Literary Devices – Bereshit 2-3/0

Literary Devices – Bereshit 2-3

This topic has not yet undergone editorial review

Chiastic Structure

The story of Gan Eden can be construed as a chiasm,¹ in which the turning point is the sin of eating from the Tree of Knowledge:  

• a) The placement of man in Gan Eden: וַיַּנִּחֵהוּ בְגַן עֵדֶן ‎ (2:15) 
• b) The naming of animals: וַיִּקְרָא הָאָדָם שֵׁמוֹת לְכׇל הַבְּהֵמָה  ‎(2:19-20)
• c) The creation of Chavvah and her relationship with Adam: וְדָבַק בְּאִשְׁתּוֹ וְהָיוּ לְבָשָׂר אֶחָד ‎(2:22-24)
• d) The dialogue between the snake and Chavvah: וַיֹּאמֶר הַנָּחָשׁ אֶל הָאִשָּׁה ‎(3:2-5) 
• e) The sin of eating from the tree: וַתִּקַּח מִפִּרְיוֹ וַתֹּאכַל ‎(3:6) 
• d') The curse on the relationship between the snake and Chavvah and offspring: וְאֵיבָה אָשִׁית בֵּינְךָ וּבֵין הָאִשָּׁה ‎(3:14-15) 
• c') The curse on the relationship between Adam and Chavvah: וְאֶל אִישֵׁךְ תְּשׁוּקָתֵךְ וְהוּא יִמְשׇׁל בָּךְ ‎(3:16) 
• b') The naming of Chavvah: ‎וַיִּקְרָא הָאָדָם שֵׁם אִשְׁתּוֹ חַוָּה ‎(3:20)‎
• a') The banishment from Gan Eden: וַיְשַׁלְּחֵהוּ י״י אֱלֹהִים מִגַּן עֵדֶן‎ (3:22-23) 

The structure highlights how in the aftermath of sin, the status quo changes, and earlier relationships are reversed.

Key Words

Prevalent Words

• Tanakh Lab highlights that the words which occur most frequently in the unit are the names of the main characters: אלהים, אדם, אשה,‎² the verb "אכל" (eat),³ and the nouns "עץ" (tree) and "גן" (garden).⁴ This is somewhat expected as these form the basis of the plot.  One figure, though, is missing from the list, being mentioned only 5 times in the unit -- the snake. This might suggest that, despite his pivotal role, he is really just a secondary character in the story.⁵

Relative Prevalence

When looking at the relative frequency of the words in the unit, another keyword takes on significance.

• עֵירֹם – See Tanakh Lab that though the word only appears three times in the unit, it is 143 times more prevalent here than elsewhere in Tanakh.  This might suggest that one of the keys to understanding the story of the Tree of Knowledge lies in exploring this theme. See The Tree of Knowledge and the opinion of Ibn Ezra, Radak and Abarbanel there, who all suggest that the knowledge granted by the tree was sexual desire, which imparted new significance to the notion of nakedness.

Character Titles

י״י אֱלֹהִים (Hashem Elokim)

Throughout this unit, Hashem is consistently referred to as "י״י אֱלֹהִים".‎⁶ This stands in contrast to Chapter 1, where He is referred to only as "אֱלֹהִים" and to Chapter 4 where the name "י״י" appears alone for the first time. For discussion of the different usages, see Bereshit 1–2.

Relationship Epithets

Tanakh is artful in the way it refers to people in relation to each other. Use the Tanakh Lab to trace when Adam and Chavvah are referred to in relationship to each other, and when alone. [Open the Tanakh Lab and click on the word "הָאִשָּׁה" in verse 1, and then on the word "לְאִישָׁהּ" in verse 6 to see all occurrences of each root.]

• In the opening of the story of the sin of the Tree of Knowledge in Chapter 3, Adam is identified as Chavvah’s husband (3:6) and Chavvah as Adam’s wife (3:8). 
• When they are confronted by Hashem, by contrast, Adam refers to Chavvah simply as “הָאִשָּׁה,” the woman, not mentioning any relationship to himself.
• Hashem again refers to Adam as Chavvah’s husband (3:15) and Chava as Adam’s wife (3:17) in the context of the curses.

This mechanism perhaps reflects the psychological reality that people often turn against each other in blame during a time of crisis, even if they were partners until that point.  Hashem’s language reminds Adam and Chava of their relationship despite their attempts to cast blame on each other.  

Parallelism

Parallelism is a literary structure in which adjacent phrases parallel each other.⁷ Sometimes the purpose is to lend poetic formality to language, as in the curses meted out to Adam, Chavvah, and the snake:

• Curse to the snake – וְאֵיבָה אָשִׁית בֵּינְךָ וּבֵין הָאִשָּׁה / וּבֵין זַרְעֲךָ וּבֵין זַרְעָהּ / הוּא יְשׁוּפְךָ רֹאשׁ / וְאַתָּה תְּשׁוּפֶנּוּ עָקֵב (Bereshit 3:15)
• Curse to Chavvah – הַרְבָּה אַרְבֶּה עִצְּבוֹנֵךְ וְהֵרֹנֵךְ / בְּעֶצֶב תֵּלְדִי בָנִים / וְאֶל אִישֵׁךְ תְּשׁוּקָתֵךְ / וְהוּא יִמְשׇׁל בָּךְ  (Bereshit 3:16)
• Curse to Adam – אֲרוּרָה הָאֲדָמָה בַּעֲבוּרֶךָ / בְּעִצָּבוֹן תֹּאכְלֶנָּה כֹּל יְמֵי חַיֶּיךָ / וְקוֹץ וְדַרְדַּר תַּצְמִיחַ לָךְ  / וְאָכַלְתָּ אֶת עֵשֶׂב הַשָּׂדֶה (Bereshit 3:17-18)

¹ Chiastic structure is characterized by repetitive symmetry, in which narrative elements follow an A-B-B-A structure, in order to identify the beginning and end of a narrative unit as well as its climax or turning-point.

² Elohim appears 24 times, Adam 23 times and "אשה"‎ 17‎‎ ‎ times.

³ The root appears 21 times.

⁴ The word "עץ" appears 17 times and the word "גן" appears 13 times.

⁵ It should be noted, however, that relative to the mention of snakes throughout Tanakh, the snake is mentioned significantly more times here than elsewhere (77 times more).  Nonetheless, compared to how many times each of the other protagonists are mentioned within the narrative, he is mentioned considerably less (5 times compared to 17-24 times).

⁶ To see this clearly, open the Tanakh Lab, click on the phrase " י״י אֱלֹהִים" and from the drop-down, choose "Highlight Instances".

⁷ For more information about the nature of Biblical parallelism, see Dr. Mayer I. Gruber’s article The Meaning of Biblical Parallelism: A Biblical Perspective and Dr. Adele Berlin’s Grammatical Aspects of Biblical Parallelism. Other resources (not available online) are Dr. Robert Alter’s The Art of Biblical Poetry pp. 3-61, Dr. Adele Berlin’s The Dynamics of Biblical Parallelism, and Dr. James Kugel’s The Idea of Biblical Poetry: Parallelism and Its History.