Bible -- Commentaries; Bible -- Feminist criticism; Women in the Bible
It is evident that some wily writer, seeing the perfect equality of
man and woman in the first chapter, felt it important for the dignity
and dominion of man to effect woman's subordination in some way. To do
this a spirit of evil must be introduced, which at once proved itself
stronger than the spirit of good, and man's supremacy was based on the
downfall of all that had just been pronounced very good. This spirit of
evil evidently existed before the supposed fall of man, hence woman was
not the origin of sin as so often asserted.
E. C. S.
In v. 23 Adam proclaims the eternal oneness of the happy pair, "This
is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh;" no hint of her
subordination. How could men, admitting these words to be divine
revelation, ever have preached the subjection of woman!
Next comes the naming of the mother of the race. "She shall be called
Woman," in the ancient form of the word Womb-man. She was man and more
than man because of her maternity.
The assertion of the supremacy of the woman in the marriage relation
is contained in v. 24: "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his
mother and cleave unto his wife." Nothing is said of the headship of
man, but he is commanded to make her the head of the household, the
home, a rule followed for centuries under the Matriarchate.
L. D. B.
CHAPTER III.
Genesis iii: 1-24.
1 Now the serpent was more subtle 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?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,
God hath said Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest
ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes
shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6 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.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were
naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in
the cool of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the
presence of the Lord God amongst the trees in the garden.
9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid,
because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of
the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she
gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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