Episode 7: Memories of Eden, part 4
From ancient temples to African legends to fishermen in Nicaragua, stories all over the globe seem to be connected with one another. This episode is about those stories, how they got confused, and the message Adam might’ve wanted everyone to remember.
This is the fourth and final part of a 4-episode series on the garden of Eden. You can find part 1 here, part 2 here and part 3 here. Quotes from the Bible were were taken from the English Standard Version (see ESV copyright here) or the New King James Version. For the other sources, including commentaries, websites, or articles, you can find links and references in the show notes below in the order they appeared. If you have any questions, there’s a link to contact me at the bottom of the page.
Show notes:
For details on the life of Robert Parker, see here, here, and here.
For Parker being the leader of a gang, and that gang forming in 1896 according to western lore, see this article.
For details on the life of Harry Longabaugh, see here. And, yes, if you’re wondering, I’m only making a guess at how to pronounce “Longabaugh.”
For Parker’s time in Rock Springs, Wyoming and his work for a butcher, see here.
For the comment that neither Cassidy nor Sundance killed anyone until the end of their lives, see the introduction to the book found here.
For rivers flowing from the mouth of an Egyptian god that represented the cosmic abyss, see Zondervan,. NIV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, eBook (Kindle Locations 7415-7417). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
For four rivers emanating from a godlike figure in Assyrian artwork, see Zondervan,. NIV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, eBook (Kindle Locations 7415-7417). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
For the story of a cow supplying four rivers of milk in the Norse creation story, see here.
For details on what various oracle bone symbols might mean, see Nelson, E.R., Broadberry, R.E. (1997) God’s Promise to the Chinese. (pg. 27). The symbol that is hypothesized to mean “God” is also referenced on a few other pages.
Among historic garden designs, there is one type in which channels or paths cross through the middle of the garden separating it into quadrants. This is called a chahar bagh and it shows up in, among other places, the gardens of the Taj Mahal. This symbolism of four paths or channels meeting at the center of a garden might refer back to the garden of Eden, but the age of the symbolism is unclear. Cyrus the Great had a garden somewhat like this in Pasagardae, but his garden had only one water channel cutting through it with a hypothetical path cutting the other way to separate the halves into quadrants, so the link is far from certain (see here). Altogether, there’s not enough evidence to determine where the symbolism of the chahar bagh originated and whether it is refers to the four rivers in the garden of Eden or not.
For the background of Ovid, see here. For Ovid’s description of a perfect world, see here.
For the quote from a Sumerian poem and a discussion of Dilmun, the paradise garden of the gods in Sumerian lore, see here. The latter part of the poem is also referenced in Bauer, Susan Wise. The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome (Kindle Locations 693-698). W. W. Norton & Company. Kindle Edition. For a description of Sumeria, see here.
For the original descriptions of the Horned serpent, the Uktena, the Aztec feathered serpent, and the Naga, see WiderBible Episode 5 and the show notes from that episode.
For the tree god who looked like a serpent and could take human form in ancient Mesopotamia, see here.
For details on the cobra god wrapped around a papyrus stem in Egyptian lore, see here.
For the Garden of the Hesperides and Ladon, the dragon guarding the apples, see here as well as a more extended note on the topic in the show notes for WiderBible Episode 5.
For the evil snake in Norse mythology, see here. For the original story text of the Norse myth, see here and search “XXXIV.” to find the paragraph about where the snake came from and “LI.” to find the paragraph about the snake coming up on land. For Yggdrasil as a tree supporting the universe and acting as a source of life in the future, see here. For Nidhoggr as a snake gnawing at the roots of Yggdrasil see here and search “Nidhoggr”.
For the memory of dragons as a great snake and the idea that they were controlled by a supernatural power, see pg. 2 here as well as this article.
For more on the Egyptian beliefs surrounding snakes, see Zondervan,. NIV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, eBook (Kindle Locations 7463-7471). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
I had planned to include a story from the Tungu people, but the references available make it unclear whether it was an original story or something that had a Christian influence. Throughout this episode, there is often a risk that such influences can give a false parallel, making a story seem like the story in Genesis, but only due to the fact that people heard the story in Genesis from a Christian and mixed it together with their own previous religion. Overall, it’s hard to tell when this happens, but that’s some of the value of the very old stories and the stories from very far away from the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity, because those stories seem most likely to be remembering their own traditions and history rather than something that was accidentally mixed together with stories from the Bible.
For the story of the two fisherman and the snake in Nicaraguan lore, see pg. 29 here. In addition, the source went on to state that the snake could not be killed by human weapons, only by lighting.
For details from the Creek indian stories about how Tie snakes or Horned serpents got their start, see pg. 26 here.
For the ancient Babylonian image of a snake whispering in a woman’s ear as she and a man hold out their hand toward fruit on a tree, see here.
For details on the “nagas” of Hindu stories, see pg 333 here, and pgs. 2-4 here. For details about Indra, the Hindu god, see here.
The belief that a dragon guards a tree of life or something like it is linked to the common idea in India, China, and Europe that a dragon guards treasure. For more, see here.
For details on what various oracle bone symbols mean, see Nelson, E.R., Broadberry, R.E. (1997) God’s Promise to the Chinese. (pgs. 46-48). Besides the book noted above, the symbol for "not" can be seen in the article here.
For a comment regarding winged creatures outside palaces and temples in Mesopotamia, see Barker, K. L. (2002) NIV Study Bible. Genesis 3:24, note. Zondervan.
For more on the Babylonian palace guardians, see Nichol, F. D. (Ed.). (1977). The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Vol. 4, p. 609). Review and Herald Publishing Association.
For details on the sphinx, see here as well as a Horn, S. H. (1979). In The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Dictionary (p. 202). Review and Herald Publishing Association.
For the historic location of the Hittite empire, see here. For the description of a griffin and where it appears in ancient ruins, see here. You can also find references here to the griffin as a guard of holy things.
For the winged bulls being called shedu or lamassu, see here.
For the relationship between the Assyrian “karibu” and the Biblical cherubim, see Nichol, F. D. (Ed.). (1978). The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Vol. 1, p. 236). Review and Herald Publishing Association as well as here.
For more on the Babylonian artifact showing serpent-like creatures guarding gates to the netherworld, see Zondervan,. NIV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, eBook (Kindle Locations 206863-206865). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
For the quote from the Epic of Gilgamesh, see pg 98, here.
For what happened after Gilgamesh passes the scorpion guards, see Tablet 9 here. For a snake taking the plant away, see Tablet 11.
According to one source, “Nin-ti,” the Sumerian goddess known as “Lady-of-the-rib,” (with “ti” meaning rib) was also known as “she who makes live.” From this, and the fact that “Eve” in Genesis only means “mother of all living,” it’s argued that Eve is just a copy of Nin-ti and the pun on the word “rib” was lost in the new name, but the reasoning could also run the other direction. Rather than assuming Eve was a copy, one could guess that either (A) “Nin-ti” was the copy, probably in a new language springing up around the time of Babel (see Genesis 11:1-9), and the name was invented to remember the first woman as being both a mother and made from a rib, or (B) that both Eve and Nin-ti are names hearkening back to the same original story and neither is explicitly copied from the other. In either case, there isn’t any reason to suspect that “Eve” is based on “Nin-ti,” only that they share the similarities one would expect of people telling a story about a person who was both created from a rib and was the first human mother. For more, see here.
For more on Apopis, the Egyptian serpent of chaos, see here. See also Zondervan,. NIV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, eBook (Kindle Locations 7463-7471). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
For spells and curses on snakes that might interfere with a pharoah’s trip to the afterlife, see Zondervan,. NIV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, eBook (Kindle Locations 7493-7494). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
For more on the Adapa epic and the reference to snakes and the food of life, see Zondervan,. NIV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, eBook (Kindle Locations 7463-7471). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. For a more detailed discussion of the parallels between the Adapa epic and the story found in Genesis, see [here](For more on the Adapa epic and the reference to snakes and the food of life, see Zondervan,. NIV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, eBook (Kindle Locations 7463-7471). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. For a more detailed discussion of the parallels between the Adapa epic and the story found in Genesis, see here.
For the Lenape comment about the world being ruined by a great magician serpent, see here.
For another story from natives of North America, the Cherokee tale ends with animals getting back at man for being cruel by giving him dreams of snakes that are wrapping around him. For more, see here.
For the frequently found motif of a Supreme Being who created a perfect world only to see it ruined, see this article.
Sources suggesting that similar myths might arise independently can be found here and here. In the second article, they talk about dragon stories, but, if dragon stories were “invented” by looking at dinosaur fossils or whale bones, why did those bones turn into snakes so much of the time? It seems like large versions of wolves or bears or lions or tigers should also show up fairly often, especially in colder parts of the world.
One summary of comparative mythology assumes that many of the stories in Europe and Asia are connected by some common heritage, and notes that even the names of some gods appear to be linguistically related. The article goes on to admit, however, that there are also other stories that come up in North America and seem similar to stories from Greece, though without any obvious connection to explain the similarity.
For details about the Aztec feathered serpent god, see here.
For snakes in North American, Australian, and Chinese mythology, see pg. 97, here. Further details regarding the opinions of the Chinese and Japanese about dragons can be found here.
For the statement that snakes were in charge of the natural world, one reference, on pg. 97 here notes that Australian beliefs included a Rainbow Serpent and that dragons ruled nature. Another, here references various beliefs in rainbow serpents including controlling rain and as a creator.
For the snake-eating-its-own-tail in Greek and Egyptian symbolism, see here.
For the use of Asclepius’s rod with the snake wound around in modern medical practice, see here for the WHO, here for the AMA, and here for the use of the symbol on an ambulance. For more on the use of Asclepius’ rod and the confusion between that symbol and the winged staff with two serpents that is also sometimes used, see here.
In several stories from history, as mentioned in the episode, people seem to reverse the role of the snake in the garden of Eden so that serpents are seen as a positivie character. At first glance, this pattern appears to show up in the story of the bronze serpent found in the Bible, too (see (Numbers 21:6-9). Looking closer at that story, however, there are a couple of details worth pointing out. First, when Moses was told to make the bronze serpent, it was supposed to look like the snakes that were biting people at the time, not like some mythical animal from history. Second, in the New Testament, Jesus refers back to the bronze serpent and uses it to symbolize how He would die on the cross and people must believe in Him in order to have eternal life (see John 3:14-15). These details explain that the snake wasn’t meant to reference back to creation, but rather to a very real problem the people were dealing with in the desert, and that the symbolism was supposed to point forward to Jesus, not to some unknown snake with healing powers. The story in the Bible can seem like the other stories referenced in the episode, but part of what sets it apart is that we don’t have only a fragment of the story, we also have its historical and relgious context. If all we knew was that the ancient Israelites once made a statue of a snake because they thought it would heal them, then the story would fit with these other stories of a snake associated with the power of healing. Knowing the rest of the story, though, dispels that interpretation. Think of it another way. If, for instance, we knew why Asclepius had a snake wound around his rod, and it was for some very practical reason, then it wouldn’t make sense to associate that story with a belief in the mystical healing power of a snake either. As it stands, though, since we don’t have those details, since we don’t know why Asclepius carried a snake around, we are left to wonder.
For Marduk as the chief or patron god of Babylon, see here and here. For Marduk represented by the image of a snake-dragon, see here. For details about the original Ishtar gate, see here and here. For how the Ishtar gate was excavated and rebuilt in a German museum, see here and here.
For more on the Chinese stories of the first emperor, see here.
Though the Fon people trace the creation of the world to a dual male-female character that’s associated with a snake, they also claim there was an even earlier god who came before these creators. For more details, see references here and here, and here, as well as this definition of who the Fon people are.
For Enlil as the king of the gods, see here. For the story of humans being destroyed by this grumpy god, see here.
In addition to a beauty contest, the Trojan war also started as a way for Zeus to keep the human population in check. For details on the origins of the Trojan war, see here and here.
For the idea that death came as a punishment in myths around the world, see this article.
For the belief that humans were made from “evil” material in ancient Babylon, see Nichol, F. D. (Ed.). (1978). The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Vol. 1, p. 158). Review and Herald Publishing Association.
For more on the creation stories from Africa, see here.
For death arising because of a god’s fears of overcrowding, see here.
By the 16th century, Pandora was seen as a reference to the historical story of Eve. An earlier version of the podcast said the connection went back to Origen and Tertullian, but the references they made may have been for making an illustration rather than seeing them as the same historical character. For the history of people linking Pandora and Eve, see pg. 37 here.
For details on Hesiod, see this article.
In case you were wondering, no, it doesn’t make sense to me either that Prometheus gives fire to humans and then Zeus makes the first woman as punishment. For details, see here and here.
As this article states, a later version of the Pandora story has blessings escaping from the jar rather than curses. These are blessings that would have remained for humans if Pandora hadn’t lost them. Either version can be seen as a parallel to the story in Genesis since the humans are left with hope regardless.
You can get the idea that Moses was an editor of previous documents from Andrews Study Bible (2010) pg. 4. Andrews University Press.
For a more thorough description of how the stories in Genesis might’ve been passed down from Adam to Moses, see Calling Long Distance as well as WiderBible Episode 1.
For the reversed parallel structure that shows up in the Bible as well as the center part of that reveral often being the most important point, see pg. 14 here.
For an example of the climax appearing in the middle of a Bible passage, see the story of Lucifer’s fall from heaven mentioned in Ezekiel 28:12-19 and the discussion in Andrews Study Bible (2010) Ezekiel 28:12-19, note. Andrews University Press.
For the literary structure showing the reversed parallels surround eating from the tree in Genesis 3, see pgs. 21-23 here.
The potential chiasm in Genesis 3:9-19 is my own speculation, and I haven’t been able to validate it from a qualified source. That said, the parallels surrounding what God says to the serpent seem to be fairly obvious, and the fact that God’s comments to the snake reference Christ’s victory (as noted by some commentaries), it seems reasonable to wonder if the structure of the story was intended to focus the reader’s (or listener’s) attention on the promise God made that the snake would someday be destroyed.
For “name” and “character” often being used interchangably in the Bible, see Nichol, F. D. (Ed.). (1977). The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Vol. 4, p. 769). Review and Herald Publishing Association.
For God’s proclamation of His own name, see Exodus 34:5-8.
For the meaning of “Lucifer,” see Nichol, F. D. (Ed.). (1977). The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Vol. 4, pp. 170–171). Review and Herald Publishing Association.
In Job, “the adversary” is the one who accuses Job in heaven as mentioned by Nichol, F. D. (Ed.). (1977). The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Vol. 3, p. 500). Review and Herald Publishing Association. “Satan” can also mean “accuser” according to Easton, M. G. (1893). In Easton’s Bible dictionary. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Several of Lucifer’s names are linked together helpfully in Revelation 12:7-9 where he’s called dragon, serpent, devil, satan, and deceiver. See also Nichol, F. D. (Ed.). (1980). The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Vol. 7, p. 810). Review and Herald Publishing Association.
It’s ahead of the story, but humanity’s second chance came around 4000 years later with the voluntary death of Christ (see Hebrews 2:14-15) who came into the world specifically to overcome the devil (see 1 John 3:8). There are also references to this sacrifice being something God gave before time began (see 2 Timothy 1:9 and Ephesians 3:8-11). For more, see Nichol, F. D. (Ed.). (1978). The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Vol. 1, pp. 232–233). Review and Herald Publishing Association. For a timeline showing the 4000 year gap, see Jones, F.N. (2015) Chronology of the Old Testament (pgs. 277-280). Master Books. For the probable year of Jesus’ death, see Horn, S. H. (1979). In The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Dictionary (p. 589). Review and Herald Publishing Association.
Update: Audio and a show note related to the connection between Pandora and Eve was updated on 2/12/2020.
Update: Wording in note on man and woman reaching for fruit on a tree updated on 8/2/2022.
Update: Wording in a note regarding the oracle bone pictogram updated to note that it is defined as "negative, no, not" rather than "do not" an link to symbol added on 3/20/2024.
Update: Further revised the show note referencing the oracle bone symbol that means "not" after correcting the audio on 4/16/2024.
Update: Reference to snakes in Australia legends updated to clarify and with additional source on 7/21/2024.
Update: Spelling correction on 8/5/2024.