EVE THE FIRST WOMAN, PART ONE.
Reading: Genesis 1:26-30, 2:21-24.
“The rib which the Lord God has taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man” Genesis 2:22.
Eve was created of God as a “helper fit for Adam” Genesis 2:18. She was called “woman” because she was taken out of man (Genesis 2:23; 1 Corinthians 11:8). She was deceived by the serpent (Genesis 3:1ff; 2 Corinthians 11:3), and tempted Adam to eat the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:6, 14). As a result God condemned her to bear children in pain (so she must have bore children without pain before the fall, to know the punishment of it), and to be ruled over by Adam her husband in the Lord (Genesis 3:16).
Adam then called her name Eve (Genesis 3:20), the mother of all living. (Women in marriage from then on, take up their husband's name in marriage). Eve was the mother of Cain and Abel, Genesis 4:1-4, Seth Genesis 4:25, and many sons and daughters Genesis 5:4.
Who could describe the beauty of the first woman! No Venus de Milo could compare with the ravishing loveliness of Eve. When Adam first saw her he cried out; “At last she's come, part of me and wholly mine!” He could not bear to be parted from her, even when she strayed from the right path, but that is a story yet to be unfolded.
1. HER MAKING.
God gave Adam the first anaesthetic, then He removed one of Adam's ribs to “build” (the first 6 million dollar woman), a woman. The bone the Lord used was not taken from his head so that Eve should think for him, or from his hand, that she should slave for him, or from his foot, that she should do all his errands. But from a place nearest his heart that she should know and reflect his love.
One writer observes; “that if Adam was taken from the dust, Eve was dust retained (a dependent), yet one further removed from the earth.” Man with his feet on the ground, woman with her head in the clouds. Does this explain the feelings of womanhood?
2. HER MINISTRY.
A “help” mate, compatible to his nature and needs, as opposed to the animal creation. Genesis 2:20 “Adam gave names to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.” The meaning of “helper,” gives the idea of girding. Eve was meant to undergird her mate, by moral support and equal effort.
3. HER MISTAKE.
Her curiosity led her to wonder alone to gaze on the forbidden tree. She was unaware of the evil force waiting to waylay her with skilful arguments and effective deception.
She was spellbound by Satan, who appeared in the form of a beautiful and talking serpent (you can note Satan was already in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil). She should have known that animals do not talk, but she was no match for “the craftiness of the devil” 2 Corinthians 11:3. “The wiles of the devil” Ephesians 6:11.
Her innocence was her undoing; the devil cast doubt on God's Word “have God said?” She was not sure, for her knowledge was second hand via Adam her husband. Satan proceeds from sowing doubt to blacking the character of the Almighty, when he charged God of holding back benefits from the eating of the tree, “For you shall be like gods.”
This “being like god,” reflects the devils own ambition, character and corrupt nature as seen in Isaiah 14:12-15, verse 14 “I will be like the Most High.”
Eve fell for his charms. She saw that the tree was good for food (The lust of the flesh), and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise (The pride of life), Genesis 3:6. The sin “of the world” 1 John 2:16, filed her life, and she fell seduced.
4. HER PROMISE OF MOTHERHOOD.
But God intervened, and Eve became the “mother of all living” and eventually of the promised Messiah Genesis 3:15 “He shall bruise your head.” Galatians 4:4 goes on to say, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.”
Poor Eve, not a very good start to her life, and there is sadly more sadness ahead for her, in the death of her son. But out of her mistakes comes the hope of salvation for all mankind.
