I think I should make here an observation which I remember
plied: "The woman whom Thou gavest to be my companion gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate." Then the Lord God said to the woman:
"What is this that you have done?" And she replied: "The serpent beguiled me, and I ate."
The Lord God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle and above all beasts upon the earth. Upon your breast and your belly shall you go, and earth shall you eat all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. She will lie in wait for your bead, and you will lie in wait for her heel. " To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrows and your anguish. With sorrows you shall bring forth children, and you shall be subject to your husband, and he shall rule over you." And to Adam be said: "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the one tree whereof I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the earth in your works. In sorrow you shall eat of it all the days of your life: thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the crops of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread until you return to the earth from which you have been taken, for you are earth and unto earth you shall return."
Adam called his wife's name "Life," for she is the mother of all the living. And the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and bis wife and clothed them. And the Lord God satd: "Bebold, Adam bas become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. And now let him not put forth bis hand and take of the fruit of the tree of life and eat and live forever." And the Lord God sent bim forth from the Paradise of pleasure to till the earth from which be was taken. He drove Adam out and placed bim over against the Paradise of pleasure, and He placed the cherubim and a flaming sword turning every way to guard the path to the tree of life.'
2. Before commenting on this Scripture text verse by verse, I think I should make here an observation which I remember having made earlier on in this treatise. One may expect me to defend the literal meaning of the narrative as it is set forth by the author. But if in the words of God, or in the words of someone called to play the role of a prophet, something is said which cannot be understood literally without absurdity, there is no doubt that it must be taken as spoken figuratively in order to