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Adam and Eve - Part 3

© Linda Casselman

So far in our examination of the Adam and Eve Creation Myth from the Bible, we have looked at various meanings for the order of creation, the serpent and tree symbolism, and the rationale behind God's punishment of Original Sin. This time we will have a brief look at some of the background behind the myth.

The Adam and Eve story is related to an ancient Sumerian and Babylonian myth.

The goddess Ninhursag creates a beautiful lush garden called Edinu full of wonderful fruit-bearing trees as her refuge. One day she must leave to visit An and worries that wild animals might destroy her garden. So she asks Enki to guard her garden while she is away. Enki becomes famished and eats everything in Ninhursag's garden, destroying it, and then leaves. When Ninhursag returns she is furious and curses Enki with death so 8 parts of his body become diseased. Enki cannot use his powers to cure himself and the other gods cannot help him either. So Enki must confess. Finally Ninhursag forgives him and she creates 8 goddesses of healing to heal and restore Enki.

In this myth as in the Adam and Eve story, we find the sacred trees bearing forbidden fruit and the punishment for eating that fruit - the same punishment, death. Though God does not kill Adam and Eve, He takes away their chance for immortality. So, in a sense God did curse Adam and Eve with death through their mortality. In the Sumerian/Babylonian myth, however, Ninhursag changes her mind and heals Enki while in the Bible story God follows through with His banishment of Adam and Eve.

Curiously, one of Enki's diseased body parts was his rib and the goddess created to heal his rib was called Ninti, which means the Lady of the Rib. But, Ti means Life, so Ninti also means the Lady of Life. Here we have a connection with the Adam and Eve story. God made Eve from Adam's rib. Remember? In Hebrew, Eve translates as Hawwah and Hawwah means Life. So could there be nothing mysterious or mystical about Woman being made from Adam's rib? Could it be then that that whole element of the Adam and Eve story was just a linguistic slip through the passage and translation of the old Sumerian and Babylonian myth about Enki and Ninhursag into the Hebrew version of the Adam and Eve creation myth in the Bible? It is a possibility.

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