Adam's Original Sin: Neglecting His Wife

Genesis 3 records the Fall of mankind, and by by association creation.  The story is one of the few essential narratives in all the Bible, on par with the story of David killing Goliath, and death of Jesus.  Even non-Christians who have never opened the pages of the Bible know these stories.  For the purposes of this dialogue, the Fall will be under closer examination. 

A brief synopsis: Adam and Eve, the apex of God's creation, have been created and given the whole of creation as their gift and task.  Yet God has given a single command to not eat one thing, the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  At some point, Adam and Eve are sitting around in the cool of the day, and a sly serpent comes and tempts Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.  She then hands some fruit to Adam, who eats, their "eyes are opened," and they are cast out of the presence of God for their disobedient sin.

Breathe.  Something is striking about this story, though, where is Adam while Eve is being tempted.  In the Hebrew, there is a preposition about Adam indicating that he was right next to his wife while she was being enticed by the shrewd snake.  But despite Adam's close physical proximity, he did not speak up, he didn't even think to ask, "Hey babe, what's going on over there?"

Instead, Adam neglected what was going on with Eve and the serpent.  In truth, Adam abdicated his primary task, which was to care for and protect his wife.  Thus, Adam's first sin, which is different than Eve's, was actually neglecting his wife, Eve.  Notice how this sin carries through the bloodline of Adam to today.  Men should take heed, then, to the sin of Adam and think about it every time we hear the television calling us away from our wives.