Adalia

48

son of ETHNI; father of ZERAH and an ancestor of

ASAPH (1 Chr 6:41 [Heb. 6:26]).'
3. Son of SHIMEI (1 Chr 8:21) and one of the leaders of the tribe of Benjamin in Jerusalem before Judah's
exile (1 Chr 8:28).
4. Father of MAASEIAH, one of the 5 commanders of hundreds who joined in a coup against Queen
ATHALIAH, usurper of Judah's throne (2 Chr 23:1).
5. Son of JOIARIB and father of HAZAIAH and an
ancestor of Maaseiah, who was one of the tribal leaders
of Judah in Jerusalem after the exile (Neh 11:5).
6. A priest, son of JEROHAM (1 Chr 9:12; Neh
11:12), probably of the Levitical family of Gershom
(compare 1 Chr 6:41 [Heb. 6:26]), who returned from
exile and settled in Jerusalem.
7. Son of BANI, an Israelite who divorced his Gentile wife after the exile (Ezra 10:29; 1 Esd 9:30).
8. Son of BINNUI an Israelite forced to divorce his
Gentile wife after the exile (Ezra 10:39).
CLAUDE F. MARIOTTINI
ADALIA uh-daylee-uh [W^IX 'adhalya']. One of
HAMAN's sons hung on the gallows (Esth 9:8).
ADAM p l $ 'adham; 'AScxu Adam]. The figure of
Adam, who is so ubiquitous in Western literature, occupies a very narrow piece of ground in the OT. Indeed,
even if we expand our textual purview to include the
NT, his role remains limited. He is never mentioned by
name in any explicit fashion in the Gospels. It is to the
Apostle Paul that we can attribute the starting point
for the prominence of this figure (see esp., Rom 5 and
1 Cor 15). For Paul, Adam becomes the crucial piece of
his soteriological,scheme. Adam as "first man" becomes
the source of sin and death-that Jesus, the "last man,"
overcomes. Once this schema is in place, no understanding of Christ's salvific work can sidestep the figure
of Adam; he assumes center stage in every subsequent
Christian anthropology.
In the OT, Adam's presence is limited to the first
several chapters of Genesis. But even here, he is rarely
identified by the personal name "Adam." Rather, he
is most often referred to >by the more generic title,
"man." This semantic problem is not unique, however,
to this figure in Gen 1-11. Other "personal" names are
clearly not such :in the conventional sense, but rather
indicate larger abstract concepts (e.g., Eve, "life-giving
one," Enosh, "humankind," and Noah, "rest"). This is
a phenomenon that is particularly in evidence in Gen
1-11 and rather rare elsewhere in the Bible.
The first unambiguous reference to Adam as a
personal name does not occur until Gen 4:1, though
many translators locate such a usage already at 2:20,
3:17 and 3:21 (in each of these three cases the consonantal text of the Hebrew original will allow for the
more generic meaning "man"). The reason for this is
that the word 'adham in Hebrew is the common noun

Adam

for man or mankind and is never used as a personal

name except in these chapters. This point is worthy
of some emphasis; no Hebrew speaker in the biblical
period would have thought this word refers to an actual
person. The usage of this common noun as a personal
name is the literary invention of the biblical author. The
reason for this unusual usage of a common noun as a
personal name is to advance the notion of the representative nature of this first human being. He represents
all human beings- who would necessarily stem from
him. Whatever happens to Adam has repercussions for
all humankind.
The name Adam is intimately tied to his origin
according to the creation account in- the Yahwistic
or "J" account (Gen 2:46-3:24): "God formed man
from the. dust of the ground." Here the words for
man and ground are understood as having a common
etymological origin: 'adham (human) comes from
nQ"l$ adamah (earth). God forms, or better molds,
this ground into the shape of a human person. God
is imagined here as a potter who works with- clay and
concludes his work by animating it with his very own
breath (see J, YAHWIST).
The name of the location that Adam is brought into
is Eden. Since this name has deep associations with- the
concepts of blessing and life, it is altogether possible
that our author presumes that if the first human couple
had remained .there they would not have died. This
does not mean that they were created immortal; in fact
just the opposite. They were created mortal but had
they been able to remain in Eden, eternal life would
have been conferred upon them. The location of Adam
and Eve is the determinative variableEden confers
"life"not the ontological status of the human being.
In any event, it is certainly significant that only when
they are driven into exile to the east of Eden and the
door is forever closed for reentry is their mortal status
made clear: "By the sweat of your face you shall eat
bread until you return to the ground for out of it you
were taken; you are dust and to dust you shall return"
(Gen 3:19).
The status of Adam as a special being among God's
other creatures is made in several ways. First, Adam is
animated by the infusion of the divine breath. Second,
Adam names the animals. This is an indication of his
lordship over them and so the animals often proceed
before Adam with bowed heads in early Christian art
and commentary. Though Genesis only hints at this
sort of notion, the domestication of the wild animals
becomes an important theme in later eschatological
and apocalyptic literature (see Isa 11:1-9; 65:17-25).
On the basis that last things must mirror first things,
later interpretive traditions would describe the origin
of strife within the animal kingdom and the origin of
the carnivore as rooted in the rebellion of Adam and
Eve (see Apoc. Mos., 10-12). In Eden, the conditions
described by Isa 11 and 65 held sway.

Adam
But lordship of Adam and Eve over other created
life does not entail destructive domination. Some readers with an empassioned environmental consciousness
have asserted that the roots of our ecological crisis
reside in the biblical doctrine of Adam's lordship over
creation, which meant his power to do with the created order whatever he saw fit to do. But the act of
calling the -animals by name invokes the images of a
protector and steward rather than a dictatorial ruler.
This is made very clear in the story of Jonah. In this
tale the fate of man and beast are inextricably linked.
Because domestic animals lived in close proximity to
human beings, should human civilization fall so would
the animals. Indeed our author makes a special point of
declaring that God had mercy on Nineveh because of
the great number of people and animals that dwelled
therein (Jonah 4:11).
A third manner of indicating the special status of the
human person is by way of their gender. To be sure, the
person's animals also possess gender, but the fact that
the Bible passes over this detail in silence is significant.
Here the biblical writer has in mind the unique form of
companionship and lifelong marital bonds that have no
counterpart in the animal world (Gen 2:24). As a result,
man is not considered complete until he is rendered in
his full sexual complementarity: "This at last is bone of
my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called
woman (!"ltJN 'ishah) for out of man .(ETN Msh) this
one was taken" (Gen 2:23; Tob 8:6).
Fourth, but by no means last, humanity is singled
out from the rest of creation by being made the subject
of a command that is tied to the faculty of moral discernment (what the Bible calls "the knowledge of good
and evil"). In linking that status of humankind to the
keeping of a commandment, the story of the garden of
Eden shows a rather broad parallel to Israel's national
story as Jewish midrashic tradition was wont to point
out. Both Adam, and Eve as well as Israel, are subject
to a divine edict. Adam's was a single command, while
Israel subjected herself to the totality of the Torah. Violation of this edict will entail exile from a land of life
and beatitude. God makes this explicit when he conveys the command to Adam (Gen 2:16-17); whereas
Moses conveys the same idea when he exhorts Israel to
obedience just before their entrance into the promised
land: "See, I am setting before you today a blessing and
a curse: the blessing if you obey the commandments
[ . . . ] and the curse if you do not obey the commandments" (Deut 11:26-27). Keeping the commandments
will yield a life of blessing in a land flowing with milk
and honey; disobedience will bring in its wake the
curse of exile and death.
One problem that has long perplexed readers of the
story is whether Adam and Eve would have attained
moral discernment had they not eaten of the tree.
The position of the ancient Gnostics that has been
adapted by many moderns is that God was jealous of

49

Adam
these creatures and withheld knowledge until they had
sinned and became mortal (see Gen 3:22, which offers
some support). Though there is some ambiguity in the
Genesis account, it is more likely that the Bible imagines that moral discernment would have been granted
to Adam and Eve but by other means. Because of the
rapidity of their fall, we will never know what they
might have been. This view is more in keeping with
the rest of Biblical teaching that regards wisdom as a
gift that only God can bestow and then, only to those
who fear him.
In any event it is clear that as a result of attaining
moral discernment by improper means Adam and Eve
are driven from Eden. This makes the story of the fall
very much like the other tales found in Gen 1-11:
Humankind comes upon natural goods by improper
means. So in Gen 4 we are witness to the -founding of
cities, musical instruments, and the tools of agriculture
all which were thought to be the result of a divine
gift elsewhere in the ANEas the result of the murderous offspring of Cain. Our narrative is not scoring
points to the favor of some sort of primitivism (a la
Rousseau). Cities, music, and agriculture are all items
worthy of praise elsewhere in the Bible. The point is
that these benefactions originate by sinful means, as
does the moral consciousness of man. They will only
be put to beneficial use by God's dramatic intervention
into history to elect the nation Israel.
In the priestly account of creation (Gen -1:12:4a)
the account of the creation of humankind is more brief.
Here the key motif is that humankind is created in the
image and likeness of God (1:26). It is worth emphasizing that the status of this first being as the "image and
likeness" is not limited to the male gender. The parallelistic form of expression rules that out:
So God created humankind (adam) in his image,
In the likeness of God he created them;
Male and female he created them (1:27).

What is conveyed by the notion of image is not

clear. Because the terms image and likeness are terms
for images or statues, one possibility is that "image"
refers to some sort of physical resemblance. Though
this may seem far-fetched, one should remember that
the Priestly source is quite fond of anthropomorphic
language to highlight the dignity of humanity. In the
tabernacle narrative (Exod 25-31; 35-40), for example, the making of a dwelling for God is described in
terms analogous to the creation, of the universe. As God
fashions the world in which humans will dwell, so the
Israelites fashion a shrine in which God will dwell. But
perhaps more significant for P than some sort of physical resemblance is the establishment of humankind
as rulers over the created order (Gen 1:28). As God
rules over the heavens, so human beings as his image
(literally his "representatives" in as much as a statue

Adam

50

re-presents a living being in a different form) hold sway

over the earth.
In early Jewish and Christian tradition, this motif
was pushed in two different directions. Since human
beings are distinguished from the animal kingdom by
language and the capacity for abstract thought that it
confers, the primary sense of image and likeness must
reside in the rational faculties of the human animal.
Human beings, though weaker than the animals,
can rule over them due to their higher wisdom. This
became an especially productive in Christian exegesis
because the rational faculty of humankind is defined by
his Aoyos logos (literally meaning "word" but having
the extended sense of "rationality"). In this way the
imagery of Gen 1 was thought to impinge on the definition of Christ in John 1:1 as the divine Logos ("In the
beginning was the Word ...").
The notion of the image could also retain its physical
characteristics in early Jewish and Christian interpretation. If human beings looked like God in any fashion is
was because they were enveloped in a glorious light.
In one Rabbinic traditionsubsequently adopted by
almost all Christian interpretersAdam and Eve were
adorned in garments of light. The animals had to hold
their heads down as they passed -before them due to
the brilliance of their light. This light was lost upon
their fall but would return at the resurrection when the
righteous would shine in heaven like stars.
Because the beginning of time was thought to mirror
the end of time, many biblical traditions about the eschaton were read back into the stories about creation. Thus
the Isaianic traditions about the peace that would reign
in the animal kingdom became a part of the conventional
depiction of Eden. Though Genesis is silent about the
relationship of Sabbath to human culture, the rest of the
Jewish Bible is not. This lead to the creation of numerous
Jewish traditions as to how Adam kept the first Sabbath
day. Indeed, the differences that exist between traditional Jewish and Christian readers of these chapters are
almost invariably grounded in the different visions the
two traditions have regarding the eschaton.
In the Pauline epistles, Adam becomes a type for
Jesus Christ, the "second Adam," who reverses the
exile and death brought by the "first" Adam (1 Cor
15:22, 45; Rom 5:14). See CREATION; EDEN, GARDEN OF; EVE; HUMANITY, OT; SECOND ADAM.

Adam and Eve

the Serpent Get It Right?" JTS39 (1988) 1-27; Susan
Niditch. Chaos to Cosmos: Studies in Biblical Patterns
of Creation (1985); Michael E. Stone. A History of the
Literature of Adam and Eve (1992); Howard Wallace.
The Eden Narrative (1985).
GARY A. ANDERSON
ADAM AND EVE, LIFE OF. A pseudepigraphic text
that narrates the adventures of the progenitors of
humankind after the fall and their subsequent expulsion from the Garden of Eden. This Midrash of Gen
3 has been preserved in at least two different textual
forms: a Greek one, also called Apocalypse of Moses,
and a Latin one. The Latin version begins with a
lengthy description of the penitence of Adam in the
Jordan and Eve in the Tigris River, where Satan successfully deceives her a second time (Latin 1-22, absent in
the Greek). Then, after Cain's murder of his brother
Abel, Eve gives birth to Seth (Latin 23-24 / / Greek
1-4). Adam informs Seth about the vision of the Lord
that he saw when he was taken up to the heavenly
Paradise (Latin 25-29, absent in the Greek), and then,
oh his deathbed he tells the story of the. original sin to
his sons and daughters and sends Seth forth to search
for the oil of mercy from the Garden of Eden (Latin
30-44 / / Greek 5-14). At-this point the Greek text
inserts Eve's own recollection of the fall-(Greek 15-30,
absent in Latin). Both forms come to an end with the
description of the death of Adam, the assumption of
his soul to the heavenly Paradise, and the burial of his
bodytogether with his son Abel and, a few days after,
his wife Eveon the spot where he had been created
(Latin 45-51 / / Greek 31-43).

The parallels that the Latin formespecially a

newly discovered manuscriptshared with the Armenian and Georgian versions, point out the existence of
a more developed Greek text, presently lost. Among
the most debated issues in contemporary research there
is the question of ascertaining whether or not such a
fuller form of the Life ofAdam and Eve was the original
one. Thus, de Jonge and Tromp argue for the primacy
of the preserved Greek text, while Anderson and Stone
argue for the text that was used by the translators of
the Latin, Armenian, and Georgian versions. Concerning the question of the Jewish or Christian origins of
the Life of Adam and Eve, a new consensus is growing
around de Jonge's original suggestion to see it as the
Bibliography: Gary A. Anderson. The Genesis of work of a Christian author. The question as to whether
Perfection: Adam and Eve in Jewish and Christian or not this author used ancient Jewish traditions and
Imagination (2001); James Barr. The Garden of Eden sources is still under debate.
The influence that the Life of Adam and Eve has
and the Hope of Immortality (1993); Phyllis Bird.
exerted on literature, art, and culture is enormous.
"'Male and Female He Created Them': Gen 1:27b in
the Context of the Priestly Account of Creation." HTR The Apocalypse of Adam (NHC V, 5), the Testament of Adam, the Cave of Treasures, the Conflict
74 (1981)' 129-59; Robert A. Di Vito. "The Demarcaof Adam and Eve with Satan, and the Discourse on
tion of Divine and Human Realms in Genesis 2-11."
Creation in the Biblical Traditions, ed. R. J. Clifford Abbaton, the Angel of Death are all connected with
the traditions found in the Life of Adam and Eve.
and J. J. Collins (1992) 39-56; R. W L. Moberly. "Did