The Adam and Eve Story: Eve Came From Where?
Adam and Eve in the Bible
“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 its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.”
—Genesis 2:21–22, NRSV
ADAM AND EVE IN THE BIBLE. This mosaic from the Cathedral of Monreale, Sicily, depicts the creation of woman in the Bible. Eve is shown emerging from Adam’s side. Most translations of the Adam and Eve story say that Eve was created from Adam’s rib, but Ziony Zevit contends that she was created from a very different part of Adam’s body.
According to the Bible’s creation account, after making the heavens and the earth, God created humankind. The Adam and Eve story in Genesis 2 states that God formed Adam out of the dust of the ground, and then Eve was created from one of Adam’s ribs. But was it really his rib?
The Hebrew word that is traditionally translated as “rib” is tsela‘. Ziony Zevit, Distinguished Professor of Biblical Literature and Northwest Semitic Languages at American Jewish University in Bel-Air, California, believes that this translation is wrong, as do many scholars. It was first translated as “rib” in the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the mid-third century B.C.E. However, a more careful reading of the Hebrew word for “rib” in the Adam and Eve story suggests that Eve was created from another, very different, part of Adam’s anatomy—his os baculum (penis bone).
Zevit carefully examines the account of the creation of woman in the Bible in his article “Was Eve Made from Adam’s Rib—or His Baculum?” which appears in the September/October 2015 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
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Of the 40 appearances of tsela‘ in the Bible, the Adam and Eve story is the only place where it is translated as “rib.” Usually it means the side of something. Zevit explains the nuance of this word:
This Hebrew word occurs some 40 times in the Hebrew Bible, where it refers to the side of a building or of an altar or ark (Exodus 25:12; 26:20, 26; 1 Kings 6:34), a side-chamber (1 Kings 6:8; Ezekiel 41:6), or a branch of a mountain (2 Samuel 16:13). In each of these instances, it refers to something off-center, lateral to a main structure. The only place where tsela‘ might be construed as referring to a rib that branches off from the spinal cord is in Genesis 2:21–22.
According to Zevit, “rib” is the wrong translation for tsela‘ in the Adam and Eve story in the Bible. Zevit believes that tsela‘ should be translated as “a non-specific, general term,” such as one of Adam’s lateral limbs, in the Adam and Eve story. Thus, it refers to “limbs lateral to the vertical axis of an erect human body: hands, feet, or, in the case of males, the penis.”
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Which of these lateral limbs lacks a bone? Human males do not have a penis bone, but many mammals do. Zevit concludes that in the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible, the woman was created from the man’s baculum to explain why this appendage does not have a bone.
To see Ziony Zevit’s full explanation of the Adam and Eve story in the Bible, read his article “Was Eve Made from Adam’s Rib—or His Baculum?” in the September/October 2015 issue of BAR.
BAS Library Members: Read the full article “Was Eve Made from Adam’s Rib—or His Baculum?” by Ziony Zevit in the September/October 2015 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
Not a BAS Library or All-Access Member yet? Join today.
This Bible History Daily feature was originally published on September 15, 2015.
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Amazing!!!
Please read a book on Modern Biology and learn about DNA. It will change your life.
Best comment in this thread!
Surely no matter which part of Man was used for the creation of Eve – Adam would have been the only person minus that part right? The offspring would have had all the parts in place because that was already written into Adams genetic encoding. An Amputee who thereafter fathers children does not produce kids minus the same part ~
My believe is man was created from Eve
Rib meaning stomach. A man is here to help the woman. Take women out this world and see how men reproduce. All mam came from a woman. Example Mary had Jesus and good send man to help raise Jesus. In the book of Genesis I believe man rewrite the true story. If you all believe in God he will revail the truth of his creations.
That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever read in my life take man out of this world and see how a woman will reproduce
This is very untrue my friend, Please, do not pervert the Holy scriptures
yeah right, take men out of the world and women are gonna all of a sudden get pregnant on their own.
If the word means “ from the side” as indicated in the article then the logical assumption would be Eve was created from Adam’s side, which would be most closely associated with his ribs. With all due respect to Zevit, baculum is a real stretch especially since his suggestion is based on his idea that the word tsela is incorrect. As an evangelical Christian I believe in the inherency of the Bible as the inspired Word of God. In the scriptures, God often does things that have symbolic meaning. Thus, with woman being created from the rib of man she is to be treated or considered as one who comes along side her mate, a helpmate as it were, not one who is to follow behind or go ahead.
Mitochondrial DNA shows us that every human being (100%) that ever existed descends from Mitochondrial Eve. Mitochondrial DNA tells us that 97% to 98% descend from Mitochondrial Adam. 2% to 3% of humans were fathered from beings outside of the human genome (Genesis 6:1-4)
We are all brothers and sisters, if we like it or not. Love one another.
The moral of this question is that there is no proof of how, why, or where humankind was created. Only speculation and and unmarited words. None of which makes a bit of sense, since we supposedly were created by God. So if he made Eve out of the flash of another why were we conceived by someone besides God? Never mind getting off this subject to keep my sanity, which is inherited by someone else entirely.
It says in the bible that woman came from man’s rib. But in our anatomy make-up we have the same amount of ribs. How is this meant to be perceived?
The “rib” did NOT come from the ribcage, therefore the ribcage remains intact.
I am curious and know nothing of ancient languages except a little Latin (very little). In Latin the preposition “in” can also mean “on”. This makes me wonder about the use of “from” or “out of” a rib pulled from Adam’s side. Is a possible connotation “using”, allowing that the “rib” pulled from Adam’s side (a penis) around which “woman” is formed thus uniting their flesh in coitus?
The author may want the meaning to be penis bone, but he fails to recognize the Hebrew word is 3rd, fem., plural, the phrase meaning: “one from the support structures (of the side) of him”! The term “tsela” being a building construction term, meaning multiple support beams or support cells (chambers) in the side of a building. This term is also used when referring to the Tabernacle and the Temple and the storage areas of the walls (chambers), built into the walls as support to the walls. It is also used of natural occuring supports such as a cliff wall on a mountain.
Not once in the he Bible is it used for a “penis bone!”
Another funny notion is that all men should somehow be missing a rib. Adam was created with all his ribs and in procreation all his progeny will have the same numbers of ribs as Adam before God removed the one for the creation of Eve!