Adam of Gen1 is the same Adam of Gen 2

LM77 · September 16, 2019, 9:29am

Below is an excerpt of something I posted in another thread. I’ll drop it in here in hope that it will be helpful in this discussion too.

Spin-off discussion about Cain's wife

I have come to this conclusion about the relationship between Gen 1 & 2 by examining a range of evidence (a non-exhaustive list, in no particular order):

Textual evidence - the lack of continuity between Gen 1 & 2, especially in the presentations of God and the order of events.

Linguistic evidence - the ambiguous use of אָדָם (adam, in its various forms) in Gen 1 compare to the more specific uses in Gen 2 and following chapters.

Ancient Near Eastern Literature - Comparison between Gen 1-2 and similar creation epics of the time imply that Gen 1 might have more to do with God creating a world-temple for himself and images (plural) to fill that temple than the material origins of the universe and life on earth. Again Gen 2 might have more to do with God creating a Garden holy of holies to dwell in and Adam being appointed priest to serve in it than the material origins of the human race through one man.

Anthropology - All signs seem to point to humans originating out of Africa not the middle-east

Culture - Adam probably wasn’t even the man’s real name since the original account would predate the emergence of Biblical Hebrew. This is likely true even if one assumes YEC since then the most likely origin of the Hebrew would be the Babel incident not Eden. The passages say they all spoke one language it gives no indication that this Language was biblical Hebrew and that it remained unaffected after the babel event.

Science - fossil record, common decent, comparative embryology, astronomy, physics, geology, and many more all appear to point to a [different] account of the origin of the universe, life and humanity than the [literal] events than Gen 1.

Having settled on this position (Gen 1 tells of God ‘making’ an undisclosed number of humans in Gen 1). I am now working through the implications of that position.