Ryan Tran

According to the article “Genesis 9, Noah’s Covenants and Jewish Theology of Religions” by Jewish scholar Alon Goshen-Gottstein, humans try to live in harmony to improve nature and society to fully sustain human life and dignified living. This article was found on ProQuest, a website domain consisting of research sources from around the world and of a broad diversity of cultures. Goshen-Gottstein argues in this article that Genesis 9 provides an insightful view behind sin and how it causes destruction to one’s life, society, and order.

Goshen-Gottstein states in his article that according to Jewish author Jonathan Sacks, Genesis 9 has been important for both Jews and Christians as a covenantal view into knowing their religion. The commandments God gives us in this chapter reflect the covenants of Noah and Abraham, in which the author states that the commandment against murder “is extended to encompass mutual respect” (Goshen-Gottstein 5). The author believes the covenant of Noah is cast in line with humanity and upholding society with the commandments God gives us. In a similar way, in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the main character Hester Prynne seems to gravely sin after committing adultery with someone she is not married to, and the citizens of colonial Boston start lambasting her sin. When she is greatly excluded from society, many forget to realize their own sin through Hester and only focus on her grave punishment.

Goshen-Gottstein also claims in his article that according to biblical scholar Jon Levenson, Noah’s covenant is universal, and is meant to establish how humans are related both to God and amongst one another. The author writes that Levenson believes that Genesis 9 establishes the covenantal basis in the Bible, including commandments, which he believes is the only way one can account for “relatedness between all humans and God” (Goshen-Gottstein 7). Gottstein suggests that accountability derives from prohibiting breaking commandments like murder or adultery, and that grace without sin would not lead to destruction. In contrast, The Scarlet Letter can connect to his statement during the scene when Hester visits the town governor with her illegitimate daughter, Pearl. When the town’s higher-ups enter the governor’s hall, one of the ministers, Arthur Dimmesdale, ensures that God sent Pearl and that the child was both a blessing for Hester and a curse destroying Puritan society and sinning against God.

Finally, Goshen-Gottstein feels that in the story of Noah, the sins of the world led to God destroying all sinful material off His creation, seeing that society had been destroyed and the world had become corrupt. As such, the covenant given to Noah allowed him to hide in an ark as humanity was cleansed, with a “divine promise that encompasses not only humans but all creatures” (Goshen-Gottstein 13). This quote explains that sin and the downfall of society led to God destroying nearly all life to cleanse the world from any evil thoughts. Similarly, in The Scarlet Letter, after Hester receives her punishment, she is seen by the community of Boston as a scapegoat, as the Puritans emphasized how all were born sinners. In this case, however, when Hester was standing on the scaffold, the townspeople heavily condemned her without knowing their own sin through her.

Over a century after it was first published, the messages of The Scarlet Letter still remain as relevant as ever. Those who commit a major sin may be a catalyst to the downfall of their society. Biblical studies have proven how several people God called upon had initially followed the principles of His customs, but eventually, they sinned against Him, which seemed to destroy society. The Scarlet Letter, in contrast, revolves around Hester Prynne’s adultery negatively impacting her community, more for harm than good. In conclusion, the messages against sin that both Goshen-Gottstein’s article and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel are important testimonies against sin because it could lead to the downfall of society.