Introduction:^[2]http://christianity.about.com/od/oldtestamentpeople/p/eveprofilebible.htm

Eve was the first woman on earth, the first wife, and the first mother. She is known as the “Mother of All the Living.” And although these are remarkable accomplishments, very little is known about Eve. There is not much said of her in the book of Genesis. Like most mothers, even though her accomplishments were great, they were, for the most part, overlooked.

Eve was Adam‘s companion, his helper, the one who would complete him and share equally in his responsibility over creation. She, too, was made in God’s image, displaying a portion of the characteristics of God. Together, only Adam and Eve could fulfill God’s purpose in the continuation of creation. With Eve, God brought human relationship, friendship, and marriage into the world.

Eve:^[9]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve

(Hebrew: חַוָּה‎‎, Classical Hebrew: Ḥawwāh, in Aramaean and Modern Israeli Hebrew: Chavah, Arabic: حوّاء‎‎ or Ḥawwā’, Syriac: ܚܘܐ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the creation myth^[10]Womack 2005, p. 81, “Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop through oral traditions and therefore typically have … Continue reading of the Abrahamic religions, she was the first woman. In Islamic tradition, Eve is known as Adam’s wife although she is not specifically named in the Quran.

According to the second chapter of Genesis, Eve was created by God (Yahweh) by taking her from the rib^[11]Genesis 2:21 of Adam, to be Adam’s companion. She succumbs to the serpent’s temptation via to eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She shares the fruit with Adam, and as a result the first humans are expelled from the Garden of Eden. Christian churches differ on how they view both Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God (often called the fall of man), and to the consequences that those actions had on the rest of humanity. Christian and Jewish teachings sometimes hold Adam (the first man) and Eve to a different level of responsibility for the fall, although Islamic teaching holds both equally responsible.

Although Eve is not a saint’s name, the traditional name day of Adam and Eve has been celebrated on December 24 since the Middle Ages in many European countries such as Germany, Hungary, Scandinavia, Estonia, and Lithuania.

Etymology:^[12]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve

Eve in Hebrew is Ḥawwāh, meaning “living one” or “source of life”, and is related to ḥāyâ, “to live”. The name derives from the Semitic root ḥyw.^[13]American Heritage Dictionary

Hawwah has been compared to the Hurrian goddess Kheba, who was shown in the Amarna letters to be worshipped in Jerusalem during the Late Bronze Age. It has been suggested that the name Kheba may derive from Kubau, a woman who was the first ruler of the Third Dynasty of Kish.^[14]The Weidner “Chronicle” mentioning Kubaba from A. K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles (1975)^[15]Munn, Mark (2004). “Kybele as Kubaba in a Lydo-Phrygian Context”: Emory University cross-cultural conference “Hittites, Greeks and Their Neighbors in Central Anatolia” … Continue reading

The goddess Asherah, wife of El, mother of the elohim from the first millennium BCE was given the title Chawat, from which the name Hawwah in Aramaic was derived, Eve in English.^[16]Dever, William K (2005), “Did God Have A Wife? Archaeology And Folk Religion In Ancient Israel” (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company).

It has been suggested that the Hebrew name Eve (חַוָּה) also bears resemblance^[17]Saul Olyan, Asherah (1988), pp. 70-71, contested by O. Keel to an Aramaic word for “snake” (Old Aramaic language חוה; Jewish Palestinian Aramaic חִוְיָא).

In Genesis:^[18]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve

In the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible, the first human female is called אישה, isha (English: woman) by the first human man, Adam. She is created by Elohim from the man’s rib. The origin of this motif is compared to the Sumerian myth in which the goddess Ninhursag created a beautiful garden full of lush vegetation and fruit trees, called Edinu, in Dilmun, the Sumerian earthly Paradise, a place which the Sumerians believed to exist to the east of their own land, beyond the sea.^[19]Kramer, Samuel Noah. “History Begins at Sumer: Thirty-Nine “Firsts” in Recorded History” (1956)

Ninhursag charged Enki, her lover and half brother, with controlling the wild animals and tending the garden, but Enki became curious about the garden, and his assistant, Adapa, selected seven plants (eight in some version) and offered them to Enki, who ate them. This enraged Ninhursag, and she caused Enki to fall ill. Enki felt pain in his rib, which is a pun in Sumerian, as the word “ti” means both “rib” and “life”. The other deities persuaded Ninhursag to relent. Ninhursag then created a new goddess (seven or eight to heal his seven or eight ailing organs, including his rib), who was named Ninti, (a name composed of “Nin“, or “lady”, and “ti“, and which may be translated both as “Lady of Living” and “Lady of the Rib”), to cure Enki^[20]Charles Russell Coulter; Patricia Turner (eds.). Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities. Some scholars suggest that this served as the basis for the story of Eve as “the mother of life” and lady of the rib, created from Adam’s rib in the Book of Genesis.^[21]Meagher, Robert Emmet (1995). The meaning of Helen : in search of an ancient icon. United States: BOLCHAZY-CARDUCCI PUBS (IL).ISBN 0865165106. Neither Ninhursag nor Ninti are exact parallels of Eve, since both differ from the character, however, given that the pun with rib is present only in Sumerian, linguistic criticism places the Sumerian account as the more ancient and therefore, a possible narrative influence on the Judeo-Christian story of creation.^[22]Kramer, Samuel Noah (1944, republished 2007), “Sumerian Mythology: A Study of the Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B.C.” (Forgotten Books)

Creation:^[23]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve

In Genesis 2:18-22, the woman is created to be ezer kenegdo, a term that is notably difficult to translate, to the man. Kenegdo means “alongside, opposite, a counterpart to him”, and ezer means active intervention on behalf of the other person.^[24]Alter 2004, p. 22. God’s naming of the elements of the cosmos in Genesis 1 illustrated his authority over creation; now the man’s naming of the animals (and of woman) illustrates his authority within creation.^[25]Turner 2009, p. 20.

The woman is called ishah, woman, with an explanation that this is because she was taken from ish, meaning “man”; the two words are not in fact connected. Later, after the story of the Garden is complete, she will be given a name, Hawwah (Eve). This means “living” in Hebrew, from a root that can also mean “snake”.^[26]Hastings 2003, p. 607. A long-standing exegetical tradition holds that the use of a rib from man’s side emphasizes that both man and woman have equal dignity, for woman was created from the same material as man, shaped and given life by the same processes.^[27]Hugenberger 1988, p. 184. In fact, the word traditionally translated “rib” in English can also mean side, chamber, or beam.^[28]Jacobs 2007, p. 37.

In the King James Version, אַחַת מִצַּלְעֹתָיו is translated as “one of his ribs”. The contrary position is that the term צלע or ṣelaʿ, occurring forty-one times in the Tanakh, is most often translated as “side” in general. “Rib” is, however, the etymologically primary meaning of the term, which is from a root ṣ-l-ʿ meaning “bend”, a cognate to the Assyrian ṣêlu meaning “rib”. Also God took “one” (ʾeḫad) of Adam’s ṣelaʿ, suggesting an individual rib. The Septuagint has μίαν τῶν πλευρῶν αὐτοῦ, with ἡ πλευρά choosing a Greek term that, like the Hebrew ṣelaʿ, may mean either “rib”, or, in the plural, “side [of a man or animal]” in general. The specification “one of the πλευρά” thus closely imitates the Hebrew text. The Aramaic form of the word is עלע or ʿalaʿ, which appears, also in the meaning “rib”, in Daniel 7:5.

The third century BC Septuagint translation into Greek says: “ἔλαβε μίαν τῶν πλευρῶν αὐτοῦ”, literally: “[God] took one of his (i.e., Adam’s) pleurōn“. The word pleurá in Greek means both “side”, or “flank”, and “rib”; it is used in the genitive plural (tőn pleurōn) in the Septuagint text. Usage of the dual number would have rendered taīn pleuraīn rather than tőn pleurōn, and would have clearly directed exegesis towards “one of his [two] flanks” rather than towards “one of his [several] ribs”; however, the dual number is never used in the Septuagint, as it had become practically obsolete in Koine Greek by that time. Therefore, as it stands, the Septuagint supports either reading.

The term, “…a rib…”^{[Gen 2:21–24]} – Hebrew tsala` or tsela (from Strong’s Concordance #6760 Prime Root) can mean curve, limp, adversity and side. tsal’ah (fem of #6760) being side, chamber, rib, or beam. The traditional reading of “rib” has been questioned recently by feminist theologians who suggest it should instead be rendered as “side”, supporting the idea that woman is man’s equal and not his subordinate.^[29]For the reading “side” in place of traditional “rib”, see Mignon R. Jacobs, Gender, Power, and Persuasion: The Genesis Narratives and Contemporary Perspectives, Baker … Continue reading Such a reading shares elements in common with Aristophanes‘ story of the origin of love and the separation of the sexes in Plato’s Symposium.^[30]Cf. Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, Basic Books, 1983, p. 31.

A recent suggestion, based upon observations that men and women have the same number of ribs, speculates that the bone was the baculum, a small structure found in the penis of many mammals, but not in humans.^[31]Gilbert, Scott F.; Zevit, Ziony (Jul 2001). “Congenital human baculum deficiency: the generative bone of Genesis 2:21–23.”. Am J Med Genet. 101 (3): 284–5. doi:10.1002/ajmg.1387. … Continue reading

Expulsion from Eden:^[32]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve

Eve is found in the Genesis 3 expulsion from Eden narrative which is characterized as a parable or “wisdom tale” in the wisdom tradition.^[33]Freedman, Meyers, Patrick (1983). Carol L. Meyers; Michael Patrick O’Connor; David Noel Freedman, eds. The Word of the Lord Shall Go Forth: Essays in Honor of David Noel Freedman. Eisenbrauns. … Continue reading This narrative portion is attributed to Yahwist (J) by the documentary hypothesis due to the use of YHWH.^[34]Reed, A. Y. (September 20, 2004). “Source Criticism, the Documentary Hypothesis, and Genesis 1-3” (PDF). RS 2DD3 – Five Books of Moses: 1, 2.

In the expulsion from Eden narrative a dialogue is exchanged between a legged serpent (possibly similar to that appearing on the Ishtar Gate of Babylon) and the woman (3:1-5).^[35]Mathews 1996, p. 226 The serpent is identified in 2:19 as an animal that was made by Yahweh among the beasts of the field.^[36]Mathews 1996, p. 232 The woman is willing to talk to the serpent and respond to the creature’s cynicism by repeating Yahweh’s prohibition from 2:17.^[37]Mathews 1996, p. 235 The serpent directly disputes Yahweh’s command.^[38]Mathews 1996, p. 236 Adam and the woman sin (3:6-8).^[39]Mathews 1996, p. 237 Yahweh questions Adam, who blames the woman (3:9-13).^[40]Mathews 1996, p. 226 Yahweh then challenges the woman to explain herself, who blames the serpent, who is cursed to crawl on its belly, so losing its limbs.^[41]Mathews 1996, p. 242

Divine pronouncement of three judgments are then laid against all culprits (3:14-19).^[42]Mathews 1996, p. 226 A judgement oracle and the nature of the crime is first laid upon the serpent, then the woman, and finally Adam. After the serpent is cursed by Yahweh,^[43]Mathews 1996, p. 243 the woman receives a penalty that impacts two primary roles: childbearing and her subservient relationship to her husband.^[44]Mathews 1996, p. 248 Adam’s penalty thus follows.^[45]Mathews 1996, p. 252 The reaction of Adam, the naming of Eve, and Yahweh making skin garments are described in a concise narrative (3:20-21). The garden account ends with an intra-divine monologue, determining the couple’s expulsion, and the execution of that deliberation (3:22-24).^[46]Mathews 1996, p. 226

Mother of humanity:^[47]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve

According to the Bible, for her share in the transgression, Eve (and womankind after her) is sentenced to a life of sorrow and travail in childbirth, and to be under the power of her husband. Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel (Qayin and Heḇel), the first a tiller of the ground, the second a keeper of sheep.^[48]Genesis 4″. Etext.virginia.edu. Retrieved 2012-03-14. After the death of Abel, Eve gave birth to a third son, Seth (Šet), from whom Noah (and thus the whole of modern humanity) is descended. Genesis 5:4 says that Eve had sons and daughters beyond just Cain, Abel, and Seth.

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1.0) Source: http://christianity.about.com/od/oldtestamentpeople/p/eveprofilebible.htm

2.0) Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve

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Related: Biblical Overviews List of Key New Testament Characters

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Source: bibleresources.americanbible.org | Tittle: “A Guide to Key Events, Characters and Themes of the Bible”