JAN 21

During the account of the first sin, the serpent which convinced Eve to consume the fruit of the forbidden tree does so by creating a sense of temptation in Eve. The serpent uses the innate human desire for understanding to convince both Eve and Adam to take part of the tree’s fruit. Once consumed, they saw that the serpent was in part correct and more importantly, the words of the Lord proved to be incorrect. During these early times in the garden, God had informed each humans of their mortality. The present issue was that God expects obedience and trust from humans, as he is their creator. Yet no human surely knew whether what God said was true or not due to previous accounts, therefore most of those who lived during the times before the first death lived a large portion of their lives with no knowledge of evidence to assure their mortality. Kass points out that Noah was the first human to be born during the time after the first natural death. Therefore, as Noah is the first human to be able to develop in a time where God’s word has proven to be true, he is the first human which God sees fit to rule over the lands which he created. From here, God acts upon his will and essentially resets the world with the purpose of providing a clean slate for Noah to restart humanity. Therefore, Adam and Eve consuming the forbidden fruit and the journey aboard Noah’s arc are much like cause and effect. One could not have happened without the other. Adam and Eve’s first sin inevitably doomed all their offspring but one.