They were becoming really close. It was funny to her how a willing, listening ear could cause so much reciprocated loyalty. Dariel never spoke much about himself, merely listening to all she had to say and sometimes suggesting things she could do (which never really veered much away from eating that elusive fruit anyway).
Strangely she hadn't eaten the fruit. It wasn't because she didn't believe it had all those wonderful qualities. After all she herself had witnessed how it transformed dariel from a mere snake into a wise creature. The wisest she had ever met! The main drawback for her was that she couldn't eat it alone. Adam had to also eat the fruit with her. She just didn't feel comfortable disobeying God's command alone. If Adam agreed to eat the fruit, then God would have no choice but to accept their elevated status. After all it would help them rule the earth more effectively as they had been commanded by God. Even dariel agreed they both had to eat the fruit. But if she went ahead and ate it alone, and Adam didn't then she could be imprisoned with dariel and stripped of all privilege. It was the discussion of that consequence which revealed something strange to her about dariel.
Fear.
It was unmistakable in his appearance once the prospect of retribution was mentioned. All former signs of confidence and courage disintegrated in the face of that pervasive fear. What was responsible for that fear she wondered? Did dariel have other knowledge she was unaware of? Why was he so intent on making sure they disobeyed God? Why wasn't he persuading other animals to eat the fruit and become wise? Had God ordered animals not to eat the fruit too?
But he was always there to listen to her. Her disagreements with her husband, wonder at why she had been created into this relationship of mutual habitation, curiosity as to what God thought about her and what he was up to when not strolling in the garden with her husband. Why didn't He want them to become wise? Why did He even create a tree of knowledge in the first place? What if He really wanted them to use the limited knowledge they had to improve themselves? After all, who wouldn't choose wisdom over ignorance? If they ate the fruit, they could only become more useful for God's work!
Dariel always smiled at her uncertainties about God. He never disparaged the creator. He only responded with hints that there was more to God's personality than they knew. He referred to a desire for unquestioned subjugation from all creatures. A mindless devotion to the Overlord's every whim and caprice. Dariel always referred to him as the Overlord. He mentioned a rumor of rebellion he'd heard, of an army of those majestic cherubs that surround the Overlord. They had chaffed at the forced slavery they had been subjected to by Him and had tried to overthrow him. She shivered in discomfort at the tale.
Dariel hadn't told her how God had resolved the dispute. But she imagined it would not be a pretty ending for an unsuccessful attempt. such a gargantuan task as stripping your creator of Lordship was not one taken lightly.
She wondered why God desired slaves so much. What value could one place on a slave? It worried Eve that the purpose of her existence (according to what she had been told by dariel) was slavery to an unloving creator. Or could one love a slave? Wouldn't true love prompt emancipation?
No comments:
Post a Comment