Page Content (OCR)
could not because they were hiding. So God used his voice to reach them: "And the Lord God called unto the Adam, and said unto him: Where art thou?" A dialogue (or more correctly a trialogue) ensues. The tale raises many issues of great import. It suggests that The Adam could talk from the very beginning; it brings up the question of how—in what tongue—did God and Man converse. For the moment let us just pursue the biblical tale: Adam's expla- nation, that he hid on hearing God's approach "because I am naked" leads to the questioning of the human pair by the deity. In the full-scale conversation that follows the truth comes out and the sin of eating the forbidden fruit is admitted (though only after Adam and Eve blame the Serpent for the deed). The Lord God then declares the punishment: me woman shall bear children in pain, The Adam shall have to toil for his food and earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. By this time the encounter is clearly face-to-face, for now the Lord God not only makes skin-coats for Adam and _ his wife, but also clothes them with the coats. Although the tale undoubtedly is intended to impress upon the reader the sig- nificance of being clothed as a "divine" or major dividing element between humans and beasts, the biblical passage can- not be treated as only symbolical. It clearly lets us know that in the beginning, when The Adam was in the Garden of Eden, humans encountered their Creator face-to-face. Now, unexpectedly, God gets worried. Speaking again to unnamed colleagues, Yahweh Elohim expresses his concern that "now that the Adam has become as one of us, to know good and evil, what if he shall put forth his hand and also take of the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever?" The shift of focus is so sudden that its significance has been easily lost. Dealing with Man—his creation, procreation, abode, and transgression—the Bible abruptly echoes the con- cerns of the Lord. In the process, the almost-divine nature of Man is highlighted once more. The decision to create The Adam stems from a suggestion to fashion him "in the image and after the likeness" of the divine creators. The resulting being, the handiwork of the Elohim, is brought forth "in the image of Elohim." And now, having eaten the fruit of Know- ing, Man has become godlike in one more crucial respect. me DIVINE ENCOUNTERS