One history · chapter 4 of 11

The Limits: Why the Old Texts Say Humans Lost Long Life

Eden · story date: soon after the making

A thought experiment

This series asks what history looks like if the old texts are records, not myths. Each claim rests on a quoted text. It is a reading, not an established fact.

The workers turn out better than planned. Genesis records the makers' alarm: "the man is become as one of us." So the makers put controls on the product.

First, long life. The tree of life goes behind a guarded perimeter with a turning weapon. In Babylon, Adapa is offered the bread and water of life and refuses it because his own patron god told him it was poison. Second, sight. The Maya say the first people could see through the sky to the edge of the world, so the gods clouded their eyes "like breath on a mirror." The Gnostic texts go further: the makers feared what they had made and locked it into a heavier body.

What the texts say

Genesis 3:22, 24 · KJVLest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever… Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way.

Adapa · summaryEnki tells Adapa to refuse the food of heaven; it was the food of life.

Popol Vuh · summaryThe first people see too far, so the gods blur their eyes.

Apocryphon of John · summaryThe archons, jealous of Adam, bind him in a material body.

Questions people ask about The limits

Why did God guard the tree of life?

Genesis 3:22 gives the reason: 'lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.' Verse 24 places cherubim and 'a flaming sword which turned every way' at the gate of Eden.

Who was Adapa?

Adapa is a Babylonian sage who is offered the bread and water of life in heaven and refuses it, because his own patron god, Enki, told him it was poison. This chapter pairs him with Genesis as a second story of lost long life.

What does the Popol Vuh say about the first humans?

In the Maya Popol Vuh, the first people could see too far, through the sky to the edge of the world, so the gods clouded their eyes 'like breath on a mirror'. The Gnostic Apocryphon of John has the archons bind Adam in a material body.