Luke 3:38 bears witness to Adam’s priesthood. When Luke traces Jesus’s genealogy back to Adam, he calls Adam “the son of God.” The priestly significance of this title is associated with the way firstborn sons were set apart as priestly assistants. As Michael Morales observes, firstborn sons were consecrated to the Lord (see Ex. 13:2), and until Numbers 3:40–51 replaced firstborn sons with the Levites, the firstborn sons “were to serve in a lay-priestly role.”11 And part of this connection between sonship and priesthood goes back to Adam.
A Pattern of Priesthood from the Beginning
In the beginning God created a priest. And not just any priest, but a royal priest—a man made in God’s likeness, a son fashioned to reflect God’s beauty, an image bearer commissioned to rule God’s world with holy affections. God commissioned the first family—Adam and his fellow image bearer, Eve—to be fruitful and multiply and fill the world with God’s glory.
The first few chapters of Genesis bring the reader into a foreign world with many ancient places, practices, and people. Presented as symbol-laden history, Genesis tells us where humanity came from, why we are here, and what went wrong. It also hints at who will “fix” it. While priesthood is not defined or assigned until Sinai, we can see how priesthood in Israel finds an original pattern in Genesis.
Evidence for the First Priest
Genesis 1–2 presents Eden as a garden sanctuary and the first man as royal priest. Later, after humanity’s fall (Gen. 3), sacrifice will be added to complete the cultic system. Together, the indivisible complex of sanctuary, priesthood, and sacrifice begins in Genesis 1–3.1
Even secular societies participate in cultic worship. Malls, models, and merchandise form a materialistic cult alluring worshipers to make a sacrifice at the altar of Apple or REI. Similarly, worship in the Bible requires a Holy Place (a temple), a devoted priesthood, and a sacrifice on the altar.2 As strange as ancient religions may look, patterns of priestly worship still surround us. And going back to Eden, we discover why. In fact, Moses gives at least four ways to see priesthood in Eden.
First, Adam is placed in a garden sanctuary. Set on a mountain where the waters flowed down from Eden, the “garden of God” (Isa. 51:3; Ezek. 28:13; 31:9) was the place where Adam and Eve enjoyed Yahweh’s presence. While Eden was a perfect environment for man to dwell, Genesis 1–2 is theological, not agricultural. The garden was far more than verdant farmland; it was the place where God approached Adam, and Adam entered God’s presence—hence a garden sanctuary.
Like the tabernacle, which had three spheres of increasing holiness (the courtyard, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place), Eden also had three regions of ascending holiness (the world outside the garden, the garden itself, and the top of God’s mountain, where his presence dwelt). In all, God created Adam and all of his children in his image to commune with him and to serve as his priests in his Holy Place.3
Second, image bearers are royal priests who mediate God’s presence. Genesis 1:26–28 says God made humanity in his own image and likeness. And while Adam and Eve’s royal function is observable in the words “subdue” and “have dominion over” in verse 28, there is reason to assign priesthood to these words too. In the ancient Near East, image bearing was inherently priestly, as the king mediated the presence of God to the people and vice versa.