What, then, is the 'fall'?

Continuing our discussion regarding the particular glasses we wear when reading a text like the Bible, we can now pose the question: what role does the story of Adam and Even play within the text of Genesis - if it doesn't attempt to portray a 'fall'?

To answer this we can approach it in several ways. We could look at it from a source critical approach - that is, we could ask where this story originally arose. Since this could become an arduous undertaking, we will examine a second approach - namely a literary one. That means that we will see how the story serves within the framework of the narrative within Genesis. This will give us a clue of how the original writer (or editor) understood it.

The story is set within a handful of contexts. The first begins in 1.1-11.32 and is known as the 'Primeval history,' This Primeval history is composed of numerous accounts ranging from the creation account of 1.1-2.4, the creation of Adam and Eve, the flood of Noah, and tower of Babel. All of these accounts have broad similarities with very similar accounts found in the broader cultures of the time. The epic of Gilgamesh is one example. Most scholars believe that these stories existed in an oral context before being finally written down during the Babylonian exile. Its literary purpose within the structure of Genesis is as a pre-history leading up the call of Israel's patriarch Abram/Abraham in 12.1-3. From this moment the narrative dramatically slows and begins to follow the progressive working of God in Israel's history. How he began Israel from the patriarchs, the Exodus, Davidic dynasty, and ultimately the exile to Babylon.

This leads to the next large framework that the account of 3.1-24 has to be understood in light of, and is known as the 'Primary history.' This Primary history (PH) stretches from Genesis 1.1-2 Kings 25.30. Scholars now believe this to be one large edited literary whole. Essentially the PH is Israel's account of where they came from, why they exist - and ultimately why they were led into Babylonian exile in 562 BCE. Our particular passage, therefore, serves as a 'book-end' to this account. It is a narrative theology that explains why Israel was called by God and what role they are too play. Israel was called because 'humanity' ('Adam' means humankind in Hebrew) broke their covenant with God and so were exiled from their own land of promise. What we will find therefore is particular details that resonate with Israel's own experience of disobedience and ultimate exile. It is a foreshadowing of sorts, with the details being written after the events of 562 BCE. Adam and Eve is told in light of what happened to Israel.

One may see it as Israel's attempt to understand what had happened to them - why were they uprooted from the land of promise? Why were they called in the first place? It serves a sociological function for a community trying to define their identity and make sense of their perplexing experience.