[lit-ideas] Re: Adam's Spare-Rib and The Fall from Eden
- From: "Mike Geary" <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 01:00:09 -0500
JL [quotes]:
It is not good that the man should
be alone. I will make him an help meet
for him.
And out of the ground the Lord formed
EVERY BEAST of the field.
But for Adam there was [still] not
found an help meet for him."
That God didn't know what he was doing doesn't surprise me. No one had done
this before, so far as we know, so I can cut Him some slack. What I do find
puzzling is that He created a WOMAN to help him -- a guy. What was He
thinking? There were no dishes to wash, or clothes to clean, no house to
vacuum, not even any cooking to do -- this was Paradise after all, what the
hell did Adam need help with? And even if he did need help -- a woman???
Please. And you're probably thinking I'm a sexist, but your wrong, I'm a
realist. A Mexican, yes, a Vietnamese, of course, maybe even a Romanian,
but a woman??? Women WANT help, for Christ's sake. Maybe those chroniclers
got it all wrong. Maybe the first man was a WOMAN. And God quickly saw she
didn't know which end of the hammer to hold so he ripped a rib and created
MAN, the drywall hanger. This narrative makes a hell of a lot more sense to
me. I don't know ancient Hebrew, but I'll bet if the scholars dare go back
far enough they see that what we now call "woman" was created first.
Mike Geary
Memphis
----- Original Message -----
From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 12:18 AM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Adam's Spare-Rib and The Fall from Eden
Geary:
"Were Adam and Eve created with language intact? Presumably they were. How
else the acquisition? So they must have been talking God's own language. Why
then make Adam name everything? Surely God knew what he had made."
Well, according to the Bible, God's main concern was that Adam
had not "an help meet"
-- and 'meat' he'll soon get in the form of "Woman".
What is curious is one would expect that after that realisation on the part
of God, he would go and create Woman for Adam.
"It is not good that the man should
be alone. I will make him an help meet
for him.
And out of the ground the Lord formed
EVERY BEAST of the field.
But for Adam there was [still] not
found an help meet for him."
This is strictly ambiguous. If one follows the narrative, we see God's
concern about Adam needing some kind of 'help'.
God possibly thought that by forming every beast of the field, "Adam would
find an help meet" --
I am reminded of the Parrot of Robinson Crusoe or the Bitch that J. R.
Ackerley loved so much (filmed with Gary Oldman). Indeed, some beasts can
provide very good 'mates', even 'help mates', like horses, cows, and sheep.
Argentines for example are famously said to be keen on 'llamas' as 'help
meet':
"An Argentine gaucho called Bruno"
... goes the limerick.
So, no animal (other than Woman) proved to be a Help-Meet that Adam as
'looking'. It's curious how he IMMEDIATELY realized that Woman WILL be his
Help-Meet (or Meat), having yet the Woman NOT done anything special.
And wait when Adam loses Paradise for her.
Cheers,
JL
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