In my own interpretation, the text presents a small, additional puzzle. After God creates Adam but before he creates Eve, God gives Adam the key instructions:
Genesis 2:15-17 writes:
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
So Eve never hears the instruction about the forbidden fruit. So how is Eve able to answer the serpent in this way:
Genesis 2:2-3 writes:
The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"
How did Eve not only know what God said, but is able to quote him? Adam could have told her, but she quoted God as if you had heard the words herself.
That little quibble aside, my own interpretation of why Adam and Eve covered themselves after eating of the fruit is that at least part of the knowledge they gained was that either nakedness or sexual organs or both are evil.
--Percy
™ Version 4.2
