# "Adam and Eve were 15 feet tall" - Origin of this belief? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 11, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984 "2010-08-11T21:26:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984/21 "2010-08-12T13:15:10Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > > [@gytalf2000](#): > > > > I have also overheard people talking about this belief in a restaurant (my local Hooters restaurant) a few weeks ago. They were talking about the whole “There were giants on the earth” quote from Genesis, and that people really “downsized” due to sin, dislocation from God, unhealthy diet, breeding with pre-Adamic humanoids, etc. > > If they were at a Hooters restaurant, it’s possible that their entire conception of what sizes things are supposed to be was hopelessly skewed. Funny! Actually, not all the waitresses are the “Double D-Cup” type, but I am aware that is the stereotype. Nevertheless, you did make me snicker a bit with that comment… ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984/22 "2010-08-12T13:17:48Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > > [@si\_blakely](#): > > > > There is nothing in the Bible about how tall Adam was. Some Jewish traditions (outside of the Torah) talk about Adam being extremely tall (the same size as God, maybe) > > And according to these sources, how tall is God supposed to be? Well, according to Oral Roberts, Jesus is 900 feet tall. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984/23 "2010-08-12T13:34:13Z")
> [@UncleFred](#): > > > [@gytalf2000](#): > > > > … breeding with pre-Adamic humanoids, etc… > > Has anyone else heard of that idea? How would the existence of “pre-Adamic humanoids” fit into the creationist position? > > I don’t doubt someone could concoct a ‘fit’ but I’ve just never heard of it. The “Christian Churches of God” ([The Resurrection of the Dead (No. 143)](http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p143.html)) seem to take it as ‘proven’ but I can’t follow the logic. Some people use that phrase, or something like it, to explain fossil hominids. If you really, really don’t want to believe in all the evidence for evolution, you will concoct other theories to explain away australopithecines, homo erectus, etc. They just happened to be animals that God created that looked a little bit like us. The other alternative is just pretending the bones aren’t there, or that they were all planted by Satan in order to fool people into believing that evolution happened. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984/24 "2010-08-12T14:40:59Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > You need to ask the person informing the kids their source for this. They may have some reasoning behind this, or they may have no reason other than everybody knows that. It’s best to confront the actual person teaching this since you know who they are. Won’t SOMEBODY think of the children? What ELSE are they being fed? My “little Fundie church” actually fired a pastor for counseling people with “your psychological problems are Satan’s fault.” instead of pointing them to Serious Therapy With Real Psychologists. And I was involved in asking a Sunday School teacher to “retire early”, due to her propensity for numerology (!) and general Tin Foil Hat-ness. **She wanted to spend one Sunday on “Why we never went to the Moon”**! Look, gytalf, you said you’d “overheard some conversations amongst the young folk (teenagers)” – what were their attitudes? Were they healthy skeptics, raising their eyebrows? Or little robots accepting it as truth? BTW, you need to watch out for your own soul. Anyone who starts calling kids “young folk” is in just as much danger as they are of being Assimilated. If you start saying “fellowshipping” when you really mean “just talking”, if you’re calling acquaintances “brother”, OR, if you ask someone about their “walk with the Lord”, let us know, and we’ll pray for you. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984/25 "2010-08-12T15:08:49Z")
> [@digs](#): > > > [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > > > You need to ask the person informing the kids their source for this. They may have some reasoning behind this, or they may have no reason other than everybody knows that. It’s best to confront the actual person teaching this since you know who they are. > > Won’t SOMEBODY think of the children? > > What ELSE are they being fed? > > My “little Fundie church” actually fired a pastor for counseling people with “your psychological problems are Satan’s fault.” instead of pointing them to Serious Therapy With Real Psychologists. > > And I was involved in asking a Sunday School teacher to “retire early”, due to her propensity for numerology (!) and general Tin Foil Hat-ness. **She wanted to spend one Sunday on “Why we never went to the Moon”**! > > Look, gytalf, you said you’d “overheard some conversations amongst the young folk (teenagers)” – what were their attitudes? Were they healthy skeptics, raising their eyebrows? Or little robots accepting it as truth? > > BTW, you need to watch out for your own soul. Anyone who starts calling kids “young folk” is in just as much danger as they are of being Assimilated. If you start saying “fellowshipping” when you really mean “just talking”, if you’re calling acquaintances “brother”, OR, if you ask someone about their “walk with the Lord”, let us know, and we’ll pray for you. Okay, some further info about my situation: I am not really “involved” in the Church at all, other than showing up on Sunday morning, because I like to sing hymns, and then, after the service, I will sometimes go to lunch with my sister and her family. She is fairly devout; I am not, and she knows it. We still enjoy each other’s company, despite intellectual differences. The congregation has about 1800 members. I did not know the teens who were talking about the fifteen-foot-tall Adam and Eve, (I am going with the “little robots” terminology for now, since I could discern no mocking or derisive tone to their voices) so I have no idea who was promoting the idea. If I had known, I definitely would have gone straight to that person. And thanks for warning me about the term “young folk”. I will strive mightily to not use the phrase again, in my walk with the Lord, my dear, Christian brother. Will you please pray for me, in my hour of need? Now I truly fear for my (semi-) precious soul… Oh dear! The Assimilation… It Burns! Aaarrrggghhh! ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984/26 "2010-08-12T15:55:58Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > You need to ask the person informing the kids their source for this. They may have some reasoning behind this… Unlikely ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984/27 "2010-08-12T16:25:35Z")
There’s a midrash (Jewish tradition not found in the bible) that Moses was 15 feet tall, and some Ultra-Orthodox Jews take that literally. The Jewish tradition of Adam’s great height can be found in this talmudic passage: [QUOTE=Sanhedrin 38b] Rab Judah said in Rab’s name: The first man reached\*\* from one end of the world to the other\*\*, as it is written, Since the day that God created man upon the earth, even from the one end of Heaven unto the other. But when he sinned, the Holy One, blessed be He, laid His hand upon him and diminished him, as it is written, Thou hast hemmed me in behind and before, and laid Thy hands upon me. R. Eleazer said: The first man reached **from earth to heaven** , as it is written, Since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from the one end of Heaven [the other]. But when he sinned, the Holy One, blessed be He, laid His hand upon him and diminished him, for it is written, Thou hast hemmed me in behind and before etc. [/QUOTE] Then there’s this midrashic statement about what his height was after God “diminished” him: [QUOTE=B’reshith Rabbah 12:6] Said R. Aibu, “He was cut down in height and reduced to one hundred cubits.” [/QUOTE] I don’t know of anyone who bothers interpreting that literally. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984/28 "2010-08-12T16:47:28Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > There’s a midrash (Jewish tradition not found in the bible) that Moses was 15 feet tall, and some Ultra-Orthodox Jews take that literally. > > The Jewish tradition of Adam’s great height can be found in this talmudic passage: > > [QUOTE=Sanhedrin 38b] > > Rab Judah said in Rab’s name: The first man reached\*\* from one end of the world to the other\*\*, as it is written, Since the day that God created man upon the earth, even from the one end of Heaven unto the other. But when he sinned, the Holy One, blessed be He, laid His hand upon him and diminished him, as it is written, Thou hast hemmed me in behind and before, and laid Thy hands upon me. R. Eleazer said: The first man reached **from earth to heaven** , as it is written, Since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from the one end of Heaven [the other]. But when he sinned, the Holy One, blessed be He, laid His hand upon him and diminished him, for it is written, Thou hast hemmed me in behind and before etc. Then there’s this midrashic statement about what his height was after God “diminished” him: [QUOTE=B’reshith Rabbah 12:6] Said R. Aibu, “He was cut down in height and reduced to one hundred cubits.” [/QUOTE] I don’t know of anyone who bothers interpreting that literally. [/QUOTE] Interesting! I had no idea about this. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984/29 "2010-08-12T17:27:04Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > Then there’s this midrashic statement about what his height was after God “diminished” him: > > [QUOTE=B’reshith Rabbah 12:6] > > Said R. Aibu, “He was cut down in height and reduced to one hundred cubits.” I don’t know of anyone who bothers interpreting that literally. [/QUOTE] 100 cubits would make him four and a half meters tall, or 150 feet. Looks like someone forgot to carry the 1. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984/30 "2010-08-12T17:55:12Z")
Looks like someone forgot a decimal point- ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984/31 "2010-08-12T18:10:25Z")
Actually, I added one. 45 meters, not 4.5. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984/32 "2010-08-12T18:11:18Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > > [@Shmendrik](#): > > > > Then there’s this midrashic statement about what his height was after God “diminished” him: > > I don’t know of anyone who bothers interpreting that literally. > > 100 cubits would make him four and a half meters tall, or 150 feet. Looks like someone forgot to carry the 1. 😉 Am I being whooshed? How is 150 feet = 4.5 metres? ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984/33 "2010-08-12T18:12:05Z")
I have heard of this, but I have no idea what the basis is. It seems to stem from the “Adam and Eve were created perfect and mankind has degenerated since” school of thought, with a helping of “statures decreased similarly to lifespans” on the side (this last bit is just my thought, though). I was raised in a fundamentalist protestant church (Seventh Day Adventist, to be precise), and this wouldn’t be commented on as out of place in their service. They have a number of other interesting views on religion, it must be said. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984/34 "2010-08-12T18:12:50Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > > > 100 cubits would make him four and a half meters tall, or 150 feet. Looks like someone forgot to carry the 1. 😉 > > Am I being whooshed? How is 150 feet = 4.5 metres? Inflation? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984/35 "2010-08-12T18:49:19Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > > [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > > > You need to ask the person informing the kids their source for this. They may have some reasoning behind this… > > Unlikely Don’t cut my sentence in half in the quote. Do you design campaign ads? > [@](#): > > They may have some reasoning behind this, or they may have no reason other than everybody knows that. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984/36 "2010-08-12T19:00:36Z")
Giants came from… Fallen Angels taking human wives 6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984/37 "2010-08-12T19:26:15Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Giants came from… Fallen Angels taking human wives > > 6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, > > 6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. > > 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. > > 6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. Adam and Eve were made from dirt by God not from angels and people having “relations”. So people really are dirtbags. EDIT: I had not heard of the 15ft. thing before this thread. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984/38 "2010-08-13T00:48:46Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > > [@digs](#): > > > > Won’t SOMEBODY think of the children? > > > > What ELSE are they being fed? > > > > My “little Fundie church” actually fired a pastor for counseling people with “your psychological problems are Satan’s fault.” instead of pointing them to Serious Therapy With Real Psychologists. > > > > And I was involved in asking a Sunday School teacher to “retire early”, due to her propensity for numerology (!) and general Tin Foil Hat-ness. **She wanted to spend one Sunday on “Why we never went to the Moon”**! > > > > Look, gytalf, you said you’d “overheard some conversations amongst the young folk (teenagers)” – what were their attitudes? Were they healthy skeptics, raising their eyebrows? Or little robots accepting it as truth? > > > > BTW, you need to watch out for your own soul. Anyone who starts calling kids “young folk” is in just as much danger as they are of being Assimilated. If you start saying “fellowshipping” when you really mean “just talking”, if you’re calling acquaintances “brother”, OR, if you ask someone about their “walk with the Lord”, let us know, and we’ll pray for you. > > Okay, some further info about my situation: > > I am not really “involved” in the Church at all, other than showing up on Sunday morning, because I like to sing hymns, and then, after the service, I will sometimes go to lunch with my sister and her family. She is fairly devout; I am not, and she knows it. We still enjoy each other’s company, despite intellectual differences. > > The congregation has about 1800 members. I did not know the teens who were talking about the fifteen-foot-tall Adam and Eve, (I am going with the “little robots” terminology for now, since I could discern no mocking or derisive tone to their voices) so I have no idea who was promoting the idea. If I had known, I definitely would have gone straight to that person. > And thanks for warning me about the term “young folk”. I will strive mightily to not use the phrase again, in my walk with the Lord, my dear, Christian brother. Will you please pray for me, in my hour of need? Now I truly fear for my (semi-) precious soul… > > Oh dear! The Assimilation… It Burns! Aaarrrggghhh! My take is that not being “in” the church absolves you from a lot of guilt over the whacko things that the church teaches. Once you told us of your “guest” status, I changed to thinking you don’t have to confront anyone if you don’t want to. Maybe your sister would want to talk to the teacher, who presumably she knows. Now, there is a slim chance she’ll turn on you: “You pagan!!! Eve was 16’ tall–taller than that 15’ wimp Adam!” And don’t worry. As far as assimilation goes, you’ve got a long way to go before you start “walking the walk!” or “naming it and claiming it!” When you start “rightly dividing the word of truth”, come back for a de-programming. ---
**Author:** ![shauny\_boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@shauny\_boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shauny_boy)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984/39 "2013-01-19T07:15:49Z")
In Genesies it says And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. Basically there was water below earth. now the ocean and water above earth wich is the sky. water was frozen above the earth. still ice is found in space. So having ice surrounding earth. Gave earth better oxygen as you know oxygen sealed rooms help with many diseses. Practiced all over the world. Ice helped prevent the rays from the sun hitting the earth not all but most. We all know the damage the sun ray does to us. God made Adam in his image so he was perfect in every way so Im sure he wasnt some average dude he had size on him. When the flood came all the water from beneath came up and the water above came down. Opening the sky to the sun. and we were cursed that man would not live long. So thru time we have been getting smaller and dying earlier, but because of modern medicine we can live little longer. Wich also disproves evolution lol. What what lol. Bible also talks about Giants. What ever the bible says I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984/40 "2013-01-19T07:45:30Z")
**Moderator Note** **shauny boy** , General Questions is for factual answers. If you want to discuss your religious beliefs, Great Debates is the most appropriate forum. Since this is an old thread that has been raised without providing new factual information, I’m going to close it. Colibri General Questions Moderator [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-and-eve-were-15-feet-tall-origin-of-this-belief/549984.md?page=1)