Out of nowhere there suddenly appears a talking serpent. The Hebrew etymology for serpent signifies twist or spin and stems from an onomatopoetic (coming soon to a spelling bee near you) word for hiss or whisper. It suggests a twisting, spinning, or moving whisper, and later became the word for enchanter.
According to the story about the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve enjoyed their extraordinary union with God. While inhabiting distinct physical bodies, they must have perceived their oneness because their sensory perception was based on spirit rather than the physical elements. They were as one, naked and not ashamed because they enjoyed a blissful awareness of God (Love).
Adam and Eve. The name Adam means man, or to be red, and speaks to the physical and material aspects of humanity. The woman’s name is Eve, and means to breathe, to live, or to give life, and refers to the spiritual. The names communicate the inexplicable connectedness of matter and spirit that results in a living being.
The names of the Garden of Eden and its characters were carefully chosen to communicate a more profound truth: The Garden of Eden is probably a metaphorical reference to the hidden eternal dimension in us that are in union with God. The word Eden comes from the Hebrew word ednah, which means delight, pleasure, and is closely related to the words eternal, moment, and presence. Interestingly enough, the Hebrew term for heaven or paradise is in fact Gan Eden—meaning the Garden of Eden.
We begin with the backdrop to the story, because otherwise this tale of trees in the Garden of Eden can be pretty depressing. Before the Hebrew writers (who had been slaves and were now in exile in Babylon) share the story of trees, they want future generations of Jewish people to know that in spite of what they had experienced, they believed in the goodness of humanity.
