Posted ByJoshua Daniels on May 16, 1999 at 10:24:57:
If "dam" means blood, could "Adam" be read also as a name containing a combination of meanings, one of which is "blood?" The thing that comes to mind is that in several languages descended from the pre-Babel tongue (Proto-Indo-European), the "a" prefix means "without," or "lacking."
If that usage is Hebrew also, then "Adam" also means "without blood," which has a host of marvelous implications. First, it means, "without life," a truth illustrated by the fact that Adam and Eve were dependent on the Tree of Life for continued physical existence. The only person to have life of his own other than God was Jesus Christ, who said in John 5:26, "For as the Father has life in Himself, He has granted that the Son have life in himself." "Without life" is also an indirect reference to man's role as God's image-bearer. Nothing God created had life of its own, yet he singled out man to be declared as "without life," indicating that it was important that man understand that and live in His life, not the cheap imitation with which we are born.
Also, it is a reference to the fact that of all the omnivores on the planet, man is the only one who is to consume his meat without blood in it.
However, all of this hinges on the meaning of that little "a." Anybody know the answer to this?