12/08/2025
Adam Wrote a Book!
Adam could also read and write. The first four chapters of Genesis come from Adam’s written records, as the beginning of chapter 5 summarizes:
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created. (Genesis 5:1-2 NASB)
The Hebrew word cepher (Strong’s H5612) translated book literally means writing and indicates a register, account, or history.
Moses authored the first five books of the Bible. While he wrote most of Exodus through Deuteronomy himself, he was probably a compiler and editor for Genesis. I believe he took patriarchal records handed down from Adam, Noah, Shem, Terah (Abraham’s father), Ishmael, Isaac, Esau, and Jacob and put them together, likely with some editing, to form what we know as Genesis.
Throughout Genesis, Moses credited his sources. Here are Moses’ “credits” for the records he used to compile his historical account:
Gen 5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam.
Gen 6:9 These are the records of the generations of Noah.
Gen 10:1 Now these are the records of the generations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah.
Gen 11:10 These are the records of the generations of Shem.
Gen 11:27 Now these are the records of the generations of Terah.
Gen 25:12 Now these are the records of the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son.
Gen 25:19 Now these are the records of the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son.
Gen 36:1 Now these are the records of the generations of Esau.
Gen 36:9 These then are the records of the generations of Esau.
Gen 37:2 These are the records of the generations of Jacob.
The credit in Genesis 5:1 is for Adam’s record. Genesis 1:1-5:1 comes from Adam’s records that were handed down father-to-son and which Noah took with him on the Ark and then handed down to his son Shem who passed them on all the way to Jacob.
Jacob’s death in Egypt is recounted in the last chapter of Genesis. Jacob’s records and those of his forebears were surely passed on to Moses (several generations after Jacob).
At his death Joseph specifically asked that his bones be taken from Egypt back to the Promised Land when the Israelites returned (Genesis 50:24-25). Moses took the bones of Joseph with him when he led the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 13:19). If the bones of Joseph were preserved for Moses to take with him at the Exodus, it’s reasonable to think that the Israelites would also have preserved the much-more-valuable records of Jacob and that Moses would have had access to them.
After Eden
The Genesis record reports that Adam’s early descendants also possessed superior mental abilities. Adam’s son Cain built the city Enoch. To build a city requires math, physics, and engineering knowledge, not to mention planning and personnel-management skills. Tubalcain, in the seventh generation from Adam, forged metals. His half-brother Jubal invented musical instruments. Noah, in the ninth generation from Adam, built a huge ocean-going vessel that survived history’s greatest storm.
Despite Cain’s murder of his brother Abel, Adam apparently had a special fondness for his first-born Cain. For he kept up with him and his descendants for seven generations, as Adam recorded in his book! (Genesis 4:17-24)
Adam was no bumpkin. He was created with intelligence and verbal and linguistic skills that he exercised from the beginning. Yes, Adam could read and write. In fact, he probably invented writing.