THE MOTHER EVE

The biblical account of Eve did not end with her banishment from the garden. Eve is claimed to have "made a man jointly with the Lord" in a little-noticed preamble (Gen 4:1-2a) to the subsequent Cain and Abel story. The exceedingly unique phrasing is obscured by common translations, such as the NRSV's "made a man with the help of the Lord" and the NJPS's "gained a male child with the help of the Lord." The verb "create" is the same as the verb used to describe God's creative power in the Bible (Genesis 14:19, 22), as well as the creativity of the Semitic mother goddess Asherah in non-biblical writings. Otherwise, women are described as "bears" in the Bible. "Create children," not "create a man," and linking Eve's creative power to God's through the creation of a man "with" God. Furthermore, the act of giving a child a name is usually always performed by a woman in the Bible; it denotes parental control over children and may be seen in Eve's naming of Cain. In the Hebrew Bible, Eve is last referenced when she gives birth to her third son Seth and her unfortunate second son Abel (Genesis 4:2a) (Gen 4:23).

Eve was formed by God (Yahweh) by removing her from Adam's rib. be his companion, according to the second chapter of Genesis. Before she was created, Adam was tasked with maintaining the garden. Although it is obvious that she was aware of the command, she is not present when God tells Adam not to eat the forbidden fruit. After hearing the snake claim that eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil wouldn't kill her but instead would benefit her, Eve makes the decision to do so.

Before they might consume from the Tree of Life, they are driven from the Garden of Eden after she shares the fruit with Adam. Different Christian denominations have different perspectives on both Adam and Eve's disobedience to God (often referred to as the fall of man) and the effects those actions had on the rest of humanity. The first man, Adam, and Eve are sometimes held to a higher standard of accountability for the "fall" in Christian and Jewish doctrines.