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        ADAM

Where it all began.....

   PEOPLE IN THE STORY

   BIBLE REFERENCE

   FAMOUS QUOTES

   INTERESTING SITES

   ACTIVITIES/QUESTIONS

THE CREATIONS OF HUMANS
On the sixth day in the story of Creation, God created a human being - Adam. This creature was made in God's image, but what does that mean? That he was by nature impelled to create, to look at what he saw and change it? Even if sometimes the changes did not work out well?

God made man master over the earth and all that was on it. Then he created woman, telling her and Adam to be fruitful and multiply. 

God told Adam that he could eat from any tree in the Garden of Eden, except one. This was the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil - if Adam ate from that, he would die. But all was well in paradise, and the man and the woman were happy. 

Until the serpent came to tempt them. 'Eat the fruit' said the serpent. 'Why not?' 

ADAM AND EVE DISOBEY GOD
Eve was intrigued by this temptation: the fruit would make her wise, she thought. So she took one piece from the Tree of Knowledge, ate it and offered some to Adam. He ate it too.

Suddenly everything changed. They felt shame, becoming aware of their nakedness for the first time. They hid from the presence of God. But God called to them: "Where are you?" They knew the were caught.

Their reaction was very human. Instantly, they began to blame each other. Adam blamed Eve for offering him the fruit. Eve blamed the serpent for tempting her. But the deed had been done, and they now faced the consequences, which were terrible - God sent them from the Garden, and an angel with a flaming sword barred the entrance so Adam could never return. 

'Eat the fruit' said the serpent. 'Why not?'

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LIFE IN THE REAL WORLD
Life would never be the same. Adam was sentenced to a life of toil. There would never again be food without work. Adam must labor hard and long to get food, fighting infertile ground full of thorns and thistles. The sweat of his brow would be the price he paid for bread. Eve would share his fate, and suffer the pangs of childbirth, as would all future women.

The pain did not end there. Adam had sons, Cain and Abel, but when they grew they fought together, and in one violent struggle Cain killed his brother. The first murder. Then God took pity on Adam's misery and gave him another son, Seth, who was just like his father in every way....

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BIBLE REFERENCE
Genesis 1:1 - 4:24

PEOPLE IN THE STORY
God: the creator of the universe and all that is in it
Adam:  the first human being. His name means 'that man' or 'human being', but it is close to the word for soil or ground - 'adamah'.
Eve: the first woman
Cain, Abel and Seth: sons of Adam and Eve

FAMOUS QUOTES
'God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.' Genesis 1:27
'God saw everything he had made, and it was good.' 1:31
'It is not good that a man should be alone.' 2:18
'I will put enmity between you and the woman...' 3:15
'...in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.' 3:16
'you are dust and to dust you shall return' 3:19

INTERESTING WEBSITES - stories, pictures, reconstructions

Archaeological finds relating to the story of Adam and Eve
BIBLE ARCHAEOLOGY: ADAM 

Farming in ancient times
BIBLE ARCHAEOLOGY: AGRICULTURE  

Eve takes the blame
BIBLE TOP TEN: BAD WOMEN  

The story of Eve in more detail
WOMEN IN THE BIBLE: EVE

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ACTIVITIES AND FOCUS QUESTIONS

Doodling
Take a little time to print the words GOOD and EVIL. Cross out one of the O's in GOOD. Put a D in front of EVIL. What do you have?

 Discovering the characters
The four characters in the Genesis story are God, Man, Woman, and Evil
Working from the text, draw up a list of the characteristics of each of the four. Give at least three words for each. Be careful that the words you think of are related to the story as you read it in the Genesis text, and not to ideas you have inherited from other people.
Compare your list with the list of a learning partner. Are there differences?
Discuss with your learning partner the qualities of each character. (Woody Allen commented that the problem with the Bible is that it suffers from a totally unbelievable main character!)

 Think about this:
If you could go back and warn Adam against accepting the apple and eating it, would you? Think about it. The question is not as straightforward as you'd imagine.

 Discussion - Caring for the environment
Topic 1: How might the creative potential we have, being made ‘in God’s image’ (Genesis 1:26), be used to restore the Garden?
Topic 2: How does the story of Adam illustrate the connection between actions and consequences?

In depth study of one person's story
Choose one of the people whose stories are told on this site and develop a PowerPoint presentation about them.
The presentation must be at least 10 slides long and should include 
 *  a supporting image/picture/painting of each person 
 *  a map of Israel showing the cities and areas where the story took place.  
You may call up other websites to support your ideas.

In your presentation (approximately 10 minutes), answer the following questions:

1. What are the main events of the person's life? Tell the story.

2. What were their main qualities? What made them stand out from the crowd?

3. What obstacles did they face? Did they overcome them, or go with the flow? Explain.

4. How did they use their abilities to do God’s work?  

5. Which part of their story appeals to you most? Why?

You must include three short quotations from the Bible texts to illustrate the points you are making. 

FOCUS QUESTIONS for Bible stories

1. What are the most interesting moments in the story of Adam? 
2. In the story, who speaks and who listens? Who acts? Who gets what they want? If you were in the story, which person would you want to be friends with? Which person would you want to avoid?
3. What is God's interaction with the three characters? What does this tell you about the narrator's image of God? Do you agree with this image?
4. What happens in the chapters after the initial story? Does this help you understand the message?
5. The narrator/editor has chosen to tell some things and leave other things out. What has been left out of the story that you would like to know?
6. How are the consequences of the story still present in the world? How is the story relevant to modern life, especially your own?

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SOME EXTRA IDEAS.....

ABOUT THE CREATION OF THE COSMOS
'The style of the prologue (in Genesis 1) is amazing for its deliberate simplicity, its ascetic style. It shows not the slightest trace of rhetoric.... it manages to give the impression of restrained power. .... Is it prose or poetry?' 
'Theological thought in Genesis 1 moves not so much between the poles of nothingness and creation as between the poles of chaos and cosmos.' 'In the Beginning', Henri Blocher, p31,66.

ABOUT THE CREATION OF WOMAN
'It is not good that the man should be alone' (Genesis 2:18). The remark amazes us. It is the only negative assessment in the creation narrative, and it is emphatically negative. By this divine reason of the creation of the woman, Scripture could not underline better the degree to which solitude contradicts the calling of humanity. From the very beginning, the human being is a Mitsein, a being-with; human life attains its full realization only in community. No man is an island, and everyone must discover himself to be his neighbor's neighbor.'
'In the Beginning', Henri Blocher, p96.

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Bible Stories: People of the Old Testament - Bible Study Resource
God, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent in the Garden of Eden