[This was first posted in 2012, reposted 2014, on the occasion of Father’s Day.—Admin1]
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Since we did an article in May on the track record of mothers in the bible on the occasion of ‘Mother’s Day” [The hand that rocks the cradle . . .], on the occasion of ‘Father’s Day” it is only fair to check out if the biblical fathers fared any better [or worse].
The biblical culture being patriarchal and patrilineal—the prominence of men and the tracing of the tribal line through fathers and sons, it is natural to expect more from the male figures in the biblical narratives though let us not forget, men are only human and just as fallible as women; that’s real equality of the sexes.
Let us not be hard on Adam. He was not born, he was not created from nothing, he was made from something already existing in creation—-dust—that’s what his name means in Hebrew, “adamah.” He had no “parents” to teach him, but never mind, how could any earthly parent compare with the best fathering Adam could possibly have from the Creator God Himself.
Genesis 2:24 is a strange text to suddenly appear out of the blue after the description of how woman was made from the rib of man:
Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.
At this point, the first couple had no parents to leave behind; and Adam did not know Eve as “wife” but as “help meet”, as the other creature like him but not quite. Marriage had not been introduced but the first couple had no problem obeying the command to procreate even if they failed the test to not eat from the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and evil.
Adam sired Cain and Abel but what kind of a father was he toward them? We’ll never know because the text doesn’t say. Often we judge according to results.
Presumably, since the brothers made offerings to God early on in the text, we could surmise that they were simply doing what they were taught to do by their parents, be grateful to God and show it through offerings. We know how the story of Cain and Abel progressed and ended. After Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden, he had a son named Enoch, and his line of descendants is given.
Then the narrative goes back to Adam who had another son named Seth who becomes the father of Enosh. [It’s easy to get confused with biblical names, Cain had Enoch while Seth had Enosh.] Seth supposedly replaces Abel to continue the lineage from which Noah will descend.
“The generations of Adam” is given but not before a distinction is made about Adam having been made “in the likeness of God” while Seth was a son in Adam’s own likeness, after his image. This difference is specifically emphasized as a Christian prooftext for the doctrine of original sin. Adam in his innocent pre-fall state was made in the image of God; but after “the fall,” Seth was begotten in the likeness and after the image of Adam, meaning, Seth was tainted with original sin, so the image of God had been marred, and all mankind would be mired in a fallen nature that dominates them, that they cannot overcome.
Not so fast . . . if Adam’s “original sin” would taint all his descendants, then it should have been first-born Cain who should have been described immediately as made in Adam’s likeness and image, not the third son. And let us forget there was a son in between, Abel. If both Abel and Seth are projected as good apples and only Cain was a bad apple so to speak, then original sin is not a universal inheritance. In fact, each individual is really responsible for his choice and its consequences. The rest of the TNK would reinforce that.
We asked the rabbis why it was Seth who was described as made in Adam’s likeness and image and guess what was the answer? So simple, why did we not think of it: because of the three sons so far named, it was Seth who looked like Adam, as in father-son physical resemblance, plain and simple.
We have to learn not to infuse New Testament theology when we read the Hebrew Scriptures; we should not jump to “AHA”-conclusions to make the Old fit the New.
So back to Adam, how do we rate him as the first father? If we’re judging him based simply on his obedience to the commandment “Be fruitful, and multiply” he succeeded. And that’s about all we can deduce from the text.
Disappointed?
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