Click here for Genesis 2:25 – 3:24
From the beginning of recorded history dreams have fascinated us. There are modern ‘dictionaries’ of common types of dreams, along with proposed explanations (which can end up being so varied one wonders where the benefit from listing and explaining them is). One kind of dream – walking about along a normal routine only to come to the realization you are completely naked – is categorized all the way back to the Ancient Near East in what is called the ‘Assyrian Dream Book’. (I’ll admit to having this dream myself on occasion.)
From the beginning of recorded history dreams have fascinated us. There are modern ‘dictionaries’ of common types of dreams, along with proposed explanations (which can end up being so varied one wonders where the benefit from listing and explaining them is). One kind of dream – walking about along a normal routine only to come to the realization you are completely naked – is categorized all the way back to the Ancient Near East in what is called the ‘Assyrian Dream Book’. (I’ll admit to having this dream myself on occasion.)
I do not
necessarily suppose the Assyrian cataloging of dreams informs this part of
Genesis – at least not directly. I raise
this, though, because it offers us – especially if this is a dream we have
experienced – a way of reading ourselves and our experiences into the
story. Note that I am not suggesting we
make this story mean whatever we want it to mean. I am suggesting, though, that we seek to
identify with Adam and Eve as characters.
I will stake out this claim: The writer wants to introduce us to ourselves in the characters of Adam and Eve.
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