A JEALOUS GOD:

In the creation story of chapters 2 and 3, God places man in the Garden of Eden, then creates woman, Eve, from his rib. Eden is filled with "every tree that was pleasing to the sight and good for food," as well as the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil - but God commands the man not to eat this last tree's fruit.

Before long, however, a serpent tempts Eve and Adam to do just that. When the serpent speaks, it addresses Eve directly - and for centuries, art and stories about the Garden of Eden have portrayed her as "responsible" for succumbing to temptation.

Yet in the Hebrew text, the snake often uses verbs for the second person plural, suggesting that it is addressing Adam as well - or at least implying the benefits of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil will apply to him, too.

Biblical scholars debate the meaning of the tree's name: what exactly do "knowledge" or "good and evil" entail? Persuaded that eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil will make them like God, however, Adam and Eve consume the fruit. Worried that the couple might eat from the tree of life as well, making them immortal, God expels Adam and Eve from the garden and places a flaming sword and angelic beings at the entrance to prevent reentry.

This transgression of the boundary between divinity and humanity begins a recurring theme in the Bible, one that famously appears in the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11.

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