Adam

Pop quiz!  

1.  To whom did God say the following?

“You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Say your answer out loud.  Was your answer to question #1 "Adam and Eve"?  If so, your answer was incorrect.  The answer to the question is: Adam.  That's right, Adam.  When God gave the commandment quoted above, Eve was yet to be created by God.  Read Genesis 2, especially verses 15-18:

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”  Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”  (Genesis 2:15-18 ESV)

As I continued to study Genesis 2 (in the context of chapters 1 and 3), several new observations and speculations began to flood my mind.  Before I share these with you, I should note that chapter 1 is the entire creation account, including the creation of man and woman.  However, God used Genesis chapter 2 to more completely explain the chronology and purpose of creating man.  Knowing this helps one to not get confused when reading Genesis 2.

Here are some of my observations/musings regarding Adam & Eve from chapters 1-3:

1. Adam was given the responsibility to cultivate, supervise and maintain the garden (v.15)
2. Adam was responsible to uphold the "Garden Rule"...the one and only rule given thus far (vv.16-17)
3. Adam needed help.  Otherwise, why would God make him a helper.  So what did he need help with?  Many things:  procreation (1:28), subdue/rule over all living things (1:28), harvesting/preparing food (1:29), not being lonely (2:18).  One might also infer that Adam would also need help in supervising/ruling over the garden since it would soon be filled with energetic and curious children.  Therefore, Adam would need help obeying (or carrying out) the one commandment given exclusively to him. 
4. In chapter 3 the serpent came to Eve and quizzed her by asking, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the Garden'?"  In his question the serpent is laying the foundation of deception (by adding the word "any" to God's commandment).  Eve then responds by correcting the serpent, but she too misrepresents the original commandment given God (by adding "neither shall you touch it").  The serpent goes on to utter an outright lie ("you shall not die").  This lie went uncontested and unchallenged.  More about the "uncontested" lie in point 6 below.
5. We could spend a lot of time speculating about why Eve said what she said.  I'll speculate a bit but leave it at that...for that is all I can do (there is no definitive and absolute answer to Eve's motive and Adam's subsequent response or lack thereof).  One scenarios is this: Adam, out of concern for Eve's well-being, added the "don't even touch it" statement when sharing the commandment God had given him. Perhaps he wanted to be sure that Eve wouldn't even get close to offending God's rule.  It's plausible.  Parents often create their "law" (rules that are more restrictive than the "law of the land") in hopes of keeping their kids from breaking the law.  If this is what Adam did, then Eve may not have known that God didn't include the "touch it" clause.  Another possibility is that Adam misquoted God, and Eve simply parroted was she heard from Adam.  Yet another option is that Eve received clearly articulated truth but added the "touch it" comment on her own.  One might ask, "Was Adam even present for the Eve/serpent exchange?"  You might have a few other questions or speculations of your own.
6. Nonetheless, during this whole interchange, Adam appears to remain silent (at least we have no record of any participation in this conversation).  As to the question if Adam was listening in, we can only point to chapter 3 verse 6 which states that he was with her when she ate.  We will never know, in this life, if he was there for the entire conversation or not.  However, it would seem very likely that he was present for the conversation and the first bite.  IF he was present for the entire conversation, Adam can be found culpable of some wrong-doing.  When the serpent posed the first question, (again, assuming that Adam was present) Adam didn't challenge the serpent's rendition of God's commandment (that we're told).  When Eve spoke and gave her rendition, Adam didn't challenge or correct her either (at least that we're told).  Then it appears Adam remained silent as she reached for the fruit, brought it to her mouth, and finally took a bite.  If he were present (and all-the-while remembering what the Lord had commanded), his actions seem to have been devoid of any loving concern for his wife, not to mention the respect and loyalty one should show to one's Creator.  If Adam wasn't present for the entire conversation and Eve approached him (still alive after the bite) with the fruit, Adam might not have recognized the fruit before taking a bite...or he might have concluded that God must have being wrong since Eve was still alive.  
7. After all of these qualifications and giving Adam and Eve the the benefit of the doubt, I truly believe that Adam was present for the entire conversation.  The text (3:6) indicates that he was with her when she ate the fruit.  So, if he was there for the eating of the fruit, he is at least responsible for his own actions (or lack thereof) for that portion.  Furthermore, we have to hold Eve responsible for her actions...I mean, God did.  Her actions, although partially prompted by the serpent, were her actions.  And certainly we have to hold Adam responsible for his actions.  While we'd like to imagine that he was totally duped, the fact is he knowingly sinned.  To go a step further (even though I'm a man) I would contend that Adam bore more guilt than Eve...for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which was allowing his wife to kill herself (that was the eventual result which went into effect at that moment) before he killed himself.

At this juncture you might be asking yourself, "What is stuck in Roger's craw (an agrarian term referring to a horrible part of a chicken) and why is he so upset with Adam."  That's a good question, and all I can say is that God was speaking to me as I studied this passage and this was the message I was getting:  

"Listen to what I tell you to do.  Do what I tell you to do.  If you love Me and others, tell the others what I told you to do and encourage them to do the same.  When you catch yourself not obeying, stop yourself before you plunge into sin.  When you see someone you love on the edge of danger, speak up and say something...and if you can, pull them away from the source of danger.  And finally, when Satan presents you with a lie, reply to him by verbally quoting the words of truth I gave you...and then obey My truth."  

So, you see, I identify very strongly with Adam and that's what gets me so upset.  Adam (as described in Genesis 2-3) reminds me so much of myself when I allow my indwelling sin get the best of me.  Even if my interpretation of this passage is goofed up (and if so, Lord, illumine and correct me), I don't think my application is incorrect...for it resonates squarely with so much of Scripture...Especially James 1 (which we'll be exploring in my upcoming post on "Temptation").  Just to be clear, I'm not saying that Adam was responsible for Eve's actions.  No, Adam was responsible for his actions and Eve was responsible for hers.  It's just that I'm needing to take more responsibility for my own actions (for they greatly affect and influence others, especially my wife).  Ephesians 5 nails it:

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.  In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.”  (Ephesians 5:25-28 ESV)

We can't rewrite the first few chapters of the Bible.  However, we can steward our current lives more effectively having learned some lessons from these chapters.  So, to all of you Adams out there...be the man God made you to be.  To all of you Eves out there...be the woman God made you to be.  If we can get that right, we're off to a great start in writing the next chapter of our lives (by His grace).