On Monday, November 21, I offered the first session of Bad Girls of the Bible, an occasional Bible Study that will look at a different woman each time. This time, we focused on Eve, the first woman. I obviously can't share the Bible study with you here as it was wonderfully interactive with rich conversation. But I thought that I would write something up based on the notes I used to guide the discussion.

 

Introduction

 

“It didn't hurt me after all, and now I can see so clearly.

I can see what you can see! I can see, I can see

how we can build things from trees.

We can use the winds and rivers.

I can see there's so much more for us to see.”

 

Eve, after tasting the fruit, in the musical Children of Eden (1991) by Stephen Schwartz

 

Stories shape reality. Everyone has a story and there are many that are handed down. We are categorized because of the words used about us. For instance, think of the terms used to describe single people. Terms like “swinging bachelor” or “old maid.” They paint a picture in our minds.

So, we are going to look at so-called “bad girls” of the Bible. But what's the difference between a “good girl” and a “bad girl”? Good girls of the Bible make it into sermons – women like Deborah, Ruth, Mary, and Martha. But have you ever heard a sermon on Eve? Or Jezebel? Or Delilah? Why did they get such bad reputations? Is it fair?

The easiest way to find out is to go back to the Bible and read their stories again with fresh eyes. What does the Bible actually say about these bad girls? The biblical stories themselves are often not as harsh as the stories that have grown up around them. We remember that they are complex stories with multiple layers. The stories are filled with betrayal, sacrifice, pain, love, hope, denial, loss.

There is something we are supposed to learn from these characters and their stories. So how do these stories speak to us today? What are these women saying to us?

 

Eve in Scripture

Most of what we hear about Eve comes from the first few chapters in the book of Genesis; chapters 2 to 4 to be exact. In Chapter 2, we hear about how she is created. In Chapter 3 is the story of the temptation of Eve. It's here too that Eve is cursed and named. And at the end of the chapter, she and Adam are banished from the Garden of Eden. In Chapter 4, we hear about life after Eden. While Eve is only mentioned a couple of times, the story of her giving birth to Cain, Abel and Seth is told.

Upon reading Eve's story, one is left with many first impressions. Of course, we carry our own biases and experiences into the story, so our impressions of Eve are varied. The following are just some of the words may come to mind as an image of Eve begins to form: smart, gullible, unequal, subservient, strong, forgiving, curious, set-up, white, brunette, takes initiative, sharing, abused, brave, naked, in tune with nature, mother, in pain, shameful, gatherer, fall guy, loyal, disempowered, having many names, intrigued, temptress, happy, and expressive. It becomes clear why Eve has been protrayed as a “bad girl” but there are words on this list that are positive too and some that are neutral. So, clearly Eve was a complex woman!

 

Eve in Reality

But did this woman Eve ever really exist? It is pretty obvious to most scholars that the story of creation is, in fact, a myth. And the Christian/Jewish creation story is actually two stories, neither of which was written by the first human beings. Genesis 1 – 3 was probably developed thousands of years after the beginning of the world during the period of time when Israel was in exile. In all probability, the Israelited didn't write about creation until after they had experienced a great deal in their lives. By this point, they had been slaves, suffered oppression, and wandered through the wilderness. So, the creation stories were likely written to help explain the Israelites relationship with God. They were also likely influenced by creation stories from other cultures.

 

What Paul Said About Eve

Outside of the Book of Genesis, there are only two times when Eve is mentioned by name. Both of them are in letters written by Paul. In 2 Corinthians 11:3-4, Paul says:

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by its cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you submit to it readily enough.

While Paul makes a good point about being led astray from Christ, he degrades Eve to do so. He presents her as a weak, stupid woman who is unable to judge right from wrong, and is therefore easily led astray.

In Timothy 2:12-15, it gets worse. He says:

I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.

Now, before we attack Paul for such sexist and damaging remarks, we do remember that most people who would hear these words would not bat an eye at such ideas. In the social context of the time, such ideas would have been popular. Nevertheless, Paul undoubtedly puts the blame for the fall of humanity squarely on Eve's shoulders. According to Paul, she is the reason that women shall remain inferior to men.

Eve & Women of All Time

It wasn't just Paul who used Eve to define the role of women for all time. Eve was the first woman and she set the course for how women would be seen.

Scripture scholar Phyllis Trible talks about the influence of the story of Eve in Genesis. She says:

Throughout the ages, people have used this text to legitimate patriarchy as the will of God. They maintained that it subordinates woman to man in creation, depicts her as his seducer, curses her, and authorizes man to rule over her.

Men have used Eve's portrayal as a disobedient temptress and even, at times, a femme fatale, to justify their characterization of women in general as evil and deceptive and, therefore, inferior. It was because of Eve, for instance, that many Hebrew laws were written to instruct women on how they could and could not act and what their role was in society.

This attitude certainly made its way into modern times. In the 1500s, a witch-hunting craze spread throughout Europe. Hundreds of thousands of women were accused of sorcery and were tortured and executed. It was a publication by the Roman Catholic Church that heavily influenced the witch hunt.

In Hammer Again Witches, the church traced the roots of witchery back to the first woman.

It said:

For though the devil tempted Eve to sin, yet Eve seduced Adam. And as the sin of Eve would not have brought death to our soul and body unless the sin had afterwards passed on to Adam, to which he was tempted by Eve, not by the devil, therefore she is more bitter than death.

Inequality of women continues to exist today in our contemporary society. No wonder it is such a difficult problem to solve; it goes all the way back to the beginning.

Uncovering Eve

Little is known about Eve. We hardly even talk about her in church unless we are telling the creation story. When I looked for a hymn that even mentioned Eve to share with my congregation, I couldn't find one. Likewise, she is seldom mentioned in prayer or poetry, aside from the odd piece that contains bad theology.

So, in order to really know whether she was a “bad girl” at all, we need to spend some time uncovering who she really was.

Eve in Art

Eve has been the focal point of many great pieces of art. Perhaps it is because she was the great excuse to paint nudes for a long time. But maybe it is because there is something intriguing about her. It is interesting to look at the different representations of Eve in art. Here, too, we see varied and rich interpretations of this complex woman.

Below there are six paintings of Eve. Who do you see? What pieces of Eve are revealed to you in each of them?   and the sixth is).

“Eve and the Apple” by Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1578)

 “The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden” by Cappella Brancacci (1426)

“Temptation of Eve” by Drazenka Kimpel (2010)

“Adam and Eve” by Hans Holbein the Younger (1517)

“Eve” by Anna Lea Merritt (1885)

 

"Adam and Eve Under the Apple Tree" by Edvard Munch (1935)

Which one do you like the best? Why do you suppose that is? What about the one you like the least? What's off-putting about it?  There are lots of ways to imagine Eve. The important thing is to imagine who she was and who she can be for us, not so much what she did.

A Different Beginning for Eve

If we return once again to scripture, we see that there was mention of the first woman in the first creation story, before we hear about Adam and Eve. While this woman isn't given the name “Eve”, we could say that Genesis 1:27-28 gives a radically different beginning to her story. It says:

So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

Instead of seeing Eve as inferior, this passage emphasizes her equality. She too was created in the image of God and is not simply a piece of a man. She too is given authority over everything on earth instead of being submissive to Adam.

The historical perspective on Eve held by the church and wider society was clearly flawed. The story we have heard about Eve giving into temptation and getting all of humanity kicked out of Paradise is not the story that needed to be told. It was just one more tool used to oppress women.

Redeeming Eve

 

“Eve was not taken out of Adam's head to top him,

neither out of his feet to be trampled on by him,

but out of his side to be equal with him,

under his arm to be protected by him,

and near his heart to be loved by him.”

 

Matthew Henry (1662-1714), English Biblical Commentator

Even if we treat the events in the Garden of Eden as “just a story”, when we actually take time to look deeply into it, we see that Eve wasn't evil. At worst, she was tricked. Yet she wrongly received the blame for what happened. Then one incident in her life defined how she was remembered for the rest of time.

We know hardly anything about Eve. In fact, when she and Adam are exiled from the Garden of Eden, she becomes invisible. While Adam is mentioned, her eviction is only implied. It's as if who she was doesn't matter. All that seemed to matter was one thing she did.

When we think about who she was, we see so many admirable qualities. For one, she was the mother of all living things. We should be giving thanks for woman like her for bringing new life into the world. She teaches us a lot about human relationships, being a faithful, kind companion. Perhaps she was the first feminist, challenging the system with her rebellious, strong and courageous nature. She acted in a way that shows us how to be decisive and reflective at the same time. If we look at what happens after she leaves the garden, we can learn a lot about how to face adversity and challenge, how to move forward

Phyllis Trible, in attempting to paint a different picture of Eve, talks about just how good she was.

[T]he woman is more appealing than her husband. Throughout the myth, she is the more intelligent one, the more aggressive one, and the one with greater sensibilities . . . [She is] both theologian and translator. She contemplates the tree, taking into account all the possibilities. . . Thus the woman is fully aware when she acts. . . . The initiative and the decision are her alone. There is no consultation with her husband . . . By contrast, the man is a silent, passive and bland recipient.

Conclusion

This new way of understanding Eve challenges the reputation of women as being flawed from the beginning. It shows that women are not responsible for the problems of the world that began with a conversation between a woman and serpent.

Also, it makes Eve, the first woman, visible and important, not silent and forgotten. If we can go back and make women visible and important from the beginning, we will have a very different faith. It changes everything!

As Barbara Essex says in her book Bad Girls of the Bible: “She was not a willful wretch; she was a woman—bold, courageous, and brilliant. We have much to learn from her!”

“Who can explain the secret pathos of Nature's loveliness?

It is a touch of melancholy inherited from our mother Eve.

It is an unconscious memory of the lost Paradise.

It is the sense that even if we should find another Eden,

we would not be fit to enjoy it perfectly nor stay in it forever.”

 

Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933), American Poet and Clergyman

 

Worshipping with Eve

If we were to worship in a way that was inspired by Eve (and I have), it might go a little something like this.

 

ORDER OF SERVICE

As we prepare for worship:

 

“After all these years,

I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning;

it is better to live outside the Garden with her

than inside it without her.”

 

Mark Twain (1835-1910), American Author

 

Call to Worship: Based on Psalm 8

 

One: When I look to the heavens, the work of God's fingers,

the moon and the stars God has set in their places, I think:

All: What are we mortals that God should be mindful of us?

But, like Eve, God has made us little less than divine.

 

Sung Verse: Amazing Grace, verse 1

 

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

that saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

was blind but now I see.

 

Responsive Story: From “Candied” by Eleanor Whitner

 

One: In Eden it was never winter:

All: the ground stayed wet and spongy,

the sun as yellow and as overripe as a Persian melon,

One: the streams gummed up with honey,

and the apples mushy.

All: How things had got so soft it is hard to say.

 

One: [Eden] has to be sweet as grass,

the kind of stuff that's habit-forming,

like all things half-conceived.

All: For instance, Adam, anaesthetized,

and God part surgeon, part cosmic dating service.

 

One: So I guess the way it ended was

that Eve got up and walked out on Adam,

their tacky Eden -

All: sick of honeysuckle,

of trees stuck up with signs to state their meaning,

and nothing to stick to your ribs but apples.

One: She'd had a bellyful of those.

 

 

Listening Song: “Adam's Rib” by Melanie Doane

 

Once upon a time I was just a little bone.
I was just a little tiny rib and the rib cage was my home.
Some days I'd wonder how it would feel
to be my own person, to eat my own meals.
I never had to make a plan;
just be a little piece of a bigger man

Refrain: And Adam rocked my world.

I was his biggest fan.
No such thing as being a girl.
He had the whole world in his hands.

Now that was the life; no worries no pain.
Just stay in my place and grow a little more each day.
I never had to make a plan;
just be a little piece of a bigger man

Then I started to wonder, “What's this spell I might be under?”
It's time to break away. It's time to feed this hunger.
Never had to take a stand;
just be a little piece of a bigger man

 

Closing Prayer:

All: O God, may we leave this place inspired by what we have learned here. May we carry Eve with us in our hearts and strive to show her strength, wisdom and compassion to the world. Amen.

 

Sung Verse: Amazing Grace, verse 3

 

Through many dangers, toils, and snares,

I have already come;

'tis grace that brought me safe thus far,

and grace will lead me home.

 

Sources & Further Reading

Bronner, Leila Leah.  From Eve to Esther:  Rabbinic Reconstructions of Biblical Woman.  Louisville:  Westminster John Knox, 1994.

Essex, Barbara J. Bad Girls of the Bible: Exploring Women of Questionable Virture. Ohio: Pilgrim Press, 1999.

Greiner, Susan L. “Did Eve Fall or Was She Pushed?” from http://fontes.lstc.edu/~rklein

Lapidus Lerner, Anne. Eternally Eve: Images of Eve in the Hebrew Bible, Midrash, and Modern Jewish Poetry. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, 2007.

Phil Korsack, Mary. “Eve, Malignant or Maligned?” from http://www.crosscurrents.org/evetxt.htm

Wilson, Lois Miriam. Miriam, Mary & Me: Biblical Stories Retold for Children and Adults. Toronto: Northstone Publishing, Inc., 1996.