A is for Adam

For those joining me for A to Z, please read the Introductory Post

It seems fitting to start off this year's A to Z with the first man ever, Adam.

The first interesting thing to note about Adam, is that God actually took the time and care to make Adam out of dirt.  The whole first chapter of Genesis shows how God created the entire universe with just his word and he could have easily created Adam that way as well, but he doesn't.

Genesis 2:7: The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Shortly after this, Adam gets the monumental task of naming all the animals.  But then, he realizes that they all have mates, but he doesn't.  So, God takes care of that.  Again, God could have just said the word and created a woman, but he takes time to craft Eve.

Genesis 2:21-22: So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

Then, we have trouble in paradise.  

Genesis 3:1-7: Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Anyone trying to solely blame Eve for the fall needs to look at the bolded and underlined text that indicates that Adam was standing RIGHT NEXT TO HER!  So, they can both equally share the blame for the fall.  God even gives them a few chances to come clean after they sinned.  

Genesis 3:8-12: Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

Notice how Adam is not blaming Eve for messing up, but God.  God should have just killed them on the spot, but he also is a God of love and mercy so he punishes them but gives them the promise of a Savior to give them hope. Adam is condemned to have to work the ground for the rest of his life but still has a relatively long life of 930 years.