The Covenant Woman

A story from the Old Testament:

ISHSHAH, WOMAN, EVE :  In the beginning

Genesis 1:1—5:27

Ishshah, the first of womankind, was not born of woman, but was born of man and created by God in God’s own image.  We know about Adam before Ishshah. God created him in His own image fashioned him from the dust of the ground and breathed life into him.  Animals were also created before Ishshah and brought to Adam so that he named them and looked for a helper among them. However, no helper was found that was fit for him. (Genesis 2:20)  “God saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone.” (Genesis 2:18)  God gave of Himself and created another being in His image that mankind might be complete.  He took a rib from man (Ish) and made an ezer or companion for Ish. When God had finished creating the woman, He brought her to Adam and placed her in front of him, and Adam chose Eve signifying an equal partnership. Adam named Ishshah and said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman (Ishshah) because she was taken out of man (Ish).”(Genesis 2:23)

The human couple was made from the same stuff and was bound together as one flesh with a common goal. “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’.”    (Genesis 1:28)

Ishshah lived with her intimate partner in a beautiful garden surrounded with every kind of plant that was good for food. While it is believed that the garden was located in the area of Babylon, there is no conclusive evidence to support this claim.  Ish and Ishshah lived in harmony with the animals, naked and unashamed.  It does not seem unnatural that Ishshah was talking with the serpent.  Perhaps the animals provided support and companionship for the humans. Neither posed a threat to the other. (This changed during Noah’s time)  But, “the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature.”(Genesis 3:1) The animal was wise, perhaps even crafty, in that the serpent possessed knowledge and an implied intent to oppose God. The writer of Genesis never identified the serpent as the devil. This idea came much later when the Apostle John wrote Revelation and referred to the devil as a serpent and deceiver of the whole world. (Revelation 12:9; 20:2)

Ishshah was deceived by the serpent, and so it is with all humankind who has been led astray. (II Corinthians 11:3)  Ishshah chose to disobey God and led Ish to follow her into disobedience. She not only brought punishment upon herself, but indirectly upon her husband and the animal. Ish and Ishshah were in charge of the animals. But, Ishshah must have forgotten her responsibility when she allowed herself to be enticed into disobedience to God.  For God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden.”(Genesis 3:3) She doubted God’s sovereignty, wanted to be like God, looked, touched and partook of the forbidden. Her innocence was gone, she knew she was naked; she knew she had been deceived and immediately found herself evading responsibility and hiding from God. However, God did not allow her to hide. He brought her into the open, confronted her and punished her for her disobedience. “To the woman he said, ‘I will greatly multiply your pain in child bearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you’.”(Genesis 3:16) Life for humankind was changed forever. It is no wonder that Adam, after the fall, changed Ishshah’s name to Eve, mother of all living. (Genesis 3:20) “The human female fetus [today] has between six and seven million eggs.”(Mother/Daughter Wisdom, p. 50.) Eve’s capacity for reproduction must have been unfathomable. Every person who has ever lived has a connection to her.

Eve became subordinate to her husband—a condition that lasted until the second Adam, Jesus, who came to reconcile the world to Himself.  When God expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, contrary to the wisdom of the serpent, they became mortal beings. Although they lived approximately 800 years after the fall, they did die. Eve’s life was dramatically changed from a pleasant protected environment to one of thistles and thorns. (Genesis 3:18)  God provided clothes for Adam and Eve by covering their bodies with skins, perhaps signifying the first sacrifice of animals for the benefit of humans.

Eve experienced the incredible empowerment of the joys and pains of motherhood.  She was the mother of a murderer and also of a son who was murdered.  She was a grandmother, a great grandmother, and a great, great grandmother many times removed.

Lamech, Eve’s descendent, took two wives (first time recorded). Adah’s son was a tent dweller and raised cattle. He played the lyre and pipe. Zilleh’s son was a forger of bronze and iron. And Zilleh also had a daughter whose name was Naamah (first mention of a daughter by name). (Genesis 4:22)  Before Eve died, civilization had made a wealth of cultural advances.

“Creation stories [in the Bible] are like the creation legends of Babylon.  In Exilic and post-Exilic times the account of the creation most prevalent in Babylonia was that in the poem Enuma elis, the text of which was at this time absolutely fixed and its arrangement upon seven tablets invariable.” (Enuma Elish, The Seven Tablets of Creation, p. XCII)

Assuming that Adam and Eve were close to the same age, Eve was somewhat younger than 130 years old when Seth was born. “When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.  Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them man when they were created.  When Adam had lived a hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.” (Genesis 5:1-5) Seth whose name means appointed is in the lineage of Jesus. This information is provided through the genealogy of Mary, the mother of Jesus. (Luke 3:23-38)

Eve experienced the hand of God on her physical body, on her soul and her life. Perhaps she witnessed more cultural change than any other woman in history. The fact that she was subject to her husband did not spare her from the work and woes of family life. She is honored as the mother of all, and God began to bring mankind back to Himself through her son Seth.  Seth’s son, Enosh, was the originator of public prayer and spiritual worship. “At that time men began to call upon the name of the Lord.”(Genesis 4:26)  We are not told about Eve’s relationship to God after she left the garden. We can only imagine she, too, was reconciled to God and called upon His name.

Sin comes in small steps:(1) Eve listened to the deceiver, (2) She looked on the forbidden, (3) She touched, (4) She took the forbidden in her hand, (5) She ate, (6) She encouraged Adam to sin with her. When headed in the direction of sin, stop.  Don’t take the next step.