How Long was Adam in the Garden?

[HARK!]

I would like to understand how anyone with reason, knowledge of the Bible, and credibility, can put a number on this.

If we believe the Bible, Adam was created, lived in the Garden, and was endowed with eternal life; so long as he was obedient to YHWH. I have found absolutely no Biblical reference for how much time elapsed, from the time that YHWH created Adam, until Adam disobeyed YHWH.

Until I see a number in scripture, any number greater than zero, up to infinity, is a possibility.

 

[solid_core]

Your bad poll options will one day become legendary.

 

[DebbieJ]

Adam and Eve were created immortal. Otherwise, why would there be a tree of the knowledge of good and evil to remind them that if they eat any part of the tree, they will die.

From the time Adam disobeyed, his immortality and youthful look were gone and started to age and deteriorate slowly to death for 930 years.

There's no information how long he had this immortality. However, the Lord told Adam to name all the animals. There are about more than 1-2 million species of animals on Earth. Maybe, it will take him about 80-100 years to name all the animals by himself. Then, here comes Eve who was also immortal.

Both of them were naked and were naturally attracted to each other. If there's attraction, we know what will come next. When they ate the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Eve shortly became pregnant to twins.

My guesstimate will be 100-150 years before Adam and Even sinned.

 

[Stephen P]

HARK!
I have also asked this same question: Was Adam and Eve tempted and did the fail immediately, or did they refute the serpents arguments for a long time?
If we say a few billion years went through before Adam and Eve were finally tempted and failed, then I'm not happy with God, because He setup an "Eventual Failure over Time" process.
Meaning that God Deliberately WANTED Adam and Eve to fail.
This begs my question as part of this : God created all, therefore the Fall sins like child neglect and child rape was already designed into creation by God along with the heavenly child love.
If Adam and Eve did not fail, if they had successfully resisted the serpent, all the Fall and Redemption design part of creation (Let's face it 95% of the world now is using Fall design) would be wasted design.
We would be around, because Adam's instructions from God was to fill the whole world.
Cheers
Stephen

 

[eleos1954]

I would like to understand how anyone with reason, knowledge of the Bible, and credibility, can put a number on this.

If we believe the Bible, Adam was created, lived in the Garden, and was endowed with eternal life; so long as he was obedient to YHWH. I have found absolutely no Biblical reference for how much time elapsed, from the time that YHWH created Adam, until Adam disobeyed YHWH.

Until I see a number in scripture, any number greater than zero, up to infinity, is a possibility.

Can't really put an exact number on it .... but don't think it was very long ...

Adam and Eve had been commanded by God to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the Earth” (Genesis 1:28). Upon marrying, Moses recounts God’s command for husband and wife: “a man shall…be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (2:24). If Adam and Eve had refused to do so, they would have been disobeying God and, therefore, sinning.

We can, therefore, assume that Adam and Eve were obeying God, since their first sins were tied to eating from the forbidden Tree, not from disobeying God’s command regarding procreation.

Since Adam and Eve did not conceive a child until after their eviction from the Garden, it stands to reason that they were not even in the Garden long enough to do so.

 

[HARK!]

HARK!
I have also asked this same question: Was Adam and Eve tempted and did the fail immediately, or did they refute the serpents arguments for a long time?
If we say a few billion years went through before Adam and Eve were finally tempted and failed, then I'm not happy with God, because He setup an "Eventual Failure over Time" process.
Meaning that God Deliberately WANTED Adam and Eve to fail.
This begs my question as part of this : God created all, therefore the Fall sins like child neglect and child rape was already designed into creation by God along with the heavenly child love.
If Adam and Eve did not fail, if they had successfully resisted the serpent, all the Fall and Redemption design part of creation (Let's face it 95% of the world now is using Fall design) would be wasted design.
We would be around, because Adam's instructions from God was to fill the whole world.
Cheers
Stephen

Hi Stephen,

I'd like to start by welcoming your to CF. There is a difference between knowing something will happen, and wanting something to happen. YHWH created a being in his image. He gave man free will. He didn't create robots. Obviously he knew that some would choose him; and some would choose evil; as he already had a redemption plan before he created Adam.

Adam's failure wasn't eventual process. Adam disobeyed, and died within the same day, as a day is like a thousand years to YHWH.

YHWH created us with the ability to make a choice. He knows that some will make bad choices; but what he wants is for us to choose him.

 

[HARK!]

Adam and Eve were created immortal. Otherwise, why would there be a tree of the knowledge of good and evil to remind them that if they eat any part of the tree, they will die.

From the time Adam disobeyed, his immortality and youthful look were gone and started to age and deteriorate slowly to death for 930 years.

There's no information how long he had this immortality. However, the Lord told Adam to name all the animals. There are about more than 1-2 million species of animals on Earth. Maybe, it will take him about 80-100 years to name all the animals by himself. Then, here comes Eve who was also immortal.

Both of them were naked and were naturally attracted to each other. If there's attraction, we know what will come next. When they ate the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Eve shortly became pregnant to twins.

My guesstimate will be 100-150 years before Adam and Even sinned.

Hi Debbie,

Welcome to CF.

Let's work with an assumption that you are 20 years old, and that you will live to 100. I apologize in advance if these numbers offend you; but they are just hypothetical for the sake of argument. If this were the case then you have lived roughly 20% of your life.

You stated that there are more that 1 million species on earth. I believe that there might have been far more in Adams day; but let's be conservative.

20% of 1 million is 200,000 species. Have you seen 200,000 species in your life, that you could call by name?

I'm an old guy; and I'm one to take nature walks; and I don't recall seeing anywhere near that many.

Even if 1 million animals lined up for Adam to be named, on the day that he was created; and he named 1 per second; and he named them all in 12 days; that's no indication of how long it took him to rebel against YHWH.

 

[DebbieJ]

Hi Debbie,

Welcome to CF.

Thanks.

Even if 1 million animals lined up for Adam to be named, on the day that he was created; and he named 1 per second; and he named them all in 12 days; that's no indication of how long it took him to rebel against YHWH.

I know. The bible is silent about it. But, it's fun trying to figure it out.

 

[Stephen P]

Can I ask; what is the Biblical meaning of animal (Metazoa) referring to Adam's day of naming?
If Adam was only addressing the Base Species, then what were they?
NOTE: There seem to be 3 Trunks of the tree; eukaryote(Us and animals), prokaryote(bacteria), Archaea(bacteria's grandpa)
then 4; Fish(Evolution of fish - Wikipedia),
Birds(Evolution of birds - Wikipedia),
Reptiles(Evolution of reptiles - Wikipedia),
Mammals(Evolution of mammals - Wikipedia).
For info, Mankind has 3 Racial types; Negroid, Caucasian, and Mongoloid.
So under eukaryotes, there is us and animals which makes sense as why try to introduce Adam to bacteria instead of something that God invented in Adam's trunk?

Note2:
When we talk about species, for example, there are 12,000 species of ant.
Adam would probably have seen and "named" Titanomyrma, the original ant not the 12,000 variants.

FYI (Today) "The total number of species is estimated to be between 8 and 8.7 million"
Even by todays technology, they recon it will take more than 1000 years to fully catalog all of them.
Species - Wikipedia
~~
This is why I love forums like this! I took on DebbieJ's challenge and discovered a cool website that might answer my own question about what are the base animals.
Tree of Life Web Project
Tree of Life Structure
This is the ROOT Life on Earth
Chordata is the closest zoom into animals Chordata
Wow I went completely to armoured jawed skulled animals and lost human mammals totally heh
Its got a good search, and I went to humans and am now pulling back the zoom.
So you could have Eutheria with 22 types for eg.
Cheers
Stephen

 

[coffee4u]

Your bad poll options will one day become legendary.

If not already. -_-

*me* Option 6. The Bible suggests a short time frame.
*myself* Oh thank you, for a nice poll option.
and *I* why you are very welcome.

I believe Adam was made on day 6.
God made Eve and he married them.
He told them to be fruitful and multiply
Since they had yet to do that I believe it was a very short time.

 

[Stephen P]

I would like to understand how anyone with reason, knowledge of the Bible, and credibility, can put a number on this.
If we believe the Bible, Adam was created, lived in the Garden, and was endowed with eternal life; so long as he was obedient to YHWH. I have found absolutely no Biblical reference for how much time elapsed, from the time that YHWH created Adam, until Adam disobeyed YHWH.
Until I see a number in scripture, any number greater than zero, up to infinity, is a possibility.

I would like to add a thought into the original post, because this is what I'm trying to do with several Genesis "Stories".
1. We are looking for a Scientific Historical time.
2. We have list of "Things that were there" in the Bible.
3. We should use the list of "Things that were there" to compare with Scientific History.

Now this is the different part.
Forget about the time scale. Concentrate on the ORDER.
Science History is still in a lot of conflict. They just moved a few historical developments a few Billion years recently.

If we want to compare with Science History, then Do exactly that.
MATCH the Biblical outcomes with Science History.

> 1 When Science History moves their time scale, then so will we.
> 2 We are confirming Science History, not opposing them, for at least some things.

If we gave science a list of "Things that were there", e.g. Science History may have 1, 2, 3, 4, but we have 1, 2.1, 2.2, 3, 4 Then we give Science History - and the Scientists who are Christian something to look for.

IF SCIENCE HISTORY FINDS IT, then the Bible is are validated as providing a missing step.

Cheers
Stephen

 

[Job 33:6]

Hi Debbie,

Welcome to CF.

Let's work with an assumption that you are 20 years old, and that you will live to 100. I apologize in advance if these numbers offend you; but they are just hypothetical for the sake of argument. If this were the case then you have lived roughly 20% of your life.

You stated that there are more that 1 million species on earth. I believe that there might have been far more in Adams day; but let's be conservative.

20% of 1 million is 200,000 species. Have you seen 200,000 species in your life, that you could call by name?

I'm an old guy; and I'm one to take nature walks; and I don't recall seeing anywhere near that many.

Even if 1 million animals lined up for Adam to be named, on the day that he was created; and he named 1 per second; and he named them all in 12 days; that's no indication of how long it took him to rebel against YHWH.

That's actually a really strange thought when you think about it.

Adam, sitting on a rock for two weeks straight, with a line of 1 million animals, and every second Adam is calling a name as they pass by "rabbit, snake, elephant, zebra, rhino..."

 

[coffee4u]

There's no information how long he had this immortality. However, the Lord told Adam to name all the animals. There are about more than 1-2 million species of animals on Earth. Maybe, it will take him about 80-100 years to name all the animals by himself. Then, here comes Eve who was also immortal.
.

That's actually a really strange thought when you think about it.

Adam, sitting on a rock for two weeks straight, with a line of 1 million animals, and every second Adam is calling a name as they pass by "rabbit, snake, elephant, zebra, rhino..."

He wasn't naming species he was naming kinds. There were far less when God first created.
There would have been a big cat kind, a horse kind, a dog kind. Animals were split into domesticated, wild and 'creatures that move along the ground'. So from the one big cat kind, came all the big cats. He didn't have to name tigers, lions, leopards etc.

Genesis 1

21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

 

[Stephen P]

Taking the Torah Version
20 RMT: and Elohiym said, the waters will swarm with swarmers of living souls and flyers will fly upon the land, upon the face of the sheet of the skies,
21 RMT: and Elohiym shaped the great crocodile all the living souls, the treaders which swarm the waters to their kind, and all the flyers of the wing to his kind, and Elohiym saw that it was functional,
22 RMT: and Elohiym exalted them saying, reproduce and increase and fill the waters in the seas, and the flyers increased in the land,
23 RMT: and evening existed and morning existed, a fifth day,
24 RMT: and Elohiym said, the land will bring out living souls to her kind, beasts and treaders and living ones of the land to her kind, and he existed so,
25 RMT: and Elohiym made living ones of the land to her kind and the beast to her kind and all of the treaders of the ground to his kind, and Elohiym saw that it was functional,
26 RMT: and Elohiym said, we will make a human in our image, like our likeness, and he will rule in the fish of the sea and in the flyers of the skies, and in the beast, and in all the land, and in all the treaders treading upon the land,

> Note: Only Adam is described with the new description of "In our Image"
ie Gods Image ie Spiritual, ie with THE ADAM.
Nothing to do with the physical body, but the Spiritual body.

Earth : The making of a planet video
----------0360 Million Years ago
41:00 tictalic becomes tetrapods - crocodile one of the first land dwellers
41:25 All 4 legged vertebrates come from this. Dinasaurs, Birds, Mammals, Man.
41:53 Mosses ferns and first seed - totally enclosed system - instead of single celled water requiring spores.
42:57 Spread of plants further away from water sources and more Oxygen pumped out.

 

[Stephen P]

https://tiktaalik.uchicago.edu/meetTik.html
"Tiktaalik looks like a cross between the primitive fish it lived amongst and the first four-legged animals (a group called "tetrapods" from tetra-, meaning four, and -pod, meaning foot. Actually, all animals that descended from these pioneer amphibians, including us, can be called tetrapods). Tiktaalik lived about 12 million years before the first tetrapods (which are approximately 363 million years old). So, the existence of tetrapod features in a fish like Tiktaalik is significant because it marks the earliest appearance of these novel features in the fossil record."

So now we have cut out Billions of years to arrive at something closer to the shape of Man from the Earth that God then made into His Spiritual image.

 

[Stephen P]

[Edit]
Theres 2 questions:
Eden:
If we are talking Eden, Where/When was Eden formed?
Man:
When was Adam formed?

https://tiktaalik.uchicago.edu/searching4Tik.html
By the way, this is a VERY nice and very informative, simple perspective of showing how Humans have worked out how to join evolutionary dots together.
I include this because if we are talking ancient history, and geological history, we are relying on how these people and their methods, so it makes sense to know how they do it.

 

[-57]

There's no information how long he had this immortality. However, the Lord told Adam to name all the animals. There are about more than 1-2 million species of animals on Earth. Maybe, it will take him about 80-100 years to name all the animals by himself. Then, here comes Eve who was also immortal.

Where does it sat Adam named each species? the Bible tells us the animals were named day 6. Part of one day.

 

[-57]

Hi Stephen,

I'd like to start by welcoming your to CF. There is a difference between knowing something will happen, and wanting something to happen. YHWH created a being in his image. He gave man free will. He didn't create robots. Obviously he knew that some would choose him; and some would choose evil; as he already had a redemption plan before he created Adam.

Adam's failure wasn't eventual process. Adam disobeyed, and died within the same day, as a day is like a thousand years to YHWH.

YHWH created us with the ability to make a choice. He knows that some will make bad choices; but what he wants is for us to choose him.

I believe Adam would have physically died that day...but instead God took the life of an animal instead and made garments. Kinda like Christ dying in our place.

 

[-57]

So now we have cut out Billions of years to arrive at something closer to the shape of Man from the Earth that God then made into His Spiritual image.

The Bible doesn't teach that.

 

[mmksparbud]

I would like to understand how anyone with reason, knowledge of the Bible, and credibility, can put a number on this.

If we believe the Bible, Adam was created, lived in the Garden, and was endowed with eternal life; so long as he was obedient to YHWH. I have found absolutely no Biblical reference for how much time elapsed, from the time that YHWH created Adam, until Adam disobeyed YHWH.

Until I see a number in scripture, any number greater than zero, up to infinity, is a possibility.

Adam and Eve were created immortal. Otherwise, why would there be a tree of the knowledge of good and evil to remind them that if they eat any part of the tree, they will die.

From the time Adam disobeyed, his immortality and youthful look were gone and started to age and deteriorate slowly to death for 930 years.

There's no information how long he had this immortality. However, the Lord told Adam to name all the animals. There are about more than 1-2 million species of animals on Earth. Maybe, it will take him about 80-100 years to name all the animals by himself. Then, here comes Eve who was also immortal.

Both of them were naked and were naturally attracted to each other. If there's attraction, we know what will come next. When they ate the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Eve shortly became pregnant to twins.

My guesstimate will be 100-150 years before Adam and Even sinned.

No, they were not!!

Gen 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

If they had stayed in the garden, with the tree oi life, they would have stayed immortal in sin.

After the resurrection we are again given access to the Tree of Life:

Rev_2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
Rev_22:2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Rev_22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

1Ti 6:15 Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;
1Ti 6:16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.

Immortality is a gift from God, not a right of birth!!

Rom_6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

There is no way that Satan would have wasted any time in tempting them to fall. It doesn't say how long they were there.
Not every single species of animal had been created---but each classification of animals. Not every species of Cat---but a male and female of a cat, micro evolution would do the rest. Like when Noah had the animals taken into the ark---they were the parent of the species---not every single species. Noah didn't need 30 different kinds of dogs--just wolves. Microevolution then would create all the different types of dogs. Irish Wolfhounds to Chihuahuas all come from wolves.