Friday, March 22, 2013

Adam and Eve

I thought it would be interesting to see how the story of Adam and Eve is told in different bible story book collections.


From The Big Picture Story Bible by David R. Helm
The Bible is God's story, and it begins with these big words: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Do you know how God created everything? Simply by speaking words. Imagine, making the world with words! Strong words. Powerful words. With words God created everything! He made the stars, the sun, and the moon. He made the animals, the fish, the trees, and flowers too. Everything! And then after all these things, God created... People!
Can you see Adam and Eve? God put his people in the Garden of Eden. They were made in the image of God. They were to be the rulers of God's place.
Adam and Eve were very special to God. Did you know that you are also very special to God? You are special because you are made in his image too! Being created in the image of God must have made Adam and Eve very, very happy. God was happy too. He was pleased with his world and his people because he saw that they were very good. Nothing was wrong. Nothing was bad. Nobody disobeyed God. In the very beginning, everything and everyone knew how good God was. God gave Adam and Eve good words to obey. He told them not to eat from a special tree. You see, God was teaching Adam and Eve that he was their king, that people were to obey God's word. God also said that if Adam and Eve disobeyed his word, they would surely die. So God's people, Adam and Eve, lived in God's place, the Garden of Eden. And they ruled God's world by obeying his good word. Do you know what happened next?

From Bible Stories for Girls:
In the beginning of the world,
When the whole earth was new,
God saw that Adam was lonely
And knew just what to do!
God put him in a deep, deep sleep,
And took a rib from his side.
He made Adam a brand-new friend,
The first woman, his bride.
Adam and Even and their children,
The world's first family,
Were created in God's likeness--
And so were you and me!

From My First Read-Aloud Bible. Retold by Mary Batchelor & Penny Boshoff.
The fruit on the forbidden tree looked delicious. "Why not try it?" the snake asked. "But God said we would die," said Eve. "Don't listen to God," the snake whispered. So Eve picked some and shared it with Adam. God was sad that they had disobeyed him. Now Adam and Eve had to leave God's garden. (14-15)

From The Gospel Story Bible by Marty Machowski.
This was a very sad day. God sent the first two people out of the garden he had made for them and placed an angel on guard to keep them out. But in the midst of the sadness, God gave them a great hope. When God was cursing the serpent, he said that someday the woman would have children and one of her children would crush the serpent's head! Satan would be defeated. When Adam heard that promise and understood that they would live to have children, he gave his wife the name Eve. This name meant that she would be the mother of everyone who would ever live. Did you know that God gave Adam and Eve some clothes made of animal skins to cover their nakedness? There was a secret promise in those first clothes. To make them, God had to sacrifice an animal. That pointed to the day in the future when Jesus, God's only Son, would be born into the world. He would come as a son in the family of Adam--a far, far off great-grandchild of Adam and Eve. Jesus would die on the cross and be punished for the sin of Adam and those who would trust in him, so they could once be in relationship with God. And Jesus would be the one to defeat Satan, just as God said. (7)

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

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