God forms man from the clay in the ground, breathes (ruah) life [Gen 2:7]

·         God is intimately involved in the creation of mankind

“It is not good for man to be alone” [Gen 2:18] à we are made to live in relationship

A.     God brings animals to man, and the man starts naming the animals, but none are a suitable partner.  This will be important, because after the Fall, the man will name his wife Eve.  God had created man and woman to be mutual partners, however now the relationship between man and woman will be strained because of sin, and each will try to “dominate” the other.

God creates woman

A.     Why does God take a rib from the man?  The rib is “close to heart,”  In the original language the word “rib” or “side” comes from “friend” “partner”

B.     Woman as the crown of creation, being last means you are the most important in Semitic culture.  This is why we show up “fashionably late” to social gatherings, and also why the priest processes in “last” during Mass.  In no way does the woman being created after man make her “inferior” to him.

C.     When man sees the woman he proclaims, “This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.”  Man and woman were made for one another, and have a natural attraction to one another.

The Fall

A.     Serpent convinces the woman into eating the fruit

B.     The man was with her, yet he stood by and did nothing [Gen 2:6] 

C.     “In that sin man preferred himself to God and by that very act scorned him. He chose himself over and against God, against the requirements of his creaturely status and therefore against his own good. Constituted in a state of holiness, man was destined to be fully “divinized” by God in glory. Seduced by the devil, he wanted to “be like God”, but “without God, before God, and not in accordance with God”. CCC 398

D.     “Their eyes were opened” à they both sinned, disobeyed, broke relationship with God

a.       Man and woman hide from God, their Creator (sin harms our relationship with God)

b.       God confronts the man, and the man blames the woman (sin harms and destroys our relationships with one another)

c.       Woman blames serpent (sin harms our relationship with environment)

The Proto-Evangelion or “First Gospel”

                                                                           i.      Authors use a “V” shape chiasm in story arc

1.       God accuses man        5. God punishes man

2.       God accuses woman   4.  God punishes woman

3.              **God  accuses/punishes serpent**

       (most important point of the story)

Implications of the Proto-Evangelion-

1.  Humanity is wounded through our disobedience

2.  Our disobedience or sin, harms our relationship between God, others, self, and the rest of creation

 3.  God promises that evil will be overcome, we still have hope