The First Woman

Last Tuesday at our Ladies Bible Study, we took a look at Eve... the first woman. A few things were brought up in our study that I wanted to mention.

We are sometimes so hard on Eve, saying that she wrecked it for the world... they lived in Paradise as we will only know once we enter Heaven's gates. But even though Adam and Eve had incredible abundance, they chose the one fruit - the ONLY fruit that they weren't allowed to eat. Why? Well, if not Eve, it might have been the next person, or maybe it would have been Adam, or me. We often want the things that we don't need, or the things that we can or shouldn't take.... we often do exactly what Eve did.

Another point that was brought up was that Adam was "there with Eve" and he didn't say, "hey wait a minute, sweety, God said no to this one... but let's go get some ripe pomegranates, or I just noticed that the Granny Smiths were great for picking." Nope... he took some too. Why? Perhaps it's just a good indication of human nature. We can be tempted. Even Jesus was tempted when he walked on the earth. The difference is, of course, that he did not give into the temptation, and therefore remained sinless. Jesus used scripture against Satan and Jesus was victorious. We NEED to learn to do this too.

Our Bible Reference was from Genesis 2 and 3. Here are a few of the questions that we discussed:

- what was life like in the Garden?
- The serpent approaches the woman with a discussion about God. What doubts does he raise in her mind?
- what did Adam and Even give up by disobeying God's rules?
- Compare the woman's answer to the serpent's questions with God's original instruction in 2:17. Why do you think she amplified the instruction?
- The woman's first action was to re-examine the tree with serpent-enlightened eyes. What did she see?
- Did the woman think she was doing a bad thing when she took the fruit? Why?
- What was wrong with her focus?
- What were the immediate consequences of her action?
- How would you describe the serpent's strategy which effectively changed the relationships in the Garden of Eden?
- Even though the relationships in Eden were vastly changed, what evidence of God's grace do you see in these verses?
- It was only one tree and one little piece of fruit. What does Eve's experience teach us about the far-reaching consequences of our choices?


- resource - Women of the Old Testament by Gladys Hunt.