Adam and Eve, Part 5

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. . . . God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
Genesis 1.1, 27

“Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. . . . So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.
The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.”
Genesis 2:7, 21-22

“So also it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul.’The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual.
The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven.”
1 Corinthians 15:45-47

A final difficulty resulting from the belief Adam and Eve were the first two human beings is the identities of Cain’s wife and those who, upon finding Cain, would kill him. Where did Cain’s wife come from, and who were the people who would kill Cain? Obviously, by the time Cain had killed Abel, more people were living than Adam and Eve and their two sons. So, who were these people? Did Cain marry, as some have said, his sister? (Did God allow with Cain what he disallowed for all Israel? See. Lev. 18.1-18 Also, Gen. 4.25 stands against such an idea.) Further, who were the people who would kill Cain if they found him? Where did they come from?

If, as geneticists argue, modern humans arose from a “bottleneck” population of a minimum of several thousand hominids 150,000 years ago, then the Adam and Eve as the historical parents of all humans is unreliable, at best. Further, if Adam and Eve were not real, a host of biblical propositions fall on their faces. In fact, the integrity of Scripture could be seriously challenged, and the foundations of both Judaism and Christianity would begin to crumble.

As has been argued already, Adam and Eve do not have to be viewed as the literal first human beings, and thus, the parents of all human beings. What is known from Scripture about Adam and Eve is their place in the lineage of the Israelites. From them descended Abraham through the line of Shem, son of Noah and direct descendant of Adam. Through Ham and Japheth and their descendants, who are/were Gentiles (see Gen. 10.1-20), we find a link between all non-Jews and Adam. In that way, one could argue Adam was the father of all humans. A problem, though, might exist with that line of reasoning. If Noah’s wife was not directly descended from Adam as Noah was, she would have represented a genetic line outside the Adamic gene pool.

We turn back to the identities of Cain’s wife and the people Cain feared, who upon finding him would kill him. Again, we ask, who were those people? Where did they come from? The obvious answer to that question is found in the first two chapters of Genesis. If, as we have argued, Genesis 1.1-2.4 is the account of the original creation of the universe, and Genesis 2.5-2.25 is the “story of Israelite origins,” the identity of Cain’s wife and the other people living in the world of Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel can be discovered.

Genesis 1.26-28 tells a unique story of the creation of human life. First of all, human life has a connection with all other animal life. In Gen. 1.24, animal life was described as being brought forth from the earth. The words “living creatures” is the translation of the Hebrew word nephesh chayah, meaning, living being. Further, Adam himself was called a living being. Yet, human beings hold a distinct place in the realm of “living beings,” since, when God created human life, he created human beings “in His own image.” Believing God created an original population of human beings does not conflict at all with Gen. 1.26-28. For, in creating human life, God told “them” to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule.” Not only do humans have in their essential being a special relationship with God, we also have a special relationship with our world and all life within that world. So, not only did Cain marry into a existing human community, Ham, Shem and Japheth must have done so as well.

Based on the view God could have created, and I believe did create, an original human population of at least several thousands, no conflict can exist between the conclusions of “population genomics” researchers and what the Bible teaches. Thus, we can argue Cain found his wife in an existing population of human beings. Further, this population had existed in communities, villages, towns and, perhaps, cities. Adam and Eve were not alone in their world.

Ostling, in his Christianity Today article, “The Search for Historical Adam,” indicates one important issue: whatever position we take, problems exist. In attempting to understand the biblical story of human beginnings, we all “see through a glass, darkly.” Our knowledge is limited. Yet, if we take Scripture seriously, we must, in some consistent manner, come to terms with its affirmations, including its declaration, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Likewise, we must decide how we will stand with regard to the equally important declaration, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”