Did Yahweh Set Adam Up?

[Rhondazvous]

Sexual identity, the coming into age or coming into knowledge that sets one apart or at odds with ones parents and alters that relationship.  That which expels you from the  garden of your youth - provided by your father, that which expels you from innocence - that which makes you culpable?  There's an amusing rabbinical opinion that the knowledge gained was, in fact, knowledge of the law.  Before they possessed this knowledge they could not offend god, could not do wrong.  There is also a strong current of god or divine forces as capricious, callous, or cruel..why assume that the authors didn't intend this to be so?  Life can be cruel, callous....it can feel like the nameless, infinitely vast forces surrounding you are decidedly inhuman.

Excellent points. Of course, if we interpret the Fall of Man metaphorically, we must also interpret the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus metaphorically, which can be done, since everything the church teaches about Jesus can be directly traced to astrology.

As for the intentions of the authors, it's probable that we are looking at two different philosophies.  Chapter one tells us that Elohim created everything and saved man for his grand finale, but in chapter two, where we find this Fall of Man story, man is created first, "before any tree was planted." Perhaps this difference in creation accounts reflects the shift in pre and post exhileJewish theology, which can only be possible if we look at it metaphorically .