Monday, August 30, 2021

Possible Evidence Supporting 2 Nephi 2:22-23

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)