Continuing with entries from Adam’s Diary (translated from Adam’s original hieroglyphics by Mark Twain) …
MONDAY — The new creature says its name is Eve. That is all right, I have no objections. Says it is to call it by, when I want it to come. I said it was superfluous, then. The word evidently raised me in its respect; and indeed it is a large, good word and will bear repetition. It says it is not an It, it is a She. This is probably doubtful; yet it is all one to me; what she is were nothing to me if she would but go by herself and not talk.
TUESDAY — She has littered the whole estate with execrable names and offensive signs:
This way to the Whirlpool
This way to Goat Island
Cave of the Winds this way
She says this park would make a tidy summer resort if there was any custom for it. Summer resort — another invention of hers-just words, without any meaning. What is a summer resort? But it is best not to ask her, she has such a rage for explaining.
Commentary:
Adam first designated the wife Yahweh prepared for him as Ishah (literally man-ess) or Woman, because she was taken out of man.
(Genesis 2:23)
Later Adam named his wife Eve (meaning “life”), because she was the mother of all the living. (Genesis 3:20)
Eve did NOT name herself as indicated in the diary. Scripture is clear. Adam named her both generically and personally. And he knew Eve was a “She” from the beginning (Genesis 2:23).
The diary is accurate in its portrayal of language being used from the beginning. The very existence of a diary evidences speaking and writing ability. Twain believed Adam possessed language skills from the beginning, for he has him writing within a few days of his creation.
Twain’s Adam possesses an advanced vocabulary using words like “superfluous” and “execrable.” Eve, too, can speak and write, as she “litters” the estate with signs. And they communicate with each other through the spoken and written word.
Twain’s Adam and Eve are not the illiterate grunting brutes depicted for early man in so many textbooks. This comports well with Scripture.
Adam and Eve were created possessing language skills. Adam spoke on the day Yahweh created him naming numerous animals. He named his new companion “Woman” based on an accurate understanding of her origin.
The first four chapters of Genesis come from Adam’s written records (Genesis 5:1).
Eve conversed and debated with the serpent. Adam and Eve both verbally defended themselves to Yahweh after sinning. They named their children. There is abundant Scriptural evidence that man used fully developed language right from the beginning.
Read the prequels in this series on Adam’s Diary:
1. Adam’s Diary – A New Creature
2. Adam’s Diary – Naming the Animals
3. Adam’s Diary – Garden of Eden
4. Adam’s Diary – “We”
5. Adam’s Diary – Sunday
Read the sequel:
7. Adam’s Diary – Niagara Falls
©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
Thursday April 8, 2010 A.D.
Read my April 2010 Bible-Science column
Is This a Contradiction?
So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh at that place. And the LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. And the man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:21-24)
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