an excursus on eating

so much happens in these first chapters of genesis that it's easy to let some of the "most important themes slip by unheard. so, i want to take a moment to think about the role of eating in genesis.

the second commandment is about food:

"and god said, behold, i have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, i have given every green herb for meat: and it was so." (genesis 1:29-30)

(the first commandment, to "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth" (genesis 1:28), is perhaps fulfilled, but in an unsatisfactory manner.)

so the man and the woman (it is not really accurate to call them adam and eve, since adam means both of them, male and female, and the name eve does not occur until after the fatal bite) sin by eating the forbidden fruit.

again and again eating, being fed, banqueting, or feasting will occur in the scriptural story. indeed the ultimate act of salvation will be celebrated in a holy meal.