Adam – A Man of Easy Persuasion So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable…
Adam – A Man of Easy Persuasion
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, – Genesis 3:6-7
For someone whom we had earlier discussed as firm and resolute in his ways when considering his encounter with God during the partner searching episode, Adam proved to be a man of easy persuasion not many encounters later during his interaction with his wife, Eve, who got him to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil at the center of the garden.
Perhaps, some may be disappointed at Adam, and many still blame him to date, for easily succumbing to the request of his wife. From what we had earlier read, even Eve put up a semblance of resistance in her engagement with the serpent by trying to make it realize why they were not supposed to eat the fruit from that tree. However, immediately she took it for herself and ate, it was a no-brainer that Adam was going to follow suit.
It is pertinent to note that Adam was the one God expressly forbid not to eat from the fruits of both the tree of life as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:15-16). There was no record of God telling the woman this as she was not around when God was making the garden and putting Adam in charge. This presupposes that Adam should have shown more responsibility in his stewardship of the first warning God communicated to him.
However, perhaps he felt more affinity towards the woman whom he spent more time with than God, or because the woman’s pressure proved too unbearable for him, we may never know. What we do know is that Adam allowed himself to be persuaded into fouling the instruction of God and acting in disobedience. And that proved costly not just for both of them, but for their offspring after them from that time onward.
By not demonstrating leadership in what he was persuaded to do by his partner or responsibility towards a charge God committed to him concerning the trees, Adam painfully failed his first test of obedience and leadership. By benefit of hindsight, he must have later learned that it was not everything his partner pressured him to do that he should do, particularly when such was in direct violation of the command of God. We live life forward, but learn it backward.
Men in the Bible: Adam – A Man of Understanding And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of…
Men in the Bible: Adam – A Man of Understanding
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to 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.” – Genesis 2:21-23
Another attribute of Adam was understanding. Despite being a lonely figure with no forbear for him to study or a mate for him to hobnob, he was nonetheless enamored with mental acumen that helped him to make a sense of his world.
We read yesterday how intelligence helped him to appraise and name all other creatures in accordance with his assessment of their nature and characteristics. We also established how his verdict was so accurate that neither God nor any of the creatures he named contested the names he assigned. Today, we will be exploring another mental acuity that he displayed, which is understanding.
Having been presented with hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of creatures to name, Adam found no connection with any of them. But when the last creature that God brought for him to name was presented before him, he had his “Aha’ moment. He knew this was it.
“This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh!” He exclaimed. Note the emphasis on the word “now”. That confirms that he had mentally eliminated all the other creatures that were brought to him as potential partner. it also affirms our earlier note that he had to refuse God by not choosing any of those creatures as his mate.
However, immediately he saw this latest creature, he did not hesitate to identify her as one more closely associated with him than the other creatures he had seen (‘bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh’) and in labeling her in association with himself (‘she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man’). That is understanding at work.
Understanding helped Adam to both describe the nature of the woman and her unique identity. Another word for understanding is insight. While knowledge is common, as anyone can acquire knowledge by reading, listening, or being exposed to useful information; understanding is not so commonplace. It is a step higher than the realm of knowledge. But that does not mean it is not attainable for anyone who desires it. You just need to be more attentive to develop understanding and grow in it.
Thankfully, the first man had great understanding, and we all share the same DNA with him. Therefore, this presupposes that we also have the potential to develop understanding beyond the basic level.
Delegation Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the…
Delegation
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. – Genesis 1:26-27
We are back to exploring the personality and attributes of God, and His trait which we will be considering today is delegation. God delegates and does not take everything on Himself. From our reference passage today, we can see the reason God decided to create humans. He created us, not just for the vanity of making a creature like Himself, but for a specific purpose: to rule over His other earthly creatures.
This throws a light on another unique nature of God. He is not just methodical in His ways; He is also very structured. Having made the heavens and the earth plus everything in them, He needed an authority figure to entrust His works and who would perform oversight functions over them.
Why is this so? Because God does not live on earth, therefore He needed an earthling to oversee the affairs of the earth. That was the reason He created humans for that very purpose. After creating humans, He delegated His authority to them saying:
“…Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28)
Apart from underlying the fact that God delegates, this passage also offers us an insight into His structured mindset. He is hierarchical and is a stickler for protocol. That was what made Him create man to oversee His earthly estate and why He delegated authority to him so that man could fulfill his role effectively.
Understanding God: He Respects Wishes God said, “It’s not good for the Man to be alone; I’ll make him a helper, a companion.” So God formed from the dirt of…
Understanding God: He Respects Wishes
God said, “It’s not good for the Man to be alone; I’ll make him a helper, a companion.” So God formed from the dirt of the ground all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the Man to see what he would name them. Whatever the Man called each living creature, that was its name. The Man named the cattle, named the birds of the air, named the wild animals; but he didn’t find a suitable companion. God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh. God then used the rib that he had taken from the Man to make Woman and presented her to the Man. The Man said, “Finally! Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh!” – Genesis 2:18-23 (The Message)
In continuation of our meditation on the nature of God, another attribute of His we shall meditate on today is his gentle nature. He respects human’s choices and wishes. Having created humans as a free moral agent, He usually does not force anything on anyone, except in extraordinary circumstances.
The first indication of this attribute of God we are availed in the Bible is the scenario of seeking a partner for Adam. Having publicly expressed His concern about Adam being alone as well as His plan to find him a suitable helper, God brought all manners of creature to Adam to see if he would find anyone suitable among them. We can only imagine how many hundreds of thousands or even millions these creatures were. Their number thus tells us the number of times God tried to matchmake Adam with a potential partner.
However, Adam refused them all in their numbers. Therefore, the number of creatures that God brought to him that Adam named differently represented the number of times he said ‘no’ to God. Meanwhile, God did not take offense at this or reprimand Adam for being too choosy. Afterall, He was God. On the contrary, He respected Adam’s wishes. And guess what, He tried again!
God tried again and again!
He kept bringing more and more creatures to Adam to see if he would find a worthy mate among them. But Adam did not see the need to do eye service for God by meeting Him halfway and accepting one of the creatures brought to him as partner. They must have been so close as to enjoy that kind of liberty.
Finally, after He had exhausted his picks and there was no other creature to present to Adam, God decided to try another method to solve the problem of finding a partner for the man. This latest method seemed to work because immediately Adam saw the creature that was formed from his rib he proclaimed her the one:
The Man said,
“Finally! Bone of my bone,
flesh of my flesh!
Name her Woman
for she was made from Man.” (Genesis 2:23)
The scenario leading to this proclamation throws an insight into the temperate nature of God. He did not impose on Adam or use His authority to subdue or manipulate him into capitulation. He did not castigate Adam for wasting His time either. Rather, He kept bringing more and more creatures to Adam and He did not stop trying until Adam finally found and labelled his own partner.
Understanding God: He is Inventive God said, “It’s not good for the Man to be alone; I’ll make him a helper, a companion.” So God formed from the dirt of…
Understanding God: He is Inventive
God said, “It’s not good for the Man to be alone; I’ll make him a helper, a companion.” So God formed from the dirt of the ground all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the Man to see what he would name them. Whatever the Man called each living creature, that was its name. The Man named the cattle, named the birds of the air, named the wild animals; but he didn’t find a suitable companion. God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh. God then used the rib that he had taken from the Man to make Woman and presented her to the Man. The Man said, “Finally! Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh!” – Genesis 2:18-23 (The Message)
In continuation of our meditation on the nature of God, today we will be focusing on His inventive attributes. He is the God of inventions and innovations.
For the benefit of those who may be alarmed at the fact we are using seemingly human attributes to describe God, here is an explanation. All the attributes we have read so far since we started this series and all we will also read in subsequent digest are originally God’s. Not human’s (2 Corinthians 3:5). But because He had created humans just like Him, that is how humans have come by those attributes as well.
Humans through their creative and other genius attributes are only exhibiting the divine nature embedded in their DNA from birth as offspring of God. Therefore, by spotlighting those unique aspects of God that appear to be in the domains of humans, we are only helping the readers to see what they can be if they channel the God in them to work. We hope this offers a context to those concerned.
Back to our focus for today. The passage above helps us to see the inventive nature of God. It so happened that after deploying different methods to make His creatures, God needed to provide a partner for His ultimate creature, man. However, the man for whom the partner was meant seemed not to be impressed by any of the creatures God brought to him to see if he would find one suitable for himself among them.
This led God to try again and channel His creative nous to come up with yet another creature using an entirely different method from the ones He used in the past to create the other creatures. This time, God had to undertake a medical procedure to achieve this. He carried out an anesthesia on Adam by inducing him to sleep and then performed a surgery on Adam, the first of its kind in recorded history, by removing a rib from the side of Adam and replacing the space created with flesh.
In case this does not sink in, let’s go over it again. In order to create the woman, God did three notable things. Firstly, He performed an anesthesia on Adam; secondly, He completed a surgical procedure by cutting open his flesh to remove a rib; and finally, God used the rib He removed to produce a new human creature. This is called reproductive cloning. So God also performed the first cloning known to man.
And guess what? The creature He produced through this whole procedure turned out to be His finest. Woman was God’s last throw of the dice at creation, and she remains the finest of them all. Moreso, she came into being because of the inventive nature of God in trying other means and exploring other solutions when the previous attempts did not work or produce the desired result.
The good news is that we are all created in His likeness. The main question is how inventive are you, and how are you putting your divine DNA to use?
Another lesson we can learn from God is His disposition to a balancing act. He is not a God of extremes. Even though some who profess to follow Him go to extremes in His name or make extreme claims on His behalf, extreme is not a label that one can pin on God. He balances the acts.
Understanding God: He is Not Moved by Sentiments
Another lesson we can learn from the personality of God is that sentiments do not move Him. Therefore, He cannot be deceived into making a wrong judgment or call, as humans tend to do.
Understanding God: He is A Creator
He is a Creator. This is not to be interpreted loosely, particularly in the light of our contemporary use of the word. God is the ultimate Creator, as He created all things, even the ends of the earth (Isaiah 40:28).
Understanding God: God of the Beginning
There is no better way to begin this journey of exploring the people and entities in the Bible than to start with God. He is not just the beginning but is the origin of all things.
Women in the Bible: A Paragon of Beauty
What made Sarah’s beauty so compelling that kings and nations took notice? Explore the deeper layers of grace, favour, and mystery surrounding one of Scripture’s most unforgettable women — and discover why her story still provokes wonder today.
Men in the Bible: A Man of Ambition and Adventure
Terah may not have reached Canaan, but his courage to start a life-changing journey laid the foundation for Abraham’s destiny. Discover how ambition and bold steps mark a life of significance.
Men in the Bible: An Impetuous and Impudent Man
A revealing glimpse into a man whose choices exposed deeper issues of character, showing how hastiness and entitlement can quietly shape a destiny, and why his story still speaks to us today.
Men in the Bible: A Man with Little Foresight
Sometimes what looks like a smart choice can hide the seed of a mistake. This reflection from Scripture invites us to think again about how foresight — or the lack of it — shapes a man’s story.
Men in the Bible: The First Man to Tithe
Before laws, temples, or traditions, one man honoured God with his substance. Abraham’s tithe was not commanded, demanded, or enforced. It flowed from reverence.
Fathers in the Bible: A Destiny-Shaping Father
What makes a man a truly aware father? Discover how one man’s prophetic foresight shaped his son’s destiny and changed generations forever.
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