(syllable matched to the Christmas tune of “Mary Did You Know?”)
Eve was restive.
Contrary to what you might think, this word means anything but restful. The dictionary types know that . In fact it means quite the opposite. Confusions abound in the English language with words like “flammable” and “inflammable” both of which pretty much mean the same thing, unlike “active” and “inactive” which mean the opposites. Well, if you have a problem with the anomalies of the English language, you might want to clarify those with Dr.Samuel Johnson. You may DM him @ SCOWL (Samuel Creates Original Word Lexicon)
Yes, Eve was restless. What was the matter? She had everything that makes for a good life: all the food Adam and she needed without going anywhere near the kitchen! Plenty of low hanging fruit ready for the plucking. God had it all Dunzoed even before they felt hungry. What is more there was just no other woman extant to tempt her husband.
hmm.
Wait a minute did I say “all the food”? This needs to be clarified: God did tell Adam that. “ Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat”. But there was a “but” that followed.Yes there was something He did deny: The fruit of the tree of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Intransigence meant death.
Pretty severe, what? Though it is not clear how a man who was not born understood death.
Eve was naturally curious. After all, God had spoken to Adam and left her out. That was quite unbearable. She simply had to know what God told Adam. So she asked him.
Nagged would be a better description.
(credit: gettyimages)
Though it would be several generations before the founding of “Naamah’s Advanced Goading and Nagging Institute” popularly known by its stylish acronym NAG-NI ( please see Misc. 27), being the mother of them all, you bet Eve did know a thing or two about nagging.
Adam could not withstand this vexation and told her everything (just as Samson did down the line). But this only increased a sense of frustration felt by Eve. But why?
God DENIED something.
What was it, why was it – questions, questions.
Her curiosity was heightened. What was so special about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that God forbade its fruit?
This went on working in her mind. And that, is the reason she was……
………restive.
Sorry, restless. The more she thought about it the more it bugged her. Why subject everything and leave out one – just one? If one was not to eat its fruit why was the tree created in the first place? It bothered her. And as she went over the narrative over and over again, she began to add some new features that made the denial sound even more sinister. It gave her some kind of masochistic pleasure. She convinced herself that the special tree was not even to be touched.
The Bible does not talk about it, but this bit of prime gossip had to be shared. And there were no friends around who understood how the feminine mind works. You ask, “what about Adam”?
Sorry, wrong number. He was minding the garden!
It was during this period of loneliness and longing for simpatico that Eve developed friendship with the serpent. Apparently she had talked to him about God’s nays and he had showed great understanding.
How do we know this?
Just see how chapter 3 begins: “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (KJV)
No preamble, no beating about the bush, straight to the point – it looks as though the woman was sufficiently groomed for this eventual encounter. You can deduce this from the fact that she did not raise her eyebrows when the slithering slimy serpent spoke up. “Did God say?” and wham…. It reads like a continuation of an unfinished conversation between two friends.
This is signal enough for the woman to unload her pent up frustrations and then some. There is no record in the Bible of Eve having spoken to Adam till now, but here she is mouthing no fewer than 45 words. To whom? To the devil.
With whom are you comfortable? God or the devil? Does the Word of God irritate you, annoy you and send you on a mission to seek like company? It won’t be long before the devil comes along to lend you his shoulder and wipe away your tears with his special brand of soft tissue.
Yes, many a time the words of a devil are easier to align with, than the words of God because the devil works along our innate desire. Which is what happened in the case of Eve. Just a few moments with the devil and her perspective was completely changed. What was looked at askance until this point for it was forbidden, suddenly appeared different: “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. “(Genesis 3:6 KJV)
How do you view things? With a godly perspective or with a decidedly devilish angle?
People speak of ice breakers whenever you enter into a new situation. Here we see that the serpent quite excelling in this department. He opens with an eminently answerable question:“Did God say?”
The next time you organize some programme in communication skills, you know whom to call as the resource person.
Eve saw to it that Adam does not open his mouth. Before he could say “what ho” in surprise, seeing the devil in his drawing room, he finds his mouth filled by the half bitten forbidden fruit; he just couldn’t get a word out. His mouth was shut. Many women practice this art to keep domestic peace and tranquility by shutting the mouth of their husbands one way or another.
In this respect, Eve was quite forward. The devil knew full well that God spoke only to Adam and not to her, but he pops the question to her. It was open to Eve at this point to bring in Adam as the recipient of divine word, but she took it upon herself to deal with the devil.
It is never a good idea to take on the devil with your own strength. You simply cannot match his cunning, sly, deceitful ways. Peter makes that very clear in the New Testament:”Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8 KJV). And Paul pitches in: : “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:11 KJV)
How about countering him with: “Yes, God really said that and I take Him at his word. None of your clever interpretations please.
Now begone.”
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