The eCrozier

The story of Adam and Eve has always been theologically rich. For much of the Church’s history, however, it has been inappropriately used to blame Eve (and, by extension, all women) for humanity’s fall into sin and the loss of our comfortable place in Eden. To accept that dubious premise though means that we’d also have to affirm that Adam wasn’t capable of thinking for himself, couldn’t possibly accept responsibility for his own actions, and was without a doubt one of the most clueless persons in history. In other words, he’d need to be seen just as every TV commercial depicts men when it comes to how they approach the use of household cleaning products.

So, why does that part of our creation story blame Eve (women)? One possible answer is to look back on when the story was first written down before it later became part of our scriptural canon. Most scholars believe this happened during King David’s reign. That makes sense. It was the first time in Israel’s history when there was relative peace giving them the luxury to write down the history of how God brought them from humanity’s creation to their present time. One of the pivotal parts of King David’s reign was his adulterous behavior with Bathsheba, and later his de facto murder of her husband, Uriah. It rocked Israel and shaped the rest of his reign. It arguably set the stage for the civil war that was later fought by factions supporting King David’s various heirs to the throne. The heir who would become king after David was Solomon, Bathsheba’s son.

Why would King David risk destroying everything by engaging in adultery and murder (of course, he’s not the only political leader to engage in such immoral, self-destructive behavior)? Israel’s historians were asking the same question while writing down the creation story. The convenient answer was that it was Bathsheba’s (Eve’s) fault, and not David’s (Adam’s). A woman manipulated him. So, the scriptural story of Adam and Eve actually becomes, at least in part, a partisan political commentary on Israel’s current events designed to absolve the king from moral responsibility. Blame the woman. To quote the Preacher of Ecclesiastes: “There is nothing new under the sun.”

The answer as to why David did what he did may be as simple as this: He was the king and as king, he assumed he could get away with it. History affirms such a pattern of behavior in men, at least those who believe they’re immune from moral accountability. They (or their sycophantic historians) find convenient excuses for why they stumbled and fell morally. In other words, there’s a direct line from Eve and Bathsheba to Monica Lewinsky and Stephanie Clifford. This isn’t a very flattering picture of male behavior, but it’s there for all the world to see. The historical script is to blame the woman. Now that’s not to say that women are always entirely innocent in these situations, so please don’t engage in “whataboutism” with me on this.

We all long for “kings” who are morally upright. Yet, most of them will, at times, fail that standard. It’s then that we’d hope they’d confess their sin as King David did when he was confronted with his behavior (“I have sinned against the Lord” – 2 Samuel 12:13). But maybe that’s too much to hope for from us men given our historical track record?

+Scott