Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ADAM

(Heb. ʾāḏām)

(PERSON)

Heb. ʾāḏām means “human” and can be used either collectively (“humankind”) or individually (“a human”). When used in contrast to a word for woman or female, it can also indicate a specifically male human. In Gen. 1–5 the word is used to refer to the first human, Adam. This word is used in contexts that play upon all of the different senses of the word — collective, individual, gender nonspecific, and male.

The word Adam is used collectively in the creation of humans in Gen. 1:27, later alluded to in 5:1-2, where Adam (“human”) is defined as “male and female.” When Adam is created a second time in 2:7 (from a different source) there is the sense that this is an individual male human, since it is from him that the woman is later formed (2:22). Yet the language of sexuality and gender distinction is not used explicitly until the woman is created (2:23-24), indicating that sex and gender is not an emphasis of the identity of Adam until this time. Therefore Adam before the creation of woman is in a sense “not yet” specifically male, and can be seen as both an individual and a collective human. Hence not only Adam but all humans are born from the soil and God’s vivifying breath, and God’s remark that “it is not good for Adam to be alone” pertains to all humans (“it is not good for humans to be alone”).

The interplay between the individual Adam and the collective “humankind” is essential to the nature of Adam in the garden of Eden. The first couple’s motivations, fears, and punishments all echo those of humanity generally. In the rich but ambiguous meanings of the story, there is a sense that all “humans” recapitulate the drama of the first “humans” in moral, sexual, and spiritual terms. All humans partake of the dangerous fruit of knowledge at some point in their development, involving both gain and loss, and all humans are doomed to die. The multiple and ambiguous meanings of the story reflect the complexity of the human condition.

A recurring motif in Gen. 1–8 is the bond between Adam and the earth (ʾăḏāmâ). Adam is made from the soil of the earth, and it is from this ʾăḏāmâ that Adam gets his name (2:7). In the curses pronounced by God the earth is cursed because of Adam (3:17), and Adam will return to the earth from which he was taken (3:19). The earth is an essential part of Adam, the “earthly” component of his identity, yet Adam is estranged from the earth because of disobedience. It is not entirely clear how this pertains to Adam as a representation of humankind generally, but a sense of our divided identity as both earthly and separated from nature seems to be implied. When God lifts the curse on the earth at the end of the Flood (8:21), it seems that God signals his reconciliation to the divided nature of humankind.

In postbiblical traditions the character of Adam is depicted in varying ways. The Life of Adam and Eve depicts the couple after their expulsion repenting for their sins, and as a reward for repentance Adam is taken up to the heavenly paradise. Adam’s restoration to paradise is depicted as a foreshadowing of the restoration of all the righteous to paradise at the end of time. In Paul’s writings the coming of Christ is the solution to Adam’s sin, and through Christ the righteous will be restored to the heavenly paradise in a state of glory. In the Dead Sea Scrolls and rabbinic writings Adam is glorious and superhuman before his exile from Eden, but is diminished in stature when exiled. According to some Jewish mystical traditions, the original glory of Adam can be regained through mystical contemplation of God’s eternal essences. In Augustine’s reinterpretation of Pauline theology, Adam’s sin is transmitted by sexual relations (specifically by semen) to each subsequent generation, with the sole exception of Christ, who was conceived without sin.

Ronald S. Hendel

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ADAM

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)