Adam is the Hebrew and Biblical designation for humanity generally, and specifically for the progenitor of the human race. According to Genesis i, mankind was created on the sixth day "made in the image of God" with dominion over all animate creation. Genesis ii provides a more detailed account, locating the creation near Babylon at the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in Eden. God "formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Gen. ii. 7). He was placed in a garden to tend it, permitted to eat all fruit except from "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." When no suitable companion was found among animals, God created woman from Adam's rib.
CURSE OF DISOBEDIENCE
Genesis iii describes humanity's moral history. The serpent tempted the woman, claiming the forbidden fruit would grant divine knowledge. She ate and gave fruit to her husband. Consequences followed: the serpent faced perpetual enmity with humanity; the woman endured childbirth pain and subjection to her husband; Adam received a curse making the ground produce thorns and thistles, requiring toilsome labor for sustenance. Both were expelled from Eden "to till the ground from which he was taken."
IN APOCRYPHAL AND RABBINICAL LITERATURE
Rabbinical tradition emphasizes Adam's representative character, teaching that "he who destroys a single soul destroys a whole world" (Sanh. iv. 5). His creation from dust gathered from all world regions symbolized humanity's unity. One tradition holds "His head was made of earth from the Holy Land; his main body, from Babylonia; and the various members from different lands" (Sanh. 38a).
Haggadic sources emphasize Adam's pre-fall glory. He was "like one of the angels," with body "reaching from earth to heaven" (Hag. 12a, Sanh. 38b). His beauty was sunlike, his skin bright like garments of light. When God said "Let us make man," jealous angels questioned: "What is man that Thou thinkest of him? A creature full of falsehood, hatred, and strife!" (Gen. R. viii.). Love pleaded his favor, and the Lord responded, "Let truth spring forth from the earth!"
A significant legend, preserved in Adam and Eve and the Slavonic Book of Enoch, describes Michael commanding all angels to honor Adam's image. All obeyed except Satan, who was hurled from heaven for his rebellion—his throne reserved for Adam at future resurrection.
Pre-fall privileges included angelic attendants, "angel's bread," and universal creation's reverence. Sin stripped him of all glory; the earth and heavens lost brightness, returning only in Messianic times (Gen. R. xii.). Death came to Adam and creation. Given God's thousand-year day (Ps. xc. 4), Adam lived 930 years—seventy less than one thousand—fulfilling "in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die."
Jewish sources stress repentance's redemptive power. Adam exemplifies the penitent sinner, undergoing purification through fasting, praying, and bathing for forty-nine days (Vita Adae et Evae; Erekhin 18b; Abodah Zarah 8a; Pirke R. El.).
When darkness first came after his sin, Adam feared God's wrath. The Lord taught him to make fire by striking stones—initiating the blessing over fire concluding each Sabbath. Receiving the curse "Thou shalt eat of the herbs of the earth," Adam despaired he and his donkey would share the same manger. God reassured him: "With the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread!" Angels subsequently taught him agriculture, trades, and ironwork.
ADAM IN THE FUTURE WORLD
Adam initially wore garments of light, not skin (Gen. R. xx.). Described as "the first to enter Hades" (Sibylline Oracles, i. 81), he was also "the first to receive the promise of resurrection" (Gen. R. xxi. 7).
According to the Testament of Abraham, Adam sits at the gates watching multitudes pass—weeping for the many entering the wide gate toward punishment, rejoicing for the few entering the narrow gate toward reward.
The distinctive Jewish perspective appears in Shabbat (the Sabbath)h 55a (based on Ezekiel xviii. 20): "No man dies without a sin of his own." Thus pious ones, permitted to behold God's glory before death, reproach Adam for bringing death. He responds: "I died with but one sin, but you have committed many: on account of these you have died; not on my account."
Rabbis attributed Psalms v, xix, xxiv, and xcii to Adam. His body was supposedly displayed at Hebron's cave of Machpelah (B. B. 58a; Gen. R. lviii.). The rabbis taught the beautiful idea that "Adam was created from the dust of the place where the sanctuary was to rise for the atonement of all human sin," ensuring sin would never become inherent to human nature (Gen. R. xiv.).
Modern critics identify two source documents in Genesis creation accounts. The Priestly Code (P) presents creation as the first stage in Israel and theocracy's history. The second narrative (Genesis ii. 4-iv.), written earlier than the priestly document, centers on Adam founding the human race. Its descriptions are naive and anthropomorphic: man's Eden home, divinely-given mate, knowledge progression, sin, paradise banishment, and his children's fates.
"Adam" derives from the ground concept. Genesis ii. 7 explains: "God formed man of dust of the ground." The man was called "Adam" because formed from ground (adamah) (Gen. iii. 19). Originally, "Adam" was not a proper name but generic. Genesis i uses it wholly generically. "Adam" as proper name likely appears first at Genesis iv. 25 (J) and v. 3 (P).
Authors: J. Frederic McCurdy, Kaufmann Kohler, Richard Gottheil