A Journey Through The Old Testament - Elmer Towns

TWO
ADAM:
The Man Who Had Everything to Lose
(Genesis 1:26-3:24)
The last day of Creation is the greatest in the sense that God created a person who mirrored Himself.
The universe with its awesome power and magnificent beauty did not completely satisfy the Creator. “I will
make man,” determined God. “I will make him like Myself.”
God molded man out of the dirt and as he lay prostrate on the ground, the angels who viewed this
sight could not have imagined the vast potential that could be wrought by this creature who was lower than
them in nature and status. God breathed into this lifeless clay-person and man became a living soul. The word
soul means breath; man now had the breath or life of God in him. As man arose from the ground, he reflected
God who made him, for man was made in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26-27).
The name Adam is actually a Hebrew word for man and is used in that sense some 560 times in the
Old Testament. Linguists have suggested his name may mean, “creature,” “ruddy one,” “earthborn,”
“pleasant,” or “social,” but none or certain. The word Adam comes from the root for “red,” suggesting red
clay was present when man was created. There seems to be a linguistic relationship between the Hebrew word
for dust and the word for man, which is emphasized in the Creation account (2:7). Adam is identified by his
name eight times in the New Testament, plus other references to him where he is not specifically identified.
Someone has suggested the Bible is a story of two men, Adam and Christ, and those who follow
them. This is certainly in keeping with the teaching of the Apostle Paul (Rom. 5:12-21), who identified Christ
as the second Adam.
ADAM, THE SON OF GOD (Gen. 1:26-31; 2:4-25)
The only reference to Adam by name in the Gospels concludes the genealogy of Christ, “Adam, the
son of God” (Luke 3:38). This expression reminds the reader that Adam was not born into a family but rather
was created “of God.” The Old Testament uses two words for create to describe the relationship between
Adam and God. The first term bara’ emphasizes the power of God in creating Adam (Gen. 1:27). The second
term yasar emphasizes His artistic creativity in forming man from the dust much as a potter molds an artistic
vessel of clay (2:7). Adam was the artistic creation of God and what a creation that was!
One of the principles by which God governs His universe is the law “like begets like,” as seen, in the
expression “according to its kind” (Gen. 1:12, 21, 24-25). God created various species of animal and plant life
and they reproduce themselves after their own kind. When God created Adam He continued the same
principle. God highlighted His Creation with a representation or mirror image of Himself (v. 26). In a very real
sense Adam was not just another catalog selection of possible life forms in the mind of God but rather he was a
replica of God Himself. This was Luke’s emphasis when he called Adam “the son of God” (Luke 3:38).
Some Jewish rabbis taught man was created on the sixth day so that God could keep him humble; the
gnat was created before him. There are many reasons for man’s creation on the sixth day, but one suggestion is
that God created the home for man before He created its occupant. One cannot carefully read the description of
Adam’s first home without recognizing the similarity of it with our final home. Adam was created to live and
work in a place that might rightly be called “heaven on earth.” It was a completely self-sufficient environment
with everything Adam could need or want.