Who is Adam and Eve

The story of Adam and Eve comes from the Bible. Adam was the first man, and Eve was the first woman. The first chapter of the Book of Genesis, known as "The Story of Creation," tells how God made the heavens and earth in six days. On the sixth of these days He made Adam, the first man. In the following chapters, it tells that Adam was made out of the dust of the ground, before God made him come to life; and how God then caused Adam to fall asleep, and took out one of his ribs, and made Eve from this rib. (Nevertheless, men and women have the same number of ribs.) Adam and Eve lived in a beautiful land called the Garden of Eden. It was full of fine fruit trees, and God told them they might eat the fruit of any tree but one.

This was the Tree of Knowledge, and whoever ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge would become 38 New York Public Library Picture Collection An old picture of Adam and Eve, tempted by the serpent, taking the forbidden fruit. like gods, and know the difference be­tween right and wrong. There was a serpent in the garden, and he said to Eve, "Why not eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge? You will not die, and you will become wise." So Eve picked the fruit of the tree and ate some, and gave it to Adam and he ate some. Be­fore this, they had worn no clothes and were not ashamed; but now they thought it was wrong and put clothes on.

 God saw this, and knew they had eaten the forbidden fruit. (In most stories, this fruit is supposed to be an apple; but the Bible does not actually say what kind, of fruit it is.) God punished Adam and Eve by mak­ing them leave the Garden of Eden, and he punished the serpent by saying it would have to "go on its belly" always. Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, but lived a long time after that. They had two sons, Cain and Abel, about whom there are separate stories in this encyclopedia; and another son named Seth, and various other sons and daugh­ters. Adam lived to be 930 years old, which seems remarkable now but was not unusual for the men named in the Book of Genesis; the oldest of these men, Methuselah, lived to be 969 years old.