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The League for Social Reconstruction (LSR) was a circle of
intellectuals officially formed in 1932, though it had its beginnings during a camping retreat in 1931. These academics were advocating radical social and economic reforms and political education. Industrialization, urbanization, war, and the
provoked formation of the LSR.[] Industrialization promoted urbanization, and the creation of elaborate bureaucratic systems, and, from the perspective of the LSR, here began the problem. The complexities of economy and society had grown, but government was infused with laissez-faire ideology and did not regulate finance or industry, or, as the LSR believed, government regulations suited private rather than public interest.[]
Rationalistic moralism led the League to believe their expertise could stop the suffering of fellow Canadians, and rationalistic elitism led the League to believe they were best situated to unpack the intricacies of modern society. The League felt they should provide expert advice to government, but socialist ideology led the League to believe that Canadian government was debauched. Hence, in order to guide Canadians toward socialism, the LSR planned to institutionalize expert intellectual advice in an extra-political organization, and to act as an independent adjunct to public policy formation.
Promoting socialism, and working beyond politics, the LSR was able to transcend party alliances, and worked with both intellectuals and politicians to help quell the Depression through fiscal centralization and national social assistance.[] The significance of the League was its role as a concentrated group of intellectual elites who made social planning relevant in a Canadian context. The LSR formally disbanded in 1942 as the Canadian government was implementing a version of social planning as part of their World War II homefront plans.
The Canadian economy had boomed during the late 1920s and showed no sign of weakness, but during the 1930s the Great Depression swept across Canada and provoked mass unemployment, and this incited the LSR into action. The LSR believed that the roots of the Depression were laissez-faire
and governance, and that the "free" market was anything but. Politicians worked closely with business, securing interest-free loans, developing tariffs, and mana in short: manipulating markets. A small group of political businessmen controlled public policy and economic development, and guided the centralization of finance and power into private hands. Widespread unemployment marked the Depression, and served to underscore financial inequity. In the eyes of the LSR, the problem facing Canada was not an economic depression, it was a corrupt political economy.
Faced with what they believed to be profiteering politicians, a group of men and women were united in their resolve that this could not stand. Three key influences stood out among the members of this group: religious affiliation, maturation in an environ of war and urbanization, and intellectual cultivation in the university environment. These characteristics defined the group's ideals, and set them apart from other social g an exclusive group of righteous intellectual radicals.
Believing the existing system was not practicable, the League set about establishing a new system. The solution to end this and all depressions would be a , and the transformation of Canada from a royal commonwealth into a socialist commonwealth. To achieve this transformation, the League planned to perform research, and apply the results toward public education and public policy. However, because the LSR believed that the system was not only corrupt but corruptive, the League planned to lay their foundations beyond politics. Public education would take the form of books and lectures, and influence over policy would be achieved through the institutionalization of expert intellectuals. Politicians would call upon the League's extra-political organization to perform research, and recommend policy. In this way, the League hoped to minimize partisanship, and influence government policy writ large. However, the ideals of the LSR found them working closest with one political party in particular, the avowedly socialist
The Great Depression resulted in a protracted period of mass unemployment, and it was the impact unemployment had on Canadians that motivated the LSR into action. National unemployment peaked in the first half of 1933 at 32%; but 32% was only the average, in some towns unemployment reached nearly 50%. The LSR were roused, as they faced the ravages of unemployment in their classrooms, churches, "Everywhere hopelessness. A country without a purpose ... An industrious and intelligent people going to waste in idleness and despair."
For the LSR, the Depression was the inexorable result of laissez-faire philosophy. This philosophy had spread since the , which began a transition from power structures that favoured aristocracy to structures that favoured business. Responsible government arrived shortly after the union, and shifted influence from the governor to ministers. Powers that had previously been focused in the governor, became divided among ministers. No meaningful administrative structures were implemented to ensure that ministers remained responsive to the public, and ministers aligned themselves with capitalists. Free market governance became the consort of free market capitalization. Legislation regulating conflicts of interest did not exist, and politicians worked openly with business. One former prime minister made the marriage of business with politics strikingly clear when he stated "my politics are railroads." The developmental history of Canada's political economy was central in the analysis of the LSR, and they later observed that "[m]onopolies are not an unlucky accident in our economic system, they are our economic system."
Previous economic fluctuations had not created the need for federal unemployment programs, and policy and tradition dictated that assistance was a local issue, because traditionally it had been locally tractable. Under the
(BNA), government received most revenue collection powers, and provinces became responsible for social relief, education, and health care. However, 60 years had passed since the BNA, and this was a different economy. The National Policy dramatically increased prairie populations, and when Depression hit, the prairies in particular could not manage social relief, and, along with other provinces, asked for federal aid. Federal politicians believed free markets would rebalance themselves, and refused assistance. Liberal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King refused to attempt relief, claiming it would endanger the national budget. Conservative Prime Minister Richard Bedford Bennett declared that provinces should reduce wasteful spending. Laissez-faire ideology underpinned the policies of Liberals and Conservatives alike. Provinces became disgruntled, relationships with Ottawa became strained, and so it was that the crisis of capitalism triggered a crisis of federalism. "Here was the proof that the [political economy] built by the businessman and the old party politician was defective. The men who had presided over the construction of a complex modern civilization apparently did not know how to keep it running smoothly."
In November 1930, the problems of political economy were the focus of discussion for a group of "radically minded [professors]," organized by University of Toronto Historian . At the same time in Montreal, McGill University Law Professor
was preparing a book examining the same problems. In August 1931, the two men met and discovered they had develope instability and depression were born of a capitalistic political economy, and any permanent solution would be born of . Underhill proposed the formation of a research organization, styled after the British Fabians, modified to suit Canada. The organization's ideas would b directly into the public mind through local associa and directly into government through an institution of intellectual elites that politicians could requisition to perform research and recommend policy. Scott agreed. Underhill also believed a socialist political party would shortly appear, and that there "should be a group of intellectuals that could provide the new party with a coherent platform." The men returned home, and Underhill established a group in Toronto while Scott did the same in Montreal.
These groups shared
that the objective study of social science yielded an inescapable conclusion: scientific socialism. Theirs was a scholarly disposition, and shared intellectualism aroused an elitist camaraderie. Educational distinction provided the group with a sense they were distinguished from the public that amongst all reformists, they alone possessed the expertise necessary to develop corrective policies. The result was a highly principled and elitist political reformism, however this reformism was not solely rationalistic in origin.
The twin inclinations of intellectual solidarity and moral solidarity motivated these academics. They were endowed not only with higher education, but also a belief in a higher purpose. Moralism was important to the group, and had been engendered through lifelong religious association. Though not all members remained religious in adulthood, most had been influenced by religion since youth. A partial survey of the League's leading members r Frank Underhill: Flavelle scholar, raised a P F.R. Scott: Rhodes scholar,
: Rhodes scholar, son of a M : respected economist, Christian S David Lewis: Rhodes scholar, a secular Jew, but deeply influenced by the Social Gospel and the Jewish Labour Movement.
Three important commonalities stood out among the LSR's founding members. Religion imbued a war and urbanization prompted sober reflection on
and modern education in the social sciences produced a propensity for rational analysis and a deterministic bent.
Scott and Underhill's groups exchanged drafts for a manifesto, attempting to strike a balance between pragmatism and radicalism. Their goal was to motivate all Canadians to critically examine Canada's political economy, and because the group did not want radicalism scaring potential members away, they opted to avoid inclusion of the one word that best explained their politics: "socialism". Drafts were exchanged for many months, and eventually a meeting was scheduled in Toronto, for February 23, 1932. Seventy-five men and women attended the meeting, ratified the manifesto, and discussed the selection of a name. The Montreal group suggested the "League for Economic Democracy", however the winning moniker came from the Torontonians, and when proceedings concluded the League for Social Reconstruction was born.
Later in 1932, the socialist party Underhill predicted materialized as the CCF. The CCF were social democrats, and held the same ideas as the LSR regarding state theory, and hence the CCF were the LSR's best option for access to parliament. The CCF was also the best option for another reason: , honorary president of the LSR, was also leader of the CCF. Because the LSR had been established outside the political system, the question was how to structure the relationship between the League and the CCF. d on the stated goal of education, and it was not clear they would stay if the LSR became the organ of a political party. Woodsworth proposed a solution for members of the LSR who CCF Clubs. Club membership brought affiliation, and LSR members could thus affiliate with the CCF independently of affiliation with the LSR. The LSR was thus able to move forward as an independent research organization.
To promote and improve their ideas, the League discussed political economy with intellectuals and politicians across the nation. The LSR believed that because the Depression was national, its solution would be national as well, and they found sympathetic analyses amongst the intellectual community. Intellectuals concerned with social reform began to contemplate national reform. Common ground between the LSR and intellectual elites provided a program for action. Intellectuals felt that they needed to convince Canadians that government should assume an
financial and social policies should be implemented at the national level, and stability would flow top downwards. Such an arrangement was not however possible under the BNA, and accordingly, the constitution would require modification.
By the mid-1930s, many modern intellectuals found work in government, and political bodies began to seek advice from extra-parliamentary intellectuals. In 1935, extra-political intellectual elites were included in a national conference on Dominion-provincial relations, however the conference's primary purpose was to stop the flow of federal money to provinces, which was not what intellectuals had in mind. The initiatives put into place after the conference proved unproductive, and the movement was transmuted into the . The Commission was placed under the control of modern social scientists, including LSR member Frank Scott, and was instructed to provide recommendations for securing the economy and the federation. In 1940, the Commission reported that the Depression resulted from problems in the definition of the Canadian D the BNA had developed in the context of a wheat-timber-fish economy, and could not support Canada's mixed and industrializing economy. Industrial growth had increased the complication of economic activity, but the political system had not made corresponding advancements. To solve the Depression, the taxation powers and fiscal responsibilities of the federal and provincial governments required readjustment. The government should control all unemployment insurance programs, assume all provincial debts, collect all income taxes, and make equalization payments to needy provinces.
Premiers met the Prime Minister in 1941 to discuss the recommendations, and with war raging in Europe, the Premiers agreed to the Commission's proposals. After the war, Prime Minister King was eager to preserve the government's new powers, and a separate agreement was reached with the provinces, making the Commission's recommendations into permanent policy. Politicians of all stripes were eager to mitigate against the economic and social problems experienced after World War One, and acceded to the implementation of central planning measures. Reflecting on the Commission, historian
noted that the report "was not so much the product of the public hearings as ... of the intellectual network of the 1930's.... Indeed, the results of the study had been conceived even before its appointment." The report itself became a vehicle for shaping data in such a fashion that it supported the conclusions of the intellectuals who wrote it, with an eye towards converting its readers into advocates of centralization.
The ideas of the LSR proved instrumental in introducing successful social planning measures into government, however disenchantment with socialism however had grown as World War Two approached, and the LSR itself was reduced to the point of dissolution. With CCF related activities expanding, the League finally disbanded in 1942. In the mid-1940s two members of the LSR held prominent positions within the CCF: Frank Scott became the National Chairman, and Professor
became the president of the Ontario CCF.
The LSR made its views known through the magazine New Commonwealth (formerly the , publication of the
until purchased by ). The group further contributed to Canada's political and intellectual fields with two books, Social Planning for Canada (1935) and Democracy Needs Socialism (1938).
was saved from bankruptcy by the LSR, which was acquired in the journal in 1936 and continued its publication. With these texts, social and economic change policies were popularized.
L.S.R. (1935), p. 13
Lewis & Scott (2001), p. 1
Christian & Campbell (1983), p. 79
L.S.R. (1938), p. 8
Owram (1986), p. 162
Horn (1980), pp. 17–18
Horn (1980), pp. 20-21
Owram (1986), p. 138
Horn (1980), pp. 19-26
Horn (1980), p. 27
Horn (1980), p. 37
Horn (1980), p. 38
Owram (1986), pp. 223–226
Owram (1986), pp. 225–226
Owram (1986), p. 189
Owram (1986), p. 228
Owram (1986), p. 239
Owram (1986), pp. 239–240
Richardson, Keith (1988). . Canadian Encyclopedia. : Hurtig. Archived from
Special to the Star (). "Drew flouting 48-hour order is C.C.F. charge". The Toronto Daily Star (Toronto). p. 17.
Horn (1980), p. vii
Angus, H.F. "Social Planning For Canada. By the Research Committee of the League for Social Reconstruction (Eugene Forsey, J. King Gordon, Leonard Marsh, J. F. Parkinson, F. R. Scott, Graham Spry, F. H. Underhill) (Book Review)." Pacific Affairs 9, no. 3 (1936): 452-454. Chadwyck PAO Collection 2 (accessed January 23, 2009).
Bélanger, Claude (). . Studies on the Canadian Constitution and Canadian Federalism. Montreal: Marianopolis College. Archived from
Christian, W Campbell, Colin (1983). Political Parties and Ideologies in Canada: Liberals, Conservatives, Socialists, Nationalists (2 ed.). Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.  .
Douglas, T.C.; LaPierre, L.L. (1971). Essays on the left: Essays in honour of T.C. Douglas. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.  .
Forbes, H. D. (1985). H.D. Forbes, ed. Canadian Political Thought. Toronto: Oxford University Press.  .
Horn, Michiel (1980). The League for Social Reconstruction: Intellectual origins of the democratic left in Canada, . Toronto: University of Toronto Press.  .
League for Social Reconstruction (1975). Social Planning for Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.  . 1975 reprint by the University of Toronto Press of the 1935 T. Neslon & Sons edition.
League for Social Reconstruction. Research Committee. (1938). Democracy Needs Socialism. Toronto: T. Nelson & Sons.
Lewis, D Frank Scott (). Make this YOUR CANADA: A Review of CCF History and Policy. Canada: Hybrid Publishers Co-operative Ltd.  .
Mills, Sean (2005). "When Democratic Socialists Discovered Democracy: The League for Social Reconstruction Confronts the 'Quebec Problem'". Canadian Historical Review (Toronto: University of Toronto Press) 86 (1): 53–81. :.
Owram, Doug (1986). The Government Generation: Canadian Intellectuals and the State, . Toronto: University of Toronto Press.  .
. UK Statute Law Database. United Kingdom: The National Archives.
Young, Walter D. (1969). The Anatomy of a Party: The National CCF, 1932–61. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.  .
Manifesto of the League for Social Reconstruction - Wikisource
: Hidden categories:Garden of Eden
Garden of Eden
General Information
{ ee' - den }
In the Bible, the Garden of Eden was the original home of
Adam and Eve. It was a well-watered garden with beautiful
trees. Also called Paradise, Eden symbolized the unbroken
harmony between God and humankind before the first sin,
after which, according to Genesis 3, Adam and Eve were
expelled from the garden.
General Information
According to the Bible, Eve was the first woman--the mother
of Cain, Abel, and Seth. God created her from the rib of
Adam to be his wife. She and Adam lived in the Garden of
Eden until they were expelled for eating the forbidden
fruit from the tree of knowledge (Genesis 2-4).
Advanced Information
Eden: delight. (1.) The garden in which our first parents dewlt (Gen. 2:
8-17). No geographical question has been so much discussed as that
bearing on its site. It has been placed in Armenia, in the region west
of the Caspian Sea, in Media, near Damascus, in Palestine, in Southern
Arabia, and in Babylonia. The site must undoubtedly be sought for
somewhere along the course of the great streams the tigris and the
Euphrates of Western Asia, in &the land of Shinar& or Babylonia. The
region from about lat. 33 degrees 30' to lat. 31 degrees, which is a
very rich and fertile tract, has been by the most competent authorities
agreed on as the probable site of Eden. &It is a region where streams
abound, where they divide and re-unite, where alone in the Mesopotamian
tract can be found the phenomenon of a single river parting into four
arms, each of which is or has been a river of consequence.& Among
almost all nations there are traditions of the primitive innocence of
our race in the garden of Eden.
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This was the &golden age& to which the
Greeks looked back. Men then lived a &life free from care, and without
labour and sorrow. O the body n
existence was a perpetual feast without a taint of evil. The earth
brought forth spontaneously all things that were good in profuse
abundance.& (2.) One of the markets whence the merchants of Tyre
obtained richly embroidered stuffs (Ezek. 27:23); the same, probably,
as that mentioned in 2 Kings 19:12, and Isa. 37:12, as the name of a
region conquered by the Assyrians. (3.) Son of Joah, and one of the
Levites who assisted in reforming the public worship of the sanctuary
in the time of Hezekiah (2 Chr. 29:12).
(Easton Illustrated Dictionary)
Garden of Eden
Advanced Information
From: Home Bible Study Commentary by James M. Gray
Genesis Chapter 2
The Garden Located
vv. 8-14. What name is given to the locality of the garden?
In which section of that locality was it planted? What
expression in verse 9 shows God's consideration for beauty as
well as utility? What two trees of life planted? What
geographical feature of verse 10 accentuates the historical
character of this narrative? Observe how this is further
impressed by the facts which follow, viz: the names of the
rivers, the countries through which they flow, and even the
mineral deposits of the latter. Note: (a) the use of the
present tense in this description, showing that the readers
of Moses' peri (b) it must have been an
elevated district, as the sou (c) it
could not have been a very luxuriant or fruitful locality,
else why the need of planting a garden, and where could there
have been any serious hardship in the subsequent expulsion of
Adam and Eve?
It used to be thought that &Eden& was a
Hebrew word meaning pleasure, but recent explorations in
Assyria indicate that it may have been of Accadian origin
meaning a plain, not a fertile plain as in a valley, but an
elevated and sterile plain as a steppe or mountain desert.
Putting these things together, the place that would come
before the mind of an Oriental was the region of Armenia
where the Euphrates and the Tigris (or Hiddekel) take their
rise. There are two other rivers taking their rise in that
region, the Kur and the Araxes, thence uniting and flowing
into the Caspian Sea, but whether these are identical with
the Pison and Gihon of the lesson can not yet be determined.
Science now corroborates this location of Eden in so far as
it teaches (a) that the human race has sprung from a common
centre, and (b) that this centre is the table-land of central
Terrestrial Paradise
Catholic Information
(paradeisos, Paradisus).
The name popularly given in Christian tradition to the scriptural Garden of
Eden, the home of our first parents (Genesis 2). The word paradise is probably
of Persian origin and signified originally a royal park or pleasure ground. The
term does not occur in the Latin of the Classic period nor in the Greek writers
prior to the time of Xenophon. In the Old Testament it is found only in the
later Hebrew writings in the form (Pardês), having been borrowed doubtless from
the Persian. An instructive illustration of the origin and primary meaning of
the term appears in II Esdras (ii, 8) where "Asaph the keeper of the king's
forest" (happerdês) is the custodian of the royal park of the Persian ruler. The
association of the term with the abode of our first parents does not occur in
the Old-Testament Hebrew. It originated in the fact that the word paradeisos was
adopted, though not exclusively, by the translators of the Septuagint to render
the Hebrew for the Garden of Eden described in the second chapter of Genesis. It
is likewise used in diverse other passages of the Septuagint where the Hebrew
generally has "garden", especially if the idea of wondrous beauty is to be
conveyed. Thus in Gen., xiii, 10, the "country about the Jordan" is described as
a "paradise of the Lord" (rendering followed by the Vulgate). Cf. Numbers, xxiv,
6 (Greek) where the reference is to the beautiful array of the tents of Israel,
also Isaias, i, 30; Ezechiel, xxxi, 8, 9 etc. Those interested in speculation as
to the probable location of the Scriptural Garden of Eden, the primeval home of
mankind, are referred to the scholarly work of Friedrich Delitsch, "Wo lag das
Paradies?" (Berlin, 1881). In the New Testament period the word paradise appears
with a new and more exalted meaning. In the development of Jewish eschatology
which marks the post-Exilic epoch the word paradise or "Garden of God", hitherto
mainly associated with the original dwelling-place of our first parents, was
transferred to signify the future abode of rest and enjoyment which was to be
the reward of the righteous after death. The term occurs only three times in the
New Testament, though the idea which it represents is frequently expressed in
other terms, v.g. "Abraham's bosom" (Luke 16:22). The signification of the word
in these remarkably few passages can be determined only from the context and by
reference to the eschatological notions current among the Jews of that period.
These views are gathered chiefly from the Rabbinical literature, the works of
Josephus, and from the apocryphal writings, notably the Book of Enoch, the Book
of Jubilees, the Apocalypse of Baruch, etc. An inspection of these sources
reveals a great confusion of ideas and many contradictions regarding the future
paradise as also concerning the original Garden of Eden and the condition of our
first parents. The scanty references to Sheol which embody the vague
eschatological beliefs of the Hebrews as expressed in the earlier Old Testament
writings give place in these later treatises to elaborate theories worked out
with detailed descriptions and speculations often of a most fanciful character.
As a sample of these may be noted the one found in the Talmudic tract "Jalkut
Schim., Bereschith, 20". According to this description the entrance to paradise
is made through two gates of rubies beside which stand sixty myriads of holy
angels with countenances radiant with heavenly splendor. When a righteous man
enters, the vestures of death
he is clad in eight robes of
two crowns are placed upon his head, one of pearls and
precious stones, eight myrtles are placed in his hands and he
is welcomed with great applause, etc. Some of the Rabbinical authorities appear
to identify the paradise of the future with the primeval Garden of Eden which is
supposed to be still in existence and located somewhere in the far-distant East.
According to some it was an earthly abode, sometimes said to have been created
before the rest of the world (IV Esdras iii, 7, cf. viii, 52); others make it an
adjunct of the subterranean Sheol, while still others place it in or near
heaven. It was believed that there are in paradise different degrees of
blessedness. Seven ranks or orders of the righteous were said to exist within
it, and definitions were given both of those to whom these different positions
belong and of the glories pertaining to each ("Baba bathra", 75 a, quoted by
Salmond, Hastings, "Dict. of the Bible", s.v. "Paradise"). The uncertainty and
confusion of the current Jewish ideas concerning paradise may explain the
paucity of reference to it in the New Testament. The first mention of the word
occurs in Luke, xxiii, 43, where Jesus on the cross says to the penitent thief:
"Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise". According to
the prevailing interpretation of Catholic theologians and commentators, paradise
in this instance is used as a synonym for the heaven of the blessed to which the
thief would accompany the Saviour, together with the souls of the righteous of
the Old Law who were awaiting the coming of the Redeemer. In II Corinthians
(xii, 4) St. Paul describing one of his ecstasies tells his readers that he was
"caught up into paradise". Here the term seems to indicate plainly the heavenly
state or abode of the blessed implying possibly a glimpse of the beatific
vision. The reference cannot be to any form of terrestrial paradise, especially
when we consider the parallel expression in verse 2, where relating a similar
experience he says he was "caught up to the third heaven". The third and last
mention of paradise in the New Testament occurs in the Apocalypse (ii, 7), where
St. John, receiving in vision a Divine message for the "angel of the church of
Ephesus", hears these words: "To him that overcometh, I will give to eat of the
tree of life, which is in the paradise of my God." In this passage the word is
plainly used to designate the heavenly kingdom, though the imagery is borrowed
from the description of the primeval Garden of Eden in the Book of Genesis.
According to Catholic theology based on the Biblical account, the original
condition of our first parents was one of perfect innocence and integrity. By
the latter is meant that they were endowed with many prerogatives which, while
pertaining to the natural order, were not due to human nature as such--hence
they are sometimes termed preternatural. Principal among these were a high
degree of infused knowledge, bodily immortality and freedom from pain, and
immunity from evil impulses or inclinations. In other words, the lower or animal
nature in man was perfectly subjected to the control of reason and the will.
Besides this, our first parents were also endowed with sanctifying grace by
which they were elevated to the supernatural order. But all these gratuitous
endowments were forfeited through the disobedience of Adam "in whom all have
sinned", and who was "a figure of Him who was to come" (Romans 5) and restore
fallen man, not to an earthly, but to a heavenly paradise.
According to Josephus (Ant. Jud., I, i, 3), the Nile is one of the four great
rivers of paradise (Genesis 2:10 sqq.). This view, which has been adopted by
many commentators, is based chiefly on the connection described between Gehon,
one of the yet unidentified rivers, and the land of Cush, which, at least in
later times, was identified with Ethiopia or modern Abyssinia (cf. Vulgate,
Genesis 2:13). Modern scholars, however, are inclined to regard this African
Cush as simply a colony settled by tribes migrating from an original Asiatic
province of the same name, located by Fried. Delitsch (op. cit., 71) in
Babylonia, and by Hommel ("Ancient Hebrew Tradition", 314 sqq.) in Central
Publication information
Written by James F. Driscoll. Transcribed by Robert B. Olson. Offered to
Almighty God for David and Patricia Guin & Family
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIV. Published 1912. New York: Robert Appleton
Company. Nihil Obstat, July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur.
+John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Bibliography
HURTER, Theologioe Dogmaticoe Compendium, II (Innsbruck, 1893), 264-83; VON
HUMMELAUER, Comment. in Genesim (Paris, 1895): Comment. in Cap. VIGOUROUX,
Dict. de la Bible, s.v.; GIGOT, Special Introduction to the Study of the Old
Testament, Pt. I, 168 sqq. (New York, 1901).
Catholic Information
(Hebrew hawwah).
The name of the first woman, the wife of Adam, the mother of Cain, Abel, and
Seth. The name occurs only five times in the Bible. In Gen., iii, 20, it is
connected etymologically with the verb meaning "to live": "And Adam called the
name of his wife Eve [hawwah]: because she was the mother of all the living".
The Septuagint rendering in this passage is Zoe (=life, or life-giver), which is
in two other passages (Genesis 4:1 and 25) the name is
transliterated Eua. The Biblical data concerning Eve are confined almost
exclusively to the second, third, and fourth chapters of Genesis (see ADAM).
The first account of the creation (Gen. i, "P") sets forth the creation of
mankind in general, and states simply that they were created male and female.
The second narrative (Genesis 2: "J") is more explicit and detailed. God is
represented as forming an individual man from the slime of the earth, and
breathing into his nostrils the breath of life. In like manner the creation of
the first woman and her relation to man is described with picturesque and
significant imagery. In this account, in which the plants and animals appear on
the scene only after the creation of man, the loneliness of the latter (Genesis
2:18), and his failure to find a suitable companion among the animals (Genesis
2:20), are set forth as the reason why God determines to create for man a
companion like unto himself. He causes a deep sleep to fall upon him, and taking
out one of the ribs, forms it into a woman, who, when she is brought to him, is
recognized at once as bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. A discussion of
the arguments in favor of the historical, or the more or less allegorical
character of this narrative would be beyond the scope of the present notice.
Suffice it to say that the biblical account has always been looked upon by pious
commentators as embodying, besides the fact of man's origin, a deep, practical
and many-sided significance, bearing on the mutual relationship established
between the sexes by the Creator.
Thus, the primitive institution of monogamy is implied in the fact that one
woman is created for one man. Eve, as well as Adam, is made the object of a
special creative act, a circumstance which indicates her natural equality with
him, while on the other hand her being taken from his side implies not only her
secondary r?le in the conjugal state (1 Corinthians 11:9), but also emphasizes
the intimate union between husband and wife, and the dependence of the latter on
the former "Wherefore a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to
his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh." The innocence of the newly
created couple is clearly indicated in the following verse, but the narrator
immediately proceeds to relate how they soon acquired, through actual
transgression, the knowledge of good and evil, and with the sense of shame which
had been previously unknown to them. In the story of the Fall, the original
cause of evil is the serpent, which in later Jewish tradition is identified with
Satan (Wisdom 2:24). He tempts Eve presumably as the weaker of the two, and she
in turn tempts Adam, who yields to her seduction. Immediately their eyes are
opened, but in an unexpected manner. Shame and remorse take possession of them,
and they seek to hide from the face of the Lord.
For her share in the transgression, Eve (and womankind after her) is sentenced
to a life of sorrow and travail, and to be under the power of her husband.
Doubtless this last did not imply that the woman's essential condition of
equality with man was altered, but the sentence expresses what, in the nature of
things, was bound to follow in a world dominated by sin and its consequences.
The natural dependence and subjection of the weaker party was destined
inevitably to become something little short of slavery. But if woman was the
occasion of man's transgression and fall, it was also decreed in the Divine
counsels, that she was to be instrumental in the scheme of restoration which God
already promises while in the act of pronouncing sentence upon the serpent. The
woman has suffered defeat, and infinitely painful are its consequences, but
henceforth there will be enmity between her and the serpent, between his seed
and her seed, until through the latter in the person of the future Redeemer, who
will crush the serpent's head, she will again be victorious.
Of the subsequent history of Eve the Bible gives little information. In Gen.,
iv, 1, we read that she bore a son whom she named Cain, because she got him
(literally, "acquired" or "possessed") through God--this at least is the most
plausible interpretation of this obscure passage. Later she gave birth to Abel,
and the narrative does not record the birth of another child until after the
slaying of Abel by his older brother, when she bore a son and called his name
S saying: "God hath given me [literally, "put" or "appointed"] another seed,
for Abel whom Cain slew".
Eve is mentioned in the Book of Tobias (viii, 8; Sept., viii, 6) where it is
simply affirmed that she was given to A in II Cor., xi, 3,
where reference is made to her seduction by the serpent, and in I Tim., ii, 13,
where the Apostle enjoins submission and silence upon women, arguing that "Adam
then Eve. And Adam was not seduced, but the woman being
seduced, was in the transgression".
As in the case of the other Old Testament personages, many rabbinical legends
have been connected with the name of Eve. They may be found in the "Jewish
Encyclopedia", s.v. (see also, ADAM), and in Vigouroux, "Dictionnaire de la
Bible", I, art. "Adam". They are, for the most part, puerile and fantastic, and
devoid of historical value, unless in so far as they serve to illustrate the
mentality of the later Jewish writers, and the unreliability of the "traditions"
derived from such sources, though they are sometimes appealed to in critical
discussions.
Publication information
Written by James F. Driscoll. Transcribed by Dennis McCarthy. For my godmother,
Eva Maria (Wolf) Gomezplata
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume V. Published 1909. New York: Robert Appleton
Company. Nihil Obstat, May 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M.
Farley, Archbishop of New York
Bibliography
PALIS in VIGOUROUX, Dictionnaire de la Bible, II, 2118; BENNETT in HASTINGS,
Dict. of the Bible, s. v.; Encyclopedia Biblica, s. v. Adam and E GIGOT,
Special Introduction to the Study of the Old Testament, Part I, p. 162; Jewish
Encyclopedia, s. v., V, 275.
Garden of Eden
Jewish Viewpoint Information
-Biblical Data:
Name given to the "earthly paradise" occupied by Adam and Eve before
their fall through sin. The word "Eden," perhaps an Assyrian
loan-word, is of the same root as the Assyrian "edinu," synonymous
with "?eru" (= field, compare the Arabic "zaur," which
is the name still given to the country south of Babylon and
extending to the Persian G the nomadic tribes inhabiting it were
called by the Assyrians "sabe edini") (see Delitzsch, "Wo Lag das
Paradies?"). Its connection with the Hebrew word
is of later
origin. Sprenger ("Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad," ii. 507)
explains it through the Arabic "'adn."
Views of Delitzsch.
The writer of the Biblical story of Eden (Gen. ii.-iii.) is
evidently describing some place which he conceives to be on the
hence the exact details: "God planted a garden eastward, in
Eden," etc. Many attempts have been made to determine the precise
geographical location. The most ancienttradition, going back to
Josephus and followed by most of the Church Fathers, makes Havilah
equivalent to India, and the Pison one of its rivers, while Cush is
Ethiopia and the Gihon the Nile. A very popular theory places Eden
in Babylonia. Calvin made the Sha??al-'Arab-formed by the union of
the Tigris and Euphrates-the river that "went out of the garden";
but it is now known that in ancient times the two rivers entered the
Persian Gulf separately. Friedrich Delitzsch also places Eden in the
country around Babylon and south of it, a country which was so
beautiful in its luxuriant vegetation and abundant streams that it
was known as "Kar-Duniash," or "garden of the god Duniash."
Rawlinson even tried to show the identity of the names "Gan-Eden"
and "Kar-Duniash." This region is watered practically by the
Euphrates alone, which is here on a higher level than the Tigris.
The Pison and the Gihon are identified with two canals (they may
originally have been river-beds) which branch out from the Euphrates
just below Babylon. The former, to the west, is the Pallacopas, upon
which Ur was situated, and Havilah is thus identified with the
portion of the Syrian desert bordering on Babylonia, which is known
to have been rich in gold. The latter, Gihon, is the Sha?? al-Nil,
which passes the ruins of the ancient Erech, while Cush is the Mat
Kashshi, or the northern part of Babylonia proper. Curiously enough,
this region was also called "Melu?a," which name was afterward
transferred to Ethiopia. Other Assyriologists (e.g.,Haupt, "Wo Lag
das Paradies?" in "Ueber Land und Meer," 1894-95, No. 15) do not
credit the Biblical writer with the definiteness of geographical
knowledge which Delitzsch considers him to have had.
The Gilgamesh Epic
A very natural theory, which must occur to any one reading the
Babylonian Gilgamesh epic, connects Eden with the dwelling of
Parnapishtim, the Babylonian Noah, at the "confluence of streams."
This is supposed to have been in the Persian Gulf or Nar Marratim
("stream of bitterness"), into which emptied the four rivers
Euphrates, Tigris, Kercha, and Karun (compare Jensen, "Kosmologie
der Babylonier," p. 507, and Jastrow, "Religion of the Babylonians
and Assyrians," p. 506). It is probable, however, that the story as
given in the Bible is a later adaptation of an old legend, points of
which were vague to the narrator himself, and hence any attempt to
find the precise location of Eden must prove futile. Indeed, the
original Eden was very likely in heaven, which agrees with the view
on the subject held by the Arabs. Gunkel, in his commentary on
Genesis, also adopts this view, and connects the stream coming out
of Eden with the Milky Way and its four branches.
The El-Amarna Tablets
Though there is no one Babylonian legend of the Garden of Eden with
which the Biblical story can be compared as in the case of the
stories of the Creation and of the Flood, there are nevertheless
points of relationship between it and Babylonian mythology. On one
of the tablets found at Tell el-Amarna, now in the Berlin Museum,
occurs the legend of Adapa. Adapa, the first man, is the son of the
god Ea, by whom he has been endowed with wisdom, but not with
everlasting life. He lives in Eridu, and cares for the sanctuary of
the god. One day while fishing in a calm sea the south wind suddenly
arises and overturns his boat. In his anger Adapa fights with the
south wind and breaks his wings so that he can not blow for seven
days. Anu, the god of heaven, hearing of this, summons Adapa before
him. Ea gives his son instructions as to his behavior before A
among other things he tells him: "Bread of death will they offer
thee: eat not of it. Water of death will they bring thee: drink not
of it." Adapa does as he is told, but the bread and water Anu causes
to be placed before him are of life, not of death. Thus Adapa loses
his chance of eternal life. He puts on the garment, however, which
is offered him, following Ea's instructions. In this story the bread
of life is parallel to the tree of life in the Biblical story. It is
probable that the water of life also formed a part of the original
story, and that the river of Eden is a trace of it. In Ezek. xlvii.
6-12 and, with some variation, in Rev. xxii. 1, 2 mention is made of
a "river of water of life, . . . and on either side of the river was
there the tree of life," showing that the water of life was
associated with the tree of life.
Further, in the Biblical story, as in the Adapa legend, man is
prevented from eating the food of life through being told that it
means death to him. "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die" (Gen. ii. 17); and it is Ea, who has formed man, who is
the means of preventing him from attaining life everlasting, just as
it is God who removes man from out of Eden "lest he put forth his
hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever"
(ib. iii. 22). Jastrow (l.c.) remarks that the Hebrew story is more
pessimistic than the Babylonian, since God even begrudges man
knowledge, which the Babylonian god freely gives him. Adapa, who has
been endowed with knowledge, puts on the garment given him by Anu,
and Adam and Eve, after eating of the tree of knowledge, make for
themselves garments of fig-leaves.
Schrader ("K. A. T." ii. 1, 523) calls attention to the possibility
of associating the name "Adam" with "Adapa." The "garden of God,"
situated on the mountain, in Ezek. xxviii. 13, 14, and the tall
cedar in Ezek. xxxi. 3, may have some connection with the
cedar-grove of Khumbaba in the Gilgamesh epic and with the high
cedar in the midst of the grove. In this connection may be mentioned
the attempt to associate Eden with the mountain in Iranian
mythology, out of which rivers flow, or with the Indian mountain
Maru with the four rivers (Lenormant). Jensen ("Keilschriftliche
Bibliothek," vi.) places the "confluence of the streams" in the Far
West, and associates the island with the Greek Elysium.
Snake and Cherubim.
The snake in the story is probably identical with the snake or
dragon in the Babylonian story of the Creation. In the British
Museum there is a cylinder seal which has been supposed by
Delitzsch, among others, to represent the Babylonian story of Eden
(see illustration, Jew. Encyc. i. 174). The seal represents two
figures, a male and a female, seated on opposite sides of a tree,
with hand behind the woman is an up-right
snake. This picture alone, however, is hardly sufficient basis for
believing that the Babylonians had such a story. The cherubim placed
to guard the entrance to Eden are distinctly Babylonian, and are
identical with the immense winged bulls and lions at the entrances
to Babylonian and Assyrian temples. See Cherub.
Bibliography:
Guttmacher, Optimism and Religionism in the Old and
New Testaments, pp. 243-245, Baltimore, 1903
-In Rabbinical Literature:
The Talmudists and Cabalists agree that there are two gardens of
Eden: one, the terrestrial, of abundant fertility and luxuriant
the other, celestial, the habitation of righteous,
immortal souls. These two are known as the "lower" and "higher" Gan
Eden. The location of the earthly Eden is traced by its boundaries
as described in Genesis.
In 'Erubin 19a (comp. Rabbinovicz, "Variae Lectiones," ad loc.) Resh
La?ish expresses himself to the following effect: "If the paradise
is situated in Palestine, Beth-Shean [in Galilee] if in
Arabia, then Bet G and if between the rivers,
Damascus is the door." In another part of the Talmud (Tamid 32b) the
interior of Africa is pointed out as the location of Eden, and no
less a personage than Alexander the Great is supposed to have found
the entrance of Gan Eden in those regions which are inhabited and
governed exclusively by women. Alexander, who desired to invade
Africa, was directed to Gan Eden by the advice of the "elders of the
A baraita fixes the dimensions of Gan and of Eden by comparisons
with Egypt, Ethiopia, etc.: "Egypt is 400 parasangs square, and is
one-sixtieth the size of Cush [Ethiopia]. Cush is one-sixtieth of
the world [inhabited earth], the Gan being one-sixtieth of Eden, and
Eden one-sixtieth of Gehinnom. Hence the world is to Gehinnon in
size as the cover to the pot" (Ta'an. 10a). The same baraita in the
Jerusalem Talmud defines the territory of Egypt as 400 parasangs
square, equal to forty days' journey, ten miles being reckoned as a
day's journey (Pes. 94a).
The Rabbis make a distinction between Gan and Eden. Samuel bar
Na?man says that Adam dwelt only in the Gan. As to Eden-"No mortal
eye ever witnesseth, O God, beside thee" (Isa. lxiv. 4, Hebr.; Ber.
Identification of the Four Rivers.
The Midrash (Gen. R. xvi. 7) identifies the "four heads" of the
rivers with Babylon (Pison), Medo-Persia (Gihon), Greece (Hiddekel),
Edom-Rome (Perat), and regards Havilah as Palestine. The Targum
Yerushalmi translates "Havilah" by "Hindiki" ("Hindustan," or
India), and leaves "Pison" untranslated. Saadia Gaon, in his Arabic
translation, renders "Pison" the Nile, which Ibn Ezra ridicules, as
"it is positively known that Eden is farther south, on the equator."
Na?manides coincides in this view, but explains that the Pison may
run in a subterranean passage from the equator northward. Obadiah of
Bertinoro, the commentator of the Mishnah, in a letter describing
his travels from Italy to Jerusalem in 1489, relates the story of
Jews arriving at Jerusalem from "Aden, the land where the well-known
and famous Gan Eden is situated, which is southeast of Assyria."
Jacob Safir, who visited Aden in 1865, describes it in his "Eben
Sappir" (ii.3) as sandy and barren, and can not posssibly indorse
the idea of connecting Aden with the Eden of Genesis. The opinions
of the most eminent Jewish authorities point to the location of Eden
in Arabia. The "four heads" or mouths of the rivers(= seas) are
probably the Persian Gulf (east), the Gulf of Aden (south), the
Caspian Sea (north), and the Red Sea (west). The first river, Pison,
probably refers to the Indus, which encircles Hindustan, confirming
the Targum Yerushalmi. The second river, Gihon, is the Nile in its
circuitous course around Ethiopia, connecting with the Gulf of Aden.
The third river, Hiddekel, is the Tigris, which has its course in
the front () of Assur (= Persia), speaking from the writer's point
of view in Palestine. Some explain the difficulty of finding the
courses of the rivers by supposing that since the Deluge these
rivers have either ceased to exist, entirely or in part, or have
found subterranean outlets. Indeed, the compiler of the Midrash
ha-Gadol expresses himself as follows: "Eden is a certain place on
earth, but no creature knows where it is, and the Holy One, blessed
be He! will only reveal to Israel the way to it in the days of the
king Messiah" (Midr. ha-Gadol, ed. Schechter, col. 75).
Earthly and Heavenly Gan Eden.
The boundary line between the natural and supernatural Gan Eden is
hardly perceptible in Talmudic literature. In fact, "Gan Eden and
heaven were created by one Word [of God], and the chambers of the
Gan Eden are constructed as those of heaven, and as heaven is lined
with rows of stars, so Gan Eden is lined with rows of the righteous,
who shine like the stars" (Aggadat Shir ha-Shirim, pp. 13, 55). The
leviathan disturbs the waters of the seas, and would have destroyed
the life of all human beings by the bad breath of his mouth, but for
the fact that he occasionally puts his head through the opening of
Gan Eden, the spicy odor issuing from which acts as an antiseptic to
his bad smell (B.B.75a). ?iyya bar ?anina says that God had prepared
for Adam ten canopies of various precious stones in Gan Eden, and
quotes Ezek. xxviii. 13 (B. B. 75a). This, according to the Midrash,
relates to the celestial Gan Eden. The Zohar claims for everything
on earth a prototype above (Yitro 82a). Na?manides also says that
the narrative of Eden in Genesis has a double meaning, that besides
the earthly Gan Eden and the four rivers there are their prototypes
in heaven (Commentary to Gen. iv. 13). See Paradise.
-In Arabic Literature:
The Arabic word for Eden is "'Adn," which, according to the
commentators and lexicographers, means "fixed residence," i.e., the
everlasting abode of the faithful. "'Adn," preceded by "jannat"
(gardens), occurs ten times in the Koran (suras ix. 73, xiii. 23,
xvi. 33, xviii. 30, xix. 62, xx. 78, xxxv. 30, xxxviii. 50, xl. 8,
xli. 12), but always as the abode of the righteous and never as the
residence of Adam and Eve, which occurs in the Koran only under the
name of "jannah" (garden), although the Moslem commentators agree in
callingit "Jannat'Adn "(the Garden of Eden). In sura ii. 23 occur
the words: "And we have said to Adam: 'Stay with thy wife in the
garden ["fi al-jannah"],'" which Bai?awi explains: "The garden here
is the 'Dar al-Thawab' [The House of Recompense], which is the
fourth of the eight heavens." According to the Koran, the gardens of
Eden are in heaven, and form a part of the blissful abode of the
believers. In sura ii. 23 it gives the command: "Announce that the
believers will reside in delightful gardens," on which Bai?awi
remarks: "According to Ibn al-'Abbas, there are seven gardens, one
of which is called 'Firdaus' [Paradise] and one "Adn' [Eden]." Hence
there is a difficulty as to the Eden from which Adam was cast out.
Baidawi says on sura ii. 23: "Some people have thought that this
Eden was situated in the country of the Philistines, or between
Persia and Karman. God created it in order to put Adam to the test."
Mohammed ?ahir ("Majma' al-Bi?ar, " p. 225), speaking of the
tradition that the rivers Jai?un and Jai?an are rivers of the garden
("al-jannah"), says: "The terms are figurative, implying that faith
extended to those regions and made them rivers of paradise." In
another place (ib. p. 164) he says: "The four rivers, Si?an
[Jaxartes], Jai?an [Gihon], Furat [Euphrates], and Nil [Nile], are
rivers of paradise." Abu Mohammed Mu'afa al-Shaibani, author of the
"Uns al-Mun?a?i'in," states the following tradition: "When God
created the Garden of Eden, He created in it that which the eye had
never seen before, that which the ear had never heard of before, and
that which had never been desired before by man's heart." There is
another tradition that God, having created the Garden of Eden,
ordered it to speak. The garden pronounced the following words:
"There is no God besides Allah." The garden was ordered to speak a
second time, and it added: "The faithful will be happy." After a
third order it said: "Misers or hypocrites will never enter me."
Wahb ibn Munabbah says: "There is a tradition that the Garden of
Eden has eight gates, the porters of which must not let anybody come
in before those who despise earthly things and prefer those of
heaven." According to one tradition the tree of life was a stalk of
wheat-which in the days of Adam grew to the size of a tree-a vine, a
fig-tree, or a "tree that whoever eats of it grows young again"
(Bai?awi, Commentary on Koran, sura ii. 33). Weil, in "Biblische
Legenden der Propheten," gives some interesting traditions in regard
to Eden and Satan.
Emil G. Hirsch, Mary W. Montgomery, Solomon Schechter, Judah
David Eisenstein, M. Seligsohn
Jewish Encyclopedia, published between .
Bibliography:
Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, s.v. E
D'Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orientale, i. 166;
Mohammed ?ahir, Majma' at-Bi?ar, pp. 164, 225;
A. Geiger, Judaism and Islam, pp. 32, 33, Madras, 1878
Jewish Viewpoint Information
-Biblical Data:
The wife of Adam. According to Gen. iii. 20, Eve was so called
because she was "the mother of all living" (R. V., margin, "Life" or
"Living"). On the ground that it was not "good for man to be alone"
God resolved to "make him an help meet for him" (ib. ii. 18), first
creating, with this end in view, the beasts of the field and the
fowl of the air and then bringing them unto Adam. When Adam did not
find among these a helpmeet for himself, Yhwh caused a deep sleep to
fall upon him, and took one of his ribs, from which He made a woman,
and brought her unto the man (ib. ii. 22). Upon seeing her, Adam
welcomed her as "bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh" (ib. ii.
23), declaring that she should be called "ishshah" because she was
taken out of "ish" (man.)
Dwelling in the Garden of Eden with Adam, Eve is approached and
tempted by the serpent. She yields to the reptile's seductive
arguments, and partakes of the forbidden fruit, giving thereof to
her husband, who, like her, eats of it. Both discover their
nakedness and make themselves aprons of figleaves. When God asks for
an accounting Adam puts the blame on Eve. As a punishment, the
sorrows of conception and childbirth are announced to her, as well
as subjection to her husband (ib. iii. 16). Driven out of Eden, Eve
gives birth to two sons, Cain and A herself naming the elder in
the obscure declaration "I have gotten a man with the help of Yhwh"
(ib. iv. 1, R. V.). Later, after the murder of Abel, she bears
another son, to whom she gives the name "Seth," saying that he is
given to her by Yhwh as a compensation for Abel (ib. iv. 25).
-In Rabbinical Literature:
Eve was not created simultaneously with Adam because God foreknew
that later she would be a source of complaint. He therefore delayed
forming her until Adam should express a desire for her (Gen. R.
xvii.). Eve was created from the thirteenth rib on Adam's right side
and from the flesh of his heart (Targ. Pseudo-Jonathan to Gen. ii.
21; Pir?e R. El. xii.). Together with Eve Satan was created (Gen. R.
xvii.). God adorned Eve like a bride with all the jewelry mentioned
in Isa. iii. He built the nuptial chamber for her (Gen. R. xviii.).
According to Pir?e R. El. xii., as soon as Adam beheld Eve he
emb her name , from , indicates that God ()
joined them together (see also Ab. R. N. xxxviii.). Ten gorgeous
"?uppot" (originally, "bridal chambers"; now, "bridal canopies"),
studded with gems and pearls and ornamented with gold, did God erect
for Eve, whom He Himself gave away in marriage, and over whom He
pro while the angels danced and beat timbrels
and stood guard over the bridal chamber (Pir?e R. El. xii.).
Samael, prompted by jealousy, picked out the serpent to mislead Eve
(Yal?., Gen. xxv.; comp. Josephus, "Ant." i. 1, § 4; Ab. R. N. i.),
whom it approached, knowing that women could be more easily moved
than men (Pir?e R. El. xiii.). Or, according to another legend, the
serpent was induced to lead Eve to sin by desire on its part to
possess her (So?ah 9; Gen. R. xviii.), and it cast into her the
taint of lust (; Yeb. 103b; 'Ab. Zarah 22b; Shab. 146a; Yal?., Gen.
28, 130). Profiting by the absence of the two guardian angels (?ag.
16a; Ber. 60b), Satan, or the serpent, which then had almost the
shape of a man (Gen. R. xix. 1), displayed great argumentative skill
in explaining the selfish reasons which had prompted God's
prohibition (Pir?e R. El. l.c.; Gen. R. xix.; Tan., Bereshit,
viii.), and convinced Eve by ocular proof that the tree could be
touched (comp. Ab. R. N. i. 4) without entailing death. Eve
thereupon laid hold of the tree, and at once beheld the angel of
death coming toward her (Targ. Pseudo-Jon. to Gen. iii. 6). Then,
reasoning that if she died and Adam continued to live he would take
another wife, she made him share her own fate (Pir?e R. El. xiii.;
Gen. R. xix.); at the invitation of the serpent she had partaken of
and she now mixed it with Adam's drink (Num. R. x.). Nine
curses together with death befell Eve in consequence of her
disobedience (Pir?e R. El. xiv.; Ab. R. N. ii. 42).
Eve became pregnant, and bore Cain and Abel on the very day of (her
creation and) expulsion from Eden (Gen. R. xii.). These were born
full-grown, and each had a twin sister (ib.). Cain's real father was
not Adam, but one of the demons (Pir?e R. El. xxi., xxii.). Seth was
Eve's first child by Adam. Eve died shortly after Adam, on the
completion of the six days of mourning, and was buried in the Cave
of Machpelah (Pir?e R. El. xx.). Comp. Adam, Book of
-In Arabic Literature:
Eve is a fantastic figure taken from the Jewish Haggadah. In the
Koran her name is not mentioned, although her person is alluded to
in the command given by Allah to Adam and his "wife," to live in the
garden, to eat whatever they desired, but not to approach "that
tree" (suras ii. 33, vii. 18). According to Mohammedan tradition,
Eve was created out of a rib of Adam's left side while he was
asleep. Ri?wan, the guardian of paradise, conducted them to the
garden, where theywere welcomed by all creatures as the father and
mother of Mohammed.
Iblis, who had been forbidden to enter paradise and was jealous of
Adam's prerogative, wished to entice him to sin. He asked the
peacock to carry him under his wings, but, as the bird refused, he
hid himself between the teeth of the serpent, and thus managed to
come near Adam and Eve. He first persuaded Eve to eat of the fruit,
which was a kind of wheat that grew on the most beautiful tree in
the garden, and she gave some to Adam. Thereupon all their ornaments
fell from their bodies, so that they stood naked. Then they were
expelled from the garden. Adam was thrown to Serendib (Ceylon), and
Eve to Jidda (near Mecca).
Although Adam and Eve could not see each other, they heard each
other' and their repentance restored to them God's
compassion. God commanded Adam to follow a cloud which would lead
him to a place opposite to the heavenly throne, where he should
build a temple. The cloud guided him to Mount Arafa, near Mecca,
where he found Eve. From this the mount derived its name.
Eve died a year after Adam, and was buried outside Mecca, or,
according to others, in India, or at Jerusalem.
Emil G. Hirsch, Solomon Schechter, Hartwig Hirschfeld
Jewish Encyclopedia, published between .
Bibliography:
Weil, Biblische Legenden der Muselm?nner.
-Critical View:
The account of the creation of woman-she is called "Eve" only after
the curse-belongs to the J narrative. It reflects the naive
speculations of the ancient Hebrews on the beginnings of the human
race as introductory to the history of Israel. Its tone throughout
is anthropomorphic. The story was current among the people long
before it took on literary form (Gunkel, "Genesis," p. 2), and it
may possibly have been an adaptation of a Babylonian myth (ib. p.
35). Similar accounts of the creation of woman from a part of man's
body are found among many races (Tuch, "Genesis," notes on ch. ii.);
for instance, in the myth of Pandora. That woman is the cause of
evil is another wide-spread conceit. The etymology of "ishshah" from
"ish" (Gen. ii. 23) is incorrect ( belongs to the root ), but
exhibits all the characteristics of folk-etymology. The name , which
Adam gives the woman in Gen. iii. 20, seems not to be of Hebrew
origin. The similarity of sound with
explains the popular etymology
adduced in the explanatory gloss, though it is W. R. Smith's opinion
("Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia," p. 177) that Eve represents
the bond of matriarchal kinship ("?ayy"). N?ldeke ("Z. D. M. G."
xlii. 487), following Philo ("De Agricultura Noe," § 21) and the
Midrash Rabbah (ad loc.), explains the name as meaning "serpent,"
preserving thus the belief that all life sprang from a primeval
serpent. The narrative forms part of a culture-myth attempting to
account among other things for the pangs of childbirth, which are
comparatively light among primitive peoples (compare A Eden,
G Fall of Man). As to whether this story inculcates the
divine institution of Monogamy or not, see Gunkel, "Genesis," p. 11,
and Dillmann's and Holzinger's commentaries on Gen. ii. 23-24.
Also, see:
The individual articles presented here were generally first published
in the early 1980s.
This subject presentation was first placed
on the Internet in December 1997.
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