The evolution of Adam - Who is Adam
Last week, we looked at a couple of references that hinted at a deeper complexity to the story of Adam and Eve.
So lets look at little deeper at the couple.
They are not like the average couple and these things are pointed out in the account.
First up there is the matter of Eve being taken out of Edam and being called Woman (not yet Eve in the biblical account)
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
Verse 23 begs this observation.
Typically we, these days, refer to close relatives of our direct line as blood relatives. In this instance there is no mention of blood, only flesh and bone. Adam only sees Woman as bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh.
Verse 24 is intriguing.
Is this Adam still speaking, about a man leaving his father and his mother(which he is not supposed to have had), or is it an observation of the author of the account, inserting his own commentary, or perhaps explaining the purpose of framing this portion of the account in this way?
Next we find:
- the couple are both naked and not ashamed
- the are already referred to as the man and his wife
- the are in a specially prepared garden where all needs are catered for
- their duty is to dress it and to keep it
- the possess a degree of innocence (insufficient knowledge of good and evil)
- (their eyes are not yet opened, but they aren't bumping into trees)
We learn, as a consequence of the fall, that other things were operating in the "Garden"
- death was yet to come
- work and child bearing and raising responsibilities were yet to come
- The walked and talked with God as a parent-like figure.
When we lump all these conditions together and ask ourselves the following questions, something interesting emerges.
When were we able to run round naked and not feel ashamed?
When were most of our needs taken care of, in a safe environment, with a relatively care-free existence?
When were we innocent and our eyes not yet opened?
When was potential endless and mortality the last thought on our minds?
When were we without major responsibilities?
When were or parents ever present?
These can all be summed up to encapsulate a definition of most ordinary peoples childhood.
We all spent a couple of years naked and unashamed in the paradise of childhood with its relatively few cares and responsibilities. Untainted by hard years and experiences.
Life for us started with a few years as an Adam or an Eve in or own little Eden created by loving parents where time seemed to be endless, an hour an eternity and life would go on forever.
Next week will will look at how our little Eden all came to an end, for each of us.
Previous parts of this Series.
Were the seven days of creation in Genesis seven twenty four hour periods? - Delving a little deeper
Were the seven days of creation in Genesis seven twenty four hour periods? - Into the detail
Were the seven days of creation in Genesis seven twenty four hour periods? - Some conclusions
Were the seven days of creation in Genesis seven twenty four hour periods? - Some more conclusions
Were the seven days of creation in Genesis seven twenty four hour periods? - The implications.
Brilliantly subtle, highly evocative, precept upon precept. Characteristics of great teaching.
glad you like it
some correctness is still needed in this story inshaALLAH i will post it soon
It's just correct enough. The Koran doesn't clarify or correct anything in the Bible.
Thank you and God bless you for that answer. If he want to write about his koran he should not to tell us what we don't know or correct what he doesn't know
you can say that as you don't fully known to Islam which is the only right religion with perfect living
Enjoy yourself good friend
We know enough about it.
Peace, @mirhidayatullah
Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve.
Where do you get this stuff ? It's like a whole new story I never saw before ! Excellent.
I like to analyse what I read
I find your comparison to how Adam and Eve were in the bible and how normal childhoods are, very interesting. It is often that Jesus has mentioned children or more specifically as stated in Matthew 18:3 where he says "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Is this not to say we should try embrace this innocent child like nature?
correct, lack of pride, humble, teachable, thirsting for knowledge etc.
Very true, many of us do not practice what we teach.
@gavvet i am always very happy reading your post. if you will permit me, i will like to state somethings. the story of Adam and Eve should NOT be taking as a physical story so that we can understand spiritual reality.
Adam comments in verse 23 "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh" relates much more than just a statement. have at th back of your mind that Adam (man) is the first man while Jesus is the last Adam so you will understand that there must be similarities between this two.
why the absence of blood?
Adam was made to sleep and a rib was taken from his side which simply means there was an extraction which will not be posible witout blood coming out if it were a surgery right? this extraction birthed out his Eve (woman).
Jesus appeared to the disciples and Luke24:39 made the same claim of flesh and bone. this is after the cross and the piecing of his side at the cross which equally birthed His Eve (Church).
Yes, at an early stage in life, childhood, we are not conscious of the things around us or how naked we are. the Christ conscious man is supposed to live in the reality of a child where he has no knowledge of right or wrong. this is because it is not for man to consider what is right or wrong, but to just follow Christ. Children dont know when they are dressed or naked in terms of walking around the compound it is the parents who worry about that. they work peacefully in whatever position and have access to everything the parent has.
If Adam had parent?
The Bible made it clear that Adam was the first man made in the likeness of God so if he had a parent they would have existed before him and that is not the case. but the writing of Genesis made the statment that a man will live his father and mother... to me, this means his root, origin and beliefs so that he can cleave to his wife. surprising, when Adam obeyed Eve instead of God's command, he left for his wife and cleaved to his wife and both of them were sent out of Eden. In Jesus' case, he left His glory to birth His wife (Church) and cleave to her.
If we followed closely, we will understand that Christ, the last Adam came to write the wrongs of the first Adam and there are similar things that placed out on both.
thanks for your post @gavvet. i am always glad reading it
Very valid point that you are making about Adam being the foreshadow of Jesus.
stick around we will get into these types of things in greater detail and thanks for engaging.
Well I remeber that on my religion classes our priest said that science and religion don't exclude each other. He said that Bible doesn't say how the world was created exactly, it says that God created it and it was good. He says that the description of creating the world in Bible was simplified so people years ago could also understand it. I think that that's pretty good explanation.
It is...
Great. Brilliantly subtle, highly evocative
What if Adam was created by god like figures, but made from flesh as well? It seems that walking around talking to an all power god is not as easy as walking around within the garden-laboratory premises, talking to the leading scientist checking daily on his genetic creation
Good thoughts...
Interesting, though I would caution against adding to the text what is not there. Analysing the intricacies of the text is not the same as adding speculation in it. :)
Thanks for answering, but no speculation ... , it is in this post´s text that they walked together :
"The walked and talked with God as a parent-like figure" (I assume the author meant ´they´ rather than ´the´)".
Since they where in the garden of Eden, it can not be speculation that they walked within the premises of the garden of Eden, and since they walked rather than flied, existed, or even had a voice in their heads, I have to assume god had a body able to walk and talk, and also able to make those two feel as if they were walking with their father.
No speculation so far, rather good assumptions. And now how do you define the following thought: if god had a body that walked, talked, and 2 or 3 of them had such a good feeling during those walks, I can not see any other possibility than 3 bodies (2 ´humans´ and 1 body of something else) .
The idea of a all-power-of-the-universe god walking with 2 creations that can not get out of a garden or eat an apple because is forbidden just makes me smile.
Its obvious that the lesser creatures think of their creator as gods or whatever concept bigger than themselves. This monotheistic concept of a GOD I believe is misunderstood, there surely can be lesser gods to which you can talk, walk, and even fuck (yeahhh they surely wouldn't exist since the creation of Time so they would have to procreate or clone themselves :)
Now you made me write a lot, just for not reading closely enough :D
Haha, I didn't mean the walking in the Garden part :P I meant the laboratory and scientist parts. Those are relatively modern ideas and, while attractive, can lead to misconception. It is rather like writing a book about a medieval kingdom and then talking about how they used iPhones.
Nevertheless, I understand what you mean ^_^
Also, saying that Adam and Eve were never allowed to leave the Garden is an assumption. They were not allowed to eat of the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, but it never says they couldn't walk outside the Garden. They were there to tend it, not be prisoners to it. The two were banned from the Garden after the Fall, so their entrance was later denied. Their exit never was.
As for lesser gods, those exist in the Bible as well. What are called angels are actually the other gods. They are all called Elohim, God being their creator and the chief above them all. When an angel appears in the Bible, the person who sees them is invariably compelled to fall down to the ground and worship them, at which point the angel tells them to rise and worship only Yahuwah, the creator.
These are actually very interesting details which can be discussed in great detail ^_^
Oh I see. Well I guess the laws of Nature were the same that long ago, and also the existence of DNA in every cell of Adam´s body. So if the word laboratory seems very modern, call the garden as you wish ;p
With regard to their liberty to leave the garden, I have found nothing in the bible about it. I understand they were NOT free, since they probably were property of the god, and so, when they were expelled, they were not free to come back to the garden. However god seems too harsh to them 3 (serpent included) just for consuming the master´s monoatomic gold ... sorry, I mean the apple from the tree of knowledge/life :D
I agree, that the Bible does not say they were free to leave the Garden. It also does not say they were prisoners there. It says they were there to tend it, as gardeners, if you will. A lot of people today have gardeners and most of them are not prisoners of the garden they are tending. So you are really making an argument out of silence.
Also, the idea that the fruit of the tree of good and evil is called gold is nowhere found in Scripture. You are referring to Zachariah Sitchin's work, I am familiar with it. I used to be a fan as well. Until I studied harder and looked at his work with the same sceptical eye with which I looked at a lot of other things.
The Biblical text never says what the fruit of the tree of good and evil was. We know from the text that it had fruit and so did the tree of life. One was allowed and one was forbidden. We also know that every promise the serpent made to the man and the woman was about something they already possessed:
1: You shall not die (immortality) - they did not know death.
2: You will be as God - they were made in the image of God already.
3: Knowing Good and Evil - they had unhindered communication with God and could learn anything if they would simply ask.
This is all the text itself reveals. Why the judgements were what they were, the text does not say. You may think they were harsh, and it may be so. But if their choice brought death into the world, then perhaps the crime is rather serious?
I do not have a reason for many things which happen in life XD
The job as gardeners given by god to those two, may well be a question of maintaining them occupied. You know, doing nothing is the root of evil :) , thus giving tasks and rules may well have been the way to test the human capabilities to work for the master. I believe making an animal intelligent enough to undergo difficult tasks as maintaining a garden ;D and control the inner force to search for freedom is a difficult equilibrium, and hence a lot of monitoring is required. Walking around the garden talking to the humans, may have been a way to control the mental development (or the flow of information about the world) of his creations rather than to have really nice conversations.
The serpent: as far as I have read in the bible, the serpent didnt lie once.
And finally how can anyone blame the 2 humans to have brought death into the world if they were the only 2 humans in the world? or may be was death to the .... horses? cows? goats? rabbits? rain forest?
note: I never liked Zachariah´s work, everything is very convenient, like any religion which has everything answered, and if it isnt, lets make hugeeee assumptions to cover the holes.
@beltashazzar, I am having a good time chating with you about these delicate matters. Thank you!
Thank you for posting @gavvet.
Lovely presentation and information.
The queries presented should get the grey cells churning. We never seem to ask enough queries.
This is my understanding from the teachings of the Pastor....under whom bleujay studies. He is thoroughly grounded in the original languages of the scripture.....and teaches from them.
The key to their perfection was lack of knowledge of human good and evil.
Cheers.
It's a very good way of looking at it. Life starting for all of us as an Adam or Eve time for a few years. Looking forward to the next part on the Eden ending!
A brilliant article! What struck me most was the insight about 'bone of my bone' and 'flesh of my flesh'. If you remember, Jesus says the same after his resurections: "for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." He does not mention blood anymore.
I found that very intriguing. I'll follow you and look forward to your posts.
I'm personally doing a Bible study as well! I'm hoping it will pick up ^_^
I would also like to add that Havah (Eve) means source of life, mother of life.
Gen. 5 says "In the day that Elohim created man, in the likeness of Elohim made he him; male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created."
Their name was Adam, not just the man's. Adam means man. Later, the man names his counterpart 'woman' because she was flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone. She was taken out of him so she was 'woman'. But both were still Adam.
Names in Scripture are not arbitrary but have meaning, so understanding why someone is named something is linked to understand their context. ^_^
...and then only after the fall is the Woman named Eve, as the mother of all living.
Mhmm ^_^ Sorry, didn't mean to make it sound like a correction... Just wanted to add it on.