Interpreting Genesis

Man suddenly becomes Adam. No reason given or suggestion before this that man had a name. Not surprising since man was the generic name covering both male and female.

It is Adam who is placed in the centre of the Garden of Eden.

It could be that Adam is the name given to the newly created soul, and that the soul was placed in the centre of the human brain. This would be about the position of the “third eye” of Eastern religions.

All I can say is that it makes as much sense as the Christian version.

There is progression here. We start with a humanoid whose purpose is to look after the planet for God. We then progress to humanoid with a soul placed at the centre of a developed brain. We are not yet at the human stage as we know it.

The next step comes with the naming of the animals.

And Adam gave names to all the cattle, and to all the fowl of the air, and of every beast in the field; but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him. Genesis 220 KJV

The Book of J version is much clearer than the Christian Old Testament at this point.

“It is not good for man to be alone”, said Yahweh. “I will make a partner to stand beside him” So Yahweh shaped out of the soil all the creatures of the field and birds of the air to see how he would call them. Whatever the man called became the creature's name. Soon all wild animals had names the man gave them, all birds of the air, and creatures of the field, but the man did not his partner amongst them. Part of Chapter 4, Book of J translated by David Rosenberg, Vintage, New York, 1990

Man was no longer one of the animals and he was lonely. But “man” is the generic name. There where others, male and female, so loneliness should not have been a problem. This must have been a special loneliness.

This section is my hypothesis that joins the bits based on the general feeling of the text.

If it was Adam that was lonely then it is the soul that was lonely. The soul needed a partner. Why would the soul need a partner?