Genesis 3: 'Technologies' introduced to Adam and Eve by God:
Cereal agriculture and bread
"17.Cursed is the ground on your account. In pain you will eat its produce…and you must eat the vegetation of the field. 19. In the sweat of your face you will eat bread"
Animal skins for clothes
21. And Jehovah God proceeded to make long garments of skin for Adam and for his wife and to clothe them
This means that when they had children (in the next chapter) they would have needed clothes for them, so here, at the latest, began hunting. This attitude toward the animals, then - that they are a resource for humans - came from God not man.
The sword
24. So he drove the man out and posted at the east of the garden of Eden the cherubs and the flaming blade of a sword that was turning itself continually to guard the way to the tree of life.
Insight on the Scriptures informs us that Eden "was obliterated by the surging waters of the flood" 1,656 years after Adam's creation. So this fearsome technology, clearly symbolizing the power of God's cherubs over mere humans, was on display for many generations.
The first worker of metal was Tubal-cain: "the forger of every sort of tool of copper and iron" (Genesis 4:22). It's fair to assume he would have made blades, the single most useful tool for hunting and skinning, and that the wonderful sword outside Eden would have been known to all the early generations before the flood.
Moving on to chapter 6, the earth is getting increasingly violent, "mighty ones, men of fame" are stealing fruit from the nice people's baskets (see illustration in My Book of Bible Stories for proof of this).
Next comes the flood, where God decides to wipe the earth clean of all humanity. It was a brilliant plan by God's standards, which unfortunately failed in the execution because he allowed some of his favorites, Noah and his family, to survive. They continued the pre-flood traditions and technologies.
Thank you God. Better luck NEXT time!
Take home message:
There is no take home message from the Garden of Eden, imho. Sorry folks.
philo
A curious lot these Eden types…