S3:E1 Portraits of the Old Testament- Eve

 

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References for this episode include:

Women of the Old Testament by Camille Fronk Olson

Lessons from Eve by Russell M Nelson 

Show notes:

Introduction to me and why

Introduction to format

Introduction to sources

- Old Testament, scriptures in general including LDS scriptures

- Women of the Old Testament by Camille Fronk Olson (CFO)

- Leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

- Greek Septuagint

- Hebrew Midrash

- Others like the Quran, Nag Hammadi, early Christian texts, Dead Sea Scrolls, etc.


-EVE-

Eve is important to contemplate because the way we look at Eve many times impacts and influences the way we view women and the woman’s place in the home and church.


CFO- For example, if we scorn mother Eve as the cause of the world’s woes and the loss of paradise for humankind, we are apt to see women as weak, incapable, overly emotional, reactive, vulnerable, and less intelligent than men. If however, we consider Eve's decision in the Garden of Eden as courageous and faith-driven and the results of that decision to be conducive to God’s plan, we are more likely to recognize intelligents, strength, rational thinking, and great ability in women in general.


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Eve was created in the image of God:

Moses 6:8-9

8 …In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;

9 In the aimage of his own bbody, male and female, ccreated he them, and blessed them, and called their dname Adam, in the day when they were created and became living esouls in the land upon the ffootstool of God.

Adam AND Eve were given dominion over all the earth:

Genesis 1: 26, 28
26 ¶ And God said, Let aus bmake cman in our dimage, after our elikeness: and let them have fdominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be afruitful, and bmultiply, and creplenish the dearth, and subdue it: and have edominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Important to note- NO WHERE in scriptures is man given dominion over woman.

In fact, in 1 Corinthians 1:11, “Neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord”.

Eve’s name:

In Hebrew, Eve means “Life Giver”.

We can see the equality between man and woman in the name the Lord gives to Eve. He calls her a “help meet” for Adam.

Let’s break it down, first the word “help''.

CFO, The first word ezer, translated (from Hebrew) “help” implies not a subordinate but rather someone who has the strength to do what another cannot do for himself. Hebrew scholar Donald W. Parry argued that the women’s unique strength, or “help” is as a ``life giver” or a “life force”. Therefore, Eve was blessed with tremendous power and strength to provide Adam with a life-giving power that typifies God’s help.”

Same word Ezer is used multiple times in the Bible (see Ezra’s name) and frequently appears in reference to God.

Psalm 70:5 - 5 But I am poor and needy: make ahaste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O Lord, make no tarrying.


Deuteronomy 33: 26- 26 ¶ There is none like unto the God of aJeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his bexcellency on the sky.

CFO- “The second word, kenegdo, translated “meet” is a compound of three common words that collectively appear in this form only in the Eden account. The root word within this compound is the middle word, kgd, which means “to be conspicuous”, or “to be apparent”. THe word is used the noun form only in these two verses, allowing for such suggested meaning as “in front of, opposite, or counterpart”. In Jewish Midrashim, the word means, “equal” as the saying, “The study of the Torah is equal to all other commandments' '. The collective meaning of the term suggests that Eve was an appropriate and worthy partner for Adam.

Eve was created from Adam’s rib, not his foot or his head.

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Okay, let’s jump into the story.

Who is the tempter? Genesis gives us no background other than: “1 Now the aserpent was more bsubtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.”

But Moses from the POGP, Moses 4: 3 Wherefore, because that aSatan brebelled against me, and sought to destroy the cagency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be dcast down;


4 And he became aSatan, yea, even the bdevil, the father of all clies, to ddeceive and to blind men, and to lead them ecaptive at his will, even as many as would not fhearken unto my voice.

5 And now the serpent was more asubtle than any beast of the field which I, the Lord God, had made.

6 And aSatan put it into the heart of the serpent, and he sought also to cbeguile Eve, for he dknew not the emind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world.


Satan “knew not the mind of God”. He didn’t understand God’s plan and assumed A&E were to stay in the Garden forever. What happens when we do not understand God? Do we make mistakes too? This shows importance of studying God’s word and understanding His meaning.

Satan implies that we should partake in every experience and God holds us back.

Genesis 3:1, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”


Then implies that God is a liar, Genesis 3:4 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, aYe shall not surely die:

5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your aeyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, bknowing good and cevil.

Did God lie? NO. They didn’t immediately experience physical death after eating from the tree. However, they were cast out of God’s presence in a spiritual death and then after taking on an aging physical body, they would die.

How long did this conversation go on before Eve ate from the fruit? In scripture, it happens almost automatically. But it could have taken weeks, months, or even years of Satan cajoling, and Eve contemplating. Why did Eve decide to eat of the fruit? I have a theory…

Moses 4:12 implies that she at least thought about it, “12 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it became pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be adesired to make her wise she took of the bfruit thereof, and did ceat, and also gave unto her husband with her, and he did eat.”

Time out- so why was this whole tree thing set up like this? We don’t know, but I have a theory….

CFO- “By placing the tree of knowledge in the center of the Garden with the warning, “thou shalt not eat of it, nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee,” God created an environment in which Adam and Eve were free to discover the only way they and their posterity could access the power of Christ’s Atonement and thereby reach their divine potential.”

It’s important to note that nowhere in scripture did God punish or require them to repent after eating from the tree. Even God himself refers to it not as a sin, but a transgression. In Moses 6:53, he says Behold I have aforgiven thee thy transgression in the Garden of Eden.

In fact, when God does start handing out curses in Eden, none of them apply to Eve and Adam. He curses two things- the serpent and the ground. The scriptures tell us in Genesis 3: bcursed is the ground for thy sake


CFO- In contrast to His cursing the ground and the serpent, God strengthened and empowered Adam and Eve. Because of their transgression in the Garden, Eve and Adam received from God opportunities for growth, not punishments. God bestowed a natural aversion of “enmity” between Satan and the woman and between Satan and “her seed”.


One of the things God says about the serpent in Genesis 3 is 15 And I will put aenmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; bit shall cbruise thy head, and thou shalt dbruise his heel.

Okay, keep that in mind when we fast forward to the Gospel of Luke. Christ is in Nazarith and He announces His divinity by saying,

Luke 4: 18 The aSpirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath banointed me to cpreach the dgospel to the epoor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to fpreach gdeliverance to the hcaptives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at iliberty them that are bruised

Christ truly heals us from sin and sets us free from Satan’s grasp.

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Okay, so Eve and Adam took a big ol bite. They started to understand truths.

They were nakey!

Genesis 3: 7 And the eyes of them both were aopened, and they knew that they were bnaked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves caprons.

8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God awalking in the garden bin the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.

I think we almost always think of this as literal nakedness. But think of their spiritual nakedness as well.

CFO- Nakedness suggests being unclothed, unprotected, ashamed, and ill-equipped to succeed…Only after eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge could they acknowledge their need for a covering. In truth, Christ’s perfect love is the only complete covering. The Hebrew word for Atonement literally means to cover or covering. The imagery evoked of the Savior’s sacrifice being symbolized by a covering indicates what could have been the first blessing of the Fall: awareness of the absolute need for a Redeemer.


They were naked so they tried to come up with their own solution: fig leaves. However this was inadequate. Many times we make mistakes or fall short of God’s expectations for us and we try to cover it up ourselves. We are inadequate to cover our own sins, only the Atonement of Jesus Christ can do that.


Much like this, God provided a much more effective covering for Eve and Adam, animal skins. These required the first sacrifice of life and reminds us of the sacrifice Christ made to truly cover us.

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Let’s talk about Gensis 3:16 16 Unto the awoman he said, I will greatly bmultiply thy csorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth dchildren; and thy desire shall be to thy ehusband, and he shall rule over thee.


CFO - The Hebrew word translated “sorrow” does not imply feeling sorry over something; it means pain or hurt. Furthermore, “multiply” in this passage means repetition or something happening over and over again, not something being added or increased. Therefore, God promised Eve that life in the fallen world would require her to do painful things over and over again…meaning that she would repeatedly experience pain associated with bearing and rearing her children.


THIS IS ACTUALLY A BLESSING.


It wasn’t until after being cast out of Eden, Eve’s role as life giver came into play!

Sometimes our role as women is filled with more sorrow and less conception.

Russell M. Nelson, Lessons from Eve 1987- For you childless sisters and those without companions, remember the eternal timetable of the Lord is much longer than the lonely hours of your preparation or the total of this mortal life. These are only as microseconds when compared to eternity. Your willingness and worthiness are surely known to Him.
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Let’s talk about the “Thy husband and he shall rule over thee” in Genesis 3:16. This has been used to justify mistreatment of women throughout eons of time. However, I love this quote from Gordon B. Hinckley that says, “the word rule means that the husband shall have a governing responsibility to provide for, to protect, to strengthen, and shield his wife”.

CFM- Furthermore (it) has been suggested that the Hebrew preposition in the world translated “over” in the phrase “rule over” is often translated as “with” in the Hebrew Bible. Adam and Eve could rule together, in a partnership.


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After the Garden

We turn mostly to the book of Moses for this information. Moses 5 says that they worked the ground, had children, prayed, made sacrifices, and were even visited by an Angel who explained the symbolism behind sacrifices- that it shows them how Christ will sacrifice Himself for them. Adam and Eve are joyful to learn this.

Moses 5: 10 And in that day Adam blessed God and was afilled, and began to bprophesy concerning all the families of the earth, saying: Blessed be the name of God, for because of my ctransgression my deyes are opened, and in this life I shall have ejoy, and again in the fflesh I shall see God.

11 And Eve, his wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression we never should have had aseed, and never should have bknown good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.

12 And Adam and aEve blessed the name of God, and they made all things bknown unto their sons and their daughters.

CFO- Clothed in Christ’s enabling power and obedient to His will, our glorious Mother Eve gave direction and purpose to all of her faithful daughters. In their unique way, in their own time, and amid their own challenges, other women whose stories are related in scripture show that the principles learned from Eve are timeless and just as essential today as in the beginning.


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Let’s talk about Art.

Tried to paint the apple scene over and over….

Would we want to be reduced to a mistake we made in our youth? 

Instead, portrayed Eve as reaching towards the light of Christ and placed her testimony on the portrait.