How many sons did Adam and Eve have?

The first chapters of Genesis provide a mythic history of evil’s infiltration into the world. God creates the first man and woman (Adam and Eve) in his Garden of Eden, from which they are expelled; the first murder occurs, and God decides to destroy the world, saving only Noah and his sons; new humanity descends from these and spreads throughout the world.

The history of the world ends with Terah, the father of Abraham, who will produce God’s chosen people, the Israelites, despite the fact that the new world is just as sinful as the old. This is because God has vowed never again to wipe out the world by flood. Apart from Adam’s single mention in genealogy in 1 Chronicle 1:1, neither Adam nor Eve are mentioned anywhere else in the Hebrew scriptures, indicating that despite their story being prefixed to the Jewish narrative, it has little in common with it.

Adam and Eve are the first man and woman in the Bible. Adam’s name appears in Genesis 1 as “mankind”; later in Genesis 2-3, it carries the definite article ha, equivalent to English “the,” indicating that this is “the man.” In these chapters, God creates “the man” (ha adam) from the earth (adamah), breathes life into his nostrils, and entrusts him with the care of creation.