What we might not know about Adam & Eve

StarInsider via MSN, 1/13/22; expanded by Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

What most of us probably don't know about Adam and Eve

First of all, there’s more than one Adam and Eve story.

For instance, the ancient Egyptian god of fertility, Khnemu, created people from clay. The same goes for the Greek god Prometheus, who was the god of fire who also created humans.

Adam and Eve building blocks

It's a Sumerian story taken by Judaism

The story borrows elements from both the Babylonian creation myth Enuma Elish and that of Gilgamesh, an epic hero from Mesopotamia (modern Iraq).

In the first story, dust [clay powder] is used to create humans.

In the latter, the gods create a (male) companion for Gilgamesh. The hero at some point loses immortality after falling for a snake’s trick. A woman then disrupts the men’s idyllic lives. Sound familiar?

• The Genesis story: reading biblical narratives (Hillsdale College Online Courses)

Adam had two wives

Adam had a first wife, named Lilith, who was banished from the Garden of Eden for disobeying her husband. Lilith, who is present in Jewish mythology, then became [was turned into] a demon.

Adam's second wife

It was only then that Eve was created from one of Adam's bones [not a "rib" so much as his side]. And here is where translation gets tricky.

Most of us believe it was a rib, or at least that is how it was translated from Hebrew.

Adam’s bone(r)?

The "apple tree" was an entheogenic mushroom

The original word is tsela. And while it is translated as "rib" when Eve is made, the word actually refers to the side or "limbs lateral to the vertical axis of an erect human body."

This means that Eve could have been made from any of Adam’s bones in his side region [or from a half of him, one side or characteristic of an androgynous being, a male possessing twos or a complete nature].

Adam’s boner

Some theorists point to Adam’s baculum (penis bone) as the source. The theory is that, unlike many other mammals, humans don’t have a baculum, so Eve would have been made from it....

Was it the devil who tempted Eve?

Satan wasn’t a figure in early Jewish theology, so the original story had nothing to do with the devil.

It is likely that the serpent of the Book of Genesis was later interpreted in such a way.

Islam’s version of Adam and Eve

The story of Adam and Eve (Hawa) can also be found in the Quran [the Muslim Bible]. The main difference is that they are both tempted into eating from the tree.

Islam and Judaism are both Abrahamic.

Moreover, original sin doesn’t exist in Islam, so they both ate from the tree and paid for their sin without making all of humanity pay for it for all eternity.

In Islam, things are a bit different though. Allah created Adam and ordered the angels to worship him, but Iblis (aka Satan) refused to do so. Therefore, in the Quran the serpent is explicitly the devil.

They were kicked out of paradise and separated for 200 years. But they eventually reunited and had two sons, Qābīl and Hābīl. And just like Cain and Abel, one kills the other.

Adam and Eve had many more kids. In fact, Eve gave birth to 20 sets of twins! More