Adam (Bible)

See also: Adam and Eve

Adam (Hebrew: אָדָם‎) was,^[1][2][3] according to the Book of Genesis,^[4][5] the first man created by God and noted in subsequent Jewish, Christian and Islamic commentary.^[6] His wife was Eve.

Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam, a fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Adam is the figure on the left.

Hebrew Bible

The story is told in Genesis, the first of the Five Books of Moses, in chapters 2 and 3, with some additional elements in chapters 4 and 5.

Account of Creation

Some believe there are two accounts of the story of creation are told in the book of Genesis. ^[6] Others feel that Genesis 2 is an elaboration on Genesis 1:26-31.

God created all living creatures, including human beings, on the sixth day of creation. "Male and female created He them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam..." (Genesis 5:2). "Adam" is a general term, like "Man" and could refer to the whole of humankind. God blessed them to be "fruitful and multiply" and ordained that they should have "dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (Gen. 1.26-27, KJV).^[6]

And God Created Adam
William Blake

God first formed Adam out of "the dust of the ground" and then "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life", causing him to "become a living soul" (Gen. 2. 7, KJV). God then placed Adam in the Garden of Eden, giving him the commandment that “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen. 2.16-17, ESV).

God then noted that "It is not good that the man should be alone" (Gen. 2.18, KJV). He then brought every "beast of the field and every fowl of the air" (Gen. 2.19, KJV) before Adam and had Adam name all the animals. However, among all the animals, there was not found "a helper suitable for" Adam (Gen. 2.20, NASB), so God caused "a deep sleep to fall upon Adam" and took one of his ribs, and from that rib, formed a woman (Gen. 2.21-22), subsequently named Eve.^[6] There is no mention of Adam waking up from his sleep.

God forbade Adam and Eve from eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil that was in the garden. However, the serpent (understood to be Satan in many Christian traditions) told Eve that eating of the tree would result not in death, but in Adam and Eve's eyes being opened, resulting in them being "as gods, knowing good and evil" (Gen. 3.4-5). Convinced by the serpent's argument, Eve eats of the tree and has Adam do likewise (Gen. 3.6).

As a result, both immediately become aware of the fact that they are naked, and thus cover themselves with garments made of fig leaves (Gen. 3.7). Then, finding God walking in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve hide themselves from God's presence (Gen. 3.8). God calls to Adam "Where art thou?" (Gen. 3.9, KJV) and Adam responds "I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself" (Gen. 3.10, KJV). When God then asks Adam if he had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam responds that his wife had told him to (Gen. 3.11-12).

As a result of their breaking God's law, Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden of Eden, ceremonially separated from God, lose their immortality (Gen. 3.23) (the Fall of Man), and both receive a curse. Adam's curse is contained in Gen. 3.17-19: "Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (KJV).

After they were removed from the garden, Adam was forced to work hard for his food for the first time. He and Eve had many children although only three are named in Genesis: Cain, Abel, and Seth. The Book of Jubilees, in addition, names two of his daughters: Azura, who married her brother Seth, and Awan, who married her brother Cain.

According to the Genealogies of Genesis, Adam died at the age of 930. With such numbers, calculations such as those of Archbishop Ussher would suggest that Adam would have died only about 127 years before the birth of Noah, nine generations after Adam. In other words, Adam's lifespan would have overlapped Lamech (the father of Noah) at least fifty years. Ussher and a group of theologians and scholars in 1630 performed calculations and created a study that reported the creation of Adam on October 23, 4004 BC at 9:00 am and lived to 3074 BC.

According to the book of Joshua, the City of Adam was still a recognizable place at the time that the Israelites crossed the Jordan River on entering Canaan.

He appears to an extent in both Eastern and Western Christian liturgies.^[7]

Jewish perspective on Adam

Main article: Adam in rabbinic literature

Reconciling biblical accounts with modern science

According to the Jewish calendar, man was created in year 1, with the year 2008 AD corresponding to year 5,768/9 on the Jewish calendar (because the new year does not begin simultaenously, there is an overlap of two Jewish years for every single Gregorian year). If Homo sapiens has been in existence for over 100,000 years according to modern science, some form of reconciliation, it believed by some Jewish scholars, is appropriate.^[8]

One approach of reconciliation is that God implanted a soul into a hominid approximately 6,000 years ago.^[9][10] Although humans in the biological sense of the term have existed for over 100,000 years, humans according to the Jewish definition only began when one, Adam, received a soul.^[11] In fact, the Talmud records that there were 974 generations before the appearance by man as described by Genesis.^[12]

This explanation, however, serves to create a somewhat greater inconsistency. If only one individual was given a soul a mere 6,000 years ago, it would indicate that many of the people in the world today are not human according to the Torah definition, because it couldn't be that all of the people in the world today are descended from a single ancestor who lived less than 6,000 years ago.^[13] To settle this inconsistency, Rabbi Gedalyah Nadel proposes that references to "Adam" in Genesis do not always refer to the same person. Sometimes, a reference "Adam" is really to all of mankind.^[14] Maimonidies similarly understood the Six Days of Creation as describing "a conceptual hierarchy of the world, rather than a historical account of creation."^[15][16]

An example of this is in Genesis 5:1-2:

This is the book of the generations of adam, on the day that God created adam, He made him in the image of God. He created them male and female, and He blessed them, and He called their name adam on the day He created them.

Although the Midrash states that this last reference to adam refers to the first person who was created in an androgynous form,^[17] the plain meaning of the verses indicates that this in indeed a reference to mankind, rather than the personal name of an individual.^[18]

In a similar vein, Gersonides makes it clear that he does not believe there was any physical entity known as the "Tree of Knowledge" or a scheming snake.^[19] Likewise, he believes that none of the conversations purported to have occurred in the Garden of Eden actually took place between actual, living beings.^[20]

Islamic view

Main article: Islamic view of Adam

In Islam, Adam (آدم) is considered the first Prophet of God and the husband of Eve (Arabic: Hawwa) who was also created by the "will of God". Satan had lured Adam and Eve into disobeying God by tasting from the forbidden tree (although no reference is necessary as to what he may have tasted). This was the first act of revenge from Satan for being banished from the kingdom of heaven due to mankind. An important point to note here is that the Qur'an states or implies that it was not Eve who tempted Adam to disobey God. They were both tempted by Satan and therefore equally guilty:

"Then began Satan to whisper suggestions to them, bringing openly before their minds all their shame that was hidden from them (before): he said: "Your Lord only forbade you this tree, lest ye should become angels or such beings as live for ever. And he swore to them both, that he was their sincere adviser. So by deceit he brought about their fall: when they tasted of the tree, their shame became manifest to them, and they began to sew together the leaves of the garden over their bodies. And their Lord called unto them: "Did I not forbid you that tree, and tell you that Satan was an avowed enemy unto you?" ^{[Qur'an 7:20]}

The Qur'an also mentions that Adam was misled by deception and was in fact pardoned by God after much repentance.

"Then Adam received (some) words from his Lord, so He turned to him mercifully; surely He is Oft-returning (to mercy), the Merciful." ^{[Qur'an 2:37]}

Islam indicates that because Adam was the first human, as a prophet he was also the first Muslim ("one who submitted to God"), thus teaching that the "word of God" is the oldest such religion that Islam has represented.

Bahá'í view

In the Bahá'í view, Adam was the first Manifestation of God in recorded history.^[21] He is believed by Bahá'ís to have started the Adamic cycle 6000 years ago, which has culminated with Bahá'u'lláh.^[22][23] The Biblical story of Adam and Eve, according to Bahá'í belief, is allegorical and is explained by `Abdu'l-Bahá in Some Answered Questions;^[23] in the Bahá'í view, in the biblical story Eve represents Adam's soul and the serpent represents attachment to the material world, and that ever since his fall, the human race has been conscious of good and evil.^[24]

Latter Day Saint (LDS) view

Main article: Adam and Eve (LDS Church)

Latter Day Saint religion holds that Adam and Michael the archangel are the same individual. Michael the archangel fought against and cast out Satan, "that old serpent", at the conclusion of the war in heaven during pre-mortal existence (see Book of Revelation 12:7-9). "Michael" was born into this mortal existence as the man "Adam, the father of all, the prince of all, the ancient of days" (see Doctrine and Covenants 27:11 and 107:54). Mormons also consider Adam to be the first among all the prophets on earth.

Druze religion

In the Druze religion, Adam and Eve are seen as dualistic cosmic forces and are complementary to one another. Adam represents the universal mind and Eve, the universal soul.^[25]

Etymology

The name Adam is the masculine form of the Hebrew word adamah meaning "ground". Related words are adom, red and dam, blood.

The word is sometimes used as the personal name of an individual and at other times in a generic sense meaning "mankind".^[26] In Gen. i. its use is wholly generic.^[26] In Gen. ii. and iii. the writer weaves together the generic and the personal senses of the word.^[26] In all that pertains to the first man as the passive subject of creative and providential action the reference is exclusively generic.^[26] Indeed, it is doubtful whether "Adam" as a proper name is used at all before Gen. iv. 25 and v. 3 .^[26] Here the same usage is manifest: for in the two opening verses of chap. v. the word is used generically.^[26] It may also be observed that the writer in Gen. ii., iii. always says "the man" instead of "Adam", even when the personal reference is intended, except after a preposition.^[26]

The usage of the word as personal name appears to predate the generic usage. The name is attested in the Assyrian King List in the form Adamu showing that it was a genuine name from the early history of the Near East ^[27]. The generic usage in Genesis meaning "mankind" reflects the view that Adam was the ancestor of all men. Gen. ii. 7 explains that the man was called Adam because he was formed from the ground (adamah).^[26] Compare Gen. iii. 19.^[26]

See also

• Banu Adam
• Adam and Eve
• Adam Kadmon

Notes