Green and Red in the Garden of Eden

The Hebrew Bible is resplendent with colors of meaning and imagery that are often or overlooked in translation. Even Hebrew speaking readers miss much of the symbolism as they read with the understandings of their own cultures and times, rather than those of  Moses', David's or the Prophets' eras.

We are all familiar of the magnificent religious paintings of the Renaissance, which place New Testament narratives of Jesus, the disciples, John the Baptist and Mary and Joseph in clothing, gardens and architecture of their artistic creators' times, such as Italy or Northern Europe . We accept the anachronistic trappings since history tells us that these artists lacked information as to the attire and architecture and landscapes of the First Century B.C and A.D.

Thanks to archeology, scholarship, scientific discoveries (such as carbon dating) and sometimes “luck”( such as in the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls), our understandings of Biblical times and ancient civilizations continues to increase.

There are wonderful programs on PBS , the History Channel , Discovery Channel and the Science Channel that are accessible to anyone with a fairly basic cable subscription. As I read the Bible, struggling through original Hebrew words (I am ever so slowly learning Hebrew) and spin through what I have been learning through TV and the Internet and from local rabbis. As an artist I am discovering some ancient visual meanings that I apply to my works and ponder.

Let's look at green and red. For those of us in the Western World, when we see green and red, I think of Christmas. The next association may be the flag of Italy . Other than that, red and green do not seem to have any special significance when together today.

But back in ancient Egypt when the Tribes of Israel were slaves, before they heading out for the promised land red and green had a lot of significance. Red and green are actually opposites on the color wheel. The ancient Egyptian reference to green and red was a lot more like our modern white and black, good and evil. This significance was shared by the slaves of the ancient Egyptians, the Hebrews, who gave us the first chapters of Genesis.

Even today the land around the Nile is verdant and sustains life – it is green . To the ancient Egyptians, green meant good , life sustaining and their lives depended on the overflowing of the Nile and the farming in that region..

The color of the desert in Egypt is reddish. We tend to think of dirt as being brown, but in Egypt there is red desert that is not life sustaining or usable for agriculture. Red was bad.

Let's apply this idea to the story of eating the apple in the Garden of Eden.

First, Adam. In Hebrew Adom means red. In Hebrew, it is a variation of the word red to this day. Adam is named for the earth from whence he comes, which is red in that area of the world. Every human being is actually the color of dirt, clay or sand (a fancy word for dirt) and no one is actually really white or black, just as close to it as dirt can come. We are not colors apart from each other, only shades.

The Biblical Hebrew metaphor that Adam and Eve are red inevitably foreshadows their fate. As an artist, I see (really see) the story not as a tale of original sin, but original color. Clearly Adam and Eve are going to have to overcome their red (not fertile) nature to produce, with water verdant and life filled and sustaining green. However, Eve's name in the original Hebrew is Chaya and means "life", so we also have a symbolic hint that there is more to the Plan.  

So here's Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They are red and it is green, except for the animals, which basically are also red or reddish tan and earth colored. OK, I know about Zebras. There are some really splendid exotic colorful animals, most of whom were unknown to the people of early Bible times. What is important is the Adam (Red) and Eve (Life) are red.

In Eden they also saw the Heavens above ( sha-mayim , in Hebrew) that were bluish (signifying thought/intention) and waters below ( mayim ) bluish and bluish-greenish (signifying life thought/realized intention). Water is a metaphor for the Torah, the first five books of Moses (Pentateuch) – the written Word of the Creator. The water below reflects the Word above from the Heavens.

Although Adam and Even were not farmers in the Garden of Eden, the Children who received Genesis knew that the overflowing Nile (mayim) water upon the earth would produce green . Thus, a color-filled metaphor of how the Word of the Creator, both written and unwritten would interact with humankind to produce living-green-good out of barren—red-bad.

There is another predominant color scheme that is set up back in the very beginning of Genesis: dark and light or night and day. This theme is important as it pertains strongly to the apple that Even and Adam eat. We think of apples as red, but they can also be green or even yellow. Biblically, the apple has been depicted as red, but in the Bible it's color is not mentioned. In fact the original Hebrew wording only indicates it was a fruit, without indicating what kind. However, what all apples and most fruit share is the color of their flesh, which is light . The flesh of that apple brings a kind of enlightenment.

This new enlightenment from eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge means that Adam and Eve see themselves as naked. Not just naked but the color of their nakedness is red. They are vulnerable and obvious in their disobedience (sin means missing the mark) to their Creator's guidance. So what do they do? They take leaves (green – good) and cover their nakedness. Artists have depicted this as covering their sexual body parts, but the Bible rendition has them clothing themselves, not just their sexuality. They want to be green and good not red as they really are.

Adam and Eve clothe themselves in fig leaves. So now Adam and Eve appear green, good and life providing, wearing leaves, like little tree costumes. Sort of like children in school play costumes. Cute. Good.

I teach an inspirational art class/seminar for non-artists, in which we take our names and turn them into Trees of Life. We do not know for sure, but it is thought by rabbis today that the Tree of Life is symbolized by a fig tree. Interestingly, on a recent PBS Nature show I then learned that the figs actually have healing and antibiotic properties.

Back to Adam and Even wearing their fig leaves. Now that they know good and evil do they imagine they can clothe themselves in immortality?  Are they figuring to become immortal while they make excuses and blame others for their own choices and behavior? Hmmm… Seems so like people I know. Even, me?

Like children blaming each other for a mess, Adam and Eve are sent to their rooms, or in their case sent out of Eden before they actually manage to eat of the Tree of Life. It is interesting to note that they were never instructed not to eat of the Tree of Life, only not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge, so they never managed to eat of the Tree of Life. They just dressed in the fig leaves.

Just before they are expelled from Eden comes the final visual clue of who they are, what humankind needs to overcome (what the rest of the Bible basically deals with) is given to them when their green leaves are replaced by the Lord with animal skins (red- maybe even still bloody). The animal skins are the first time in the Bible that we become aware of death (one cannot have an animal skin without the death of an animal).  Thus Adam and Even are clothed by their Creator in their Red animal skin nature.

Then they begat Cain and Able. Once again, here is a green and red theme, with Cain bringing as tribute/sacrifice his green (good) nature while Able brings his animal nature (ego, dying to self). The animal sacrifice (ego) is accepted, but not the offering of the goodly (green) Cain. So the goodly Cain slews his brother Able. Hmmm…

So there's the green and red. By the way if we think of apples as red, but guess what, figs are green.

Tuesday, March 20. 2007

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