Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 39:1 (NA 1988)
Article: ‘Adam As ‘Skin’ And ‘Earth’: An Examination Of Some Proposed Meanings In Biblical Hebrew
Author: Richard S. Hess

---

TynBul 39:1 (1988) p. 141

‘Adam As ‘Skin’ And ‘Earth’:
An Examination Of Some Proposed Meanings In Biblical Hebrew1

Richard S. Hess

The noun ‘dm appears in the lexicon of L. Koehler and W. Baumgartner with five separate listings for אָדָם.2 In addition to (1) the common meaning of ‘humanity’; there is (2) the meaning of ‘skin, hide, leather’ given for an appearance of אדם in Hosea 11:4; (3) the personal name Adam; (4) the meaning of ‘ground, earth’, a variant of אֲדָמָה; and (5) the geographic name for a site identified with Tell ed-Dāmiye. While the first and third meanings are identifiable in the opening chapters of Genesis;3 the second, fourth, and fifth are to be considered here in terms of their usefulness in understanding the texts in which they have been found and in terms of their value as additions to the Hebrew lexicon.

1. Meaning 2: ‘Skin, Hide, Leather’

This meaning is based on the use of אדם in Hosea 11:4. The text of the first part of the verse reads:

בְּחַבְלֵי אָדָם אֶמְשְׁכֵם

בַּעֲבֹתוֹת אַהֲבָה

G. R. Driver proposed the rendering: ‘I attached them (as) with bands of leather, drawing them (close as) with bonds of hide’.4 He bases his translation on Arabic cognates for both אדם and אהבה. The JPS translation reads: ‘I drew them with human ties, With cords of love’. This is acceptable for the context. Although the lexicon of Koehler and Baumgartner cites H. W.

TynBul 39:1 (1988) p. 142

Wolff, the latest edition of his commentary rejects ‘leather’ as a translation for אדם or אהבה.5 Such an understanding is supported by the other commentaries, as well. The most common translation is to understand אדם as ‘humanity’ or as an individual human.6 This is the simplest and most suitable reading of the text. However, even options to read חֶסֶד as an emendat...

visitor : : uid: ()