Perhaps the first deception given to mankind about Adam occurred simply in the translation. The original biblical documents were primarily written in ancient Greek. The first translations were from Greek to Latin and then to Hebrew. Most English bibles are translated from the Hebrew texts. However there are a few newer versions where the translation attempt has been to go straight from Greek to English. The Hebrew language is full of words with multiple meanings and words that are also numbers (there are no numbers in the ancient Hebrew language). These two factors made translation very difficult. The source of Adam’s name is one fantastic example of the difficulty involved.
The name “Adam” comes from the Hebrew word “adamah” which means ground. Adam was used to indicate that he was formed “from the ground (or earth)”. “Adam” is also used throughout the Bible to describe the color red, and the color of the soil. “Adam” was also used to indicate all people in several locations throughout the Bible. The English word used depended on the context in which the word “adam” and sometimes “adamah” were used. For example, if the word occurred in a sentence referring to many people, then “adam” was translated as “mankind”. Sometimes it was translated as “red”, sometimes as “dirt”, and only when it appeared that the text was referring to the first man, was the name “Adam” used. This has led many scholars to a belief that the name “Adam” may have represented the primitive conception of human life: all of nature is alive, men come from and return to the Earth, and while we are here, the Earth sustains us[1]. In an attempt to explain the existence of mankind, a story about a man being made from the Earth is a perfectly plausible idea given to primitive peoples.
To understand the true concept of Adam, one must seek to discover how different religions view him. Was he the first man, a prophet, or a god? The traditional Jewish/Christian view of the Adam and Eve story is the most common, but even it has its discrepancies. In the first part of Genesis (Genesis 1), Adam and Eve were created “in Our image, after Our likeness” and they were created at the exact same moment. They were then given authority over all “creeping things . . . on Earth” (Gen. 1:26-27 KJV). In Genesis 2, Adam is created from the dust of the Earth and Eve is created from Adam’s rib. In Genesis 3: 4-5 KJV, the Tree of Life is referred to as making Adam and Eve “as gods, knowing good and evil”. Adam eats from the tree after believing Eve’s argument that they should have access to the same knowledge the gods had. According to Genesis 3:23, the punishment for eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge was banishment from paradise. Adam’s specific punishment was working the land for his food, and the curse of mortality (he will no longer live forever).
Islam views Adam as the first prophet of Allah (Muslim name for God). In their version of the fall of mankind, Adam and Eve were equally to blame for eating from the tree of knowledge. Both of them were present for the serpent’s argument and both agreed that they should no longer be denied access to the knowledge Allah had over them. They decided together to eat from the tree, so their punishment was equally distributed. According to the Qu’ran, Allah forgave Adam because Allah is merciful and loves all of His creatures (Qu’ran 2:37). A branch of Islam referred to as the Baha’i faith believes that religious history is an evolving process for mankind. This process is guided over time through God’s messengers. Adam was the first messenger of God. [2]
While each of the “sister” religions has their own interpretations of the fall of mankind, there are still other tales that seem to precede the written texts. One such tale exists in Saudi Arabia. It is a love story that time and distance had no control over. It begins with the idea that Adam and Eve were equally to blame for the fall and the consumption of the fruit of knowledge. However, part of the punishment was that Adam and Eve were to fall from Paradise to different locations on Earth. It is said that Adam fell near Mecca and Eve near Jeddah. Their love for each other was so great that they searched for each other. It took them 200 years to find each other. At that moment, God recognized their penitence and forgave them their sin of eating the forbidden fruit. Adam prayed on Mt. Arafat that a shrine be built like the one in Paradise, and God granted Adam’s request as a sign of His forgiveness. When Adam and Eve finally perished, Adam was buried in Mecca, and Eve was buried near the sea of Jiddah which bears her name: Maternal Ancestor (Arabic). [3] This particular tale of loyalty and love is not in the Muslim Qu’ran, but instead was passed on from generation to generation until it was finally recorded.
In the same area, the story of Adam’s creation is also different. Adam was formed from dust taken by God from the Holy Rock of Sakhrah in Bet el Maddas. He was left without life for 40 days (some stories say 40 years) while God told the angels and the Jinn that he was to be worshipped as soon as breath was in him. In this story, Adam was half male and half female. Eventually the female half separated completely from the male half and became her own person. Although there still was love between them, she refused to submit to him because she and Adam were made of the same materials. For her refusal she was turned out of paradise and supposedly became the mother of devils (she became known as El Karineh by Arabs and Lilith by Jews). God then created Eve from Adam’s rib, so that she would know she owed her life to Adam. She would be “less” than him, and therefore must submit to him. Another part of the tale says that after the fall and during their 200 years of separation, Adam paired with many Jinn and populated the world with them, while Eve paired with Lilith’s devils and populated the world with them.
All myths and legends have a basis in fact, or motives for their invention, and the story of Adam is no exception. There are several possibilities for why these stories exist, yet the interpretations, while leaving more questions than answers, intrigue the critical mind. These myths and stories fuel our spiritual journey, urging us to seek our own answers in our "quest" for our own Spiritual Truths.
Bibliography:
[1] http://www.bibletexts.com
[2] http://www.wikipedia.org
[3] http://www.sacredsites.com/middle_east/saudi_arabia/mecca.html
Background by http://www.glorianon.com/dlbacks/index.shtml