The herald., 1895-03-31

| beast of the field which the Lord God had
mad And he said unto the woman, Yea,
hath God said, Ye shall not eat OF every tree of
! the garden?
=. AMI the woman said unto the serpent
We may eat of the fruit OF the trees OF the gar
| den:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the
midst of the garden, God hath said Ye shall
not eat of il, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye
! die.
| d. And the serpent said unto the woman
| Ye shall not surely die:
| 3. For God doth know that in the day We eat
| thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and
ye shall be gods knowing good and evil.
Is. And when the woman saw that the tree
| was good for food, and that it was pleasant to
! the eyes, and q tree to be desired to make one
wise, she took nf the fruit thereof, and did ear
and gave also unto her husband with her; and
Is Unto the woman he said, viii greatly
multiply thy sorrow ana thy conception; in
sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and
thy desire shall be to thy husband. and he
shall rule over thee
II And unto Adam he said Because thou
hast hearkened unto the voice OF thy wife, end
hast eaten OF the tree, of which commanded
thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is
the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou
eat of it all the days of thy life;
Is. Thorns also and thlstles shall it bring
forth 10 thee and thou snalt eat the herb OF
the field;
l9 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread till tuou return unto the ground: for
out OF it vast thou taken; forldust thou art, and
unto dust shalt thou return.
INTERPRETATIONS.
In this prolonged and eventful inter
view between the serpent and the woman,
the Lord God and Adam, the unprejudiced
reader is impressed with the worthy am
biton of the first woman for knowledge.
The serpent with his superior knowledge
of human nature did not tenn pt her with
promises of velvet, silks and lace but
with the more seductive inducement of
knowledge which should give her power
over life. The man had no such ambition.
If any tree was forbidden God should
have communicated His commands to
woman directly instead of permitting
them to reach her through a second
person.
The serpent was the first person who
came to the woman. He was the first to
appeal to her intelligence. it is by no
means certain that the tempter appeared
to her as a serpent or that it took on any
form at all.
Adam Clarke in his commentaries,
asks this question: is this record u
mere allegory?' He finds it beset with
so many difficulties that he seems quite
puzzled. However, he finally rests in
the assumption that it must be taken
literally and the seeming contradictions
explained away. His mind seems more
troubled about the serpent than any
other parsonage in the drama. AS
snakes cannot walk upright, and have
never been known to speak, he thinks
this beguiling creature must have been
species OF orang outang, or ape. A
learned professor in Yale College has
questioned the apple also, and asserted
that the forbidden fruit was ounce, as
no apples grew in that latitude. If the
serpent and the apple are to be withdrawn
, from the tableau it is to be feared that
with advancing civilization the whole
drama may fall into discredit.
kThe most casual reader of these contra
dictory accounts OF the creation must be
impressed with many other difficulties.
1t seems quite Incompatible Tor God
loving justice and mercy to command
Eve in one breath to multiply and re-
pienish the earth and in the next to tell