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Eve
Eve was the first woman to walk the earth and the only person to never know what it is like to be single. She was created in the year 4046 BC or Day Six of Creation. We do not know how long she lived, but Adam lived for 930 years so we can assume that she had a similar life span.
Some people doubt that she was created on Day Six because Adam was given the job of naming the animals before Eve was created. They reason that would have taken quite awhile. However, the varieties of birds and animals would have been limited to the heads of families. All the varieties we have today are the result of thousands of years of natural selection and genetic change. So the actual number that Adam had to name was limited. In addition, God brought the animals to Adam, he didn’t have to go out and find them. And we have the fact that before the Fall Adam’s brain was functioning at 100% capacity. Even our geniuses today only use a fraction of the brain’s potential. Considering these factors there is nothing unreasonable in the idea that Eve was created on the Sixth Day just later than Adam.
The Scriptural support for the idea of Eve being created on the Sixth Day is that God rested from creating on the Seventh Day [Gen. 2:2] and everything was very good. This implies that Creation was complete at that time. Also, God gave instructions to both Adam and Eve in Gen. 1 before the Seventh Day. Gen. 2 is simply a more detailed explanation of what happened on Day Six.
The Rib
Adam, like the animals, was made from the dust of the ground, although the animals were spoken into existence. God took time to “form” Adam. Eve was not made directly from the dust, but from one of Adam’s ribs. It has been said that God took a rib so that a wife was not to rule over her husband nor be trodden under his feet but to be a partner by his side.
Adam gave Eve her name which means “life” or “living” because she was to become the mother of humanity. Every human being ultimately comes from Adam and Eve. If we go far enough back we are all related. Actually we don’t have to go all that way back for we are all related through Noah and his wife as well since they restarted the human race.
Both Adam and Eve began life in the Garden naked. It was a perfect climate. There was no one else there - the whole planet was like the privacy of their own home. There is no need for shame or embarrassment between a husband and wife. Quite likely she would have invented clothes as a fashion statement in time, but when sin was introduced it became a moral and spiritual necessary.
It is unclear whether Eve heard the command about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good And Evil directly from God or indirectly through her husband. Gen. 1 indicates that both of them received the Dominion Covenant [be fruitful and multiply, dominion over the animals, care for the earth, etc] from God Himself. Gen. 2 is an expanded insight into what happened and seems to indicate that the command not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge Of Good and Evil was given before she was created. It may be that God gave Adam the command about the tree when He originally placed him in the Garden and then gave them the Dominion Covenant after Eve was created. In any case, what is not in doubt is that she knew the command. We can see this plainly in her reply to the serpent in Gen. 3.
What Was Eve's Job?
1. Eve was to work with her husband in ruling or managing the fish, birds and animal kingdom. They were never designed to have independent control, but to work together under God to care for creation.
2. She was to work with Adam in subduing the earth. They were put in charge of a perfect, but undeveloped world. They were to work at harnessing it without harming it. They were to develop it for the benefit of both mankind and the creatures put under their care.
3. With Adam [obviously] she was to fill up the earth. They were the only two people on earth to begin with, but it was not to stay that way! God has always wanted a large family! Eve was to become the mother of all humanity.
4. Not only in their God-given assignments, but also in all of life she was to be a helper. They were partners working and enjoying life together. This unity was more than just a physical relationship, but included mental and spiritual integration.
When Did The Fall Happen?
We do not have any direct Scriptural evidence of when the Fall took place. It was definitely before her first child, Cain, was born...most likely before he was conceived. I am going to suggest that the Fall took place either on Day Seven or early on Day Eight. Why? Satan is a strategic planner. The longer he waited the more time Adam and Eve would have had to develop their relationship with God and; therefore, the harder it would have been to deceive or tempt them. For the greatest chance of success, he had to strike quickly.
Eve's Part In The Fall
For some reason, Eve was hanging around the Forbidden Tree. From our perspective, it would have been wiser to go nowhere near it; however, she had no sin nature, no natural desire to disobey and she had never been tempted before. This was a new experience,
Satan took this opportunity to ask her if God had allowed them to eat of every tree in the Garden. Eve replied that they could eat of every tree except the tree in the middle of the Garden - that they could not eat of it or even touch it or they would die. In her role as a Godly counsellor to her husband, it would have been very good advice not to touch the forbidden fruit, but to say that God had said not to touch it was wrong. God had only said not to eat it.
Satan then directly contradicted God’s Word. He wanted to move Eve from accepting the Word of God to judging the Word of God. The moment she began to judge God’s Word she was putting herself over God’s Word. When he contradicted God’s Word Satan implanted doubt that God really wanted what was best for them. By eating the fruit they could become as wise as God knowing good and evil. What was Satan really offering her? The knowledge of evil…she already had the knowledge of good. If she had refused the temptation she would have known evil as God knows evil…from an objective position. By giving in to evil she learned it as Satan knows it…by experience!
So Eve judged God’s Word. She considered what God said, she considered what Satan said, she considered what her eyes and desires told her and came to her decision. She would eat the Forbidden Fruit. The Bible makes plain that she was deceived. She had good intentions. She thought she was doing the right thing for her husband and herself. And she had the right to expect her husband to try and prevent her from doing the wrong thing…but Adam was there and apparently kept silent the whole time. The man who should have defended her against temptation failed.
Now Satan held his breath. He had destroyed Eve, but Adam was his real target. Adam was the representative of the entire human race. His decision would effect the destiny of every human being. Would Eve pass on the fruit and would he take it?
Eve had been deceived into cutting herself off from God. Now would she lose Adam and remain forever alone? She passed the fruit on to Adam. Adam was not deceived. He knew he had a very clear choice to make. He could either lose the God He loved or the woman he loved. It had been Satan’s plan all along to force this decision on him and hope he made the “right” choice. And, as we know, Adam chose Eve and introduced sin, sickness, destruction and death to the entire human race.
The Judgment
As soon as they ate their innocence was gone. A darkness fell and they knew they were naked, exposed. They tried to hide behind fig leaves. Guilt and fear - alien emotions for them - drove them to attempt to hide from God.
God began by speaking to Adam as the head of the family and the representative of the human race. Eve listened as Adam - her husband and supposed protector - tried to blame her to excuse his own actions. When God turned to her, she followed Adam’s example and tried to blame the serpent.
The judgment on Eve was two-fold:
1. First there would be pain in giving birth. It would seem that child-bearing was not originally designed to be a painful process.
2. The second part is harder to understand and there have been many attempts to explain exactly what it means. Some see in this the beginning of the “war of the sexes.” Instead of a peaceful, mutually beneficial partnership, there comes within marriage a struggle for dominance and control.
3. Although not mentioned as a judgment, a consequence would have been knowing - as she saw the increasing effects of sin and evil - that she was partly responsible for their introduction. How her mother’s heart must have been ripped to pieces as the first - and most hideous - crime occurred within her immediate family. Her eldest son cold-bloodedly murdered her second-born son. As she watched greed, theft, rape, murder etc. increase how she must have said to herself, “If only I had never eaten that fruit…” One encouragement was God’s promise that one of her children [seed of the woman Gen. 3:15] would fix the problem and crush the serpent forever.
Did she ever repent? Is she saved? The Bible is silent on the topic. It is obvious, even in the story of Cain and Abel, that God had given instructions on sacrifices to "cover" sin until the "seed of the woman" would come and destroy it in the Person of Jesus Christ. Until we get to heaven, we will never know for sure what Eve's final decision was.
Biblical References
Gen. 1-4, Matt. 19:4-6, Mark 10:6-9, 1 Cor. 11:8-11, 2 Cor. 11:13, 1 Tim. 2:13-14
Eve Articles
Misunderstood Promises. - Video Version
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