We all know the story of the Garden of Eden, and we all know how it ended. Eden was a failure.
But Eden is only the first story in the Torah. Indeed, we might argue that the story of Eden is echoed elsewhere in the Torah, adjusted by G-d each time in order to yield a different result.
For example, might we suggest that our sojourning in the wilderness after the Exodus was really meant as a do-over for Eden?!
There are some key elements that tie the two episodes together. In the Garden, G-d provided our sustenance: we lived on fruit (the only thing in nature that is edible as-is); mankind working for bread is only mentioned when we are expelled.
The wilderness was similarly isolated from the rest of the world. And G-d, as He did in Eden, gave us our daily sustenance, ready-to-eat: Manna. Nowhere else in the Torah, except in Eden, does G-d provide the food with no labor required beyond reaching out our hands and taking what we wanted.
What does G-d do differently at Sinai than in Eden? In Eden, it seems that Adam and Eve had nothing to do once they named the animals. They were aimless, purposeless, with no path to a sense of fulfillment. When humans are bored and have nothing productive to do, we get into trouble. And that is precisely what happened.
After Eden, mankind descended, generation by generation, into violence, a might-makes-right ethos. The Torah tells us that man behaved like animals, fighting to ascend a hierarchy. That was what practically resulted from our experience in Eden.
But the wilderness was quite different! True, in common with Eden G-d provided food and other physical needs. But there is a huge difference, an adaptation from the failure of Eden: In the wilderness, G-d gave us purpose.
After the Exodus, we are given the Torah, with all of its commandments and civil codes and symbolic laws. We are even given a culture not just of trying to follow such an extensive set of laws, but also to try to understand them – a work that continues to the present day. Jews have endless opportunities to stay gainfully busy doing nothing more than studying and practicing the Torah itself. It all adds up to a purpose-driven life. At a minimum, even if we do not understand the laws, Torah Jews gain a sense of accomplishment by filling our days by trying to act in accordance with G-d’s commandments.
Eden offered proximity, but without purpose. Sinai used the proximity to provide mankind with purpose and meaning.
As we wandered, we could use the time with G-d to build in a positive direction. The goal was to create the foundation for a long-term, ongoing relationship. And so the wilderness experience was an adaptation from the failure of Eden.
This is not the only echo of Eden in the Torah! There is actually an earlier event that shares some elements with the Eden story, another foreshadowing for the wilderness experience: Hagar’s expulsion.
Early next morning Abraham took some bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar. He placed them over her shoulder, together with the child, and sent her away. And she wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. (G. 21:14)
Avraham sends her away, with food and water. She finishes the water (but not the bread), and then abandons all hope:
G-d heard the cry of the boy, and an angel of G-d called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for G-d has heeded the cry of the boy where he is. Come, lift up the boy and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” (G. 21:17-18)
And Hagar, newly armed with a divinely-gifted purpose, regains her hope, and raises her son to adulthood. G-d gave her life meaning, just as He would give the people purpose at Sinai.
Famously, the Torah tells us that man does not live by bread alone (D. 8:3), and these stories, from Eden to Hagar to Sinai, illuminate the point – complete with the mentioning of “bread” in each one. Life is not complete or truly satisfying without a real and meaningful purpose. That is why the Torah tells us: You shall serve your G-d, who will bless your bread and your water. (E. 23:25) – we need the spiritual infusion into our bread and water to make our lives full. Because without that special ingredient, bread and water are nothing more than animal feed. As any cursory glance around us illustrates, hedonistic narcissists (and even narcissistic hedonists!) are miserable human beings.
So when the people finally exited the wilderness, they were able to do what Adam and Eve could not: apply the lessons learned, generation to generation, and use their lives for more than just satisfying animalistic instincts. The do-over clearly resulted in a much better outcome!
P.S. G-d can provide support beyond mere food and water. When Moses goes up on Sinai (twice!), he is able to survive without bread or water for 40 days – merely through the in-kind sustenance provided by G-d’s presence. Moses is transformed (the number 4 always is connected to transformation, and his face shines) through this experience. Moses is the extreme outlier in terms of perhaps too much divine exposure – note that his face does not shine until the end of the second 40 day period, one in which he suffered in order to show his commitment to the people and return with a second set of tablets.