Eve's Morals

Why would adultery have anything to do with what God told Eve?
At the time God said this there were no other men. And when men did come about they would have been her children and grandchildren.

Do you want to hear my interpretation of this saying?

This saying was not a punishment but was a statement of fact. God was putting her in her place underneath man. The fundamental role of man and woman is defined in this statement. The head of man is Christ and the head of woman is man. And this is fundamental to the role that woman plays.

You can actually see this very reality in life if you know what to look for. The woman is intrinsically looking at man to decide what she is going to do herself. She is not actually doing things in her own right but she is doing things with the eventual hope she has approval from man. While man does things to receive approval from God. This is the fundamental reality of woman in that her desire is towards her husband. She is looking to him to establish what she is doing.

I hear it as a statement of the curse, the brokenness of human relationships after the fall. "Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." She desires him, she is drawn to be in a relationship with him -- but, instead of being in a loving relationship, he rules over her. It's a quite profound description of how human relationships can be twisted and broken by sin.

I like the English Standard Version on this one.
The word "but" shows contrast and defines the word "desire".
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Genesis 3:16 ESV
… Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
but he shall rule over you.”
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Basically it says, you will not want to be ruled over, BUT
he will rule over you. It's a consequence. Sorry.

Keep in mind that the Hebrew word here used for "for" or "towards" or "contrary" is actually used many times as "against" as well. The physical picture of this word is actually something leaning and relying on something else to stand up. This is why the term is used both for "for" and "against." If you can imagine a stick leaning up against a wall that is what this word is describing. So at the same time, in one context, the reason it is leaning against the wall is because it needs it to be supported but in another context the reason two people lean against one another is because they are wrestling and fighting one another so they are "against" each other.

In the context of the usage here it would be said that this word is at once both "for" and "against" which exemplifies the fickle nature of women towards men. Is the woman relying on the man or is the woman against him? This is actually the true nature of this phrase here. The good women rely on the man and lean on him for support. The contentious women constantly push against man challenging him at every step and leaving him no rest. This is the full meaning of this phrase.

Kevin Snow said:

You can actually see this very reality in life if you know what to look for. The woman is intrinsically looking at man to decide what she is going to do herself. She is not actually doing things in her own right but she is doing things with the eventual hope she has approval from man. While man does things to receive approval from God. This is the fundamental reality of woman in that her desire is towards her husband. She is looking to him to establish what she is doing.

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Any woman who's constantly looking to men for approval is immature and insecure.

Which might be part of the consequence of the fall, but is definitely not what God wants for his daughters, who ought to be clear about what God calls them to, and confident in pursuing it.

Doug Melven said:

Why would adultery have anything to do with what God told Eve?
At the time God said this there were no other men. And when men did come about they would have been her children and grandchildren.

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It's possible there were other natural men and that Adam and Eve were the first to receive God's Spirit. This would explain that.

SkyWriting said:

It's possible there were other natural men and that Adam and Eve were the first to receive God's Spirit. This would explain that.

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We find these two scriptures after the consequences of the Fall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Genesis 3:20
Adam named his wife Eve,
because she would become the mother of all the living.

Genesis 4:1
Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant
and gave birth to Cain. She said,
“With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This seems to indicate that Cain was her firstborn.

Saint Steven said:

We find these two scriptures after the consequences of the Fall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Genesis 3:20
Adam named his wife Eve,
because she would become the mother of all the living.

Genesis 4:1
Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant
and gave birth to Cain. She said,
“With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This seems to indicate that Cain was her firstborn.

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Scripture does focus on living man and not natural man becasue living man is really all that God is concerned about for salvation. Natural man doesn't count.

Paidiske said:

Any woman who's constantly looking to men for approval is immature and insecure.

Which might be part of the consequence of the fall, but is definitely not what God wants for his daughters, who ought to be clear about what God calls them to, and confident in pursuing it.

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You don't understand? Every woman IS doing that. You just can't see how. For what is this that it says in scripture:

which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. ~Ecclesiastes 7:28

And the fundamental reason a woman is not raised above the tide in a thousand, where only 1 man is raised up is because a woman is intrinsically doing things on the basis of man and not of God.

But even then only 1 man of a thousand does things on the basis of God. And that is the meaning of this scripture and where it comes from.

WebersHome said:

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I take it that God intended for Eve to pass the information on to her female posterity; which suggests to me that even that far back in time; senior women were expected to teach the younger even as they're expected to do so now.

● Titus 2:3-5 . . Teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
_

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Simply put, adultery had nothing to do with it. Let it go.

WebersHome said:

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● Gen 3:16 . .To the woman He said: Your desire will be for your husband.

Apparently the Hebrew of that passage is difficult; not even the great rabbis Rashi and Ramban were in agreement how best to interpret it. But the passage appears to me simply the very first law prohibiting adultery.

This law was enacted before there were any Jews, and before there were any Christians. Everybody on Earth at the time of its enactment were Gentiles-- and would continue to be Gentiles until such a time as Jacob came along to engender Israel's twelve tribes.

So then, I take it that Gen 3:16 is a universal law regardless of one's race, color, gender, religion, and/or ethnic identity; and to my knowledge, this particular law prohibiting adultery has never been repealed.
_

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It's a strange line because it leads me to wonder who Eve desired prior to that point...

Inkfingers said:

It's a strange line because it leads me to wonder who Eve desired prior to that point...

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Prior to that point they had no knowledge of good and evil so there was no cause for worry.

SkyWriting said:

It's possible there were other natural men and that Adam and Eve were the first to receive God's Spirit. This would explain that.

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After Adam ate the forbidden fruit, all were born natural sinners. Everyone died spiritually because of Adam.
Study Romans 5 and you will see this.

WebersHome said:

I take it that God intended for Eve to pass the information on to her female posterity; which suggests to me that even that far back in time; senior women were expected to teach the younger even as they're expected to do so now.

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Adultery doesn't even enter the equation. If it did, God would have meant this for both of them. When 2 people were caught in adultery, both were to be stoned to death, not just the woman.

The verse in question is about how Eve was to revere Adam. Or the wife was to revere the husband.
If Eve had revered Adam to begin with, she would not have been the leader in eating of the forbidden fruit.

SkyWriting said:

Scripture does focus on living man and not natural man becasue living man is really all that God is concerned about for salvation. Natural man doesn't count.

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Say what?
Sorry, I don't follow the "living man" vs "natural man" idea here.
What does that mean in reference to God's creation? (the Genesis account)

Saint Steven said:

Say what?
Sorry, I don't follow the "living man" vs "natural man" idea here.
What does that mean in reference to God's creation? (the Genesis account)

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I searched the scriptures for language that Adam was created from scratch.
I didn't find what I was looking for.

Doug Melven said:

After Adam ate the forbidden fruit, all were born natural sinners. Everyone died spiritually because of Adam.
Study Romans 5 and you will see this.

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I agree completely. So before Adam sinned....what was his state of being?
Was he natural, imortal, a god, in limbo.....what?
Was he physical, but imortal? Physical and natural but unable to die?
Subject to physical death, but not Spiritual death? Not human?

SkyWriting said:

I agree completely. So before Adam sinned....what was his state of being?
Was he natural, imortal, a god, in limbo.....what?
Was he physical, but imortal? Physical and natural but unable to die?
Subject to physical death, but not Spiritual death? Not human?

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Now there's an interesting topic.
1) Was humankind created mortal, or immortal?
And...
2) What died at the Fall of humankind?
And...
3) What would have happened if Adam had refused to eat the forbidden fruit?
Assuming that Eve ate it and transgressed the command of God.
But Adam did not. Would she have been saved by Adam's obedience?