Adam Names the Animals: When Creation Gets Interesting

Some jobs sound simple until you actually have to do them.

Adam had been placed in the Garden of Eden to work it and care for it. Then came another assignment: God brought the living creatures to the man to see what he would call them. Scripture tells us that whatever Adam called each creature became its name.

That probably went smoothly for a while… Lion... Elephant... Giraffe... Horse…

Then, at least in the imagination of our cartoonist, something waddled up with a duck-like bill, webbed feet, fur and a broad tail.

Adam looked at the animal... Adam looked at God... Adam looked back at the animal... And suddenly he had questions.

Of course, Genesis doesn't tell us that Adam ever encountered a platypus, much less what he thought about one. That's where the cartoon ends and the Bible begins.

And the Bible's story is even better.

A World Full of Creatures

The opening chapters of Genesis introduce us to a world overflowing with life.

God creates the heavens and the earth. Light and darkness. Land and sea. Plants and trees. Creatures of the water and birds of the air. Animals of every kind.

And finally, humanity.

Genesis 2 slows down and brings us closer to Adam in the garden. God has placed Adam there with meaningful work to do. Then the animals are brought before him, and Adam names them.

That's quite an assignment.

Naming something requires noticing it... You have to look... You have to pay attention.

This one has wings… That one has hooves… That fellow has a very long neck… This one has teeth that suggest we should probably finish the naming process from several feet away.

And then there's the platypus.

Again—not in the biblical text.

But you have to admit, it makes the cartoonist's point rather nicely.

Creation is wonderfully varied.

Some creatures are majestic. Some are beautiful. Some are tiny. Some are enormous. Some look perfectly sensible.

And some look as though several perfectly good ideas somehow ended up in the same animal.

Yet Genesis repeatedly presents creation as God's creation.

Adam didn't create these creatures. His role was to encounter what God had made and give names to the living creatures brought before him.

There is something delightfully human about that.

God creates.

Adam discovers.

And Adam has to figure out what to call everything.

📖 In Your Bible

Genesis 2:19–20 — Adam Names the Animals

This is a wonderfully short passage, so don't settle for our summary. Open your Bible and read it.

Genesis tells us that God brought the animals and birds to the man to see what he would call them, and the names he gave them became their names. Adam names the livestock, the birds, and the wild animals.

But there's another part of the story worth noticing.

After all those creatures pass before Adam, Scripture says that no suitable helper was found for him. That little sentence moves the story forward.

The parade of animals isn't merely a naming exercise. Genesis is leading us toward what happens next: the creation of woman.

Adam is surrounded by life, but none of these creatures is his equal companion.

That's where the next part of the story begins.

Something to Think About

There is an interesting little habit hidden inside this story: Adam had to pay attention to what was in front of him.

Maybe that's worth thinking about.

How much of God's creation do we hurry past without really seeing it?… A tree in the backyard... A bird outside the kitchen window... A dog asleep beside the chair... A sunset we almost missed because we were looking at a screen... Another person sitting across the table.

What might happen if we became a little better at noticing?

And here's another question:

What has God already placed in your ordinary life that deserves a closer look?

No quick answer required.

Just something to think about over coffee.

Preferably while keeping an eye out for those “platypuses” all around us.

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