Dear Reader, 

March is Women’s History Month. I thought I’d start this month by taking a moment to talk about women in the Bible. There are obviously a lot of choices, but let’s take a moment to talk about Eve, the first woman mentioned in the canonical Bible. 

Eve gets vilified in most children’s stories. How could she have taken the apple! But we’re going to focus our attention more on how Eve came to be… Eve, before everything goes nuts in Genesis chapter 3. 

First, In Genesis 2:18, Eve was a thought in God’s mind. “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” God created Eve to add value. 

Second, God knocked Adam out. “So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.” Genesis 2:21

Thirdly, God made Eve out of the rib. 

Fourth, God brought Eve to Adam.

While there is much debate to be had about translations, history and the patriarchy, I’m going to skip all of that here. And talk about the value Eve added. Adam named everything in the garden, but there was no one else like him. Adam regained consciousness to find another being that was like him, only different. Because Difference (not sameness) adds value. I don’t know what to do with the part that God made her out of one of his ribs but God brought Eve to Adam because they needed to be together for them to add value to one another, for them to complement each other. 

Before Genesis 3, Eve was the one who added value. The one who complemented Adam. A literal gift from God.