Adam and Eve:

A Comparative Analysis

 

In the story described in Genesis, Chapter 3, it is very tempting to compare the two central characters. As a fundamental part of this temptation, one could easily be swayed to argue that Adam is better than Eve, Eve is better than Adam, or they are equal to each other. In fact, we could even bring the serpent into the foray. After all, it was the serpent that coaxed Eve to eat the apple, right? Perhaps this demonstrates that neither Adam nor Eve measured up to the garden creature, or on a deeper level, none of them measured up to God’s expectations.

 

Let us not get distracted by this latter point. A disappointed god would be an imperfect god, for that would mean that the divine creator could be caught off guard, and we can’t allow that! So let us stick to the matter at hand and look at Adam and Eve.

 

Now, in any comparative analysis, it is important to select reasonable criteria to measure the subjects behavior. No question there are all types of criteria that could be employed: adaptability, ingenuity, charity, compassion. For the sake of this argument, I propose two that in many respects encompass all the others: morality and intelligence.

 

From the standpoint of morality, it is quite apparent that all the characters are depraved. The serpent, Adam and Eve all fail the tests that God has silently assigned to them. The serpent has failed the biggest test: loyalty to his creator. He tries to convince Eve that she can obtain the powers of God by eating from the apple: “Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.” With this action, the serpent is more immoral than Adam and Eve because he not only is disobedient, but also deceptive. He leads Eve to believe that she can obtain divine powers. I would argue that the two humans are equally immoral, but it’s a moot point because they both failed their tests.

 

That leaves us with intelligence as the sole potential criterion to judge the comparative worthiness of Adam and Eve. With that in mind, there are three distinct possibilities: 1) Adam is more intelligent than Eve; 2) Eve is more intelligent than Adam; 3) both are of equal intelligence. Ostensibly, many other possibilities could exist when the intelligence of the serpent is brought into the question; however, I don’t think this is a factor, because in my mind, the serpent is CLEARLY more intelligent than Adam and Eve. Witness his powers of persuasion and subtlety of his arguments. Like any good false messiah, he manages to outsmart his audience with a perverse combination of quasi-reasoning, charisma, and quashing any legitimate doubts.

 

So let us take each of the three possibilities one at a time. First, let us assume that Adam is more intelligent than Eve. Well, if this is the case, they why does the serpent first approach Eve? Wouldn’t the serpent try to convince the more intelligent of the two humans? If he manages to convince the smarter of the two, then that person could easily convince the other to eat from the apple.

 

As it stands from this story, if Adam is smarter than Eve, then he wouldn’t eat from the apple, for he would assume that Eve is too gullible to be trusted with exhibiting sound judgement. One could easily hear Adam tell Eve, when she gives him the apple, “Dear, don’t tell me that you let that creepy snake fool you like that. Didn’t you even consider that he gets his kicks from deceiving innocent people like us?”.

 

Now, it is quite possible that the snake would first approach Eve because he knows that God had instructed Adam not to eat from the tree of knowledge. He would question Eve about her knowledge of what can be eaten in the garden. Indeed, Eve, demonstrating some degree of loyalty to her god, and perhaps to Adam, tells the serpent “Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said: ‘Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.’” From this, the serpent would deduce that Adam had told her about the forbidden fruit; however, the serpent, being smarter than either of them, is aware of their comparative intelligence. He knows that a smarter Adam would be more skeptical and hence more difficult to convince. He would coax Adam first because he would have to win over Adam; then, Adam could convince Eve. Therefore, I conclude that Adam is not smarter than Eve.

 

What about the second possibility? Could Eve be smarter than Adam? Here, it makes sense that she is smarter. Let’s give the serpent some credit, folks! He knows who balances the checkbook in this family. So he approaches Eve first. Yet, even if she is smarter than Adam, she still isn’t too bright. Why isn’t she suspicious that the serpent is trying to persuade her to disobey her creator? If she really was bright, then she might say, “Oh, cunning serpent, why doth you eat of the fruit first, and I will see with my own eyes what becomet of doth self.” It is possible that because she did not say this, she failed a test that God implicitly gave her.

 

Let us assume that the real test was to resist exhibiting such skeptism. From this point of view, maybe she passed that test. We could make an argument, flimsly as it may be, that accompanying her superior intelligence is some degree of skeptism, but also enlightened devotion to trust a fellow biological creature. In other words, at the end of the day, it is wiser to believe that a living being will be truthful than it is to be blindly skeptical of his intentions. For skeptism leads to missed opportunities.

 

Then the next question to be asked is whether Eve would really share the apple with Adam. It’s possible that she is very selfish. On the other hand, maybe she had great compassion for him. Maybe she is a giving, charitable person who will share everything with him. The point is that even if this was the case, and disingeniously assuming the serpert was telling the truth when he declared that “by eating the apple her eyes would open and she would be like God”, once she obtained divine powers, she could easily raise Adam up to that godly level. If she became a divine being, she would be speaking to him as God spoke to Adam. Eve would clearly be above him. In fact, she would no longer be human, and hence would not give him the apple to eat. She would say “take my hand, and I will bring you up to the high heavens”.

 

Now, since we know very well that the serpent was a liar, it stands to reason that they don’t obtain divine powers and know good from evil. So if Eve is really smart, after eating from the apple, she will wait to see if it takes effect. “Hmm, nothing seems to be happening. I certainly don’t feel like a god, and thank God for that!” She would see no point in sharing the apple with Adam because it’s worthless.

 

To wrap up the second possibility, Eve is smarter than Adam. At least this is what the snake believes and what can be extracted from the Garden of Eden story. My point is that even if this is the case, it doesn’t matter too much, because in the end, Eve succumbs to temptation rather than critically analyzing the situation. Her biggest failure is that she didn’t exhibit any skepticism of the snake’s veracity and intentions.

 

This leads us to the third possibility: Adam and Even are equally intelligent. From this perspective, the serpent could approach either one to beguile. He could just flip a coin. It just turns out that Eve is the winner. Or, maybe they’re equally intelligent, but Eve is more likely to be tempted. It doesn’t matter. The point is that Eve takes the apple and eats it without a critical thought. “Mmm. This apple is yummy. Hey, honey, try this. It tastes good, and will turn us into gods ...” She then passes it to Adam, who also is barren of thought in his head. “Mmmmhh. You’re right, dear. Yup, real delicious.”

 

So yes, they might be equally intelligent. In fact, equally dumb and undiscriminating. They are living in paradise, but are just too stupid to realize it. Disobeying their God is no different than praying to him. And if this be the lesson of this story, well, they can keep it! It’s not much of a lesson.

 

In conclusion, I would argue that the Garden of Eden story has NOTHING whatsoever to do with the comparative worth of Adam and Eve. It is a story showing the collision of various forces. The force of God, their creator. The force of the serpent, a smart, cunning beast. And, of course, Adam and Eve are forces. The conflict builds up until there is a collision between devotion and disobedience. Since temptation wins out in the end, there is a price to pay. The ultimate lesson of this story is that for every pathway that a human freely chooses to walk down, there are consequences that must be realized. In physics: every action has its reaction.

 

 

Written by David Epstein

October 19, 1999