Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. – Proverbs 31 v 10 – 12
So what about Eve? Did she fulfil the above criteria? What do we know about her?
She was the first woman, she was created by God from Adam’s rib, she was deceived by the serpent, she desired what she should not have.
Adam was created by God from the dust of the earth and was given a job. He was to look after the Garden of Eden, to tend it and to keep it. He was provided with all that he needed by God, food and drink and a beautiful place to live, with the proviso that he should not eat of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, lest he die. Adam was created to be in relationship with all that God had made, but the animals and birds could not provide the kind of relationship he needed.
I wonder how long he lived in the Garden on his own? Suffice it to say that he was there in the garden before Eve was created, and the commission that God gave Adam, and the commandment to avoid the fruit of the tree were given to him alone, before Eve was made. Then God made Eve from one of Adam’s ribs and she was presented to Adam by God as a helper comparable to him. I would love to have been there to see Adam’s face when he first set eyes on the ‘perfect woman’. She was innocent, beautiful to behold, perfect in every way, designed by God to be Adam’s wife, his helpmeet. This was the perfect relationship…..God and Adam and Eve!
William McDonald in the Believer’s Bible Commentary said this, ‘Woman was taken not from Adam’s head to dominate him, nor from his feet to be trodden down, but from under his arm to be protected and from near his heart to be loved.’
Isn’t that lovely? That’s how it’s supposed to be. How did it all go so wrong?
The serpent, the enemy, worked on the weakness of Eve. Note what he said to her, ‘Has God indeed said….’ and here’s the twist……..‘you shall not eat of EVERY tree of the garden?’
By asking her this the way he did, he focussed her thinking on that one tree. Very subtle! Eve replied, ‘We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it lest you die.’ Do you see what Eve did here? She added to God’s word. God did not say to Adam not to touch the fruit, only not to eat it. Why did she do that?
Of course it was Adam who told her what God had instructed him…….so who got it wrong? Adam or Eve? The serpent took advantage of Eve by casting doubt into her mind. He questioned God’s word and he revised it. Eve I think, longed for that forbidden fruit, was drawn to it and wanted it, even in her innocence. Satan took advantage of that weakness and played on her desire. You have to wonder if Adam had said to her NOT to touch the fruit BECAUSE she longed for it. She was driven by temptation which showed itself in three ways.
‘So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.’ (Genesis 3 v 5 – 6).
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. The temptation trinity is still alive and well today.
Adam loved Eve, he didn’t want her to leave him, and he gave in to her craving and they both ate the forbidden fruit, and their innocence immediately left them. They died spiritually and their special link to God their Father was broken and they were cast out into the fallen world to fend for themselves. God had to make them leave the beautiful Garden of Eden and He also had to make sure that they wouldn’t try to get back in, and so He appointed cherubim and a flaming sword to prevent their return in case if they did happen to get back in, they might eat the fruit of the tree of life. This was a merciful act of God, because if they had eaten the fruit of the tree of life they would have lived forever in their sin…..there would have been no way back to God.
It’s a sad, sad happening, and we are the recipients of their fall from grace. I am so thankful that God has given us the way back to Him.
The point of all this is that it was the woman who was deceived, not the man. He knew, to a degree, what would happen, but she just blindly followed Satan’s lead, because she wanted something more than she already had and she wanted her man to be a part of if too. Satan knew that approaching Adam would not work, he targeted the weaker vessel. ‘For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.’ (1Timothy 2 v 13 – 14)
Eve was meant to be Adam’s helper, but she helped herself to spiritual knowledge and acted independently, becoming his downfall instead of his helper. At best she was naive and trusting and therefore ripe for deception.
The man was stronger and not so easy to deceive, he knew where he stood with God and was happy to remain there. It seems that in general men question first and believe later….that was certainly the case with my husband when he came to be saved. They are more objective and often less intuitive and sometimes seem to be less spiritual than women, who are generally speaking more sensitive.
Men are more mindful than we ladies, we are more controlled by our feelings. We ladies are made to stand alongside our husbands, covered by their protection, shielded by them. But when we leave the place we are supposed to be in then we are far more easily deceived and led astray. Why are we more sensitive and, dare I say it, vulnerable? Perhaps because we are the ones who bring our children into this world after carrying them within us for nine months, we are the ones who nurture and care for our children. But those very qualities which are such a great asset can also become our greatest weakness.
A woman, because of circumstances or even choices can become tough and hard, sceptical and cautious, just like a man. She can become guarded and cynical, and thus in danger of losing her femininity. Feminism teaches that women can be like men. It teaches that we should be independent of men, considered equal to them, in short totally the opposite of what the bible teaches and what God expects of us as women. This problem which sadly affects all of us in some way or another, needs to be biblically addressed. Really tragically the church in general has been infected with this plague. The damage that has been done by this anti-Christian philosophy is immense.
Now please don’t get me wrong here. Some of you are single, some of you are widowed and some are divorced. Am I saying that you should all have a husband? No I am not! God has a plan for each of you, but it’s His plan, His ways, His will, His word that each of us must be subject to, and not the ways of the world. Ask yourselves, why do so many lesbian women so often dress like men? Why do they and rampant feminists want to shed their womanly qualities and be like men? The enemy wants them to believe that they have every bit as much right to be treated the same as men. They lose their beauty and their charm and becomes very poor excuses of men, it’s so sad and not at all the way God meant it to be. Women find themselves in all sorts of places where they have to be alone and in difficult circumstances, but that doesn’t mean that they have to lose their femininity, that doesn’t mean that they have to be equal to men. Perhaps ladies, our motto should be, whatever circumstances we find ourselves in, ‘Be guided by the word of God!’
May God our Father lead us into all wisdom and discernment.
Linda
I recommend ‘Created to be His Helpmeet‘ by Debi Pearl.
I also acknowledge the help that this book has been to me in preparing this teaching.
