The oldest myths about the origin of death feature, particularly, a sacred tree, and a snake. The snake symbolized immortality, which they got to keep (shedding

The oldest myths about the origin of death feature, particularly, a sacred tree, and a snake. The snake symbolized immortality, which they got to keep (shedding their skin) but humans lost. Genesis authors had to retain all the old myth imagery in order to be taken seriously as an origin story, but stripped off the meaning to lay their own on top. Noah and the dove are also from much older origin myths about where the Earth came from. Cain and Abel, and also Esau and Isaac, recycle origin twin myths. One twin kills his brother and makes the world out of his body parts, and becomes the first priest. So Genesis is largely a big mishmosh of origin-myth imagery with a narrative overlaid. The imagery shows up in Vedic hymns, too, tracing to the same original source, with of course a different narrative overlaid.