This is my third post on Eve as a basis for Solomon’s Lady Wisdom (Proverbs 1-9).
Before I address anything else, I need to point out a mistake I made about Adam. I wrote,
Only her [Eve’s] reactions to subsequent events are mentioned, not Adam’s.
That’s technically true but an artificial division in the story. After God pronounced judgments on them but before God removed them from the Garden, Adam did make what sounds to me like a confession of faith:
The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
Genesis 3:20
This was the second time Adam named his wife. His statement seems to be the result of Adam’s hearing God’s judgement and learning that they had been re-established in the Dominion Mandate to “be fruitful and multiply” and that their hope would be found in the seed of the woman. The women will still bear children, despite new tribulations, just as he will subdue the land despite thorns and thistles.
But his statement of faith is one that affirms Eve’s role in the salvation of the Human race. It serves to provide the background for hearing her appraisals of how that goes (Genesis 4:1, 25).
Which brings us back to Eve as Wisdom. I have discussed evidence from after the Fall, but I think there is more in the text.
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If you take Genesis 1 and 2 together as background to chapter 3, Eve comes out looking pretty good compared to Adam.
- Adam was created first (Genesis 2:7).
- Adam was put in the Garden and told not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:16-17).
- God created Eve (Genesis 2:21-22).
- God told Adam and Eve together that every single plant was given to them for food (Genesis 1:29).
- Nevertheless, Eve knows the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was prohibited on pain of death (Genesis 3:2-3).
This brings up two questions. One is easy to answer: How can a tree be prohibited if Adam and Eve were given “every tree” to eat from? It must have been a temporary prohibition. At some point Humanity would be granted access to that tree.
The second question is: How did Eve learn of the prohibition? Did God explain it all in the presence of both of them? That’s possible. But another possibility would be that Adam told her about it.
Both these possibilities are “speculative” to a degree, but the second option makes more sense of Paul’s reasoning:
For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
1 Timothy 2:13–14 ESV
If Adam was not “deceived,” it means he was more culpable than Eve. If Eve heard of the prohibition only from Adam, that would mean he had more direct knowledge. Consider:
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Genesis 3:6 ESV
Adam was “with her.” If the text is trying to say that he was with her after she went to find him, that is bizarrely trivial information. At face value, the text is dropping the bombshell that Adam, who heard what God said for himself, remained quiet while his wife was tempted in front of him. What was Eve to make of his silence? Essentially, he backed up the serpent’s lie, let his wife eat the fruit, saw that she remained alive, and then ate some himself. Real brave guy.
Thus, while Eve was foolish, Adam was abusive and rebellious. He used his wife as a human guinea pig. If she had died, then he could have blamed her (like he did anyway–Genesis 3:12) and claimed he never disobeyed the divine commandment.
In light of all this, I wonder if Genesis 3:3 shows Eve being a model of wisdom:
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
Genesis 3:2–3 ESV
“Neither shall you touch it.” I have heard some claim that Eve was “adding” to God’s word. But there are no quote marks in ancient Hebrew. It’s not clear that Eve was claiming God said things that He didn’t say. More likely, she was pointing out that being near the tree, thinking about violating God’s command, was a reallly bad idea. She may have been signalling to Adam that he should act in the situation rather than silently watching.
After all, when Solomon talks about adultery and fornication, he doesn’t just say not to “do it.”
And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house
Proverbs 5:7–8 ESV
And the first thing a fool does is get too close to temptation:
I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.
Proverbs 7:7b–9
Tragically, Eve failed to hold on to wisdom, but she initially demonstrated it in answering the serpent. Once restored by God’s promises, she became a Lady Wisdom crying out for a worthy son.