THE
Adam
JKWISII ENCYCLOPEDIA
a more particular account of man's creation given. Tlia scene is in Baliylnnia. near the conHueiicc of the Euphrates and 'rij.'ris rivers, in the country of Eden. After the soil had been preiiared liy nKiistiire "God formed man of the dust of the {iroumi, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Gen. ii. 7). ii.
is
174
of all living ('n) it is only known that af ttr th?ir exile from the garden they had children born to them (see Gen. v. 3, 4). .1. F. McC.
In Apocr3rphal and Rabbinical LiteraWhile th<' geneiic characlir ihal the name
ture
Adam
has in the ohler jiarts of .Sciiplure. where it article ("the man"), was gnidually lost sight of, his typical character as the representative of the unity of mankind was constantly eml)liasized (comi)are Sanh. iv. .5; the correct reading in Tosef., Sanh. viii. 4-9); " Why was only u sinkMe specimen of man ereatwl flret? To of
appears with the
who ilratroys a single soul destroys a whole he who saves a single 8oul savesu w'ht.tle w»rld; order that no rare or elans may elalm a n<ibler aiice>tiT. siiyiiiff. Miiir father was born first'; and, finally, to irivi- tvstiuiony to the greatness of the Uird, win) caused the Icnrli
us
wnrtfi
aii'I tliiit
tlint lie
ruiIlHTiiior>>. In
woiHlerful diversity of mankind to emanate frxiiu one lyi>e. And why WHS Adam created last of all helntra? To teach him hinrdllly: for If he tie overlK-arlng, let him remember that the Utile Uy preceded hlui In the order of creation."
In a dispute, therefore, as to which Biblical verse expresses the fundamental principle of the Law, Simon ben 'A/.kai niiiinlained against R. Akiba wlio, following llillel. h:id singlecl out the (Joldcn Rule (I>ev. xix. IS) that the luinciple of love must have as its basis Gen. v. 1, which teaches that all men are the olfspring of him who was made in the image Yer. Xed. ix. 41c of God (Sifra, Kedoshiin, iv. Gen. R. 24). This idea, expressed also by Paul in his speech at Athens, " [God] hath made of one bliKid all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth" (Acts. xvii. 26). foimd expression According to Tar,i:. in many characteristic forms. Ycr. to Gen. ii. 7. God took dust from the holy compaie Pirke jilace (as " the center of the earth " R. Kliezerxi., xx.) and the four parts of the world, mingling it with the water of all the seas, and madC him red, black, and white (probably more correctly Pirke R. K. xi. and Chronicle of Jerahmeel, bones and vi. 7; "White, black, red, and green sinews white; intestines black; lilood red; skin of body or liver green"); coinpiire Pliilo, "Creation of the "World." xlvii. Abulfcda. " llistoria Ante-Islamica." The Sibylline Oracles (iii. 24-2(i)and, following the .same, the Slavonian Book of Enoch find the cosmopolitan nature of Ailam, his ori.i;in from the four regions of theearth. exjiressed in the four letters of his name: Analole (East), Dysis (West), Arktos
—
—
—
ReceiviuK tbe Breath of Life through the (From
Nitvtllc'a Eiryplisin
Ni>strils.
" Bo.k of ibc Dead.")
He was then
placed in a franlcn ]ilaiitcd for him in Eden, to " till and tend it." Of all that grew in the garden lie was permitted to eat freely, except " the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Man ne.xt made the acquaintance of all the lower animals, learning their (pialities, and giving them names. But among these he found no lit Companion. Hence God, by express creative act, made for him a mate, by taking a rib from his side and constructing it into a woman. In Gen. iii. the first chapter in the moral history of
mankind is given.
The woman was
who told her that if she and her husband would parobedience, take of the forbidden fruit their eyes would be opened, and they " would be She as gods, knowing good and evil " (Gen. iii. S) ate of the fruit, and gave to her husband, W'ho also This act of disobedience was followed by ate of it. a divine judgment. The serpent was cursed becaus(! he had tempted the woman, and between his and her descendants there was to be per]ietual enThe woman was condemned to tlie pangs of mity. child bearing and to subjection to her husband. As a punishment for the man the ground was cursed: thorns and thistles were to siiring up; hard labor would be needed to instire the production of human food; and toil would be the lot of man from childhood to the grave. Finally, the man and his wife were expelled from the garden "to till the ground from which he wius taken." Of Adam and his wife, now called " Eve " (mn) because she was the mother Curse of Dis-
tempted
liy
the serpent,
.
Supposed Assyrian ilepiv mentation of the Teiiiptall<m. (From
the Britbh
Museum.)
and Mesembria (South). R. .Toliaiian interprets DTX as being an acrostic of IBX (ashes), QT (Xortli).
niD (.sail; see Sotah. 5<(). But this interpretation seems to have originated in other circles; for we lind Isidor of Seville ("De Natura Rerum." ix.) declare that Adam was made of blood (sanf/uis), gall (chole), black gall (iMlanr/wlia), and phlegm: the four parts constituting the temperaments, which correspond to the four elements of nature, as does the microcosm to the macrocosm (see (blood), an<l
