Autor: Voegelin, Eric

Buch: Israel and Revelation

Titel: Israel and Revelation

Stichwort: Mythos von Adapa u. Ea im Licht von Genesis; Adam

Kurzinhalt: Grund der Vertreibung aus dem Paradies: spiritueller Abfall vom Sein

Textausschnitt: Perhaps this mystery can be solved through recourse to a similar oddity in the myth of Genesis. When man is expelled from Eden he is thereby prevented from tasting of the tree of life. But why is the expulsion so important? What difference does it make whether the approach to the tree of life is cut off by a physical barrier or by an injunction not to touch its fruit? Does it make only the difference between a hedonistic, vegetative life and hard work? In Genesis there is an answer: The "death" that was set as punishment on the transgression is not mortality, the passing of existence, but the spiritual fall from being. The Adapa myth, now,
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From such obscurity we emerge into light again with the consequences of Adapa's rejection of the food and water of life. Anu dismisses him graciously to the long-lasting, glorious dominion of Eridu. The hero who rejects eternal life is the ruler who creates and maintains order among men. Was Anu's offer perhaps a temptation?