* Tiamat, whom be had bound, then turned backward : 80 Bel trampled on the bully of Tiamat ; With his club unalung he smote her brain. He broke it, and caused her blood to flow ; The north wind bore it away to secret placet.'*
There is nothing to surprise reason or to embarrass faith in the fact — if it be a fact — that traditional beliefs about the origins of human history should have been utilized in a purified form by the com- piler of the Pent, or taken up into the Prophetical Code. It must be remembered that the period with which we are dealing is strictly prehistoric, and also that legendary history is not necessarily false or misleading. The truly remarkable cir- cumstance is, that the early narratives in Gn are free from the extravagant and grotesque mytho- logical accretions which generally gather round ancient beliefs among primitive peoples ; and that every touch in these narratives as we have them conveys a deep religious truth. The ' inspiration of selection ' is a phenomenon which every candid student of Scripture must recognize ; and nowhere is its presence more instructive than in the first pages of or, which present the early history of man in a form that can be understood by the simplest, and yet may be studied with spiritual benefit by the wisest of mankind.
We believe, then, that we have in the biblical record of the Fall a purified form of legendary narrative concerning man's early history which had wide currency among Semitic peoples. In an un- critical age it was interpreted literally, and it has been counted historical for many generations by the majority of those, whether Jews or Christians, who accept the authority of the OT. But another method of interpretation, viz. the allegorical, has had many adherents. Thus, of the account of the Fall, PhilO asserts : t(m Si ravra ov TrXiafjiara f^i-Buv, 0?$ rb ToiTtTiKhv Ka.1 ffotptjTtKiv x^^P^*- 7^*'os, dXXA Seiy^ara T&trwv ir' dWTjyopiav TrapaKaXovvTwv Kara tAs Si vtrovoi<jv iTroS6(7eis (De mundi (ipifcio, § 56), i.e. ' These things are not mere fabulous myths, but rather types shadowin" forth some allegorical trutli.' And, accordingly, he explains that Adam represents the rational and Eve the sensuous part of man, the serpent being the symbol of pleasure. The Chris- tian teachers of Alexandria, Clement and Origen, favoured this allegorical mode of interpretation ; but Tertullian and Irenaeus defended the literal truth of the narrative, as also did Au_gustine, who did not, however, reject the typical significance of OT history ; and through the schola.stic philo- sophy it passed into the dogmatic theology of the Reformation. But the opinion that, however the story was intended to be taken by the compiler of tne Bk. of Genesis, it mi^ht be interprete<l as a parable of spiritual truth, has been defended by great names in every age of the Church, t
There are, then, these several methods of inter- pretation— (1) that the narrative of the Fall is literal history ; (2) that it is a legend, which con- veys truth under mythological disguise ; (3) that it is, and was only intended to be, an allegory. The first and third can hardly be adopted in the present condition of exegesis, and it is probable that the second view of the narrative is that which is now most generally accepted by those who have studied the subject. That the biblical form of tlie legend should represent the facts as they actually
• BibU and the Alonumentt, p. 90.
t See an mtereat'.og note Ln Colerid^'a Aidt to BefiectUm, p. ^71 (ed. Bohn).
took place more closely than the parallel stories which have been collected from the literature of the ancient world, is not surprising to any believer in the unique character of Scripture ; but it is not to be forgotten that it is the great religious tmtha which underlie the narrative that are of real im- portance, and these are brought out in the Bk. of Genesis in a quite unique fashion.
ii. The allusions in OT to the story of Gn 3 are few and uncertain. If the rendering of the RV may be pressed, there are indeed two undoubted references to the Fall, viz., 'If like Adam I covered my transgressions ' (Job 31"), and, ' But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant' (Hos 6'). But it seems that, at least in the former passage, DiK? should be rendered ' after the manner of men,' and this rendering would also be admissible in Hos 6' ; so that we have to look elsewhere for allusions to the Paradise narrative on which stress may be laid. The ' garden of Eden ' is mentioned several times by the prophets of the Captivity (Ezk 28" 31«, Is 51', cf. Jl 2^) ; and the Bk. of Proverbs occasionally mentions a ' tree of life ' (see esp. Pr 3'* 1 1**). Ps 90' and Ec 12" have been supposed to take up the language of Gn 3''. It is possible also that we have a reminiscence of the curse upon the serpent (Gn 3") in Mic 7" ' They shall lick the dust like a serpent,' and in Is 65^ ' Dust shall be the serpent's meat,' though the latter passage may be derived from Micah. The conception of a personal tempter of mankind appears m the story of Job and also in 1 Ch 21' (see also Zee 3') ; but it is not untU a later period that we come upon any explicit identification of 'Satan' or the 'Adversary' with the ' serpent,' the first trace of such bein<; Wis 2". Cf. also Rev 12« and Ro 16-" ' The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly,' which manifestly has reference to Gn 3'°.*