The Discovery of Genesis (24 page)

Adam therefore resembled God in his glorious appearance, as well as being like God in his sinless character, having been made “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:26). The previously met radical for
God
,
, is found in the character for
ancestor
. The second portion of the word,
, means
also or moreover.
Adam, our common
ancestor
, looked like
God
, or as
God also.
Other definitions for
. which further substantiate that the “ancestor” must have been Adam, are
a founder or originator, beginning, a prototype.

Genesis tells of man’s first home, “And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed” (Genesis 2:8). This action of placing the
first
man
alone in the garden
enclosure
, can be seen in the character for
west
. It must have been the afternoon of the sixth day of creation by this time, as indicated by the position of the sun.

⁸

The radical
,
landed property, garden
, used to represent the Garden of Eden in the several interpretations, actually looks more like an irrigated rice field than a garden. However, there are very interesting things that can be learned about the Garden from this primitive. We are told that in the center of the Garden were two special trees, the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Garden was the meeting place of God with man. This radical is used as one component in a number of key characters which will follow in the next few chapters. The great importance of this root word will be appreciated as the book concludes.