ADAM AND EVE

 in the Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions, the original human couple, parents of the -human race. In the Bible, there are two accounts of their creation. According to the Priestly -history of the fifth or sixth century BC (Genesis 1:1-2:4), God on the sixth day of Creation created all the living creatures and, "in his own image", both "male and female". God then blessed the couple, told them to be "fruitful and multiply", and gave them dominion over all other living things. According to the lengthier Yahwist narrative of the tenth century BC (Genesis 2:5-7, 2:15-4:1, 4:25), God, or Yahweh, created Adam at a time when the earth was still void, forming him from the earth's dust and breathing "into his nostrils the breath of life". God then gave Adam the primeval Garden of Eden to tend but, on penalty of death, commanded him not to eat the fruit of the "tree of knowledge of good and evil". Subsequently, so that Adam would not be alone, God created other animals but, finding these insufficient, put Adam to sleep, took from him a rib, and created a new companion, Eve. The two were persons of innocence until Eve yielded to the temptations of the evil serpent and Adam joined her in eating the forbidden fruit, whereupon they both became aware of their nakedness and wore fig leaves as garments. Immediately, God recognized their transgression and proclaimed their punishments - for the woman, pain in childbirth and subordination to man; for the man, relegation to an accursed ground with which he must toil and sweat for his subsistence.

Their first children were Cain and Abel. Abel, the keeper of sheep, was highly regarded by God and was killed by Cain out of envy. Another son, Seth, was born to replace Abel, and the two human stems, the Cainites and the Sethites, descended from them. Adam and Eve had "other sons and daughters", and Adam died at the age of 930.

In the Christian New Testament, Adam is a figure of some theological importance in the Pauline writings. Paul sees Adam as a forerunner to Christ. As Adam initiated the life of man upon earth, so Christ initiates the new life of man. Because of the sin of Adam, death came upon all men; because of the righteousness of Christ, life is given to all men.

In later Christian theology, the concept of original sin took hold - a sin in which humankind has been held captive since the fall of Adam and Eve. The doctrine was based on Pauline Scripture but has not been accepted by a number of Christian sects and interpreters, especially among Christians who consider the story of Adam and Eve less a fact and more a metaphor of the relation of God and man.

In the Quranic version of the story of Adam and Eve (related largely in suras 2, 7, 15, 17, and 20), Allah created Adam from clay but exalted him with such knowledge that the angels were commanded to prostrate themselves before him. All did but the angel Iblis (Satan), who subsequently in the Garden tempted both Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. Allah then sent them down on earth, where their progeny were doomed to live as enemies; but, being merciful, Allah offered Adam and his progeny eternal guidance if they would follow only him, not Satan.