Eve

When I was in seminary, oh so many years ago, we had a theme with music and videos called, "Like Unto Us."  The concept taught through this series was that we should liken the scriptures to ourselves to help make them come alive.  So with that thought in mind, I hope it will not be too presumptive for me to use my imagination and what I know about human nature to try to imagine what life may have been like for specific women of the past and to correlate and parallel my experiences to theirs.

It seems logical to begin with Eve.

Eve is often portrayed in cultural stories as naive and gullible, but I do not believe that she was like that at all.  It is interesting to imagine the world she lived in before the fall.  Imagine living in the Garden of Eden, where fruits and flowers grew spontaneously,  where there were no weeds or pests,  where animals communicated with humans, and where Jehovah and Elohim visited and taught you directly.  We do not know how long Adam and Eve lived there, but it may have been quite a long time.  They must have acquired a lot of knowledge about the world, its herbs and flowers, animals and nature.  They were innocent, but there is no reason to believe that they were ignorant.  They were intelligent capable people.  I find it interesting that the scriptures mentioned that it was not good for Adam to be alone.  He was obviously there first, and I wonder how long he was alone.  I'm sure that  after living alone, having the companionship of a wife must have been so comforting.   I believe that Adam loved Eve very much and was very protective of her, as men naturally are of their cherished wives.  It was an interesting set up, and one that I am sure was designed to produce exactly the result that occurred.  Satan was not aware of Father's plan and so played right into it.  If you think about Adam and his character you have to realize that he would have been in the Garden of Eden forever if it hadn't been for Eve.  He was so strictly obedient that he would have never partaken of the fruit on his own; but like most men who love, he would do almost anything for his beloved.  Eve was typically female, curious and less linear in her thinking, she was intrigued by the idea of acquiring more knowledge and experience through partaking of the fruit.   I think that the idea the serpent planted in her mind probably fermented there for awhile before she acted on it.  It compelled her. She may have also been motivated by that innately feminine desire to have children.  I can't say for sure, but I imagine that the opposing commandments to reproduce, but not to partake of the fruit that would be required to allow them do that, would have been a factor in this decision.  Adam had the obedience  and will power to wait for God to command him to move forward, Eve was less patient, and more compelled to move forward by her own hand.  These choices reflect their different personalities.  After Eve had partaken of the fruit, Adam's motivator was to stay with Eve.