(RNS) — Married to a member of an Episcopal church choir, I had the pleasure this past month of sitting through two performances of Lessons and Carols, the musical-scriptural summary of the reason for the season established more than a century ago at King’s College, Cambridge, where it is still performed annually.
I found myself thinking mostly about the first of the lessons, from the third chapter of Genesis, which recounts what happens after Adam and Eve eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God, walking in the garden of Eden in the cool of the day, asks Adam where he is. Adam answers that he’d hidden himself because, hearing God’s voice, he was afraid because he was naked.
“Who told thee thou wast naked?” says God and, putting two and two together, goes on to ask if Adam has eaten of the tree he commanded him not to eat. “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat,” says Adam, hinting that his disobedience was ultimately God’s fault.
As for the woman, she blames the serpent, who, she says, “beguiled me.” The serpent had gotten the ball rolling by telling her that, contrary to what God told Adam, they won’t die if they eat the fruit of that tree. Which was, strictly speaking, true.
God’s response is to mete out separate punishments to each of the miscreants and then kick Adam and Eve out of the garden, lest they eat of the tree of life and become as gods.
At this point, let us note that the current King’s College version of the lesson leaves out the verse that reads: “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”
Given all the grief heaped on women over the centuries for giving the fruit to Adam, it seems churlish to complain about this omission of the woman’s punishment, though it does leave a gap in the story. But suppose the newlyweds, instead of passing the blame, had admitted they’d done wrong and apologized. What would that have done to the story?
With apologies to the King James Version, perhaps something like the following:
“And the man said, My bad, and verily I am super sorry. Please don’t blame the woman whom thou gavest to be with me, for she is a young thing and knew not better when she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
“And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is it that thou dost not understand about the command I commanded? And the woman said, I did understand but I believed the serpent and did eat because it looked delicious and I wanted to be wise like thee, for which I am well and truly sorry too.
“And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: Get thee out of the garden, never to return.
“Unto the woman he said, childbirth will be no picnic for thee but in due course there will be epidurals and other medicaments which shall greatly ease the pain; and sayings will be said such as, ‘A woman without a man is like unto a fish without a bicycle’; and one day no longer will wives be chattel unto their husbands.
“And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, thou shalt hearken unto the voice of thy wife all the days of thy life, which will not be an entirely bad thing. Also, thy free ride is over. Thou wilt have to work for a living, and in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, albeit eventually there will be large-scale agriculture and the bread will come more easily.
“And because ye have apologized for eating of the fruit, we will allow you to remain in the garden, provided ye promise not to eat of the fruit of the tree of life.
“Then the man said, The Lord God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in kindness and truth, and we are deeply thankful, and we promise not to eat of the fruit of the tree of life, cross our hearts and hope to die.
“And the woman said, But we have one question. If we knew not before eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that being naked was bad, how were we supposed to know that it was bad to ignore thy command and eat of the fruit?
“And the Lord God said, Are ye questioning my judgment? Ye are too smart for your own good. I trust not your promise and it repenteth me that I decided to let you stay in the garden. We are done here.
“So he drove out the man and his wife; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”
Thanks be to God.
