EVE, the name of the first woman. Chavva in Hebrew is derived from the same root as Chajim1, Life; because she was to be the mother of all living. God having created man, said, It is not good for man to be alone; let us make him an help-meet for him. He cast him therefore into a sound sleep, and while he was in this condition, God took out one of his ribs, made a woman of it, and brought her to Adam. Then Adam said, Behold now the bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh, therefore shall she be called Ischa, that is to say, human, because she was taken out of man. For this reason shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. She is believed to have been created upon the same day as Adam, that is to say, the sixth of the creation, and after Adam had made a review of the Animals, which God had created, and over which the Lord had given him the inspection and dominion.
Adam and Eve were placed in Paradise immediately after their Creation, and God forbad them to touch one particular fruit, threatning them with death if they disobeyed. They continued there some days in innocence and simplicity; were naked, without blushing at their nakedness. But the Devil, who envied their happiness, assumed the form of a Serpent, or rather, concealed himself in a real Serpent, and appearing before Eve, said to her, Why does Genes. iii. 1, 2, &c.not God permit you to eat indifferently of all the fruits of this garden? Eve replied, that God had forbidden her to touch one certain tree, lest they should die, and of all the rest they were allowed to eat freely. But the Serpent answered, Ye shall not surely die: 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. Thus he would have had God thought to be a lyar: one that envied his creatures perfection and happiness; and threatned them with a misfortune, which they had no reason to apprehend.
The woman therefore seeing this fruit was good to eat, and fair to the eye, took thereof, and did eat of it, and gave also to her husband, and he did eat. Hereupon their Eyes were opened, and they discerned their nakedness, which they cover’d with fig-leaves, and hid themselves among the trees of the garden. There God found them, reproached them with their disobedience, and said to Eve, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow, and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. After this God cloathed Adam and Eve with skins, and drove them out of Paradise. Now Adam knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and brought forth Cain, saying, By God’s assistance iv. 1, 2, 3, &c.I have gotten a man. She afterwards had Abel and some daughters, and last of all Seth. The Scripture names only these three sons of Adam and Eve; but sufficiently evidences that they had many more, in that passage where it says, that they had Gen. v. 4.sons and daughters. The particular year of Eve’s death is not known. It is presumed that she died about the same time as Adam, towards the nine hundred and thirtieth year of the world.
The Eastern people have paid some honours to Adam and Eve, as to Saints. The Greeks observe their Festival, or the Commemoration of them, upon the 19th of November. The Maronites likewise commemorate Vide Bona de Rebus Liturg. l. 2. c. 12.them in their Liturgy. Peter Natalis has put Adam and Eve in the front of the Saints, who lived in the first age of the world, in the week which we call Septuagesima, after the 22d of January. See the Epiphan. hæres. 26. n. 2, 3.Article of ADAM. Epiphanius says, that the Gnosticks composed a writing under the name of the Gospel of Eve, wherein were contained a thousand ridiculous and immodest things. There were other Hereticks Epiphan. hæres. 40. c. 5.who said, that Eve had Cain and Abel, not by her husband, but my a monstrous conversation with the Devil. The Manichees2 maintained, that Adam and Eve were not created by God, but owed their original to Sada and Nebroda, Princes of impurity. The Indian Brachmans believe, that the sin of the first man consists in the carnal knowledge which he had of Eve, whom the Devil presented to him. See Fabricius, Apocryph. V. Test. p. 101, 102. Some have mentioned a book intitled, The Prophecies of Eve, which is said to have been composed by the Angel Raziel, Adam’s Preceptor.
The Mahometans pretend that Eve called her eldest son Abd-al-hareth, that is to say, a Gardener’s or Husband-man’s son, or servant, because Adam was the first who cultivated the earth, according to what is Gen. ii. 15.said in Genesis, that he was put into the garden to dress it and keep it. They still at this day reverence Eve’s grotto, in mount Gerahem, three miles from Mecca. Mount Arafat, at ten miles distance from Mecca, borrowed its name from the adventure of Adam and Eve’s meeting, and discovering themselves to one another in this place, after a long absence. They believe that the tomb of this first of womankind is at Gidda, upon the Red Sea, two days journey from Mecca, whereof it is, as we may say, the harbour. They maintain farther, that the waters of the Deluge began to spring, or issue out of Eve’s oven, which had been preserved to that time, and had passed from hand to hand down to Noah.
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