the aid of the Ineffable Name (I still don't know who this is). Adam complains to God that the female he was givin isn't good enough since she left, and God sends angels after her. The angels demand she return, or she will be cursed. Lilith exclaims that she would happily take the curse if it meant never seeing Adam again. At this point I think, no matter how pig headed Lilith may be, you have to really despise someone to respond like that. Adam must have done something to make her feel that way. to me, it sounds like Adam had to much pride to share his position of power, seeing as it had already been the cause of the war in heaven, but that's my personal opinion.

When the angels return empty handed, God decides to make a woman from Adam, so he will be more likely to get along with her. However,God finds himself with a problem: Every part of Adam he conciders using to make woman have some fault in them that he feels will be transfered to her. for example: the head would cause arrogance, the eye wan-ton behavior, the neck insolence and so on. He finally settles on the rib because its the least tainted part of adam he can find, and despite all his careful measures while making her, Eve (and therefore woman according to the author) posseses every terrible trait God tried to avoid.

I figure this is because God is using faulty materials this time. Adam was made from dust, neutral and with no preconcived notions. Eve was made from the flesh of another, who had already made decisions regarding good and evil, and some of them not being all that good. Therefore, some of Adam's bad decisions and ideas were inherint, just as some of his good.

The book then goes into a funny but sexist explaination that states women are more annoying than men because they are made of bone and not dirt.

But what upsets me and furthers my idea that Adam already had some falsehood in him is this: As soon as he awakes and sees Eve, he immediately falls in love with her. The book explains that he loved her because he didn't know her. Since he and Lilith were made at the same time, he knew everything about her and thus, she didn't excite him. I find it silly that one would denounce the mate they know like the back of their hand for a woman they don't know at all. Eve was inherently evil, because of him no less, but he didn't bother to even find out her name before he demanded they get married. I know love comes in many forms, but that just seems shallow and fickle to me.

And what's the icing on the cake? He then LIES to Eve. He assumes that Eve is too dumb to understand the rules of the Garden, so when he's telling her about the forbidden fruit, he tells Eve to even touch the tree is to die, as oppose to just eating the fruit.

Then, when she's talking to the snake and recites what Adam told her, he simply pushes her into the tree. When she realizes she's not dead and Adam has lied to her, she assumes he lied about the fruit too, having lost her trust in him. Once she realizes that's true, she feeds it to Adam and most of the animals in her need for revenge and fear of suffering alone.

That's a lot more beliveable than some ditz who thought she could trust a talking snake.

Anyway, that's my opinion on the matter. Feel free to comment as long as you're polite in stating your views.