Texts in Conversation
Genesis describes Adam’s punishment as eating grass from the field, followed by eating bread through hard labor. Later interpretations, including the Aramaic Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and writings by Philo, notice this odd tension and explain that Adam’s shift from wild plants to cultivated food came after a plea for mercy.
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Genesis 3:18
Hebrew Bible
17 But to Adam he said, “Because you obeyed the voice of52 your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ the ground is cursed because of you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, but you will eat the grass of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.”
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Philo Allegorical Interpretation 3.251
Classical
251 "And thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat thy bread." He here speaks of the herb of the field and of bread, as if they were synonymous, or identical with one another. The herb of the field is the food of the irrational animal; but the irrational animal is a worthless creature, which has been deprived of right reason. The outward senses are also irrational, though they are part of the soul. But the mind, which is eager for the attainment of those things which are the objects of the outward sense by means of the irrational outward senses, does not attain its desires without labour and sweat; for the life of the foolish man is very full of distress and very burdensome, since he is always aiming at and greedily coveting the things which give pleasure, and all such things as wickedness is wont to do.
Date: 20-50 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Pseudo Jonathan Genesis 3:18
Targum
17 And to Adam he said, “Because you listened to the word of your wife, and ate of the fruit of the tree concerning which I commanded you saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed be the earth because it did not show you your guilt; by toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life 18 Thorns and thistles it shall sprout and produce because of you; and you shall eat the plants that are upon the surface of the field” Adam answered and said, “I beseech by the mercy before you, O Lord Let me not be reckoned before you as cattle, that I should eat the grass of the surface of the field I will arise and labor with the labor of my hands, and I will eat of the food of the earth; and thus let there be a distinction before you between the children of men and the offspring of cattle” 19 By the labor of your hand you shall eat food until you return to the dust from which you were created, because dust you are, and to dust you will return; but from the dust you are destined to arise to render an account and a reckoning of all you have done, on the day of great judgment”
Date: 300-1200 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Genesis 3:18 ... compare Genesis Rabbah 20:10; b. Pesachim 118a; Avot d'Rabbi Natan A. See also Philo, Allegorical Interpretation 3.251. The Targums develop this tradition at greater length. The tradition resolves the apparent contradiction between verse 18 (“you shall eat the plants of the field”) and verse 19 (“you shall eat bread”). According to the haggadah, the latter command was given as a result of Adam’s urgent prayer which is recorded in the Targums of verse 18 ..."
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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