I suppose most women of faith have wondered about what really happened in the Garden of Eden. What were Eve’s thoughts when she reached for the forbidden fruit? Was there a better way to go forward with God’s plan than what happened there? Was the mother of all living really as foolish as the world portrays her, or was she just as valiant as any of the other heroes in scripture?
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints understand the Fall differently than other Christians. Instead of a tragic mistake, we believe the Fall was a necessary part of God’s plan for His children, because the purpose of the plan is to grow and no one does much of that in paradise. While in the garden, Adam and Eve were not yet mortal and were therefore unable to fulfill God’s commandment to “multiply and replenish the earth” (Genesis 1:28). As part of the Fall, changes occurred to their bodies that allowed them to have children and to experience trials that would help them grow (Russell M. Nelson, The Atonement, Oct 1996 General Conference).
God commanded Adam not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil because “in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17), but He gave man his agency to choose for himself. As long as Adam and Eve lingered in the garden, God’s plan for the growth of His children paused, and the rest of us watched and waited for them to step into mortality so we could have our chance to do so as well. When Eve received her “first lessons in the world of spirits” (D&C 138:56), she learned about God’s plan and was valiant enough to be chosen as the “mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20). Though her memory of those experiences was veiled when she came to Eden, I wonder if she still felt a sense of some greater purpose for herself and Adam. As Eve wandered the garden and delighted in its beauties, did she yearn to do and be more than she was in that place and state?
Like faithful women today, Eve must have been blessed with extra sensitivity to the Holy Spirit who confirms truth, and she would have been prepared to make sacrifices in support of God’s plan. I find it difficult to believe that this chosen woman acted out of selfishness when she ate the forbidden fruit. Instead I believe her receptiveness to truth and willingness to sacrifice would have been the deciding factors in her confrontation with Satan, the serpent. He did what he so often does today and mixed truth (“your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” Genesis 3:5) with lie (“Ye shall not surely die” Genesis 3:4). Eve recognized the truth that she was meant to have her eyes opened and grow in wisdom, and was willing to act in faith to fulfill that purpose even if death was part of the deal. Satan’s attempt to thwart God’s plan backfired when Eve’s actions moved the plan forward instead. In this confrontation between “the father of all lies” (Moses 4:4) and the mother of all living, Satan came away looking foolish. Since that time he has worked to influence perception to make Eve seem the fool instead, and he has in large measure succeeded.
One problem with Eve’s actions in the Garden of Eden was that she did not counsel with her husband and with God before taking action. My husband and I have learned that difficulties arise when we make big decisions without first counseling together and with the Lord. Perhaps Eve and Adam had already had that conversation many times and Adam was unwilling to move, even if it was a move forward. Still I wonder what would be different if the two of them had decided together to forge ahead – despite the certainty of death as part of the process – and had presented their plan to God before taking that step.
After the Fall, Adam was commanded to worship by sacrificing the firstlings of their flocks to the Lord (Moses 5:5). He later learned that these offerings were symbolic of the sacrifice that our Savior, the lamb of God, would make during the Atonement (Moses 5:6-7). Eve herself became a symbol of the Atonement, for she chose to suffer, bleed and eventually die in order to give life to others of God’s children. The physical pain of bearing children was not the only sorrow she experienced (Genesis 3:16). What did she feel when she learned that one of her beloved children had been murdered by another of her beloved children? Experiencing either situation – a murdered child or a child who murdered – would have been crushing, but experiencing both together must have been devastating to their mother. Truly her sorrows were multiplied, and yet Eve foreshadowed Jesus’ life here as well. She saw through the excruciating sorrow to the joy ahead and ran with patience the race that was set before her (Hebrews 12:1-2). When Adam prophesied “concerning all the families of the earth” (Moses 5:10), did he mention their many-great-granddaughter Mary greeting the risen Lord immediately after He had overcome all the effects of their Fall through the Atonement? Eve heard these prophesies concerning their children, their granddaughters and grandsons, and “was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient” (Moses 5:11).
When I consider the events of the Garden in light of the characteristics of faithful women – and surely the one chosen as mother of all living was especially faithful – I am able to see past the distortions of the father of all lies to recognize Eve’s magnificence. She was committed to God’s plan and was willing to accept the heavy costs to fulfill her part in it. Perhaps there was a better way to carry out the move toward mortality, but the fact that she had wisdom yet to gain is a testimony of the importance of God’s plan for His children. If we already knew and had already experienced everything we needed in order to be wise, mortality would not be necessary. But we do need this chance to grow, and Eve’s courage and sacrifice made it possible for us to have it. She was a ‘Get It Done Girl’, a true hero, and I want to be more like her. Thank heaven for this brave and generous mother to us all.
