From the lecture by Dr. Hays, I was able to learn a lot about the story of the Fall by comparing it to the Epic of Gilgamesh. There are many parallels between the two stories. In both stories, as referenced by Dr. Hays, knowledge and wisdom seem to come at a high price. For Adam and Eve, this high price is being removed from the Garden of Eden, losing their immortality, and enduring pain in their lives. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Enkidu’s loss of innocence turns him into a god, but it causes him to lose things like the ability to run with animals and to live an innocent, peaceful life (much like the one Adam and Eve were living in the Garden). A difference between these two stories is the nature of the act that leads to the loss of innocence. In the creation story in the Bible, Eve was tricked by the serpent and she and Adam ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They did this despite God’s direct orders to not eat of this tree and endured vast punishments for this behavior. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Enkidu’s loss of innocence comes from a seven-day sexual experience with a woman. These two stories are very different and yet they offer many interesting parallels.
From the class lecture today I thought that comparing Adam and Eve’s Fall to maturing from childhood was very interesting. When in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were naked and they were unashamed. Toddlers are most commonly naked and they are very unfazed by their nakedness. So, when Adam and Eve ate the fruit and disobeyed God’s orders they became aware of their nakedness, very similar to the process of aging when people become aware of their nakedness and begin to mature. I have learned about the Fall in Genesis 3 for a very long time and have not heard of it being compared to maturing from childhood and I thought this comparison was very interesting.