ADAM. — i. Name. — The word ayt is originally a common noun, denoting either a human being, Gn 2° ; or (rarely) a man as opposed to a woman, Gn 2*"; or mankind collectively, Gn 1". The root ciK is variously explained as (a) make, produce, by analog with the Assyr. addmu (Delitzsch, As^r. Wbrterbuch ; Oxf. Heb. Lex.). Man, therefore, as adam, is one made ot produced, a creature, or possibly a maker or prod\icer ; (6) to be red, a sense in which the root frequently occurs in Heb., e.g. the account of Edom in Gn 25*', and is also found in Arab, and Eth. and (?) in Assyr. This etymology would point to the term having originated among men of a red or ruddy race. Gesenius notes in support of this view that the men on Egyp. monuments are con- stantly represented as red. Dillmann on Gn 1. 2 also suggests a connexion with (c) an Eth. root = pleasant, well-formed, or (rf) an Arab. root = <o attach oneself, and so gregarious, sociable. It haa also been suggested that adam is a derivative from adamah, ground, and describes man as earth-bom, Trffif. The statement of Gn 2', that man was formed from the dust of the adamah, indicates that this connexion was in the mind of the writer, but it can hardly be the original etymology. It is significant that A., as a term for man or man- kind, is by no means universal in Sem. languages. It occurs in Phoenician and Sabsean, possibly in Assyr. (so Sayce, Gram. p. 2, and according to If CM, p. 104, IS the common Bab. word for man ; cf. Del. Assyr. Wbrterbuch). Of course the name A. has been adopted by all Sem. translations. It is j)osaible that Edom is a dialectic variety of A.
li. Adam, as Common and Proper Noun. — The first man is necessarily the man, and in his case the generic term is enuivalent to a proper name. In use, adam naturally fluctuates between a common and proper noun. Thus in P's account of the Creation, Gn l'-2*», he describes the creation of BiH, mankind, in both sexes; but in his first genealogy, Gn S'"*, mtt is used as a proper name.
ADAM
J gives an account of the Creation, Fall, etc., of Dixn ' the man ' (in 3" omi" ' to the man,' should be read instead of dik^ ' to Adam '), and in i'^ uses a-m without the article as a proper name.
iii. The Narratives concerning Adam. — P, in Gn 1''2** by itself, simply describes the creation of the human species, as of the other species of living creatures, and says nothing of any particular individuals. But it is only in the case of man that the two sexes are specified, and Dillmann main- tains that nnpji iri is not to be taken collectively, 'male and female,' but as 'a male and a female, i.e. the first pair.' Gn 5''', which is possibly from a different stratum of P, shows that the individual Adam, the ancestor of the nations mentioned in OT, and especially of Israel, is in some way identified with the human species, whose creation is described in Gn 1. This identification seems to imply that the human species ori^ally consisted of a single pair ; but P does not definitely commit himself to this position. Man is created last of all things on the same (sixth) day as the beasts, but by a separate act of creation and in the image of God ; he receives a special blessing, accord- ing to which he is given dominion over the earth and its inhabitants, and the vegetable creation is assigned to him, to provide him ^^^th food. While it is expressly said of the light, the heavens, earth, and seas, the vegetable world, the heavenly bodies, the birds, fish, and other animals, that God saw that they were good, this is not separately stated concerning man, but is left to be inferred from the general statement that God saw that ever3rthing He had made was very good.
In J, Gn 2"'-4» while the earth is still a life- less waste, the man is created out of the dust, and Jehovah animates him by breathing into his nostrils. He is set to take care of the garden of Eden, and is allowed to eat freely of its fruit, except the fruit of ' the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.' The animals are created as his com- panions and assistants ; but these proving inade- quate, the woman Eve is fashioned from his rib as he lies in a deep sleep. They live in childlike innocence till Eve is tempted by the Serpent, and Adam by Eve, to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Whereupon they become conscious of sin. Yet they have become like the Elohim, and might eat of the tree of life and become immortal. Hence they are cursed, and driven out of Eden. Man, henceforth, is to win his susten- ance with grievous toil from soil which, for his sake, has been cursed with barrenness. The only later OT reference to Adam is at the head of the genealogies in 1 Ch ; in Dt 32« and Job ZV^ adam, is a common noun.
iv. Significance of the Narratives. — In both narratives man is sharply marked off as a created being from God the Creator ; and is not connected with Him by a chain of inferior gods, demi-gods, and heroes, as in the Egyp., Assyr., and Chald. dynasties, and in other mythologies. Yet man has a certain community of nature with God ; he is made in His image ( P), and receives his life from the breath of Jehovah (J). Similarly, man's connexion with the animals is implied by his creation on the same day, liis separate status by a distinct act of creation. He is lord of all things, animate and inanimate, the crown of creation (P). So, in J, the animals are made for his benefit ; and the garden, with certain limitations, is at his disposal. Woman is also secondary and subordinate to man, and the cause of his ruin, but of identical nature. The formation of a single woman for the man implies monogamy. Man is cajiable of immediate fellowship with God. Sin is not inherent in man, but suggested from witliont; it is at once follower? by stem punishment, which extends not only to