In Adam, Eve, and the Babylonian Origins of the Garden of Eden, Bruce Wells uncovers remarkable similarities between Adam and Eve and the oblates who worked for Babylonian temples of the sixth century BCE. Like Adam and Eve, oblates had to tend and protect divine orchards. They could eat some of the fruit, but not what was earmarked for the temple and the gods. Oblates were barred from special religious knowledge and could be punished severely for stealing divine property. Adam and Eve were but servants, modeled on this group of temple staff. Once they -- God's oblates -- eat the forbidden fruit, they are forever changed. They now posed a danger not only to themselves but also to the God who created them. Bruce Wells's book is the first to mine the Babylonian temple archives for the background knowledge assumed by the biblical author. It brings a new and fresh perspective to one of the Bible's best-known stories.
