Tradition or the Bible – your choice.

 

Klimt’s  Adam and Eve as used by Wicked Women Of The Bible Devotions -Eve: Day 1

 

Eve has had more than a bit of ‘bad rap’. She has for centuries -even milleniums been held as the cause for Adam’s fall. ‘If she hadn’t eaten’ has been the inspiration for many seemingly popular though tiring jokes spicing up sermons and mixed gatherings over the years. Here’s three of the ‘clean’ jokes on the internet:

• Woman – “where would you be without us women?”  Man – “In the garden of Eden.”
•  God made Adam & He rested. Then he made Eve. Since then — No one’s rested!
• Q. What excuse did Adam give to his children as to why he no longer lived in Eden ?               A. Your mother ate us out of house and home.

Cheap shots that linger and continue in confirming the traditional understanding as opposed to the biblical.

As the basis for the next couple of posts dealing with the Genesis fall, I want to  present scripture’s commentary of the woman and of Adam concerning the breaking of YeHoWaH Elohim’s command.

Lets have a look at the woman first:

1. 2 Cor 11:3 … I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ

1. 1 Tim 2:14 … it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.

Both these verses simply confirm her words to YeHoWaH Elohim –

3. Genesis 3:13 Then YeHoWaH Elohim said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

 -There are no other verses specifically speaking of or referring to her within the bible concerning her part played in ‘the fall’. Genesis 4 has more of her words (and person), but they are post fall and looking forward. Please note: there is no mention of disobedience toward God or his command in these verses of the woman (or anywhere else).  In both 2 Cor 11:3 and 1 Tim 2:14 the word translated ‘deceived’  ( exapatētheisa  ἐξαπατηθεῖσα Gk 1818 ) is better understood as ‘thoroughly deceived’ (“hood-winked”) Helps Word-studies use the picture of ‘biting the bait that hides the hook’ in explaining it’s meaning. So the woman (like the unwitting fish) thought she was doing right – unaware of the trap set for her.

 The Bible however, has much to say of Adam:

1.  Romans 5:12 … just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin …

2. Romans 5:14 … death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type …

3. Romans 5:15 … if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace …

4. Romans 5:16 … like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift …

5. Romans 5:17 … because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man…

5. Romans 5:18 …as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. ESV

7. Romans 5:19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so …

8. 1 Cor 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. ESV

9. 1 Tim 2:14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman …

10. Job 31:33 “Have I covered my transgressions like Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom,”

11. Hosea 6:7 But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant; There they have dealt treacherously against Me.

 

One might be forgiven for having the distinct impression of God having clearly emphasised something here…

 

-The last words recorded of Adam are in Genesis 3:12 when answering YeHoWaH Elohim’s question in the Garden, and they are words of blame directed at the woman and indirectly at God Himself as to his transgression. Acknowledgement of his own sin is sadly absent.

According to scripture Adam’s blaming the woman is exactly on target, as the meaning of ‘female’ (neqeba in the Hebrew) comes from the root word naqab meaning – to pierce; to curse. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance gives the meaning of naqab as being: to puncture, lit. (to perforate, with more or less violence) or fig. (to specify, designate, libel* ):- and is translated in English – appoint, blaspheme, bore, curse, express, with holes, name, pierce, strike through. This then is given as the attitude or action toward a female – there is no sense of love or respect for her in it’s meaning, but more so to ‘use and abuse’ for self interest. It does not imply equality but rather subjection. It is what women have suffered throughout past and present history at the hands of sinful men intent on their way apart from God … just as He said would happen.

*libel (in case like me you were unsure of it’s meaning):

• a published false statement that is damaging to a person’s reputation; a written defamation. 
• A false and typically malicious statement about a person. 
• A thing that brings undeserved discredit on a person by misrepresentation.

So interesting…it being there all the time, like a literary tag attached to her person. Identifying her as actually ‘not to blame’ … possibly even innocent?

So to sum up, scripture speaks of Eve’s participation only three times and that only as being completely deceived / tricked into breaking the command.  She was hoodwinked, – essentially a victim. Of Adam’s part to play – 11 verses, declare his disobedience toward God, with sin and death entering this world solely through him. We know sin starts in the heart as Genesis 2:18‘s meaning behind ‘alone‘ reveals. And the Hebrew root meaning undergirding the word ‘female’ in Genesis 1:27 (and elsewhere) confirms her heart position toward God and further condemns Adam’s action of sidestepping his own sin by  placing the blame on her in Genesis 3:12. However God was never fooled, not even for a moment as our hearts are ever laid bare before Him.

There is yet more to come. Genesis 3 records the very first words of the very first ‘ezer kenegedo’. The next post will show a comparison of God’s command, the woman’s recall, and the serpent’s version of the command. Placed side by side it is easy to see what is missing, what has been added and changes made to the Hebrew words of God’s command. Remember part of her design as an ‘ezer kenegedo‘ is to expose…

Heavenly Father, YeHoWaH Elohim seal our hearts with a hunger for Your way – the way of truth, in love. Amen.

Christine