Many times Eve’s life reveals suffering and trouble not of her making and of having to start a new life all over again… Eve’s life encourages us not to give up. Start over if you must. Others have, you can also. Find a new way of living, new friends, kind friends, people who genuinely care about you. Allow yourself to dream again. Dream a new vision for your future. Let bygones be bygones.
Above all, believe in the promises of God, believe in yourself, believe in hope when there is no hope, sense the peace of God that passes all understanding. Let the false childish idea of a ‘happy’ life go and in its place accept the contentment and hope and courage that suffering and endurance bring. Hope is the anchor of your soul. Hope thou in God. Whatever the present circumstances, these too shall pass.
Eve’s Matrilineal Line Eve (CHAV-AH) – AD-AH – ZILL-AH – NAAM-AH to Sar-ah 1
CHAV-AH, ‘Life’, ‘Mother of All Living’
Eve’s matrilineality
In beginning, 2 the matriline of the Hebrew scriptures begins with Chav-ah, the first woman 3 Strong’s shows the name Chav-ah means ‘to tell, declare’ 4. Chav-ah was later named Eve, ‘Mother of All Living’ 5. Eve 6 had many daughters and sons sired by Adam. Eve’s matriline through her son Cain ends with a woman named Naam-ah who married Noah in her Sethite line. 7
| Eve’s Sethite (Jesus’) line (Lk 3: 38) | Eve’s Cainite line |
| Seth | Cain (Heb qayin): Kenites: friends of Israel) |
| Enos, sired by Seth. Eve’s grandson. This is when people began to enter into idolatry according to the Hebrew understanding of Enos. This would have only added to Eve’s grief and shame, given Abel’s untimely and violent death by her son Cain. Seth is part of the genealogy of Jesus (Lk 3: 38). | Enoch |
| Cainan (Kenan), second son of Seth: The Book of Jasher describes Cainan, the possessor of great astrological wisdom, which has been inscribed on tables of stone. | |
| Mahalaleel (Lk 3: 37) | |
| Jared | Irad |
| Enoch (figuratively, ‘to initiate or discipline’, ‘dedicate’, ‘train up’). The text reads that Enoch “walked with God: and he was no more; for God took him” (Gen 5:21-24) which is interpreted as Enoch’s entering Heaven alive in some Jewish and Christian traditions. Enoch is the subject of many Jewish and Christian traditions. He was considered the author of the Book of Enoch and also called Enoch the scribe of judgment. The NT has three references to Enoch from the lineage of Seth (Luke 3:37, Hebrews 11:5, “By faith, Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation, he had this testimony, that he pleased God. Jude 1:14–15). | Mehujael |
| Methuselah said to have died at the age of 969, he lived the longest of all figures mentioned in the Bible According to Genesis Methuselah was the son of Enoch, the father of Lamech and the grandfather of Noah. Elsewhere in the Bible, Methuselah is mentioned in genealogies in 1st Chronicles and the Gospel of Luke. | Methusael |
| Lamech (Sethite) in genealogy of Jesus (Lk 3: 36). ‘And Lamech lived a hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed. And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters.’ And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died. (Gen 5:28-31) | Lamech (Cainite). He was responsible for the “Song of the Sword.” He is also noted as the first polygamist mentioned in the Bible taking two wives, Ad-ah and Zill-ah (Tsel-ah). See below in the next post. |
| Noah: According to the Genesis account, Noah labored faithfully to build the Ark at God’s command, ultimately saving not only his own family, but mankind itself and all land animals, from extinction during the Flood Afterwards, God made a covenant with Noah and promised never again to destroy all the earth’s creatures with a flood. The flood narrative is followed by the story of the Curse of Ham, Noah’s grandson. | Naam-ah (see below: ‘Eve to Sar-ah.’ |
The patriarchal emphasis:
‘This is the written account of Adam’s family line. God created humanity in the likeness of God.’ Genesis 5:1 NIV. 8 It is also referred to as the ‘Generations of Adam’. It begins, not with Eve the mother but the patriarchal emphasis.
The brothers, Cain and Abel
Eve’s first son, Cain, in a jealous rebellious rage, murdered his brother Abel. As a consequence, in accordance with those times, Cain became landless. 9 He was banished from his Mother House and near kin, and sent to the Land of Nod (‘shaking and trembling’ ), east of Eden. This is not unlike his father Adam. Adam was also a murderer. He brought death to the world, also through the sin of rebellion.
‘Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned’. (Gen 5:12-18)
Adam was the first record of banishment. He went from safe stable living to landlessness. He was exiled from the Garden of Eden to live east of Eden. Eve followed him out of the garden. 10. In those times, if found wandering, it meant only one thing: you were disassociated from your kin and motherhouse, rejected for some wicked treasonous act. Justice was simple: an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. 11
With no distinguishing mark to identify Cain would mean the death sentence carried out immediately by those who met him in the way. To protect him, God marked him with a sign, similar to a totem, which signified his kinship group. This means, although banished, from living at close range amongst his kin, Cain remained in the land of his mother, Eve.
Endogamous marriage union: the building up the Mother’s House
Cain and his posterity recorded in Eve’s matriline signals Cain’s marriage was an endogamous relationship. 12 Cain’s wife was most likely a distant cousin, niece, aunt or great aunt, or another of one of Eve’s line of her nameless daughters, originally springing from her House. 13
Cain and Seth, therefore, as was the custom for maternal sons, nephews, and uncles of the Mother’s House helped build it up. 14 The ‘firstborn son’ is a patriarchal invention and God does not obey patriarchal dictates. Where it says, ‘firstborn son’ or, ‘sons’ (say, ‘of the priests’) it includes daughters.
Eve’s two matrilineal lines finally join again
Cain’s line leads to a Kenite woman named Naam-ah (or more correctly the Qenites) and from Seth, finally, comes Noah. From Naam-ah came Ham, Shem and Japheth sired by Noah. Therefore, the Semites (Jews) came through the matriline of Mother Naam-ah through Shem. This was the beginning of all nations according to Genesis and the Hebrew tradition. Through Shem, the Semites language and race began. Finally, came the Matriarch Sa-rah and the Patriarch Abraham 15 leading to Sar-ah and finally Le-ah, whose matriline leads to Mary (Miriam) the mother of Jesus.
’And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived, and bare Enoch’.
Cain built a walled city
‘Cain built a city and called it ‘Enoch’ after his son’ (Gen 4:17). To build the first walled town (Gen 4:17: bnh + town) signals Cain’s life was threatened due to blood feud (retributive justice). He needed the protection of a surrounding wall. We learn later, the descendants of Cain’s line, Ad-ah and Zill-ah’s descendants, the Kenites were nomads.
Eve’s third son, Seth
Following the tragedy of Cain murdering his brother Abel, Eve gave birth to another son, Seth (‘Appointed’).
Eve’s infamous grandson, Enos, through Seth.
Enos’ name means ‘profanated’: ‘not relating to that which is sacred or religious’, ‘secular’. Enos began to teach people: ‘then began men and women (Heb. ‘ben’) to call upon the name of the Lord’ (Gen 4:26). 16 This is interpreted as idolatry by traditional Jewish interpretation, that is, that people started dubbing ‘Lord’ things that were mere creatures. 17 Eve also gave birth to ‘other sons and daughters’, sired by Adam.
Eve and Adam’s lineages
Both Eve’s and Adam’s linages of women and men were born to largely unnamed women. These women were not considered important enough to name. However, lists of unimportant men’s names are also in the patriarchal lineages.
In conclusion … Reading the bible as a woman
Reading the bible as a woman demands the named women and the narrative surrounding them get our special attention. Stop reading about Abraham and his arguing with God. That root has been axed. Stop reading about David and his killing Saul’s family and his political ambitions – you are meeting him every day in the church. Stop supporting the patriarchal leaders in the church. Leave them to continue with their patriarchal 18 turf wars and their sinning openly to gain the upper hand and bring down anyone opposing them.
Stop putting your money in bags with holes in them. Start giving to women who need your financial support to get by. Those single mothers and their children, barely surviving in the patriarchal church. Give to elderly women, many homeless and living near destitution. Start living the God kind of life of equality, of equal balances and weights.
The women in the OT provide for the astute reader the matriarchal linage leading to Jesus. Also the matriarchs of the important tribes of that time. Some were friends (distant kin of Israel through the mother’s kin). Others were against Israel.
Further, where you find the description of an event that happened to a woman or a group of women, or all the women of one tribe, such as when the daughters of Rachel (Benjamin), were stolen. This instance highlights it. The account and the circumstances surrounding it register significant changes in the society they lived in affecting the women in particular.
Those changes also give us insight into the ways in which patriarchy was making inroads into the very fabric of society. To do this the original social law of endogamy was changed to exogamy (patriarchy). That social change disfigures the image of Christ and His Bride.
Metaphorically Speaking
The named women, therefore, might be likened to those canaries the miners took with them underground to alert them to danger of a change in the atmosphere to their otherwise tolerant environment. The most important thing to understand is, individual women in the OT are the only source we have to teach metaphorical teachings in the NT.
These are largely ignored by patriarchal teachers and interpreters of the Bible be they male or female. Forget the false teachings of some mythical being named ‘Satan’ as warring against you. Instead, patriarchal teachings and false teachers peddling this doctrine are the true robbers and the enemy of our soul. The OT women speak into the future in relation to the New Testament ‘new creation’ realities.
Such teachings as Mary’s confession of faith, ‘be it unto me according to your word’ brought about the conception of the only-begotten child of God. Jesus’ birth was according to Mary’s faith, likewise, the new birth follows this pattern.
The church is a woman: the Body and the Bride of Christ. The Husband and His wife are depicted through the lens of an endogamous marriage relationship, not patriarchal interpretation of early Genesis. The Family of God here on earth is not a mirror image of patriarchal exogamous marriage.
Our understanding is further enlightened when we realise the NT use of ‘brethren’ relates to mother kin: meaning, ‘all of one mother’.Greek, ‘adelphos’ denotes “a brother, sister/ or near kinsman/ kinswoman;” in the plural, “a community based on the identity of origin or life. 19
Then there is land ownership and inheritance. These NT themes begin to emerge anew as God’s divine plan, put in place in early Genesis. They were deposited in preparation of the NT pattern that was to come and is now here. Its time has come. The teachings are fully formed and made known through the Gospel. 20 Let’s preach it! As we begin to understand the determination of the Mothers to build up their House so we can understand better the value of daughters.
The second coming of Christ becomes clear: Jesus joining his bride and they two living together here: the new heavens and a new earth. This world is our home, those other members of the one body are her kin.
Away with the patriarchal idea of the bride joining her Husband in His home in a patriarchal father’s house in heaven. This is misinterpreted because of the patriarchal lens applied. These stem from patriarchal concepts of an exogamous marriage relationship, of a ‘Baal’ domineering husband, removing his betrothed to his house. Not so Jesus!
We shall learn more about this change to society as we go on to read of the Mothers, Ad-ah and Zill-ah. Their husband Lamech, in Cain the murderer’s linage, was the first polygamist. These are recorded for our learning. However, It does not mean God agrees or instigated these changes. Further, God does not obey worldly patriarchal dictates such as the ‘firstborn male’, ‘son’s’ inheritance, or land ownership. We shall discover all these things and more as we continue to study the woman.
Other than Eve, I find no woman of Israel willingly leaving her home to join her husband and his family on foreign soil. The idea that these women would enthusiastically enter into a patriarchal (exogamous) marriage relationship is absurd. Why would they freely choose to follow their husband and cross over to another tribe of Israel or a Canaanite tribe? They would lose their autonomy and authority.
They would lose their children and their inheritance: their identity, the identity of their children, their land, mothers, aunts, great mothers and great aunts, sisters and daughters, nieces and matriarchal brothers and uncles, one another’s children under their direct care, planning and sharing together to build up their inheritance, to leave it all behind, for what? Do you see?
The scenario of women leaving all this in the bible occurs only through war or selling their daughters to an outsider. That is when women are forcibly removed from their mother kin and become sex slaves and abused workers or worse. It happened then and is still happening today. This is when patriarchy has reached its zenith.
This is the reason treasonous Esau is made an example. It is said his mother, ‘Rebek-ah grieved’ and ‘God hated Usau’. Esau sold his inheritance for a common meal, the poorest of the poor survive on it: a lintel stew. So too, we women!
I’m not writing in an attempt to reconcile us with patriarchy. I jumped overboard and found the river of God to swim in many years ago. I suggest you do the same. Underneath are the everlasting arms. God loves women. God’s got your back. Patriarchy does not. Patriarchy is your enemy.
Finally, in the Book of Revelation we read of The Woman, The Bride, The Marriage of the Lamb, The Heavenly Jerusalem, The City of God. Certain named women are of significant importance to anyone wanting to trace the Coming One, born of a woman, without male intervention and women saviours of Israel who did everything they must to protect the promised woman’s seed. All these subjects and more are brought to the fore in my papers on the woman of the OT.
To be continued … The Mothers: Ad-ah, Zill-ah and Naam-ah
Much love,
Patricia
End
Thinking about Eve…
Life and loss: Cause and effect: Eve’s life reveals great pain and suffering because…
Like us, Eve’s humanity meant she was who she was and there was no getting away from herself.
Consider…
Have you made foolish decisions or have others made them for you that changed the course of your life so dramatically you have never fully recovered and wonder if you ever will?
Have you suffered a death in yourself due to the loss of a child and the grief became amplified in its magnitude?
Do the shockwaves of grief still overwhelm you when others have moved on but you know deep down you are standing still and there is simply no one to share this with that you feel fully understands where you are at.
Has a profound silence fallen upon you because of life and the struggles you have endured for generations that have resulted in you being left with a hole in your stomach? An empty void that nothing can fill? Nevertheless, it left you with such a deep abiding sense of wisdom that you have nothing to say to anyone. Frivolity, nonsensical loose talk, and useless socialising have gone forever.
Perhaps you have suffered from the effects of violence? It may be due to one member of your family suffering at the hands of another? What about the judgment of others, the misunderstanding of the circumstances that led to it?
Did you spend yourself in the early years of bringing up a darling child with wonderful potential only to have him/her bring upon you, public embarrassment, shame on your head, a personal sense of disappointment because of their foolish choices?
It may have been a husband you followed against all good and loving advice from wise friends whose advice finally proved true. Because of his huge ego, deception and cover-up, rebellion against God, and good friend’s sound advice, you have lost everything?
Are you landless? Homeless? Eve suffered all of these things and more. Life did not work out the way she expected.
Patriarchal marriage and the family do not live up to its expectations. Patriarchal marriage and family are myths. They are not all they’re cracked up to be.
The upside however of Eve’s life reveals a depth of spirituality which was borne out of the grief and disappointment. Nevertheless, it would have helped level out the sense of loss and those things that were irrecoverable.
Think again about Eve…
Have you nurtured a continuous relationship with God that nothing and no one can shake?
Do you have hope in the midst of all your trials that can only be explained as God carrying you through it all?
Are you still waiting on promises from God’s word that brought great encouragement into your life at the time and although not yet come to pass, have never abated?
Can you look around you and see the wonderful women friends God has surrounded you with? In particular that one who has walked with you daily or come in and out of your life but remained steady, whether together or years apart, near or distant, a constant in your life.
Eve’s life reveals times of great perseverance … of highs and lows; of desolation and restoration. Can you look back and see the rewards of your tenacity during those periods of endurance? Of trials and suffering? Do you have a sense of a future that is yet to deliver the best there is?
Eve’s life reveals many times of having to start all over again …
Eve’s life encourages us not to give up. Start over if you must. Others have, you can also.
Find a new way of living, new friends, kind friends, people who genuinely care about you.
Allow yourself to dream again. Dream a new vision for your future. Let bygones be bygones.
Above all, believe in the promises of God, believe in yourself, believe in hope when there is no hope, sense the peace of God that passes all understanding. Let the false childish idea of a ‘happy’ life go and in its place accept the contentment and hope and courage that suffering and endurance bring. Hope is the anchor of your soul. Hope thou in God. Whatever the present circumstances, these too shall pass.
A Perpetual Covenant of Peace for Women Isa 54
1 “Sing, O barren, You who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, You who have not laboured with child! For more are the children of the desolate Than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord.
2. “Enlarge the place of your tent and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, And strengthen your stakes.
3. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, And your descendants will inherit the nations, And make the desolate cities inhabited.
4. “Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; For you will forget the shame of your youth,
And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.
5. For your Maker is your husband, The Lord of hosts is His name;
And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.
6. For the Lord has called you
Like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit,
Like a youthful wife when you were refused,”
Says your God.
7. “For a mere moment I have forsaken you,
But with great mercies I will gather you.
8. With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment;
But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,”
Says the Lord, your Redeemer.
9.“For this islike the waters of Noah to Me;
For as I have sworn That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, So have I sworn That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.
10. For the mountains shall depart And the hills be removed,
But My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,”
Says the Lord, who has mercy on you.
11. “O you afflicted one, Tossed with tempest, andnot comforted,
Behold, I will lay your stones with colourful gems, And lay your foundations with sapphires.
12. I will make your pinnacles of rubies, Your gates of crystal,
And all your walls of precious stones.
13. All your children shall betaught by the Lord, And great shall be the peace of your children.
14. In righteousness you shall be established; You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; And from terror, for it shall not come near you.
15. Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me.
Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake.
16. “Behold, I have created the blacksmith Who blows the coals in the fire,
Who brings forth an instrument for his work; And I have created the spoiler to destroy.
17. No weapon formed against you shall prosper,
And every tongue whichrises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This isthe heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the Lord.
The law of Faith:
I believe therefore I speak.
Believe and speak new beginnings into your life. Name your future. Rename yourself; your children’s surname. Don’t put it off. Take back what is yours.
God’s richest blessings to you and yours.
End
FOOTNOTES