Eve

(life) (Gen. 3:20) — the name given by Adam to his wife. This name derives from the Hebrew word Chavvah, meaning “life,” since she was to become the mother of all living upon the earth. Eve was formed by God from Adam’s rib during his sleep (Gen. 2:21, 22), and afterward, deceived by the devil, who had taken on the form of a serpent, she broke the one commandment given by God to the first humans. Having tasted of the forbidden fruit, she induced Adam to do likewise (2 Cor. 11:3; 1 Tim. 2:13, 14).

When, convicted by God, they confessed their sin before Him, He, in His mercy, before pronouncing His judgment upon them, first laid a curse upon the serpent-tempter and gave to mankind the comforting promise of the crushing of the serpent’s head by the seed of the woman, and only then pronounced His judgment upon Adam and Eve. “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee,” the Lord said, among other things, to the woman (Gen. 3:1–16).

The subsequent life of Eve, who became the mother of the human race, is not described in Holy Scripture; it is only mentioned that, having borne her first son, she named him Cain (acquisition), saying, “I have gotten a man from the LORD” (Gen. 4:1), probably in the expectation that she had borne the Redeemer promised by God (3:15); but disappointed in her hope, she named her second son Abel (vanity, mourning), probably as a token of her disappointed hope, and as if with a presentiment of his unfortunate end.

Eve’s third son was named Seth (foundation), because in him was laid the foundation of a new, pious line in place of Abel. Afterward Adam and Eve had still more children, sons and daughters (Gen. 5:4). Vague traditions concerning the first humans, their origin, their fall, and so forth, are preserved in one form or another among various ancient peoples, such as the Persians, Indians, Egyptians, and others.