You know how when you read a good book, you notice something new everytime you read it? It's like I expect it to not be that way with the Bible too, but it is. Right now, I'm getting ready for Wednesday night girl's class. I've been procrastinating, and honestly, I'm procrastinating right now, but that's okay. My prep for class has brought me back to the narrative in Gensis 2. We're talking about lies. Because Satan lies alot. Especially to girls.
So we're going back and looking at the first lie he ever told, and how Eve got herself in a position to act on it. Of course, when Satan found Eve in the garden that day, she should have run. As soon as she heard one word challenging what she knew God had declared, she should have run. But she didn't. She stuck around to chat it up with the serpent... Reminds of my high school days when I worked in retail at Build-a-Bear workshop. Our boss would often make really screwball decisions. I think the majority of us were dissatisfied with them right from the start. But a few bold people would start to talk about it and everyone else would overhear and slowly but surely get onboard. I think that hearing others talk about the ridiculous things the boss was doing would make me even more unhappy. It's like that negative energy led me into a sense of intitlement. I think the same thing happened to mother Eve. She felt intitled to every tree. But I can't find someone else to blame it on. She screwed up. She sinned first. I finish the story feeling like I lost.
Because, let's be honest, Genesis 2 gets subconscously looked at as a battle of the sexes. And the girls lost. And that sucks. But I have a hard time really ever blaming Eve for a fallen world. I mean honestly, if it hadn't been her, it would have been me. So today, I was reading the story, and I noticed something that I don't normally notice. Eve misquotes God when she was carrying on her little, "yeah, it sucks, doesn't it?" convo with the devil. God said don't eat of this one tree. Eve said God said don't even touch it or you're dead. I remember some discussion on this in my OT class last fall, but I don't actually remember what conclusions were drawn. Why does Eve misquote God?
Well, when God gives the command regarding the tree of knowledge in Genesis, Eve didn't actually exist yet. Well, that assuming that Genesis 2 is in chronological order and not actually a parable... But right after God gives that command he goes, "Oh, it's not good for man to be alone! Let's make women!"... so I'm thinking she didn't hear that command right when it was given. Which means she probably heard it from Adam.
God didn't really tell them to not touch the tree. He told them to not eat the fruit. Adam was exaggerating the truth. He kind of lied to her. Jerk. There we go, I can blame Adam. We lost the Genesis 2 battle of the sexes, but the guys cheated. Isn't that just like the guys?
But I kind of think I understand... I mean, I remember being a little kid and shopping with my mom. Whenever we went into a store with lots of breakable things, she always told me not to touch anything. What she really wanted was for me to not break anything. But if I didn't pick anything up, I couldn't break it. Kids tend to break things that they pick up. And Mom didn't want to take any chances. Maybe Adam was thinking along those lines, knowing that as the guy, he would be held partially responsible for her actions, which he was in the end. I imagine the tree of knowledge was to Eve like World Market is to me... If I walk into World Market, I'm going to touch everything. And if I touch stuff, I'm going to end up with something in my shopping basket... most likely a box of Bacio or a new scarf... But if the Bacio were all poisoned, and someone else knew that, it would be wise for them to tell me that touching things inside World Market would kill me... I would probably stay far away from the World Market.
Perhaps Adam was really trying to do Eve a favor. But Eve would have done well to check in with God and figure out what He actually said... which brings me right back around to what I want to get across o my girls in the first place. Knowing the Truth is of the utmost importance. I've gotta know what He says so that I can bring my focus back around to generous promises of Life and Freedom instead of hearing limitations humans have placed on my faith or lies of entitlement and self-loathing from Satan.
