Adam's Love

by Lori Thacker

The first and second chapters of Genesis tell and then retell the seven days of creation. Reading chapter one alone, we would assume that Adam and Eve were created together, but the true timeline is made clear in chapter two. "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed." Genesis 2:7-8 Adam was created first, then the garden was planted, and Adam was placed in the garden alone. "And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Genesis 2:15-17 If you are reading this the way that I am, God is telling Adam the rules before Even is even a gint in his eye, much less a pain in his side. Adam was the caretaker of Eden. Verse 8 told us that God created this garden specifically for him.

Adam had a beautiful home. He walked on the plushest carpet of green grass, he dipped his hands in the cool river of water running through the garden, and he rested in fields of flowers (minus the honeybees). But even with all the splendor, even with God's presence - something was missing. Adam might not even have know it, but God did. Adam was alone, and the next verse of scripture reveals to us the order of events. And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him." Genesis 2:18-20 Mow since we know that God does nothing by accident, we know that this parade of animals was not because God was wondering if the Donekey might not just fit the bill. So why did this little scene unfold? Who was this lesson for? Obviously, since it was Adam who watched those animals come through (male and female) - the lesson was for him. Adam was alone and had to be shown what companionship was so that he would be aware of what he was missing, desire it and never take it for granted. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." Genesis 2:21-24 Oh, if only Adam and Eve's love story ended there, but ... it doesn't. The next chapter has Adam turning on her and blaming her for all of his problems (yes, ladies, it began in the garden). But before he became that man we all know and love, Adam was the greatest lover known to womankind.

On occasion, when we do think of Adam and Eve - we picture a sheepish looking Adam taking the apple - while Eve often looks the more intelligent of the two. We forget, Adam was the only man created literally by God's hands, breathed into life by the very breath of God entering him, who lived for six hours (days, wekks, months, or years) without the burden of sin. We don't know how long Adam and Eve lived in the garden before Satan came, but those conversations they were having with God in the cool of the evening were not one syllable responses on the part of those human beings. Adam was not only reasonably bright, he was ostensibly the most intelligent man this world has ever seen. Even the most brilliant minds out there would be hard put to compare to the unsurpassed perfection of Adam.

"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." Genesis 3:6 When I read this and the truth of Adam's love was made real to me, I almost wept. The popular notion is that Eve beguiled Adam, but Scripture tells us plainly that "Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression" (I Timothy 2:14). So, if Adam wasn't deceived, why did he do this. Adam was not led down the garden path (pardon the pun) with a ring through his nose. He didn't fall on his head when Ee walked by in her birthday suit. We need to get rid of the pre-conceived picture planted in our minds of Eve looking luscious and Adam looking lustfully while he ponders the apple she's holding out to him. Adam looked at Eve, she had taken a bit of the fruit and was holding it out to him, and he must have said, "I Love My Wife." God had said, "for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Althought there have been no death, Adam knew what it was. However, he did not understand spiritual death, and could have no concept of the effects of sin. All Adam knew was that Eve, His Love, had transgressed against God's Word. He knew that God did not lie, and the "helpmeet" with whom he had become one, would die. Out of pure love for her, he sacrificed his life. Before he would be parted from her, he would die with his. He cleaved to his wife, for they were one flesh; and into ruin he thrust himself, and vicariously, mankind, for her sake. Adam, the first man, left an example of the love that a man should have for his wife and without a doubt, when her eyes were opened by sin, Eve understood the sacrifice that he made to be with her. Nowhere in scripture is Christ's love for the church, His willingness to die for that love, pictured so fully and completely as in the case of the first Adam's love for Eve.