Men in the Bible: Adam – A Man of Intelligence
Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. – Genesis 2:19-20
Another admirable trait about Adam was intelligence. He was an intelligent man. From our reference passage, God brought all the creatures He had made to Adam to see what he would call them, and Adam did not disappoint. He named every one of them without leaving any without an identity. That was intelligence.
As easy as it may seem to name something, it is noteworthy that apart from the ones done by God hitherto, this was the first naming exercise in the Bible or recorded history. No one apart from God had attempted to name anything or anyone before Adam. So it was a novelty for him.
Also, apart from the newness of it all, he must have spent a great deal of time observing and analyzing each of the creatures God led to him before he could name them based on his assessment of their idiosyncrasies. Now, imagine how many creatures he named. They must be hundreds of thousands, if not millions of them. Imagine what each of them must have looked like when they were brought to him, the big, the tiny, the monstrous looking, the benign, the flat, the rotund, the straight, the bent, and so on. All for him alone to name as he saw them to be.
The good news is that Adam obviously got all the names right as the Bible did not tell us that God disputed with him about any of the names he gave. It is also remarkable that none of the creatures he named contested the name he gave them, as they could have done at that time. Rather, both God and the creatures agreed with him. So, whatever Adam called anyone stayed.
While the process of nomenclature is loosely done in our present days, particularly among people with little understanding of the implications of names, and in parts of the world where there is little appreciation of cultural identity. It is important to note that a name should never be a random affair. It is something that must be done with intentionality and understanding because everything is in a name. A name can define the identity, the attributes, the personality, the destiny, the path, and the destination of so named.
Adam obviously knew this, and he must have taken time to carefully study every creature before him to see how they were, what they looked like, what they could be and the role they would play in this hemisphere before labelling them. it takes intelligence to do this. The fact that he also evaluated all these creatures and did not identify any of them that could partner with him even when he was in dire need of one at the time was another indication of intelligence.
Knowing how important a name can be, what are you going to do differently with the way you name henceforth?
Selah!
Also read:
