--
I continued sharing that Adam was originally created, according to Genesis, as male and female (Gen 1:27, repeated in Gen 5:2, and referred to in Mat 19:4 and Mar 10:6). In fact, in the KJV it says that God created "man" in "his image" although in vs. 26 God said "Let us create man in our image". It seems there is a confusion about God's singularity. The Hebrew does not leave room for fancy options such as a majestic plural. A plural is a plural, period. Elohiym is a plural word, translated in English with a singular "God". Confusion. Also, in Hebrew, there is no word used here that means "man". The word used is "Adam" (Aleph-Dallet-Mem). So, "Let us create Adam in our image." We can note that the word dam (Dallet-Mem) means "blood", and that Aleph is the creative power from which both Adam and Elohiym (both written with an initial Aleph) stem. Adam is "created" in the "image of Elohiym", in other words with the same beginning letter. The Aleph is what characterizes both Elohiym and Adam. If Elohiym is the force that bestows life, Adam is the receptor of this force and has life. See the similarities between "bestow" and "having". How can you bestow something without having it, or how can you have something without being able to bestow? It is said later "multiply", a meaning of the ending letter Mem of Adam and Elohiym. When Adam realizes their potential, the Aleph is being multiplied.
--
Again, Adam is the name for both male and female (Gen 1:27). There is no Eve here, until Adam calls his wife Eve AFTER THEY ALREADY ATE OF THE TREE. (Gen 3:20).
--
More importantly, I argued, that both the male and female are parts of EVERY human, be they a man or a woman. Genesis describes an allegory that tries to teach us how these parts interact. When the parts are together and not distinguished, Adam is unconscious and asleep (Gen 2:21). When these parts are distinguished, they are called man (ish) and woman (eshah), where the word eshah (Aleph-Shiyn-Hah), meaning woman, is formed by taking the outer letters--allegorically the ribs--of the word ish (Aleph-Yuwd-Shiyn), meaning man. So, the woman has life (Hah) and the man has existence (Yuwd). Together they are existence AND life.
--
Once the woman is "alive" (note that her name eshah contains a letter Hah at the end, which by itself means life or breath), she goes to the tree. Then we have the interaction between the woman and the snake and she eats from the tree and gives the man of the tree also. Then it is important to read "and the eyes of both of them were opened" (Gen 3:7). We are talking about an awakening beyond being awake. Of course, the man wasn't sleepwalking, and he wasn't asking "where are you?". The fact that their eyes were opened is meant allegorically. It is the opening of their understanding, with which they can "see" the world in a different, enlightened, perspective. The man and the woman are now conscious of themselves and conscious of each other. That is why they are "ashamed", because becoming conscious of yourself implies that you realize that you haven't been conscious of yourself before. (How could I not have been this; this awareness, my consciousness?) You realize that you have been asleep for most part of your life and now you know the difference. The allegory refers also to a sexual awakening, but this is only secondary. There is no sin here. There is only the realization of becoming aware of oneself, male and female, together.
--
Gods command not to eat from the tree was not to test their obedience. This is the traditional take. But then, please, note that the snake actually did not lie. It is the woman who does not yet understand completely her role. The woman and man would indeed NOT die. The reason is that they are now awakening and ready to eat from the tree. It was Adam in their unconscious state who could not survive eating from the tree. Also note that the snake, which in Christian theology has been identified as Satan, is nothing more than a catalyst for the awakening of Adam. It was necessary that the operation of distinguishing the male and female part in Adam occurred before eating from this tree. It was therefore a protection for Adam until they would be strong enough to distinguish their male and female parts (in the allegory: their genitals) in order to be whole and conscious and "awakened" (i.e., enlightened).
--
Therefore, the Genesis story that we have considered here is one of the spiritual awakening of Adam (a human being, consisting of a male and a female part). The snake is telling the truth, and God did not (at least not all of it), because the man and woman did not die "in the day that thou eatest from it" (Gen 2:17).
--
It is the female part which assists the male part to awaken--this is her importance, that she is stronger than the male part--and to form an enlightened human being. After this realization, the woman receives her rightful name "Eve" or "Mother of all the living" (Gen 3:20) as she assists in the awakening of the true life, or rebirth, of Adam, cf. Jesus's instruction to Nicodemus, to be reborn (Jhn 3:3).
--
The controversial tone of my exegesis is only caused by insisting on a wrong translation of a text with many layers we have only scratched the surface of. This wrongful translation is motivated by a fear of knowing oneself. The fear is that God might be dethroned, and His righteousness questioned. But when one awakens, one discovers that the name of God (Yuwd-Hah-Vav-Hah) is re-installed as the realization of who you are! The fertile interaction (Vav) of two lives, male (the first Hah) and female (the second Hah), in existence (Yuwd). What can never be expressed with "LORD" is that the meaning of YHVH is expressed in the lives of the man and the woman, together called Adam.
--
"Merry Christmas" is what we hear every year at the same time, as a reminder of the rebirth of "Christ in our midst" (the meaning of Immanuel, God among us), i.e., within us, as an eternal lingering possibility: "And on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luk 2:14), because what else is there that gives peace than to realize our awakening, and being told it is never too late (good will)?