This is copied from Emmanuel Charles Edwards book Deliver us from evil...
The story of Adam and Eve - like that of Cain and Abel - is both
allegoric and prophetic, and seeks to explain certain fundamental truths
of creation, to the first children of man. Accordingly, the "Garden of
Eden" symbolizes the womb of creation ... the spiritual birthplace and
unseen beginning of the seed of man. The figures of Adam and Eve, are
used to symbolize and explain the inherent duality existing in all of
Life, and more particularly, as reflected in the creature that is man.
The two, symbolize the physical aspect of being, and the spiritual
aspect of being - which, in man, may be understood as the body and the
soul. Man -as the highest form in which Life is manifest - is a two-fold
creation. Man is not merely the physical and seen body he presents;
neither is he motivated solely by his physical being and environment.
Whereas the beast of the field is governed only by his physical needs
and environs, man is created with an added - though unseen - dimension
to his being.
Man possesses a soul; that is, he possesses the unseen garment of
wisdom, knowledge and understanding. This is the truth of man, this is
his dignity and this is his soul - that which makes him higher than the
beast. And as a consequence, man also possesses an awareness of justice
and right, which covers the nakedness of his purely physical self and
its desires, and so lends dignity to the creation which is man. Thus,
man, is more than the seen physical entity - he is also the unseen,
which is wisdom, knowledge and understanding - and therefore he is also
a spiritual entity.
To the extent therefore, that man is both physical and spiritual in his
whole make-up, the man who is without the spiritual garment which
clothes and dignifies the physical self, may be said to be revealed in
his nakedness. For his baser self is uncovered, and he is without that
which makes him an acceptable social being. For without knowledge and
understanding, man has no recourse to the higher and governing
principles of truth and integrity, and in his social conduct, he
descends to the level of the beast, and the law of the jungle becomes
his code of conduct ... the survival of the fiercest. He is without
conscience; he is naked, and his nakedness reveals his potential to
evil.
The story of Adam and Eve is used to elucidate this truth. Consequently,
Eve is used to symbolize the purely physical aspect of man; Adam
symbolizes the unseen which is wisdom, knowledge and understanding.
Thus, Adam receiving the fruit, is symbolic of the man who is devoid of
knowledge and without understanding, and who is therefore governed and
controlled by Eve ... his purely physical and personal desire. In this
context, the story of Adam and Eve symbolizes the man of pure flesh -
the beast - the man who is devoid of morals, and without principle, and
who therefore responds to his own wants and desires, unmindful of the
rights of others.
Consequently, it may be said, that Adam and Eve represent the seed of
the people of evil. It must be remembered that the Garden of Eden
represents the womb of creation as it were; so that Adam and Eve
symbolize the seed of a people, who were known from within the womb of
Life, as a people of evil. A people naked from their beginning, devoid
of knowledge and without understanding; a people without a spiritual
awareness, and therefore a people motivated purely by their own physical
and personal desires. A people made like unto the beast ... a people of
evil.
However, like all the Ancient Books of the Prophecy, the story of Adam
and Eve reveals more than one truth. On one level it explains the two-
fold nature of the being that is man, and explains the creation of the
people of evil. On another level however, the story seeks to elucidate,
for the first children of man, the essential nature of man and woman -
such that the two are an indivisible whole and together make up the
being, which is known as "man". Man and woman together, represent one
whole unit of life. As Life, in its fullest sense, is both spiritual and
physical - so, man, as a reflection of whole life, is also two-fold
creation. So that the being that is called "man" - is in fact, the man
and the woman together. The woman represents physical and seen life,
whereas the man represents the spiritual, which clothes and dignifies.
One, without the other, is therefore as incomplete as is the body
without the soul. And hence, the truth of the ancient rejoinder: what
God has joined, let no man put asunder. This is a reference to the
spiritual and unseen bond, which makes of two apparently separate
beings, one flesh, and one being. As the body and the soul constitute
the whole being, which is the individual "man". The ancient rejoinder,
like the Adam and Eve story, sought to make it clear, to the first
children of man, that the man and the woman together as one unit, are as
inseparable as are the body and the soul, because this is precisely what
the union is designed to manifest and symbolize. The first children of
man were taught to understand that the spiritual truths in life, which
exist unseen, may be clearly understood from that which is seen.
In other words, physical life, and the pattern it takes, is not an
arbitrary arrangement, but reflects the greater and unseen spiritual
principles and truth, which are the core and basis of Life from the
beginning, and from before creation was born.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and
Godhead;
so that they are without excuse:
(The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans, chapter. 1 verse.20)
Thus, the two-fold nature of Life (physical and spiritual), and the two-
fold nature of man (body and soul), is given reality and meaning in the
two physical beings (man and woman), which are an indivisible whole. So
that Adam and Eve symbolize the creature that is "man":
...Male and female created he them;
and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were
created.
(The First Book of Moses, Genesis, chapter. 5 verse. 2)
The vital importance of this union may be better understood by reference
to the allegoric and prophetic tale of Noah and the Ark. Another story
which the white man has so completely misunderstood and taken so
literally, that there are those among them who imagine they have found
pieces of an Ark which has never existed. The story of Noah‘s Ark - like
much of the Old Testament - is prophetic of the last days, when the
world must suffer the allegoric flood of tribulations, plagues and
disaster, and eventual destruction. Those taken into the safety of the
Ark - Noah‘s sons and their wives, and after that every bird and every
beast - symbolize the black man first, as sons of God, and after that a
remnant taken from every nation and out of every tongue in creation,
upon whom the gift of life is bestowed, and who are provided with
sanctuary against the great and terrible day of the Lord. But the point
worthy of note here, is the reference to those entering the Ark "two and
two".
This refers to the man who is whole both in body and soul; the man who
has not sacrificed conscience and truth - the spiritual man -to satisfy
the purely physical man and its desires for wealth, position and the
praises of man. Thus, the man who seeks and finds salvation, will enter
into life and into safety "two and two", as it were. For the man will be
a whole being, the physical man clad in sound spiritual clothing; and
his spouse also will be whole. Therefore it will in effect be "body and
soul with body and soul", and thus, "two and two". For the unseen things
may be understood from the seen things, so that whereas the union
between a man's body and his soul exists unseen, it may be understood
from the seen union of man and woman. The woman symbolizes the body, and
the man symbolizes the soul, and the union therefore becomes the seen
man of whole life ... the man of spirit, as opposed to the man of flesh.
The woman alone however symbolizes the purely physical man, and in
consequence is an abomination before God. And hence, of that time it is
written:
And in that day seven women will take hold of one man, saying we will
eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel:
only let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach.
(The Book of the Prophet Isaiah, chapter. 4 verse. 1)
With the birth of Cain, the Adam and Eve story goes further to explain
how evil and death actually enter into life, and its consequences upon
man in earth. When Eve, in the Garden of Eden - the womb and spiritual
birth place of all life - obeys the voice of the flesh, she symbolized
that body of mankind who would follow the voice of evil, and not the
voice of God. Thus, before Cain- who symbolizes the people of evil -
comes into being, the seed from which he would spring (Adam and Eve), is
expelled from the presence of God, before it is fully formed. Whereas
the complete man is both physical and spiritual, the man that is not
fully formed is purely physical and without the endowment of the
spiritual gift, which is the knowledge of God. So when the seed bearing
Cain was expelled from the womb of life, it came into being like a
premature foetus - incomplete and having only one part to its being,
that of physical awareness alone. Because the Creator of all life
possessed fore-knowledge, and knew the seed of evil while it was yet in
spiritual awareness, which might allow it and its evil deeds to exist in
perpetuity:
...lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life and
eat, and live forever:
Therefore the Lord God sent him from the garden of Eden,
to till the ground from whence he was taken.
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