Atwood ‘rewrites’ the biblical stories of Paradise, Adam and Eve, Mt. Ararat and Noah’s ark to prophet the waterless flood. Perhaps she references the ‘waterless flood,’ disaster because of God’s promise in the Bible that He will never again destroy the whole earth with a flood:
“ ‘I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ And God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the cloud, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.’” Genesis 9: 11-17
However, this covenant between man and God is perceived in a different manner by the Gardeners. For them, this message is a “warning to God’s beloved Creatures: Beware of Man, and of his evil heart” (91). Perhaps Atwood interprets the Bible in a different manner through this eco-religious cult to impose a warning to a contemporaneous world which has misused nature and taken nature for granted.
One of the hymns from God’s Gardeners Oral Hymnbook, My Body is Earthly Ark, is also an allusion to the book of Psalm 91, a hymn in the Bible.
“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’
Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
If you make the Most High your dwelling- even the LORD, who is my refuge-
Then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent
‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.’”
Some of the verses are similar to the verses in the God’s Gardeners Oral Hymnbook. For instance, the phrase “My Ark will then come safe to land by light of Spirit’s guide,” (93) is referring to the angels stated in Psalm 91 who are sent to “guard you in all your ways.”
TheArarat, in the hymn of the Gardeners, alludes to the evidence of Noah’s Ark but also can be an allusion to the dwelling place of the “Most High,” God, in order to introduce the utopia world of the Gardeners.
“ ‘I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ And God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the cloud, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.’” Genesis 9: 11-17
However, this covenant between man and God is perceived in a different manner by the Gardeners. For them, this message is a “warning to God’s beloved Creatures: Beware of Man, and of his evil heart” (91). Perhaps Atwood interprets the Bible in a different manner through this eco-religious cult to impose a warning to a contemporaneous world which has misused nature and taken nature for granted.
One of the hymns from God’s Gardeners Oral Hymnbook, My Body is Earthly Ark, is also an allusion to the book of Psalm 91, a hymn in the Bible.
“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’
Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
If you make the Most High your dwelling- even the LORD, who is my refuge-
Then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent
‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.’”
Some of the verses are similar to the verses in the God’s Gardeners Oral Hymnbook. For instance, the phrase “My Ark will then come safe to land by light of Spirit’s guide,” (93) is referring to the angels stated in Psalm 91 who are sent to “guard you in all your ways.”
TheArarat, in the hymn of the Gardeners, alludes to the evidence of Noah’s Ark but also can be an allusion to the dwelling place of the “Most High,” God, in order to introduce the utopia world of the Gardeners.
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