and Authorities. suggest, Adam was at first a dual being, having References in himself the functions of both the male and the female, and that the distinction into two separate beings is the design of the narrative. But this is too curious a subject for us, and must always lie in the region of pure speculation. We do not think anything wiser or more suggestive can be said on the matter than may be found in the following note by Dr. Harold Browne :- "The word which primarily means 'rib' more frequently signifies 'side'; whence many of the Rabbins adopted the Platonic myth, that man and woman were originally united in one body, till the Creator separated them. The formation of woman from the side of man is without question most mysterious; but it teaches very forcibly and beautifully the duty of one sex toward the other; and the close relationship between them, so that neither should despise or treat with unkindness the other. That respect for the weaker sex, which we esteem a mark of the highest refinement, is taught by the very act of creation as recorded in the earliest existing record." Moral suggestions of the record. Speak. NOTE ON THE WORD WOMAN. In English, the qualification wo placed before man indicates merely a difference of sex. In Latin she is called the mulier, a word derived from moleior—softer, more tender. In Hebrew ish signifies man, and the addition of a terminal vowel makes it isha, a woman. In all three of these languages the words used are also applied to a wife. In Turkish, however, the name Karù Word 66 'Woman." and References -woman—is never applied to a wife; she is called Ev, Authorities. which signifies house; while the Armenians call her ùndanik, or the keeper at home, a word which includes the children; they also call the wife gin, i.e., a woman. Polynesian Babylonian Jewish ideas. LEGENDS RELATED TO THE FIRST MAN The people of Fakaafo, of the Tokelau group, say that the first woman was made of the loose earth or dust of the ground The story runs thus:-The first man, who had previously been a stone, thought he would one day make a woman. He collected the light earth on the surface of the ground in the form of a human body, with head, arms, and legs. He then plucked out one of his left ribs, and thrust it into the breast of his earth model. Instantly the earth became alive, and up started a woman. He called her Ivi (according to English orthography it would be Eevee), which is their word for rib. How like to our Eve!-Turner's Polynesia. There is a Babylonian legend of the Creation, which makes the present world of living creatures be preceded by a world of biform monsters "with two faces." The Jewish versions of Ibn Tibbon and Maimonides translate the word used in Gen. ii. 21, "side" instead of "rib." Suppose, then, that the first being formed was a double being, both male and female in one, what we have recorded in Gen. ii. 21-23 would be the separation of the two into distinct beings, or the removal of the one from the other's "side." One John Marshall, a traveller in the early part of last century, relates the following story as having been told to him : and "Once upon a time," the Brahmins said, "as (God) References was set in Eternity, it came into His mind to make Authorities. something, and immediately, no sooner had He thought Brahminica Legend. the same, but that the same minute was a perfect beautiful woman present immediately before Him, which He called Adea Suktee, that is, the first woman. Then the figure put into His mind the figure of a man ; which He had no sooner conceived in His mind, but that he also started up, and represented himself before Him; this He called Manapeuse, that is, the first man; then, upon a reflection of these things, He resolved to create several places for them to abide in, and accordingly assuming a subtle body, He breathed in a minute the whole universe, and everything therein, from the least to the greatest." "There is an ancient Persian Legend of the first man and woman which is very singular. Their names are given as Meschia and Meschiane, and they lived for a long time happily together; they hunted together, and discovered fire, and made an axe, and with it built a hut. But no sooner had they thus set up housekeeping than they fought terribly, and, after wounding each other, parted." It is not said which remained master of the hut, but we learn that after fifty years of divorce they were reunited. Persian Legend. "Lilith." For the very curious legend of Lilith, Adam's supposed Legend of first wife, see 66 Biblical Things not Generally Known," second series, No. 819. "The will, the man himself as a power, is manageable only in a moral way; that is, by authority, truth, justice, beauty-that which supposes obligation or command. And this, again, supposes a consenting obedience, and this a power of non-consent, without which the consent were insignificant. Which power of non-consent, it will be observed, is a power also of deviation or disobedience, and no one can show beforehand that, having such a power, the subject will not some time use it."-Dr. Horace Bushnell. and References So many and various ideas, and theories, and legends, Authorities and doctrines have gathered about the simple Bible a fresh study of the narrative. story of the Fall of Man, that it may be regarded as Difficulty of an almost hopeless thing to attempt an unprejudiced consideration of the narrative. And, indeed, it is hardly possible for us to treat it so as fully to satisfy all classes of our readers. We propose to deal with it Treat it in a in a suggestive rather than exhaustive way; and in the light of certain primary principles, which must be universally acknowledged, but which may not have been adequately applied to the elucidation of this story. We wish also to draw out, and set forth dis suggestive way. tinctly, those truths, of permanent and universal References interest, which are embodied and illustrated in the Authorities. narrative. and Especial effort to bring out the moral truths which are taught. Dismissing from our minds, as far as possible, preconceived notions, we will take the Bible narrative, as given us in these six verses (Gen. iii. 1—6), in all its simplicity, only seeking to have that spiritual insight which will enable us to discern the truth beneath the form. And if we find that we need illumination and suggestion from other portions of the revealed. Word, we will seek these chiefly in the record of Christ's relation to our race as the Second Adam, and in His temptation in the wilderness. The temptation studying our of the first Race-Head explains that of the Second; Temptation. and equally the temptation of the Second Race-Head throws light on the first. Get help from Lord's world of things. Now what have we stated in these early chapters of God made a Genesis? God made a world of things, all directly dependent upon Himself, all absolutely and entirely subject to His omnipotent control. Things-stones, leaves, animals-have no will, no choice; they exist, they change, altogether under the Divine Hand. some sense man, too, is a thing. His body is a part of the universe, and wholly within God's control; he is as absolutely dependent for life, food, health, pleasure, as any creature God has made. And yet man differs from all mere things. God made him a moral being; made him in His own image; made him free; in some sense separate from Himself; gave him the power of choice; made it possible for him to will as God wills, and also to will as God does Man is a thing. Man is a moral being. |