Adam and Eve

:For other uses of Adam or Eva, see Adam (disambiguation) and Eve (disambiguation). For the orchid species commonly called Adam and Eva, see Aplectrum hyemale.

Adam in Genesis

"God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them." According to this account, Adam was the first man whom God created. He was formed out of the dust of the earth (hence his name, which means "red earth"), and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and gave him dominion over all the lower creatures (Gen. 1:26; 2:7).

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The story is in Genesis, chapters 2 and 3. After his creation, Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it, and to enjoy its fruits under this one prohibition: "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

Related Topics:
Garden of Eden - Tree of the knowledge of good and evil

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The first recorded act of Adam is his giving names to the beasts of the field and the fowl of the air, which God brought to him for this end. Thereafter, the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon him, and while in an unconscious state took one of his ribs (however more literal translations render or footnote rib as "part"), and closed up his flesh again; and of this rib he made a woman, whom he presented to him when he awoke. Adam received her as his wife, and 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." He called her Eve (Hebrew: Chava "life"), because she was the mother of all living. Being induced by the serpent (whom later tradition made into Satan) to eat the forbidden fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, for "the serpent said unto the woman, 'Ye shall not surely die.'" (Genesis 3:4), Eve persuaded Adam, and he also did eat. Until then they were nude, but now "the eyes of them both were opened" and they made aprons of fig leaves to cover themselves.

Related Topics:
Hebrew - Serpent - Satan - Forbidden fruit - Nude - Fig

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Adam was expelled from Eden to prevent him gaining access to the tree of life (Genesis 3), which if he ate from it would have given eternal life. At the east of the garden God placed Cherubim and a flaming sword, "which turned every way". Eastern Orthodox tradition says that from the time Jesus was born, the flaming sword was removed from the Garden of Eden, making it possible for humanity to return to Paradise.

Related Topics:
Cherubim - Eastern Orthodox - Jesus - Humanity - Paradise

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Genesis does not tell for how long they were in Paradise; 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); traditional Jewish sources assert that it was less than a day. Shortly after their expulsion, Eve brought forth her first-born child, and called him Cain. Only three of Adam's children (Cain, his brother Abel, and the lesser-known Seth) are named in Genesis, but it is said that he had other sons and daughters as well (Genesis 5:4). According to the text, he died at the age of 930 years. Judaism holds the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron as the traditional burial place of Adam and Eve.

Related Topics:
Paradise - Book of Jubilees - Cain - Abel - Seth - Judaism - Cave of Machpelah - Hebron

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