Adam

Adam’s puns in a nutshell

Adam’s “likeness” pun is not very hidden. In fact, “man” or Adam is introduced as having been created in God’s likeness. This pun is repeated many times.

Adam’s storytelling puns are apparently all words of the pattern D-M / Ṭ-M / T-M, like Adam (because D ≈ T, and vowels don’t count). There’s probably a multitude of ways you can cobble together a story from this, but the rulers probably picked the Biblical version for widespread publishing because it depicts common people as being guilty for everything: It could all be a paradise, if only the common man would listen to his superiors!

• Adam is the first man, because ˀdm means “man”.
• Adam is created from the earth, because ˀdmh means “earth”.
• Adam is created in God’s likeness, because dmh / dmy means “resemble” & “likeness”.
• Adam is a spook symbol, because dmh / dmy also means “disguise”, derived from “likeness”.
• Adam is innocent at first, because tm / tmym means “innocent”.
• Adam is given a rule not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, because mdh means “rule”.
• Adam tastes the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, because dmˁ means “choice fruit” (from “flowing” & “juice”).
• Adam tastes from the Tree of Knowledge, because ṭˁm means “tasting”.
• Adam tastes from the Tree of Knowledge, because ṭˁm also means “wisdom” & “reasoning”. Like “taste”, it’s derived from “sense” & “experience”.
• Adam tastes from the Tree of Knowledge, also because mdˁ means “knowledge”.
• Adam is then confused, because dmdm means “confused”.
• Adam then discovers sexuality, because Adam puns with hdm “male organ”. Eve and their sons also have some sexual puns.
• Adam is immediately suspected after eating the forbidden fruit, because dmy means “suspicion”.
• Adam is then considered impure, because ṭmˀ means “impure”.
• Adam is punished, because mdh means “punishment” (also “reward”, but our rulers somehow liked the story about guilt & punishment better).
• Adam then has to flee paradise, because ˀmd means “fleeing”.

Adam also puns with “blood”, “silence”, “wealth”, but that hasn’t been included in his Biblical story.

However, “earth” & “blood” puns are used throughout the Bible, often to encrypt the word “disguise”. Take a look at the verses below and try to count how many Adam-like words the authors managed to cram into a single sentence.

Adam as pun with “likeness” & “disguise”

The main spook pun of Adam is with “likeness” & “disguise”. It’s even used in the face-value story, where Adam is created in God’s “likeness”. In many other stories, “earth” & “blood” are used as puns with “disguise”, e.g. the law “he who spills blood” puns with “he who spills a disguise”.

אדם ˀdm : a man; man, mankind; ‘Adam’, name of the first man — Hebrew (Klein)

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

wyˀmr ˀlhym nˁšh ˀdm bṣlmnw kdmwtnw wyrdw bdgt hym wbˁwp hšmym wbbhmh wbkl hˀrṣ wbkl hrmš hrmš ˁl hˀrṣ

ויאמר אלהים נעשה אדם בצלמנו כדמותנו וירדו בדגת הים ובעוף השמים ובבהמה ובכל הארץ ובכל הרמש הרמש על הארץ

Genesis 1:26

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

wyyṣr yhwh ˀlhym ˀt hˀdm ˁpr mn hˀdmh wypḥ bˀpyw nšmt ḥyym wyhy hˀdm lnpš ḥyh

וייצר יהוה אלהים את האדם עפר מן האדמה ויפח באפיו נשמת חיים ויהי האדם לנפש חיה

Genesis 2:7

This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;

zh spr twldt ˀdm bywm brˀ ˀlhym ˀdm bdmwt ˀlhym ˁšh ˀtw

זה ספר תולדת אדם ביום ברא אלהים אדם בדמות אלהים עשה אתו

Genesis 5:1

Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

špk dm hˀdm bˀdm dmw yšpk ky bṣlm ˀlhym ˁšh ˀt hˀdm

שפך דם האדם באדם דמו ישפך כי בצלם אלהים עשה את האדם

Genesis 9:6

Adam as a story of innocence, rules, tasting knowledge & punishment

The creation of man could have had a much more positive theme to it. Instead, it’s a strange parable of rules, guilt & punishment. For tasting fruit and acquiring knowledge of all things. Why this particular & peculiar story?

As usual, the answer is that all these story elements are puns with the name Adam. In fact, it’s hard to find a Hebrew word that puns with Adam and is not part of his story. Of all possible stories you can create from this pool of puns, a relatively guilt-ridden was apparently chosen for publishing in the Bible, because our rulers like us to feel guilty. The story has not the worst of all outcomes though, because the pun with “blood” was not used…