So, a couple of days ago in Hebrew, we were translating Genesis 3:23: "And the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden."
"Him?" Really? Is that right? Huh. "Him" of course is the man, the a-dam (Adam). Aren't Adam and Eve both kicked out of Eden?
There is no "genderless" plural pronoun for this situation, so maybe that's why they just picked the masculine singular. But still, why not a masculine plural? They do that all the time, using masculine plural constructions when clearly both men and women are represented.
At any rate, we're left with "him."
I suppose one could make the argument that "the a-dam" (the man) could be inclusive of both the man and the woman, since a-dam can simply just mean "human". A-dam is a masculine noun, hence the masculine suffix.
On the other hand, and I find this intriguing (obviously, or I wouldn't be writing this instead of doing my Hebrew homework), one could argue that only the man is kicked out of Eden. Eve is still there.
THAT would be some fun interpretation, right there. Starting with, "Why is Eve always blamed for everything, when Adam is the only one kicked out?"
But I have to go drill verb forms now.
