All About Eve...and that other Guy

Someone said, perhaps Ogdan Nash, that the world's oldest poem was written by Eve and it was called

Fleas

Adam had 'em.

Quiet possibly after the fall he may have. She may have had 'em, too...after the fall. There weren't any blood sucker's before the fruit eaters ate one fruit too many. Yes, that's right. Original man was a vegetarian and will be again after Christ returns and establishes his Millennium Kingdom. So if you are like me, you better enjoy those filet mignon's and other steaks while you can. Don't worry, it isn't a sin right now, even if it might have been sacrificed to idols.

Just don't make the steak your idol.


Now there is a good question for those of you who want to play Devil's advocate. Were there fleas in the garden of Eden and if so, what did they sup upon? Perhaps fleas evolved from fruit flies. Frankly, it is obvious a lot of things changed after the fall and banishment from that garden. The lion and lamb weren't lying down next to each other anymore. If a lamb was near a lion after the fall, it was on its dinner plate.


There is an interesting statement about the decision to create Eve. Some seize on the word to make woman just man's helper.


The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said,
"This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;she shall be called 'woman,'for she was taken out of man." Genesis 3:18-23


But genesis wasn't written in English. It was penned in Hebrew and the word translated "helper" could have been more rightly translated "counterpart". God would "make a counterpart suitable for him".


Is this a significant difference? Yes, indeed. Here is Merriam-Webster's definitions of counterpart:

1: one of two corresponding copies of a legal instrument 2 a: a thing that fits another perfectly b: something that completes : 3 a: one remarkably similar to another b: one having the same function or characteristics as another

We can rule out 1, I don't think we'd call a woman a legal instrument anymore than we should call her chattel. 3 is okay, women and men are remarkably similar in a lot of ways, certainly more so than all the other beast God paraded before Adam. I don't think they have quite the same function. I mean look at them. They are remarkably similar in a lot of things, but there are a few outstanding differences, too. Ah, that leads us to 2.

A counterpart is a thing that fits another perfectly, something that completes. There is not an inequality here. These are two incomplete beings. They are complete when joined together with God's blessing.

What, did you think sex didn't happen until after the fall? God created sex, blessed sex, ordered sex between them. What do you think it is talking about here:

So God created man in his own image,in the image of God he created him;male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Genesis 1:27-28

There may be an old wedding toast that goes:

Here's to Eve, Mother of our race, Who wore a fig leaf in the right place.
And to Adam, Father of us all, Who was Johnny-on-the-spot when the leaves began to fall!

But don't be fooled. Adam and Eve didn't wait around until they were wearing fig leaves to get a desire to drop the leaves. They were doing it back when they wore nothing to hinder the process, out there in the garden without shame. The shame came later, and it wasn't shame of sex, but of failing to obey God. No, sex is sinless if it follows God's design and purpose. It is his purpose to allow two people to be complete, to be joined in pleasure and ecstasy. But two people vowed to each other in God's sight. A lot of people in the Bible brought trouble on themselves when they decided sex was a recreational tool. But that's a later discussion.

There is only two points to this story: Man and Woman were created equal to each other in God's sight and sex isn't sin when properly applied as God designed.

More about our gal Eve later.


Hey, Ron, thanks for bringing the "Wedding Toast" to my attention.