Gen 2: ha'adam, "the man," and Adam

Says From 2:7 to 2:25 the noun has the article, הָאָדָם ("the man"), fourteen times. It lacks it at 2:5, וְאָדָם אַיִן ("and there was no man"), and at 2:20, וּלְאָדָם, which the BSB renders "But for Adam." BDB gives "man, mankind" and "Adam, first man (without art.)." The man is formed from הָאֲדָמָה ("ground," BDB), a sound-play. The name is plain at Gen 5:1, סֵפֶר תּוֹלְדֹת אָדָם, and 5:5. The LXX has ἄνθρωπος at 2:7–8, 15 and 18, and τῷ Ἀδὰμ from 2:16.

Uncertain Whether הָאָדָם is one man, humankind represented in him, or both, and where the personal name begins (2:20, 3:17 or 4:25). The article favors "the man"; the generic sense of the noun allows a representative reading. No lean is taken here.

Implies A real Adam and a real first sin: Gen 2–3 and 5:1–5 tell of one man, and the Romans 5 note reads them so: "Through Adam's one trespass, sin, death, and condemnation came to all humanity" (see note.language.Rom.5.12-Rom.5.14.gen-2-3-adam).

Uncertain How the narrative tells it. (1) Historical narrative of a real first man and woman. (2) History told with literary and figurative features, such as God's forming with hands, symbolic trees and a speaking serpent. Both hold the core above; no lean is taken between them. (3) A purely archetypal or non-historical reading, whose grounds are the generic noun and the symbolic features; it lies outside that core, since it does not fit the Romans reading. Human origins in science are not argued here.