Genesis 3:20–24 (ESV)

The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

This passage raises three tough questions:

• Why is Eve called the mother of all living when she’s only the mother of people?
• What does it mean when God says, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil.”?
• What can we learn from the way that God sentences man to surely die?

Curiously, the answer to the first is important to the third.

Calling Eve the mother of all living is a Hebrew idiom that conflates all of humanity with all of the world. It can’t mean she gives life to plants and animals; there’s nothing anywhere in scripture that supports that view. Note that the Hebrew word “Eve” (חַוָּה) is similar to the words for living and life-giver. So, as the mother of the future, she’s given the name Eve.

In calling Eve the mother of all living, this passage honors her. That’s important.

This was written in a time of extreme patriarchy; women got little respect. This passage counters that. While not written as a command (that will come later) it lays the groundwork.

Christ continued this pattern by making women the first eyewitnesses to the most important piece of evidence in history—His resurrection. At that time there was no official respect for a woman’s testimony.

The New Testament will go on to directly command that respect (e.g., in Ephesians 5:25 and 1 Peter 3:7).

Like virtually all other commands, the commands to respect women are regularly disobeyed.

The second question raises huge theological issues. We begin by noting that the, “like one of us,” is perfectly clear in the Hebrew. The Hebrew word for “one” (אֶחָד, ekhad, where the kh is a hard, throat-clearing, h sound) is in there, and the “of us” (מִמֶּ֔נּוּ. me-men-noo) is definitely plural.

Thus, there is broad agreement in how this is translated. This needs an entire DEEP of its own.

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These weekday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. Saturdays' by Matt Richardson. Subscribe here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NASB stands for the New American Standard Bible. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.