Speaking of Adam and Eve not being able to have children prior to the Fall, Lehi, in his final sermon, was recorded as having said the following:
And now, behold, if
Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained
in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in
the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have
remained forever, and had no end. And they would have had no children;
wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for
they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin. (2 Nephi 2:22-23)
While the Bible is not explicit about
this, there are possible implicit hints that this was the case, such as:
(1) In Gen 3:7, after Adam and Eve partook
of the fruit, they knew (ידע; LXX: γινωσκω) they were naked, perhaps suggesting
that, for the first time, they became sexually aware.
(2) In Gen 4:1, the first reference in the
Bible to sexual intercourse, the same word in Gen 3:7 (ידע; LXX: γινωσκω) is
used.
(3) The fertile garden is considered to be
suggestive of sexual fertility:
The scenery is a fertile garden and the
forbidden power is deposited in a tree. Comparative anthropology suggests that
in such cases one has to do with the idea of vegetation and agricultural
fertility which, in ancient civilizations, was associated with human
procreation. (Bo Reicke, “The Knowledge Hidden in the Tree of Paradise,” JSS
1 [1956]: 197)
Irenaeus of Lyons made a connection
between the fertility of the garden and that of sexual fertility in his Against
Heresies 3.21.10:
For as by one man's disobedience
sin entered, and death obtained [a place] through sin; so also by the obedience
of one man, righteousness having been introduced, shall cause life to fructify
in those persons who in times past were dead. And as the protoplast himself
Adam, had his substance from untilled and as yet virgin soil ("for God had
not yet sent rain, and man had not tilled the ground"), and was formed by
the hand of God, that is, by the Word of God, for "all things were made by
Him," and the Lord took dust from the earth and formed man; so did He who
is the Word, recapitulating Adam in Himself, rightly receive a birth, enabling
Him to gather up Adam [into Himself], from Mary, who was as yet a virgin.
(4) A corroborating account is said to
exist in the Epic of Gilgamesh, where Enkidu acquired wisdom and became like a
god after a week of cohabitation with a harlot:
Then he, Enkidu,
offspring of the mountains,
who eats grasses with
the gazelles,
came to drink at the
watering hole with the animals,
with the wild beasts
he slaked his thirst with water.
Then Shamhat saw
him--a primitive,
a savage fellow from
the depths of the wilderness!
"That is he,
Shamhat! Release your clenched arms,
expose your sex so he
can take in your voluptuousness.
Do not be
restrained--take his energy!
When he sees you he
will draw near to you.
Spread out your robe
so he can lie upon you,
and perform for this
primitive the task of womankind!
His animals, who grew
up in his wilderness, will become alien to him,
and his lust will
groan over you."
Shamhat unclutched
her bosom, exposed her sex, and he took in her voluptuousness.
She was not
restrained, but took his energy.
She spread out her
robe and he lay upon her,
she performed for the
primitive the task of womankind.
His lust groaned over
her;
for six days and
seven nights Enkidu stayed aroused,
and had intercourse
with the harlot
until he was sated
with her charms.
But when he turned
his attention to his animals,
the gazelles saw
Enkidu and darted off,
the wild animals
distanced themselves from his body.
Enkidu ... his
utterly depleted(?) body,
his knees that wanted
to go off with his animals went rigid;
Enkidu was
diminished, his running was not as before.
But then he drew
himself up, for his understanding had broadened.
Turning around, he
sat down at the harlot's feet,
gazing into her face,
his ears attentive as the harlot spoke.
The harlot said to
Enkidu:
"You are
beautiful," Enkidu, you are become like a god. (Tablet
I)
