I have been mulling for a while over what the world was like through Eve’s eyes. We know about her, she is the first woman ever, she is the one that was taken from a rib, and the one we wonder if she along with her husband Adam even had belly buttons… But, she is also the one we blame for.. well pretty much everything. She ate the fruit first, and ruined everything.

I am not gonna lie, I have thought: “I wouldn’t have made that mistake” … But, the reality is, I probably would have because the Bible is pretty clear about what happened leading up to that fatal day:

**For those who don’t know the story or need a refresher, here’s the background:

(After everything was created except for Eve) “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.‘” (Genesis 2:15-17)

AKA – You have total freedom to eat anything except this tree or you will know death.

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” (2:18)

In the next two verse God has Adam name all the animals. All. Of. Them. — Uhm, how long did that take?!.. And seriously, who has that kind of creativity at a day or two old?!

Then, the remaining four verses in chapter two are all about how God created Eve. Adam sleeps, God surgically removes a rib, creates a mate for Adam, then, as if Adam hasn’t had enough creativity for the day (or year), he names her woman because she came from him… (Probably his least creative naming job.)

Ok, so that is the little bit of the show that plays before the opening credits.

Genesis three is really where our little crappy story starts… And, as all good things gone bad, it starts with a crafty evil thing (a snake.. any wonder why they still look evil?!). The snake has a conversation with Eve,
“and he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ The serpent said to the woman, ‘You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ 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 desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:1b-6) He totally played to her practical side, and her love of beauty dang it.

I want to stop and call your attention to something real fast. In chapter two, God told Adam not to eat from the tree well before Eve was created… She gave the fruit to Adam who was with her, and he ate also. Which means that God told him, and he said nothing while Eve carried on a conversation with this snake (is that normal for animals to talk?!)

From there, the story goes on, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll summarize. God calls out to them, and they hid, when questioned they said they were afraid because they were naked. — First, why would they suddenly be afraid of God?.. And, why would they suddenly feel naked?.. That’s basically what God asks them, and Adam instantly accuses God by saying “That woman YOU GAVE ME…” *facepalm* When God asks Eve what happens, she owns up to the fact that she was deceived.

You see, Adam knew, Eve was deceived.

I guess to be fair, they are only young children in adult bodies.

From there, God curses both of them, but differently. Adam gets a cursing on his accomplishments, and Eve gets a cursing on her relationships. Awesome.

At this point, God kills an animal to clothe them (note, this is the first death of any kind in the Bible), then they are banished from the perfect wonderful Garden of Eden. But, it is my belief that God kicked them out of the garden to be merciful. You see, there was another tree. The tree of life.

When we ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil… if we had THEN ate from the tree of life.. we would never die, and thus we would forever be stuck in our sin.

Death makes a way for us to find redemption.

But, I digress.

Adam and Eve both lived HUNDREDS of years. As in Adam died in the 900 range. They both saw a lot of life come into this world. But, they both saw a lot of life die in this world as well. In fact, Cain and Abel (their two sons) had an epic sibling rivalry with each other and Cain ends up killing Abel. And, while it’s technically Cain’s fault Abel died, it is actually Eve’s fault.

This is where I want to dwell for a moment. The first bloodshed she experienced was an animal’s, she got to see and experience as God killed something to show mercy towards her and Adam. Life was lost because of her. But, when her son dies, human life was lost, and it is her fault. Before Abel, no human had actually died, so their closest understanding was the death of animals.

Imagine the grief.

Not only are you grieving the loss of your son, at the hands of your other son, but the blood is on your hands because you put your mouth to the fruit, and tasted the juice that dripped over your chin as you bit into it.

Eve got to see life and civilization take off, grow, form into clans and cities. Imagine the joy and wonder in those things. And then, she had to watch as it all crumbled for hundreds of years. And, it is her fault.

Now, think about this from yet another perspective. In the garden before that blasted fruit, her and Adam were walking and talking with God… He actually just kinda would visit them daily and they would have tea (no not really.. but maybe). And then, afterwards.. Never again do they hear the voice of God or feel Him like they did back then. Imagine the lonely feelings that would ensue from that alone. You know exactly what if feels like to be close, intimate, and talk with God… and then not at all. And, it is your fault. That would feel like a death all unto its own.

Suddenly the closeness you have with God, and the oneness with your husband is replaced with strife, arguments, loneliness, and a faint whisper of the memory of what it was all supposed to be like.

The heartache must have been almost unbearable at times. Especially, late at night when thoughts take over in the depths of the darkness.

We think of Eve as the one who “ruined everything,” and she did… But, I am fairly certain no one blames her more than she blamed herself. We are always harder on ourselves than others are on us. The guilt she carried as she watched her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren struggle and die, knowing it. is. all. her. fault. No one can relate to her, she is entirely alone in that weight.

But, there is hope. Always hope with God.

Little did she know, God had a plan that took Adam and Eve’s lack of faith in God being honest and upfront with them, and decided that since they could see Him and still had no faith, our savior would require us not seeing and yet still having faith.

So, in the depths of the weight of Eve’s story, there is hope. In the middle of the painfully dark and lonely nights, there is mercy. And, no matter what she heard or did not hear any longer, she actually knew God unlike any of the rest of us ever have, and God chose her.