EVE page 1 MEANING OF HER NAME: Hebrew: #2332, Chavvâh life giver, the first woman Greek: #2096, Eua the first woman APPEARANCE IN SCRIPTURE: Genesis 2-4 SPOUSE/ASSOCIATION: Adam, Garden of Eden QUOTATION: "Eve stands as an archetype of womanhood. Although created in God's image, she exercised her will to disobey the Creator, daring to challenge His authority. Disobedience was not in itself a motive but presupposed the motive. Her temptation was not merely to disobey but ultimately to have her own way or to get possession of what she wanted. As her daughter, every woman bears her likeness. Eve voices an early warning to every woman to follow the path of obedience and a resounding note of hope for women when they fail; she encountered God's justice, but she also experienced His grace. 1 LESSON: Beware of discontent. We all face the temptation to believe there is something better out there. When we accept that belief, we scorn the One who gives us our deepest intimacy and security. Life on earth is flawed. Nothing and no one apart from God can satisfy the aching vacuum in us caused by the fall; only Jesus love can fill the gap between what is and what was meant to be. 2 QUESTIONS (answers to be found in Genesis, unless otherwise noted): 1. In whose image is Eve created? (1:26a,27) 2. What is she given? (1:26b,28c) 3. What else is she given? (1:28a) 4. What command [4 verbs] does God give her? (1:28b) 5. What is significant about all these things (from questions 1-4)? What kind of life is God setting her up to have?
EVE page 2 6. Where does Adam live? What is his job? (2:8,15) 7. What is not found for Adam? (2:20b) No one loses value in humbly assuming the role of helper. As a helper to the man, woman became his partner spiritually in the overwhelming task of obedience to God and dominion over the earth. She was also to be a vital part of extending the generations. The woman, as ultimate friend to the man, would bring him comfort and fellowship. No one else could encourage and inspire him as she was created to do. Designed as the perfect counterpart for the man, the woman was neither inferior nor superior, but she was alike and equal to the man in her personhood while different and unique in her function. 3 She was the final piece in the intricate and amazing puzzle of God s creation. Adam now had another human being with whom to fellowship someone with an equal share in God s image. Here was someone alike enough for companionship, yet different enough for relationship. Together they were greater than either could have been alone. 4 8. How does God feel about this? (2:18) 9. From what is Eve created? (2:21) What verb is used to describe her creation? (2:22a) How is this different from Adam s creation in Genesis 2:7? Why might God have created Eve this way? Why might God have chosen Adam s rib as his connection to Eve? What does Paul say about this in 1 Corinthians 11:9? God s Word says that He made a woman. The Hebrew word for made is banah, which means to build, to make, to set up. God didn t just scrape together a mound of dirt to begin His work on woman. He formed the body of
EVE page 3 man from the ground, but when it came to making the woman, He began with the best of man, and with His own hands, He handcrafted and sculpted the woman. Eve, and therefore all women, have been carefully handcrafted, specially designed and uniquely customized by God to become the most beautiful creatures on the planet. That is the woman God made. She represents the pinnacle of God s craftsmanship. 5 In Eve, God provided a suitable helper. Eve was suitable because she shared with Adam the image and likeness of God the image that permits human beings to relate on every dimension of personality (emotional, intellectual, spiritual, physical). Only another human being who, like Adam, was shaped in the image of God would be suitable. 6 10. How does Eve meet Adam? (2:22b) 11. What 2 things does Adam call her? (2:23a,b) 12. What does he name her? (2:23c) When God presented the woman to Adam, this text reveals how immediately Adam recognized something of himself in her. She was part of himself; in effect, his other self. 7 13. What does her relationship with Adam become a covenant of? (2:24) What does it mean to be one flesh with your spouse? How does Eve s creation show God s completeness of humanity through marriage? 14. What is her status? (2:25) Why was Eve not ashamed? How does Eve not being ashamed of her vulnerability to Adam compare to the relationship we are called to have with God?
EVE page 4 15. Who questions her? How is he described? (3:1a) 16. What does he ask her? (3:1b) Why might the serpent have questioned/tempted Eve and not Adam? What was his goal in questioning God s directive? Eve was approached by satan in the garden he questioned her contentment. How could she be happy when she was not allowed to eat from one of the fruit trees? Satan helped Eve shift her focus from all that God had done and given to the one thing He had withheld. And Eve was willing to accept satan s viewpoint without checking with God. 8 17. What is her response? (3:3) What had God really said? (2:17) How did she add to His directive? Why might she have added to His directive? 18. What does he tell her? (3:4-5) 19. What 3 things does she notice about the tree? (3:6a)
EVE page 5 Why might Eve have been swayed by the physical beauty of the tree? How are these temptations similar to his temptation of Jesus in Luke 4? 20. What 4 things happen as a result? (3:6b) Doubt and desire pursued her until she not only plucked and ate the fruit but also shared it with her husband. Suddenly, darkness rushed upon Eden. It came, not from the outside but from inside, erupting, filling their souls with shadows, cravings, and misery. Order gave way to disorder, harmony to discord, trust to fear. 9 Temptation is presented as a trial or test in which the individual has the opportunity to display faithfulness and devotion. Sadly, Eve fails to reveal loyalty and love. Instead, she is won over by the fruit s appeal, the thought that she doesn t have to live within the parameters God has set for her, and the goal of becoming like God through disobedience rather than obedience. 10 21. What revelation is she given? (3:7) 22. What is her response to God? (3:8) 23. Who blames her for their new knowledge? What does he call her? (3:12) 24. What is her response to God? (3:13) What does Paul say happened to Eve? (2 Corinthians 11:3) How does Paul say this happened? (2 Corinthians 11:3) What does Paul say was the result of this? (2 Timothy 2:14) 25. God gives her hope of redemption in Genesis 3:15. What does he say will be the serpent s enmity?
EVE page 6 It is a remarkable token of divine grace that God, in His mercy and in His giving of the first promise of a Deliverer/Messiah, chose to bring this about by the Seed of the woman. In short, the one first scarred by sin is selected to be the one first promised to become an instrument of God s redemptive working. Eve s distinct place in the failure of the first couple becomes the soil in which God s mercy plants the first seed of promise. 11 26. She is given a two-part punishment in Genesis 3:16 What will happen in regard to children? Whose desires will she put before God s? Why is it significant that woman s pain is going to revolve around her family? Genesis 3:16 is the Achilles heel of woman her greatest stumbling block and the root of most dysfunctional behavior women have in relationships with men. Fallen, leaning to her own understanding, Eve s desire (longing, stretching out after) was now for her husband God is actually warning her against a tendency to maker her relationship with her husband, rather than her relationship with God, her primary reference point. As a result, the man might rule her emotionally. In that case, her value, significance, and security would then hinge on the man s response to her. Too easily, she might look to him for her life, when God wanted her deepest longing (and thereby her effectiveness) to hinge on Him. 12 27. Who finally gives Eve her name? (3:20a) 28. What does her name mean? (3:20b) 29. What is the result of eating the fruit? (3:22a) 30. What is God s fear about man at this point? (3:22b) 31. What does He do? (3:23-24) 32. Who are her 3 sons? (4:1-2,25)
EVE page 7 Why might Eve have been grateful to God as this point in her story? Which 2 boys have her appreciation to God attached to their names? How is this similar to Leah and Rachel in Genesis 29 and 30? 33. PERSONAL QUESTION: What is your opinion of Eve? Why? Do you condemn her or sympathize with her for her actions? 34. DIGGING DEEPER: Do you think Eve ever repented for her sin? Do you think she found the courage and faith to approach God to ask Him for forgiveness and seek a renewed relationship with Him? Why or why not? Questions from Women of the Bible : a. In paradise, what need did Adam have that was not being met that only a woman could fill? b. How easily do you think the serpent deceived Eve? Do you think she ate of the fruit the first time he approached her, or did he wear her down over a period of time?
EVE page 8 c. What sorts of reasons do you come up with to rationalize your sin? d. Who do you think is more or less to blame: Adam, Eve, or the serpent? e. What does God making clothing for Adam and Eve in Gen. 3:21 tell you about Him? Questions from The Woman s Study Bible : f. What is the root of Adam and Eve s shame and guilt? g. Adam and Eve cover their nakedness (the outward evidence of their shame) with a few flimsy fig leaves. What have you done to try to cover your shame? Have your efforts had any impact? 1 Patterson, Dorothy Kelley, editor. "The Woman's Study Bible. New King James Version." Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995. Page 12. 2 Syswerda, Jean, General Editor. Women of Faith Study Bible. New International Version. 2001: Zondervan, Michigan. Page 5. 3 Patterson, Dorothy Kelley, editor. "The Woman's Study Bible. New King James Version." Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995. Page 10. 4 Life Application Study Bible. New American Standard Version. 2000: Zondervan. Page 13. 5 Keith Butler. Woman: God s Masterpiece. Believer s Voice of Victory. May 2003. Page 9. 6 Sue and Larry Richards. Every Woman in the Bible. 1999: Nashville. Page 4. 7 Jane Hansen, D.D. The Origin of Woman. Spirit Filled Life Bible. Page 8. 8 Life Application Study Bible. New American Standard Version. 2000: Zondervan. Page 13. 9 Ann Spangler and Jean Syswerda. Women of the Bible. 1999: Zondervan. Page 18. 10 Syswerda, Jean, General Editor. Women of Faith Study Bible. New International Version. 2001: Zondervan, Michigan. Page 8. 11 Freda Lindsay. The First Woman: A Redemptive Instrument. Spirit Filled Life Bible. Page 12. 12 Jane Hansen, D.D. The Origin of Woman. Spirit Filled Life Bible. Page 9.