Adam

Adam is the man who with Eve, forms the first human couple mentioned in the Bible. Adam is the forefather of mankind. Adam and Eve live in the Garden of Eden until God sends them away. Together they are the parents of Cain, Abel and Seth.

The name Adam means “human being” or “man”. His name is very much like the Hebrew word for “earth” or “surface of the earth”. You can deduce from his very name that Adam was made out of the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7). Adam is always addressed as “man” in Genesis 1–3. Only when he is chased out of paradise with Eve, is he called “Adam” (Genesis 4:1).

Adam is given the task of cultivating and guarding the Garden of Eden, paradise (Genesis 2:15). He is alone while doing this, and God sees that this is not good. Adam does not find anyone to suit him among the animals either.
Therefore, God makes Adam fall asleep. He builds a woman out of Adam’s rib (Genesis 2:22). This woman is of the same kind as Adam and he recognises himself in her.

Adam and Eve are not allowed to eat the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. When they go ahead and eat the fruit, because the snake tempts Eve to eat it, they see that they are naked. They hide before God, but he calls them to him.
God asks the man whether he has eaten anything from the tree. Adam says that he has, but blames the woman. The woman in turn blames the snake that tempted her (Genesis 3:11-13). As punishment, they have to leave the Garden of Eden and from then onwards, Adam will have to work hard to grow food to eat.

Outside the garden, Adam and Eve have two sons, Cain and Abel. But Cain kills his brother Abel. When Adam is 130 years old, he and Eve have another son, Seth (Genesis 5:3).