Although the account of the first sin and the story Noah have very different premises and outcomes, they both present the same themes. Both stories deal with disobedience as a result of humans acting in the isolated pursuit of their own self interest. The differences in these stories further the development of the relationship between God and humans, and emphasize the breakdown in this relationship.
The basic idea of these two stories is that human beings will do things that are considered good for them, regardless of whether or not they are the right things to do. In the story of Adam and Eve, the first sin was committed out of a desire to be more like God. Although God gave Adam and Eve the explicit instruction not to eat from the tree and threatened punishment if they did, the two still chose to disobey God. The “knowledge” that the tree possessed – the ability to act as a moral agent – was something that the humans already possessed. But in their belief that this fruit would make them more god-like (and in turn give them all the qualities that come with that), they disobeyed the order and ate the fruit. And so, the story shows the breakdown in the humans’ relationship with God because they acted out of their own self interest instead of obeying God’s command.
The story of Noah shows a similar dynamic. In this story, it is the entirety of humanity aside from Noah that is infected by their own self interest. Kass notes how, similarly to the first story, these people were corrupted because they did what was best for themselves, saying “what seems good in the eyes of men can be very far from what is truly good” (Kass 159). And so, God punishes the selfish humans and spares Noah, allowing humanity to “start over.” And so, both of these stories present the idea that humans are primarily self-interested, and in God’s reactions to this idea played out, they emphasize God’s intentions for humanity as a whole.
Caroline's Blog 
I had a similar argument – that ultimately both Genesis 3 and Noah’s narrative are about disobedience and its outcome. You wrote that “human beings will do things that are considered good for them, regardless of whether or not they are the right things to do”, do you think this is true in all situations? And do you think there’s a difference if the person truly believes they are doing the right thing? I agree with your argument that humans are primarily self-interested, and think that is an especially relevant theme for these chapters of Genesis. However, do you believe that Noah was completely devoid of self-interest? I think that because Noah was isolated from the beliefs of Adam and immortality, his idea of “self-interest” was to accept that death is inevitable. Thus, Noah’s self-interest aligned with God’s and he was saved.
LikeLike
I like your comments about the theme of human self interest. I think that Genesis definitely focuses on human self interest as part of the reason for the flood and the first sin, but Kass also sympathizes with humans, as the news of their mortality can be considered shocking. Would you say that it is at all fair for humans to turn to heroics, and that their reactions are not just based on self interest?
LikeLike
I thought it was interesting to point out that in both situations, human self interest was at the root of the disobedience or problem. Do you think that this was one of the main themes meant to be conveyed by the text as a whole? How does this fit in with the historical aspect of the exile of the Jewish people?
LikeLike