In my previous post, Giant Speculations, I talked about some of the ancient legends about giants and the possible connection to those mentioned in Numbers 13. In particular, many of these ancient legends describe the giants as having a fondness for eating human flesh. Numbers 13:32 describes the land of Canaan as a “land that devours its inhabitants.” While there are several plausible interpretations of that phrase, it could very possibly be a reference to man-eating giants. This potential connection between ancient Greek mythology and biblical history led people to ask if I knew of other possible connections between the two areas. So let’s look at a few of the many biblical accounts that seem to be echoed in Greek mythology (although intentionally or unintentionally distorted through the years).
The First Woman
The Bible tells us that the first woman was named Eve (Genesis 3:20). God created Adam first from the dust of the ground and then made Eve from Adam’s rib. There was no death, suffering, or evil in the world when God finished His work of creation on the sixth day (Genesis 1:31). In Genesis 3, we are told that the serpent deceived Eve, and after looking at the forbidden fruit (from the tree of knowledge of good and evil), she saw that it was good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and desirable to make one wise (Genesis 3:6). So she took the fruit and ate it. Adam followed his wife, and as a result of their rebellion against God, the Lord cursed the serpent and the ground. As a result of that sin, death, suffering, bloodshed, and evil would now be commonplace.