The Culpability of Adam and Eve

The Risen Christ raises Adam and Eve from the tombs.

Alice C. Linsley

The Bible presents Adam and Eve in at least three ways: mythical, historical, and analogical. The mythical Adam and Eve present a theological understanding of estrangement from God. We first encounter figures called “Adam” and "Eve" in Genesis chapters 2, 3 and 4. The Adam and Eve of Genesis chapters2 and 3 are associated with the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Life, and the Serpent who tempted Eve. Adam and Eve are blamed for humanity’s “Fall” from the state of grace enjoyed in the Garden.

Genesis chapters 4 and 5 indicate that Adam and Eve were the historical parents of Cain and Seth and the progenitors of the early Hebrew ruler-priests. The early Hebrew believed in God Father and God Son, and this belief is still found among African populations in connection with the theme of estrangement.

While studying tribal peoples in Nigeria, the anthropologist Charles Kraft asked a clan chief, "What did your people believe about God before the missionaries came?" In response, an old chief told this story:

“Once God and his son lived close to us. They walked, talked, ate, and slept among us. All was well then. There was no thievery or fighting or running off with another man's wife like there is now. But one day God's son ate in the home of a careless woman. She had not cleaned her dishes properly. God's son ate from a dirty dish, got sick, and died. This, of course, made God very angry. He left in a huff and hasn't been heard from since." (Charles Kraft, Christianity in Culture, Orbis Books, 1990, p. 153)

Another African story tells how "in the beginning death had not yet entered the world. There was plenty to eat, but a woman became greedy and tried to pound more grain than she was allotted. This required using a longer pestle. When she raised it to pound the grain, it struck the sky and God became angry and withdrew far into the heavens. Since then, people must toil the earth, death and disease trouble the people and it is no longer easy to reach God." (Richard Bush, ed. The Religious World, MacMillan Publishers, 1982, p. 38).

In these stories the female ancestor is responsible for the estrangement. However, in the Book of Romans, Paul holds Adam responsible for the Fall.

“Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people” (Rom. 5:12).

“Death reigned from the time of Adam . . . even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam” (Rom. 5:14).

“Many died by the trespass of the one man” (Rom. 5:15).

“By the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man” (Rom. 5:17).

“Through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners” (Rom. 5:19).


Genesis presents both Adam and Eve as culpable. This binary balance between male and female ancestors is characteristic of African stories. Likewise, many biblical narratives involving male heroes have female counterparts.

Though Eve is the serpent’s primary target, both Adam and Eve are held responsible. This binary balance between male and female is characteristic of the social structure of the early Hebrew and is reflected in biblical narratives.

There are many examples: the distinct duties/responsibilities of the mother's house versus the father's house; male prophets-female prophets; male rulers-female rulers; inheritance by male heirs-inheritance by female heirs, patrilocal residence-matrilocal residence; Hebrew patronymics-Hebrew matronymics; and in the Hebrew double unilineal descent pattern, both the patrilineage and the matrilineage are recognized and honored, but in different ways.

The blood symbolism of the Passover associated with Moses has a parallel in the blood symbolism of the scarlet cord associated with Rahab.

The abusive behavior of drunken Noah toward his sons has a parallel in the abusive behavior of drunken Lot toward his daughters.

This male-female binary balance is found in New Testament narratives also. Jesus restored the widow of Nain's deceased son to his mother (Luke 7:11-17). Jesus restored Jairus' deceased daughter to her father (Mark 5:21-43).

Adam and Eve serve as examples of estrangement from God. The estrangement results from disobedience and listening to appealing lies. Such “sinful” behaviors are found among all humans, so this narrative reflects a universal truth. Similar ideas of estrangement from the Creator are found in the myths of many cultures. However, it can be fairly argued that the Messianic Faith we call “Christianity” provides a unique answer to the problem of sin and death.

The theme of estrangement has deep roots among the early Hebrew whose point of origin was Africa. Prayers and songs written by the Hebrew priests of the Nile Valley are available to read in the Ancient Pyramid Texts. Some of these texts date to 2600 B.C. and speak of the bodily resurrection of a priest-king who would lead his people to immortality. Paul’s statement in Ephesians 4:8 reflects this early belief: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men." The same belief is expressed in Psalm 68:18: “When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train…”


If you wish to comment on this post, please respond to these questions.

In what ways do we as Christians overcome estrangement from God?


In what ways do we celebrate God’s answer to sin and death?


Related reading: Adam and Estrangement from God; Male and Female are Primary in the Hebrew Scriptures; The Hebrew Were a Caste; Horite and Sethite Mounds; An Anthropologist Look at Genesis 4; An Anthropologist Looks at Genesis 5; Ancient Edom

Adam and Estrangement from God

 

The Risen Lord Jesus raises Adam and Eve from the grave.

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

The Bible presents Adam in at least three ways: mythical, historical, and analogical. Genesis 1 does not speak specifically of Adam. It speaks of how humans were a special creation, made in the image of the Creator on the last day of creation (Day 6).

We first encounter a figure called “Adam” in Genesis chapters 2 and 3. The word Adam is derived from the root אדם (A.D.M), which is a verb meaning "to be red or ruddy" (Strong’s #119). The text says that Adam was formed from the adamah, meaning ground, soil, or humus. This is the etymology of the term “human”.

This Adam is associated with the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Life, and the Serpent who tempted Eve. He and Eve are blamed for humanity’s “Fall” from the state of grace enjoyed in the Garden. We could take this as an historical account. That is how Fundamentalists read the text. However, humans had already dispersed globally before the historical Adam lived (c.4500 BC). Perhaps we should consider the biblical data that speaks of Adam as a father of Cain and Seth, whose descendants intermarried.

According to this view, Adam is a founding parent of the early Hebrew who descend from Cain (Gen. 4) and Seth (Gen. 5). The historical Adam is the eponymous founder of the mound building Horite and Sethite clans which constituted a caste of priests.

Genesis 5:1 describes Seth as being in the likeness of his father Adam. This may mean that Seth was a red man and could explain why ancient images of Seth show him as a red hippopotamus.

This idea that the first parents caused estrangement from God is a common theme in African stories. The first parents of the Mbiti Pygmy are called Tole and Ngolobanzo.

The first father of the Maasai is known as Maasinta. He had a special relationship with the Sky God who gave the Maasai their first cattle.

Gikuyu and Mumbi are said to be the first ancestors of the Gikuyu of East Africa. Here is a portion of their story:

Now you know that at the beginning of things there was only one man (Gikuyu) and one woman (Mumbi). It was under this Mukuyu that He first put them. And immediately the sun rose and the dark night melted away. The sun shone with a warmth that gave life and activity to all things. The wind and the lightning and thunder stopped. The animals stopped moaning and moved, giving homage to the Creator and to Gikuyu and Mumbi. And the Creator, who is also called Murungu, took Gikuyu and Mumbi from his holy mountain to the country of the ridges near Siriana and there stood them on a big ridge. He took them to Mukuruwe wa Gathanga about which you have heard so much. But He had shown them all the land - yes, children, God showed Gikuyu and Mumbi all the land and told them: "This land I hand over to you, O Man and Woman. It is yours to rule and to till in serenity, sacrificing only to me, your God, under my sacred tree.

While studying tribal peoples in Nigeria, the anthropologist Charles Kraft asked a clan chief, "What did your people believe about God before the missionaries came?" In response, an old chief told this story:

“Once God and his son lived close to us. They walked, talked, ate, and slept among us. All was well then. There was no thievery or fighting or running off with another man's wife like there is now. But one day God's son ate in the home of a careless woman. She had not cleaned her dishes properly. God's son ate from a dirty dish, got sick, and died. This, of course, made God very angry. He left in a huff and hasn't been heard from since." (Charles Kraft, Christianity in Culture, Orbis Books, 1990, p. 153)

Another African story tells how "in the beginning death had not yet entered the world. There was plenty to eat, but a woman became greedy and tried to pound more grain than she was allotted. This required using a longer pestle. When she raised it to pound the grain, it struck the sky and God became angry and withdrew far into the heavens. Since then, people must toil the earth, death and disease trouble the people and it is no longer easy to reach God." (Richard Bush, ed. The Religious World, MacMillan Publishers,1982, p. 38).

In the last two stories the female ancestor is responsible for the estrangement. However, in the Book of Romans, Paul holds Adam responsible for the Fall in his analogical explanation. He contrasts Adam, by whom sin and death entered, and Jesus Christ, the New Adam, by whom sin and death are overcome and justification granted to all who believe (Romans 5:6-10).

“Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people” (Rom. 5:12).

“Death reigned from the time of Adam . . . even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam” (Rom. 5:14).

“Many died by the trespass of the one man” (Rom. 5:15).

“By the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man” (Rom. 5:17).

“Through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners” (Rom. 5:19).

 

In drawing this analogy, Paul clearly believed Adam to be historical. He argues that both Adam and Jesus Christ acted in ways that had lasting consequences in human history. However, he also admits that his presentation of Adam involves typology. Paul writes that Adam “was a type of the one who was to come.” (Rom. 5:14)

It is clear from the Genesis narrative that both Adam and Eve are culpable. This binary balance between male and female ancestors is characteristic of African stories and the biblical narrative of Adam and Eve.

Adam and Eve serve as examples of estrangement from God. The estrangement results from disobedience and listening to appealing lies. This applies universally, and a similar idea is found in the myths of many cultures.

Related reading: Three Portraits of Adam; Adam Was a Red Man; The Sethites and the Red Hippo; The Father of Adam and Eve; Male and Female are Primary in Hebrew Scriptures

An Anthropologist Looks at Genesis 2

 

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

God created the first parents.

Stories about first parents abound in Africa. The first parents of the Mbiti Pygmy are called Tole and Ngolobanzo.

The first father of the Maasai is known as Maasinta. He had a special relationship with the Sky God who gave the Maasai their first cattle.

Gikuyu and Mumbi are said to be the first ancestors of the Gikuyu of East Africa. Here is a portion of their story:

Now you know that at the beginning of things there was only one man (Gikuyu) and one woman (Mumbi). It was under this Mukuyu that He first put them. And immediately the sun rose and the dark night melted away. The sun shone with a warmth that gave life and activity to all things. The wind and the lightning and thunder stopped. The animals stopped moaning and moved, giving homage to the Creator and to Gikuyu and Mumbi. And the Creator, who is also called Murungu, took Gikuyu and Mumbi from his holy mountain to the country of the ridges near Siriana and there stood them on a big ridge. He took them to Mukuruwe wa Gathanga about which you have heard so much. But He had shown them all the land - yes, children, God showed Gikuyu and Mumbi all the land and told them: "This land I hand over to you, O Man and Woman. It is yours to rule and to till in serenity, sacrificing only to me, your God, under my sacred tree.

 

The historical Adam and Eve are the first parents of the early Hebrew. Some of their descendants appear to have inherited Adam’s red skin tone. It is noted that Esau a Horite ruler in Edom had a red or ruddy skin tone (as did David, the son of Jesse). Jeff A. Benner, an expert on ancient Hebrew, explains:

We are all familiar with the name "Adam" as found in the book of Genesis, but what does it really mean? Let us begin by looking at its roots. This word/name is a child root derived from the parent דם meaning, "blood". By placing the letter א in front of the parent root, the child root אדם is formed and is related in meaning to דם (blood).

By examining a few other words derived from the child root אדם we can see a common meaning in them all. The Hebrew word אדמה (adamah) is the feminine form of אדם meaning "ground" (see Genesis 2:7). The word/name אדום (Edom) means "red". Each of these words have the common meaning of "red". Dam is the "red" blood, adamah is the "red" ground, edom is the color "red" and adam is the "red" man. There is one other connection between "adam" and "adamah" as seen in Genesis 2:7 which states that "the adam" was formed out of the "adamah".

In the ancient Hebrew world, a person’s name was not simply an identifier but descriptive of one's character. As Adam was formed out of the ground, his name identifies his origins.

 

Adam's name refers to blood (dam) and the color red. His descendants are remembered as red people. One of those descendants is Abraham who ruled in the territory of Edom. The Greeks called Edom Idumea, which means "land of red people." Some of the red peoples are listed in Genesis 10. They are identified by the DD biradical, which refers to the color red. In ancient Egyptian didi refers to red fruit. In Yoruba, red is diden, a variant of the biblical word Dedan (Gen. 10).

A common belief among many pre-literate peoples is that skin tone comes from the soil where their first parents were created. This is called “autochthonous origin” and the belief is expressed in the Shilluk creation story. The Shilluk of Sudan call the Creator Jouk. Jouk made white people out of white sand and the Shilluk out of black soil. When the Creator came to Egypt, he made the people there out of the red silt of the Nile.

 

God places the first parents in Eden.

The term Eden is not originally Hebrew. "Eden" derives from the Akkadian term edinu, which refers to a fertile plain or a well-watered territory. Akkadian is the oldest known Semitic language and predates Hebrew by nearly 2000 years.

Eden was a vast well-watered region that extended from the sources of the Nile in Uganda and Ethiopia to the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia (Gen. 2:10-14). The Pishon flowed through Ha-vila (place of waters parting). The Gihon flowed around the whole land of Kush. The southern region of Eden was rich in gold, onyx, and bdellium. Bdellium is a semi-transparent oleo-gum resin extracted from Commiphora wightii and from Commiphora africana. These trees grow in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

Humans become estranged from God.

After their disobedience Adam and Eve experienced fear and they hide from the Creator. Their distance from the Divine Presence grew greater when they were driven from Paradise. 

Many African narratives explain the distance between God and humans. Some speak of a time at the beginning when the sky was low. It was necessary for people to be careful while cultivating or pounding grain to avoid striking God's resting place with their hoes or pestles. The Akan of Ghana tell the story of how God once lived on earth, but an old woman kept striking Him with her pestle. Then one day, God withdrew to the sky.

Another African story tells how "in the beginning death had not yet entered the world. There was plenty to eat, but a woman became greedy and tried to pound more grain that she was allotted. This required using a longer pestle. When she raised it to pound the grain, it struck the sky and God became angry and withdrew far into the heavens. Since then, people must toil the earth, death and disease trouble the people and it is no longer easy to reach God." (Richard Bush, ed. The Religious World, MacMillan Publishers,1982, p. 38).

Consider the following story related to anthropologist Charles Kraft while he was studying tribal peoples in northern Nigeria. Kraft asked, "What did your people believe about God before the missionaries came?" In response, an old chief told this story:

"Once God and his son lived close to us. They walked, talked, ate, and slept among us. All was well then. There was no thievery or fighting or running off with another man's wife like there is now. But one day God's son ate in the home of a careless woman. She had not cleaned her dishes properly. God's son ate from a dirty dish, got sick, and died. This, of course, made God very angry. He left in a huff and hasn't been heard from since." (Charles Kraft, Christianity in Culture, Orbis Books, 1990, p. 153)

Related reading: An Anthropologist Looks at Genesis One; The Father of Adam and Eve; Three Portraits of Adam