For this study of the first woman, Eve, I have simply gone through the first few chapters of Genesis and read through the passages that talk about the woman, and wrote down my thoughts about those passages. So, here we go...
"Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man."
Woman was so simply, yet so complexly made. It was not some spectacle, yet it was. You know? There was no smoke and lights and fireworks, but there was this amazing creation out of a small piece of bone. After God crafted this new creation, the woman, she was then offered, presented, brought to the man.
Genesis 2:23
“At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’”
I love the first two words that Adam cried out here... "AT LAST!" Really? At last? How long have you even been here? Really? Needless to say, Adam was excited about what God was presenting to him. I originally thought that Adam was so excited about the woman because she meant that he would not be the only one like him forever... but on second thought, Adam may not have even had the ability to think like that, he did not know anything else but being the only one like him. But, then at the same time, by his exclamation of "AT LAST!" you would think that there was something in him that yearned for someone else. And then the woman was presented to him. Someone like him, yet taken from him and made from him. An equal, yet not. Woman, no matter how much our culture tells us that we are equal or even that we are better than man, if you believe the Bible to be true, then you believe that we are made from him, we were second, and I believe that that was not a mistake.
Genesis 3:1
[ The Man and Woman Sin ] The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”
I could write all day long about this passage, but I need to look at what I am wanting to learn here. What can I learn about women from this passage? The woman was being asked a question, she was being questioned. And what a cunning and deceitful question! The serpent puts the woman on the defense automatically with this question. He knows the answer, he is trying to get her to filter what God told her through a different lens. "Well, of course I can eat fruit from the trees, how else am I supposed to eat?" Why would the serpent ask her this random, and general question?
Genesis 3:2
“Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied.
SO, how does the woman answer the serpents random and general and obvious question? With a straight forward answer, with a little bit of a "DUH!" tone to it.
Genesis 3:6
The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.
This passage is heavy for me to read. There was a fight between the woman and the serpent and the serpent won the round, no way around it. "The woman was convinced." In that moment the beautifulness of the tree, the desire for something that Eve did not have (the wisdom it would give her), and the silky lies of the serpent were enough for the woman to choose to forget the only truth that she knew in her life, the Truth Himself, and the Truth's one rule. Then all you know what just broke loose after she ate...
I wonder with all of me what Eve's thought process was when she gave the fruit to her husband. Was she oblivious? or had she caught some of that cunningness from the serpent? She may have been thinking: "If I go down, he is coming with me!"
This part breaks my heart... well it all does, but this is the part that gets to me most- "Then she gave some to her husband, WHO WAS WITH HER, and he ate it too." Wait, he was WITH HER? Like the whole time? My heart cries out, "Why did you not STOP her?" The passiveness pains me. Part of me really believes that the minute that fruit reached Eve's mouth, it was her choice as well as his choice not to stop her.
Gosh, there is so much more to think and say about this whole thing, but the truth is it was done. The choice was made. And here we all are as a result, living in a fallen world. And as a woman, maybe that burden that we carry of always feeling responsible for everything bad that happens around us is somewhat of a result of our first woman's choice.
Genesis 3:12
The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”
Woman and God are being blamed here by Adam for his choice. He admits that he ate it, but says very clearly that it was the woman who gave it to him.
The woman here is she were me if feeling run over by a truck.
Genesis 3:13
Then the LORD God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”
I believe her. I don't think that she wanted to eat just to be rebellious. I believe that she chose to be rebellious. But, she did answers "What have you done?" with "Why she did it." Excuses. I have plenty of those myself. From the beginning it seems to be in us that when we are put in the hot seat our first reaction is to tell why and give our reasoning, but it still was her choice to eat. I feel when I read this first that Eve is almost more ashamed that she believed the serpent than she is that she ate. She says that first. I have been lied to and I believed it, even though I felt in me that it was wrong.
Genesis 3:15And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
This verse says to me that our enemy has been established, forever. But, we win. There will be a struggle our whole lives with him, but in the end we win. Because of our God, we win.
Genesis 3:16
Then he said to the woman, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you. ”
So, because of the first woman's choice we now have an evil enemy, and a daily punishment reminder. The first punishment listed is the most common talked about, and while pain during childbirth is hard thing to endure, the second punishment listed I believe is the hardest to endure. "You will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you." Hello feminism? This is why there is an epic struggle for women to rule! It is our punishment for the first sin, a desire to rule! But, we never will! What God has been into place will never go away, women will always to rule, but we never will to the extent that we intend! But, I believe that the desire will always be there. That is our punishment.
The first woman. Quite the story. Her life set into motion the motion of all of our lives. How did Eve define being a woman? She was created for intimacy with her Creator, a beautiful creation, not shameful of her form, and free to just live. Her choice defines her now. Her one choice defines her as a woman, and I believe every woman after her is defined by her choice as well. We are born into sin. How was Eve a different kind of woman? Well, she was the first and only woman for awhile. All she knew was to be her. She had no expectations on herself. She was just she. I kinda like the idea of that, and I think maybe that is how God wants us to see ourselves. All as originals with no expectation. How freeing is that? God created each one of us just as He created Eve. We were knit together in our mother's, and she was created from bone, but both were created by the hands of God. Would you say that God wanted Eve to think she was beautiful and original? Of course you would! Why would be think that anything is any different with us today? God made you! And you are a original and you are beautiful. You are also fallen, and bearing the punishment of the first woman. Learning to live in grace is the only way to balance those two extremes. So grace to you fellow woman. Feel beautiful today, because of grace. And be ever aware of your mortal enemy, and resist him through grace. Grace to you.
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