The Jewish outlook. (Denver, Colo.) 1903-1913, 1905-09-22

jected to a cross-examination whereby he is
compelled to criminate himself The very
question: Hast thou eaten of the tree where
of l commanded thee that thou shOuldst not
eat?' was intended to elicit confession, for,
when Adam confronted his judge he showed
obvious signs of guilt The legend states
that after Adam and Eve had transgressed,
their eyes were opened and they knew that
they were naked. This is the belated wis
dom of the criminal after the crime has been
adam admitted his guilt, but pleaded
subtly and boldly: The woman whom thou
gavest to be with me, she gave me OF the
tree and l did eat He thus indirectly
charges God Himself with being responsible
for the crime in having placed the tempter
by his side in the form of a woman whom He
had given him to be his wife; and it may
be that this fact was considered by the
judge subsequently in passing sentence; for
it will be remembered that, although the pun
ishment for Adams transgressiOn was to
have been death, there evidently were miti-
eating circumstances which, in the mind of
. the judge warranted a lesser punishment"
In considering the sentences passed upon
the offenders the author points out that the
serpent, being condemned unheard has the
same status as the slave in the patriarchal
household, and, though the least offender, re-
ceives the greatest punishment since its
moral oblquity sets in motion the series OF
causes which results in the breach Of the
law" He continues:
of seduction which made it possible for Eve
to become an accessory to Adams crime, and
it's punishment was clearly excessive AL
though it had been more subtle than any
beast of the field and had been permitted to
hold free intercourse with it's human COM
panions, it now degraded below every
beast of the field, condemned to crawl on
it's belly, eat dust and be in state of per-
petual warfare with the human species Thus
for some trivial offense the house slave of
the patriarch might be degraded below the
most mental slave of the field. The punish
ment of Eve was likewise excessive her So
licitude for her husband led her. unselfshly
enough, to want him to participate in the en-
jOyment OF her neW-fOund pleasure. Adam
was legally and morally the real offender.
The command had been laid upon him di-
rectly, and he broke it in yielding most
weakly to temptation. Yet in spite of this,
the woman, who had been his equal,
now made his subordinate. Thy desire shall
be to thy husband and he shall rule over
thee The real offender was by this decree
elevated above the comparatively innocent
of his crime.
According to the original commandment
the punishment for Adams transgression
was DEATH for in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die!' Yet in SEN
fencing Adam the law was not strictly ap-
piled, for, instead of being condemned to
death, he was condemned to work for liv-
ing, and it seems that part of the wisdom
of the serpent consisted in it's ability to
ticipate this, for when the woman told the
serpent that God had said, 'Ye shall not eat
of it, neither shall we touch it, lest We die
the serpent answered her. saying, 'Ye shall
not surely die 1t may be that the influence
of Eve was considered mitigating circum-
stance. This sentence is the archtype of the
abolition of capital punishment and the sub
stitutiOn of life Imprisonment at hard labor"