Adam and Eve Totally Explained

Everything about Adam And Eve totally explained

Adam (ʼĀḏām, "dust; mankind";, ; Ge'ez: አዳ) and Eve (Ḥawwā, "living one";, ; Ge'ez: ሕይዋን, Hiywan) were the first man and woman created by God according to the Torah, the Bible and the Qur'an.
Adam and Eve appear in many books besides Genesis, such as the Quran, the Life of Adam and Eve, the Talmud, and Gnostic texts. Jewish tradition sometimes includes reference to other wives of Adam's. Paul of Tarsus presents Jesus Christ as a "new Adam" who brings life instead of death. The serpent of the Garden of Eden in Christian theology represents Satan, and the Fall (the eating of the forbidden fruit) establishes original sin. Muslims regard Adam as the first prophet.

Narrative

The biblical story of Adam and Eve is told in the book of Genesis, chapters 1, 2 and 3, with some additional elements in chapters 4 and 5.
   In Genesis 1 God (called Elohim) creates humans "male and female" in His image, and gives them dominion over the living things He has created, and commands them to "be fruitful and multiply."
   Genesis 2 opens with God (called Yahweh Elohim) fashioning a man from the dust and blowing life into his nostrils. God plants a garden (the Garden of Eden) and sets the man there, "to work it and watch over it," permitting him to eat of all the trees in the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and evil, "for on the day you eat of it you'll surely die." Then God creates the animals, attempting to find a help-mate for the man; but none of the animals are satisfactory, and so God causes the man to sleep, and creates a woman from his rib. The man names her "Woman" (Heb. ishshah), "for this one was taken from a man" (Heb. ish). "On account of this a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his woman." Genesis 2 ends with the note that the man and woman were naked, and were not ashamed.
   Genesis 3 introduces the Snake, "slier than every beast of the field." The snake temps the woman to eat from the forbidden tree, telling her that it won't lead to death; she succumbs, and gives the fruit to the man, who eats also, "and the eyes of the two of them were opened." Aware now of their nakedness, they make coverings of fig leaves, and hide from the sight of God (still called Yahweh Elohim). God, perceiving that they've broken His command, curses them with hard labour and with pain in childbirth, and banishes them from His garden, setting a cherub at the gate to bar their way to the Tree of Life, "lest he put out his hand ... and eat, and live forever."
   Genesis 4 and 5 give the story of Adam and Eve's family after they leave the garden: they've three children, Cain, Abel and Seth, as well as other sons and daughters, and Adam's lifespan is 930 years. ("The woman" is given the name Eve in the closing verses of Genesis 3, "because she was the mother of all living"; Adam gets his name when the initial indefinite article is dropped, changing "ha-adam", the man, to Adam.)

Textual notes

"Let us make man...": The plural "us" is traditionally understood to refer to God and the angels, or to be a "plural of majesty" (the "royal we"). More recent scholarship is that it reflects the common Middle Eastern view of a supreme god (referred to in Genesis 1 by the generic noun "Elohim", god, rather than by his personal name of Yahweh) surrounded by a divine court, the Sons of God (Heb. bene elohim).
   "...in our image." The phrase image of God has had many interpretations, although something more than the simply anthropomorphic seems intended. Elsewhere in the ancient Near East kings were called the "image of god", symbolising their rule by divine appointment: the phrase may therefore indicate that mankind is God's regent on earth.
   "...a living being." God breathes into the man's nostrils and he becomes nefesh hayya. The earlier translation of this phrase as "living soul" is now recognised as incorrect: "nefesh" signifies something like the English word "being", in the sense of a corporeal body capable of life; the concept of a "soul" in our sense didn't exist in Hebrew thought until around the 2nd century BC, when the idea of a bodily resurrection gained popularity.
   "...tree of knowledge of good and evil..." The Hebrew word ra is usually translated as meaning "evil," but has no moral meaning and the phrase is better translated as "good and bad": the meaning is simply "knowledge of everything."
   "...you shall surely die." Adam is told that that if he eats of the forbidden tree the consequence will be moth tamuth, indicating not merely death but emphatically so. As Adam doesn't in fact die immediately on eating the fruit, some exegetes have argued that it means "you shall die eventually," so that Adam and Eve had immortality in the Garden but lost it through eating the fruit of the tree: but the grammar doesn't support this reading, and nor does the narrative (Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden lest they eat of the second tree and gain immortality).
   "...a rib..." Adam's rib has been questioned by feminist and other scholars who argue it should be translated as "side," which would support the idea that the woman is equal with, and not subordinate to, the man.

Later Abrahamic traditions

Jewish traditions

In the Sibylline Oracles, the name Adam is explained as a notaricon composed of the initials of the four directions; anatole (east), dusis (west), arktos (north), and mesembria (south). The Jews had their own acrostic interpretation of the name Adam. In the 2nd century, Rabbi Yohanan used the Greek technique of notarichon to explain the name אָדָם as the initials of the words afer, dam, and marah, being dust, blood, and gall.
According to the Torah (Genesis 2:7), Adam is said to have been formed by God from "dust from the earth"; in the Talmud (Tractate Sanhedrin 38b) of the first centuries of the Christian era he is, more specifically, described as having initially been a golem kneaded from mud. In the Torah, God is described, at Genesis 1:26, as breathing the breath of life into the nostrils of the first man, and this is usually interpreted in Judaeo-Christian circles as having brought life immediately to the first man.
At this point, in the Torah, God is described as causing a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and removing part of his body, usually interpreted as a rib (though a more literal translation is non-specific, referring to "side"). Once a matron asked Rabbi Jose (Talmud ), "Why did God steal a rib from Adam?" "Steal?" replied the Sage. "If one were to take away from your house an ounce of silver, and give you in return a pound of gold, that wouldn't be stealing from you." "But," persisted the matron, "what need was there for secrecy?" "It was surely better," replied R. José, "to present Eve to Adam when she was quite presentable, and when no traces of the effects of the operation were visible"(External Link

).
   Even in ancient times, the presence of two distinct accounts was noted, and regarded with some curiosity. The first account says male and female [God] created them, which has been assumed by critical scholars to imply simultaneous creation, whereas the second account states that God created Eve from Adam's rib because Adam was lonely. Thus to resolve this apparent discrepancy, mediaeval rabbis suggested that Eve and the woman of the first account were two separate individuals. This first woman was identified in the Midrash as Lilith, a figure elsewhere described as a night demon.
   The word liyliyth can also mean "screech owl", as it's translated in the King James Version of Isaiah 34:14, although some scholars take this to be a reference to the same demonic entity as mentioned in the Talmud.
   Also in the Talmud, Lilith is identified as the mother of these creatures. The demons were said to prey on newborn males before they'd been circumcised, and so a tradition arose in which a protective amulet was placed around the neck of newborns. Traditions in the Midrash concerning Lilith, and her sexual appetite, have been compared to Sumerian mythology concerning the demon ki-sikil-lil-la-ke, by scholars who postulate an intermediate Akkadian folk etymology interpreting the lil-la-ke portion of the name as a corruption of lîlîtu, a female storm demon originating in Sumer.
   It should be noted, however, that the Torah gives no mention whatsoever of any wife other than Eve. Many scholars see the statement "male and female he created them" to be a summary statement, which is described in detail in a following passage. Such wording was a common literary tool in ancient Hebrew writings. This technique is also seen in the broad statement of .
   Another Jewish tradition — also used to explain "male and female He created them" line, is that God originally created Adam as a hermaphrodite [MidrashRabbah - Genesis VIII:1], and in this way was bodily and spiritually male and female. He later decided that "it isn't good for [Adam] to be alone", and created the separate beings of Adam and Eve, thus creating the idea of two people joining together to achieve a union of the two separate spirits.
   Genesis doesn't tell for how long Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, but the Book of Jubilees states that they were removed from the garden on the new moon of the fourth month of the 8th year after creation (Jubilees 3:33); other Jewish sources assert that it was less than a day. Shortly after their expulsion, Eve brought forth her first-born child, and thereafter their second — Cain and Abel, respectively. After Cain killed Abel, and was cursed to wander, Adam and Eve conceived a third child named Seth, who, with Cain, gave rise to the two family lines of the Generations of Adam.
   A sidenote, when Cain was banished for killing Abel, Cain fears that God's punishment of his banishment is "too great to bear" and that he "must avoid [God]'s presence and become a restless wanderer on earth--anyone who meets me may kill me" (Genesis 4.3) suggesting life of other men outside of and prior to or during Cain's lineage.
   According to the Bible, Adam finally died at the age of 930 years, the traditional Jewish view being that he and Eve are currently buried in the Cave of Machpelah, in Hebron.

Christianity

The story of Adam and Eve forms the basis for the Christian doctrine of original sin: "Sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned," said Paul of Tarsus in his Epistle to the Romans, writing in Greek about 58 AD. St Augustine of Hippo (354-430), working with a Latin translation of the epistle, understood Paul to have said that Adam's sin was hereditary: "Death passed upon (for example spread to) all men because of Adam, [inwhom] all sinned". Original sin, the concept that man is born in a condition of sinfulness and must await redemption, became a cornerstone of Christian theological tradition, primarily in Western-rite churches, but isn't shared by Judaism, the Orthodox churches, nor by post-Reformation churches such as the Congregationalist churches, nor The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
   Over the centuries, a system of uniquely Christian beliefs has developed from the Adam and Eve story. Baptism has become understood as a means of washing away the stain of hereditary sin in some churches. In other branches of Christianity, baptism is a means of washing away sins that were actually committed by the person being baptised. It is an identification with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a ceremony of spiritually washing one in the blood of the Savior, which was shed on the cross. In still other Christian traditions, this process is merely seen as a symbol of faith and also an initiation, or a public declaration of faith. Additionally, the serpent that tempted Eve was interpreted by some to have been Satan, or that Satan was using a serpent as a mouthpiece, although there's no mention of this identification in the Torah. Christian interpretations of the Scripture are often considered more literal than Jewish interpretations. Christian belief regarding a connection between the devil and the serpent is founded primarily in Revelation 20:2, which states "He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him up for a thousand years." This verse brings together two symbols and two titles that had been used interchangeably for one being.
   Because Eve had tempted Adam to eat of the fatal fruit, some early Fathers of the Church held her and all subsequent women to be the first sinners, and especially responsible for the Fall. "You are the devil's gateway," Tertullian told his female listeners in the early 2nd century, and went on to explain that they were responsible for the death of Christ: "On account of your desert _ that is, death - even the Son of God had to die." In 1486 the Dominicans Kramer and Sprengler used similar tracts to justify the Malleus Maleficarum ("Hammer of the Witches") that led to three centuries of persecution of "witches". Eastern Orthodox tradition holds that the sword placed at the entrance to Paradise to prevent humankind from returning to the Garden was removed once Jesus was born.
   In Christianity there has been a view that the creation account of Genesis is allegory rather than a historical description, indeed much earlier than the development of modern science. Two notable examples are Saint Augustine (4th century) who, on theological grounds, argued that everything in the universe was created by God in the same instant, and not in six days as a plain account of Genesis would require [1]; and the 1st century Jewish scholar Philo of Alexandria, who wrote that it would be a mistake to think that creation happened in six days or in any determinate amount of time. Clement of Alexandria and Justin Martyr also understood the story in a non-literal sense. Origen wrote: "For who that has understanding will suppose that the first and second and third day existed without a sun and moon and stars and that the first day was, as it were, also without a sky? ... I don't suppose that anyone doubts that these things figuratively indicate certain mysteries, the history having taken place in appearance and not literally" (The Fundamental Doctrines 4:1:16 [A.D.225]). Liberal Christians teach that many parts of the Bible shouldn't be taken literally. The story of Adam & Eve may be included.

Gnostic and Manichaean traditions

   (1) Gnostic Christianity has two unique texts containing stories of Adam and Eve: the Nag Hamadi text "Apocalypse of Adam" and the "Testament of Adam" text. The creation of Adam as Protanthropos – the original man – is the focal concept.
   According to the Apocalypse of Adam, Adam and Eve were originally conjoined in a single androgynous being. This being was ranked greater than the eternal angels and higher than Samael, the God of the Aeon. Irenaeus (I, xxix, 3) says that the Aeon Autogenes (for example, the self-created Aeon) created a true and perfect human, Protanthrôpos, also called Adamas, who had Perfect Knowledge. Certain angels become jealous, so the God of the Aeon then separated Adam from Eve; in this separation they lost their superior knowledge of God.
   In other Gnostic interpretations, the perfect Protanthropos was created by a non-material emanation from God. This emanation was called the Son of God. Thus Adam is seen as prefiguring Jesus, "The Second Adam". According to the Nassene sect, Protanthropos was non-material until separated into Adam and Eve, who then "sank" into material form. Theodotus, a Gnostic of the Valentinian sect, (c. 160) found confirmation for the idea that the first human was andrygynous in the Genesis verse "according to the image of God he made them, male and female he made them".
   (2) The Manichaean Gnostic sect believed that the Protanthropos was "the World Soul", (Anima Mundi), sent to fight against darkness. The "Fall" meant the primordial man being delivered up to evil and swallowed in darkness, with the Universe as a whole coming into existence as a means of delivering the primordial Adam from Darkness. Sex between Adam and Eve was seen as the way in which darkness overcame the light. � "Mani said, 'Then Jesus came and spoke to the one who had been born, who was Adam, and … made him fear Eve, showing him how to suppress (desire) for her, and he forbade him to approach her… Then that (male) archon came back to his daughter, who was Eve, and lustfully had intercourse with her. He engendered with her a son, deformed in shape and possessing a red complexion, and his name was Cain, the Red Man.'"

(3) Another Gnostic tradition held that Adam and Eve were created to help defeat Satan. The serpent, instead of being identified with Satan, is seen as a hero by the Ophite sect, because it was trying to help the couple gain knowledge to defeat evil Samael. "The Origin of the World" states:- � "You are mistaken, Samael," (that is, "blind god"). "There is an immortal man of light who has been in existence before you, and who will appear among your modelled forms; he'll trample you to scorn, just as potter's clay is pounded."

(4) Still other Gnostics believed that Satan's fall, however, came after the creation of humanity. As in Islamic tradition, this story says that Satan refused to bow to Adam. (As a result of his exclusive love of God, Satan felt that bowing to humankind was a form of idolatry.) This refusal led to the fall of Satan, recorded in works such as the Book of Enoch.

Islamic tradition

The Qur'an tells of آدم (ʾĀdam) in the surah al-Baqara (2):30-39, al-A'raf (7):11-25, al-Hijr (15):26-44, al-Isra (17):61-65, Ta-Ha (20):115-124, and Sad (38):71-85.
   The early Islamic commentator Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari adds a number of details to the Torah, based on claimed hadith as well as specific Jewish traditions (so-called isra'iliyat). Tabari records that when it came time to create Adam, God sent Gabriel (Jibril), then Michael (Mika'il), to fetch clay from the earth; but the earth complained, saying I take refuge in God from you, if you've come to diminish or deform me, so the angels returned empty-handed. Tabari goes on to state that God responded by sending the Angel of Death, who took clay from all regions, hence providing an explanation for the variety of appearances of the different races of mankind.
   According to Tabari's account, after receiving the breath of God, Adam remained a dry body for 40 days, then gradually came to life from the head downwards, sneezing when he'd finished coming to life, saying All praise be to God, the Lord of all beings. Having been created, Adam, the first man, is described as having been given dominion over all the lower creatures, which he proceeds to name. As one of the people to whom God is said to have spoken to directly, Adam is seen as a prophet in Islam.
   At this point, Adam takes a prominent role in Islamic traditions concerning the fall of Satan, which isn't recorded in the Torah, but in the Book of Enoch which is used in Oriental Orthodox churches. In these, when God announces his intention of creating Adam, some of the angels express dismay, asking why he'd create a being that would do evil. Teaching Adam the names reassures the angels as to Adam's abilities, though commentators dispute which particular names were involved; various theories say they were the names of all things animate and inanimate, the names of the angels, the names of his own descendants, or the names of God.
   When God orders the angels to bow to Adam one of those present, Satan Lucifer (Iblis in Islam, a Djinn who said "why should I bow to man, I'm made of pure fire"), refuses due to his pride, and is summarily banished from the Heavens. Liberal movements within Islam have viewed God's commanding the angels to bow before Adam as an exaltation of humanity, and as a means of supporting human rights, others view it as an act of showing Adam that the biggest enemy of humans on earth will be their ego.
   More extended versions of the fall of Satan also exist in works such as that of Tabari, and the Shia commentator al-Qummi. In these explanations Iblis is sent against the jinn, who had angered God by sin and fighting. In such versions where Satan leads the battle on God's behalf, rather than his own, it's the pride and conceit resulting from his victory which results in his expulsion, since pride is seen as a sin. Islamic traditions further record that, in vengeful anger, Iblis promises God that he'll lead as many humans astray as he can, to which God replies that it's the choice of humans - those who so desire will follow Satan, while those who so desire will follow God.
   Eve is referred to in the Qur'an as Adam's spouse, and Islamic tradition refers to her by an etymologically similar name - حواء (Hawwāʾ) . In fact, although her creation isn't recounted in the Qur'an, Tabari recounts the biblical tale of her creation, stating that she was named because she was created from a living thing (her name means living). The torah gives an etymology for woman, or rather the Hebrew equivalent (ish-shah), stating that she should be called woman since she was taken out of man (ish in Hebrew). The etymology is regarded as implausible by most semitic linguists. The Quran blames both Adam and Eve for eating the forbidden fruit and as a punishment they were both banished from Heaven to the Earth. Muslims therefore interpret that this even doesn't pose a problem of women inferiority to men intrinsically. The concept of original sin doesn't exist in Islam. Adam and Eve were forgiven after they repented on Earth.
   Al-Qummi records the opinion that Eden wasn't entirely earthly, and so, having been sent to earth, Adam and Eve first arrived at mountain peaks outside Mecca; Adam on Safa, and Eve on Marwa. In this Islamic tradition, Adam remained weeping for 40 days, until he repented, at which point God rewarded him by sending down the Kaaba, and teaching him the hajj.
   The Qur'an also describes the two sons of Adam (named Qabil and Habil in Islamic tradition) that correspond to Cain and Abel.

Cultural influence

Early Renaissance artists used the theme of Adam and Eve as a way to represent female and male nudes. Later, the nudity was objected to by more modest elements, and fig leaves were added to the older pictures and sculptures, covering their genitals. The choice of the fig was a result of Mediterranean traditions identifying the unnamed Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as a fig tree, and since fig leaves were actually mentioned in Genesis as being used to cover Adam and Eve's nudity.
   Another issue was whether they should be depicted with navels. Since they were created fully grown, and didn't develop in a uterus, they wouldn't have had the umbilical scars possessed by all born humans. However, paintings without navels looked unnatural.
   In Northern Europe, the unnamed "Forbidden fruit" became considered a form of apple, because of a misunderstanding of the Latin "malum", where malum as an adjective means evil, but as a noun means apple. The larynx in the human throat, noticeably more prominent in males, was consequently called an Adam's apple, from a notion that it was caused by the forbidden fruit sticking in Adam's throat as he swallowed, and the name has stuck.
   Some Slavonic texts state that the "forbidden fruit" was actually the grape, that was later changed in its nature and made into something good, much as the serpent was changed by losing its legs and speech.
   Other Eastern Christians sometimes assume that the "forbidden fruit" was the fig, from the account of their using leaves of this tree to cover themselves. There are also opinions that it was tomato because this fruit in some Slavic languages is called "rajčica" or "paradajz", (both words are related to paradise - "raj" means "paradise"). John Milton's Paradise Lost is a famous seventeenth century epic poem written in blank verse which explores the story of Adam and Eve in great detail.

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