Biblical Hebrew Forum

[C L <sigebryht AT yahoo.com>]

Dear Norman,

I believe the grammar of Genesis 3 makes it abundantly clear that Adam was standing right next to Eve, letting her speak for both of them, during the encounter with the serpent.

Not only does the text say in Genesis 3:6 that the woman's husband was "with her" [immah], as you rightly point out, but the serpent addresses them with masculine plural verbs. If only Eve had been present, we would expect the serpent to address her with second-person feminine singular verbs.

I've attempted to highlight this in the [deliberately] rough translation below:

3:1

Now, the sepent was more cunning than all the animals of the field

that ADONAI Elohim had made.

So he (the serpent) said to the woman:

“How can it be that Elohim has said:

‘Never eat [MASCULINE PLURAL] from any of the trees of the garden?’

 

3:2

Then the woman said to the sepent:

“From the trees of the garden we may eat (Niphal [Reflexive])

           

3:3

“However, from the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden,

Elohim has said, ‘Never eat (PLURAL) from it

and never touch (PLURAL) it

lest you die (PLURAL)"

 

 

3:4

Then said the serpent to the woman:

“Dying you shall not die (MASCULINE PLURAL + Infinitive absolute for emphasis, mirroring G-d’s original command)

3:5

On the contrary, Elohim knows that, the day that you (plural) eat of it

your (Plural) eyes will be opened.

Then you will be knowers (MASCULINE PLURAL) of good and evil

3:6

Then the woman saw

that good was the tree for food (a parody of G-d’s pronouncement of things “good” in Gen. 1)

and desirable it was to the eyes (ie, attractive)

and a tree [to be treasured] for success.

So she grabbed some of its fruit

Then she ate

Then she gave [it], furthermore (gam) to her husband [who was] with her

Then he ate.

3:7

Then the eyes of both were opened

and they knew [= discovered] that they [were] naked, even THEM

So they sewed fig leaves together

and made belts/frontal coverings for themselves.

So the point of the passage (or at least one major point) is that Adam was FULLY COMPLICIT in the Fall. The woman misquotes G-d's original command at several points, and doesn't even refer to G-d as ADONAI Elohim. Yet the man does not correct her, even though the text makes it very clear he was right there.

As a scholar, I want to emphasize that I try to be careful with strong statements. In this case, however, I do think the text is crystal clear to make sure that we see the man standing right next to his wife. We have: 1. Masculine plural verbs and pronouns throughout the text, 2. the term "immah" ("with her") in 3:6, and 3. the particle "gam" in 3:6, which seems to be functioning emphatically here to put a pause in the stich so that we are sure to see the woman's husband there.

I welcome any alternative interpretations, of course. However, I really think this text is clear. The man is clearly responsible for the Fall, according to this text.

(Let me be clear for the sake of the forum: I believe that's what the text says as literature, based on the grammatical features I have mentioned. Based on the forum rules, I'm not trying to make this a theological discussion, so I respectfully leave it to the readers to draw their own theology from it.)

Sincerely,

Christopher Lovelace