Who Was Mrs. Adam?

(3 Minute Read)

Mrs. Adam was the first wife and the first mother. She is significant, because Scripture bases foundational teaching on her and her marriage. This special woman set a pattern for all her daughters to follow.

What Was Her Name?

Adam first designated the wife Yahweh prepared for him as Ishah (literally man-ess) or Woman, because she was taken out of man (Genesis 2:23).

Later Adam named his wife Eve (meaning “life”), because she was the “mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20).

Eve did NOT name herself, nor did Yahweh name her. Scripture is clear: Adam named her both generically and personally. Yahweh named Adam, and Adam named Eve. To name someone is a powerful expression of belonging and attachment.

Why Did God Create Eve?

Yahweh created Eve to be Adam’s companion, helper, lover and mother of his children. Yahweh created Eve for marriage. She and Adam were to be the progenitors of the human race. The very first command God gave them was “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” (Genesis 1:28)

God created a “She” for Adam’s marital companion, not a “He.” And Adam knew Eve was a “She” from the beginning (Genesis 2:23). God thus set the normative pattern for human marital relationships:
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
(Genesis 1:27-28 NASB)

The pattern is one woman for one man for life, not man with man or woman with woman. Jesus based this standard and this prescription for marriage on the original creation and marriage in Genesis when He said,
“Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
(Matthew 19:4-6 NASB)

It’s significant that Jesus drew from both the first two chapters of Genesis (1:27 and 2:24) to establish His doctrine of marriage. Evidently He saw no contradiction between the two chapters, in contrast to many today who insist the chapters conflict.

Eve was equivalent to Adam in nature and being, because she was made out of Adam’s own flesh and bone (Genesis 2:23). But in role or function she was subordinate to Adam. Adam was created first, and Eve was created second. Eve was created for Adam; he was not created for her. This order and purpose of creation is the basis for Paul’s hierarchical placement of woman under man’s leadership (1 Corinthians 11:3,7-12; 1 Timothy 2:11-14).

The Adam-Eve marriage set the pattern and standard for all marriages. On it Jesus based His instruction about the permanence of marriage (Matthew 19:3-6). Paul’s commands for husbands to love and cherish their wives, and for wives to respect and obey their husbands, are grounded on Adam and Eve’s marriage (Ephesians 5:31). This is God’s own design and decree.

Mrs. Adam was created from Adam and
for Adam — to be his helper, companion,
lover, and mother of his children.

Marriage was the first God-ordained social institution, and it is the most fundamental one. Nations are built on communities which are built on families which are built on marriages.

Why are marriage bonds so important? When marriages fail, everything else eventually disintegrates. A nation cannot be strong without strong marriages. This is one reason why divorce is so harmful and so detestable in God’s sight (Malachi 2:13-16). Divorce destroys individuals, families, churches, communities, and ultimately nations.

Who was Mrs. Adam? She was the first wife and the first mother. She set the pattern for all her daughters. She was created from Adam and for Adam — to be his helper, companion, lover, and mother of his children.

Questions to Ponder

1. What can you do to divorce-proof your marriage?
2. What can you do to encourage and promote the Biblical pattern for marriage?

Share your thoughts on these questions in the comments below. It could encourage or help another reader.

Soli Deo Gloria.

This is the 17th of a series of weekly blog articles on Adam.
Read the prequels:
1. Was Adam in the Garden of Eden?
2. Did Moses Believe in Adam?
3. Did Jesus Believe in Adam?
4. Did Paul Believe in Adam?
5. Does Belief in Adam Matter?
6. Adam and Puppies
7. Why Did Adam Sin?
8. What Should Adam Have Done?
9. What Did Adam Cause?
10. What Was Adam’s Forbidden Fruit?
11. How Long Was Adam in Eden?
12. Was Adam’s Garden of Eden Real?
13. Christmas & Adam (with videos)
14. Where Was Adam’s Garden of Eden?
15. Did Adam Wear Clothes in Eden?
16. Was Adam Backward or Brilliant? (with video)

Read the sequels:
18. Adam’s Dream Girl
19. Adam’s Prolific Princess
20. Adam’s Problematic Princess
21. How Many Children Did Adam Have?
22. Whom Did Adam’s Sons Marry?
23. Did Adam Ride a Unicorn?
24. How Long Did Adam Live?
25. Did Adam Swat Mosquitoes in Eden?
26. Did Adam’s Garden Have a Talking Snake?
27. Why Should Adam’s Sin Affect Me?
28. Did Roses Have Thorns in Adam’s Garden?
29. Adam the Image-Bearer & Harambe the Gorilla
30. Did Adam Ever Return to Eden?
31. What Was Adam’s Tree of Life?
32. Will Adam Be in Heaven?
33. Did Adam See the Big Dipper?
34. Did Adam Know Earth Is Round?
35. Did Jesus Say When Adam Was Created?
36. Did Adam See Dinosaurs?
37. Did Adam Like Steak?
38. Could Adam Read & Write?
39. Did God Use Evolution to Make Adam?
40. Adam & the Olympics
41. Adam and the Gospel
42. Adam and the Genesis Road

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©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith”
“destroying speculations against the knowledge of God”
“for the defense of the gospel”
(Jude 1:3; 2 Cor 10:5; Phil 1:16)
Wednesday February 3, 2016 A.D.

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. And the man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh at that place. And the LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. And the man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh….Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. (Genesis 2:18-24; 3:20 NASB)