30
From Eternity Past
fled in terror. But “the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him,
Where art thou? And he said, I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I
was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself. And He said, Who
told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I
commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?”
[27]
Adam cast the blame upon his wife, and thus upon God Himself:
“The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree,
and I did eat.” From love to Eve, he had deliberately chosen to forfeit
the approval of God and an eternal life of joy; now he endeavored to
make his companion, and even the Creator Himself, responsible for
the transgression.
When the woman was asked, “What is this that thou hast done?”
she answered, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” “Why didst
Thou create the serpent? Why didst Thou suffer him to enter Eden?”—
these were the questions implied in her first excuse. Self-justification
was indulged by our first parents as soon as they yielded to the influence
of Satan and has been exhibited by all the sons and daughters of Adam.
The Lord then passed sentence upon the serpent: “Because thou
hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast
of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all
the days of thy life.” From the most beautiful of the creatures of the
field it was to become the most groveling and detested of all, feared
and hated by both man and beast. The words next addressed to the
serpent applied to Satan himself, pointing to his ultimate defeat and
destruction: “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and
between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt
bruise His heel.”
Eve was told of the sorrow and pain that must be her portion. “Thy
desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” God had
made her the equal of Adam. But sin brought discord, and now their
union could be maintained and harmony preserved only by submission
on the part of one or the other. Eve had been the first in transgression.
By her solicitation Adam sinned, and she was now placed in subjection
to her husband. Man’s abuse of the supremacy thus given him has too
often rendered the lot of woman bitter and her life a burden.
Eve had been happy by her husband’s side. But she was flattered
[28]
with the hope of entering a higher sphere than God had assigned her.
In attempting to rise above her original position, she fell far below it.