EVE, THE MOTHER OF ALL LIVING 

Eve came into existence through the deep sleep of Adam and, as has often been said, was made not from his foot (to be stepped on) nor from his head (to rule him), but from a place next to his heart (to be loved). Adam was not complete without Eve, and they were meant to complement each other in every way. However, when Eve acted independently, disaster followed when she listened to the serpent, and did not seek Adam’s counsel.

Sin brought changes in every sphere. Man’s relationship with God now became one of distance, fear and self-consciousness, although divine provision immediately came in and gave coverings of skin. Man was to find nature hostile, with the cursed earth demanding hard work, and even then its fruit would only be eaten in sorrow. For Eve, her relationship with Adam was to change, and although her emotional association with him would continue, she was from now on to be ruled by him, 3. 16; cf. Titus 2. 5. She too would know her own great sorrow, in her case in childbirth.

However, we can look at Eve as representing humanity as the subject of divine mercy. Adam’s first act after the fall was to call his wife Eve, the mother of all living. Thus Eve was to be used by God, and from her the Seed of the Woman, the Lord Jesus Christ, would eventually come forth, who would bruise the serpent’s head, 3. 15.

Eve acknowledged that her children came from the Lord, and named them accordingly, e.g. 4. 1. Even following the extra sorrow of knowing that Cain was a murderer, she recognized that Seth too was from the Lord, ‘For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew’, 4. 25. She even saw later that some of her grandchildren ‘began to call on the name of the LORD’, Gen 4. 26.

Oh that Christian mothers today would appreciate the unique privilege of bringing children into the world, 1 Tim. 2. 15, and make it a spiritual exercise!