(The decision to partake of the fruit and open the door to fallen mortal life, The Fall, was addressed in the previous post. I have also linked two excellent articles on The Fall at the end of this post.)
GOD'S COUNSEL TO ADAM AND EVE
God’s words to 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.” (Moses 4:22 & Genesis 3:16, King James Version)
Or is that what He said? There are differing opinions about how the last part of that sentence should be
translated.
English Standard Version: “…your desire
shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”
New Revised Standard Version: “…yet your
desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
New Living Translation: “…and you will
desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.”
Wow! These are greatly different meanings!
The
original stories of the first books of the Old Testament were passed on verbally by the religious leaders. Later the Hebrew scripture was written
from those stories and various transcriptions and translations since then each
interpreted it the way that fit their culture and understanding. But all three of these interpretations carries some truth: Eve would have opinions contrary to her husband’s, Eve would desire to
be with her husband, and at some times Eve would desire to control her husband. And Eve represents all women. These are accurate statements about all female-male relationships.
In all of these translations, however, God warns that husbands will rule over wives.
Let’s note that God never says, “I want your husband to rule over you.” He is just giving advance notice that this is what will happen. And history has born this out: men have dominated over women.
God’s words to Adam are consistent
in all versions:
“Because you have listened to the voice
of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall
not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of
it all the days of your life; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the
sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out
of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis
3:17, NRSV).
This is not a condemnation from God. He doesn't say "I will curse the ground because of you." It is the natural consequence of Adam following his wife’s counsel to take the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge and open the door to mortality. God is giving these first humans foreknowledge about life on earth. “Don’t be surprised when you discover it’s really hard, Adam and Eve. That’s the consequence of being a mortal.” We also should not be shocked when we find out life is hard, even for faithful people; that’s how we grow.
Adam and Eve found out very quickly that being parents could be very, very hard.
THE FALL OF CAIN
Eve's heart was filled with joy when she gave birth to her first child, Cain. She said, "I have gotten a man from the Lord; wherefore [I expect that] he may not reject his words" (Moses 5:16).
Clearly she hoped Cain would be a righteous son. We all expect that of our sweet, heaven-sent infants, don’t we?
But within the same verse we find that, "Cain hearkened not, saying: Who is the Lord that I should know him?"
Adam and Eve had another son named Abel. Eve also expected that he would be righteous. This expectation was met; Abel chose obedience to God.
Cain kept up appearances for a while. He offered sacrifice to God like the rest of the family, but he offered a sacrifice of plants rather than animals. In the Book of Genesis, there is no explanation as to what is wrong with this, but the inspired book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price, fills in the blanks.
The Lord had given unto Adam and Eve "commandments, that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord. And Adam was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord. And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me. And then the angel spake, saying: This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth. Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore" (Moses 5:5-8).
"And Adam and Eve blessed the name
of God, and they made all things known unto their sons and their
daughters" (Moses 5:12).
Cain had been taught by his parents that a
sacrifice of the firstborn lamb was an expression of faith in the
coming Savior. His sacrifice of "the fruit of the
earth" was his own invention and expressed clearly his disobedience
and disregard for the Christ. Why did he do this? Perhaps he was jealous of his
shepherd brother. Perhaps he didn’t like the mess of meat and blood. Perhaps he
wanted all the other sons and daughters of man to buy their sacrificial offerings
from him so he could get more money. Perhaps he just didn’t believe in Christ
and thought the command to use a lamb was arbitrary and unfair. Perhaps he was
being purposely sacrilegious.
"Cain loved Satan more than God. And Satan commanded him, saying: Make an offering unto the Lord" (Moses 5:18). But that offering was not acceptable to God. And his jealousy and anger festered.
In the Genesis account, “Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him” (ESV Genesis 4:8). It sounds like a fit of anger got the best of him, but Joseph Smith’s translation, recorded in the Pearl of Great Price, paints a much bigger story. God prophesied to Cain that because he couldn’t take the correction offered to him, he would become “the father of lies” (Moses 5:24).
Others of the sons of God followed Cain and “Adam and his wife mourned before the Lord, because of Cain and his brethren” (Moses 5:27).
Cain turned his conversations away from God
now and toward Satan and he set up a secret society of haters who joined him in trying to get wealth and power.
And “he gloried in his wickedness” (Moses 5:29-31). Cain (or a
combination of men from his secret society) plotted to murder Abel in cold blood and succeeded.
But they didn’t get away with it, because
God knew. God told Cain that the consequence of his actions would be life as a
vagabond. No one really wants to be a neighbor to the world’s first murderer, especially
not Abel’s family, so Cain and his band would have to move in haste to a less
ideal land. And possibly move again and again. Cain feared that other men would
condemn him and hate him because he was not a landowner able to produce his
own food, and they would kill him because of what he had done.
It’s so very instructive that God did not pronounce capital punishment upon Cain. He did not command the victim's family to kill the murderer. He did not want the righteous to have blood on their hands and in their hearts. God warned that “whosoever slayeth thee, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold” and he set a mark upon Cain to protect him.
God
loved Cain! He didn’t love Cain more than those who might have good reason to hate Cain—Abel’s
family comes to mind—but He didn’t want more suffering in the family of Adam.
Those who seek vengeance suffer their whole lives! Their only path to peace is
to forgive and allow the Atonement to heal them.
This truth will be taught many more times
in the Old Testament.
ADAH AND ZILLAH
After telling of Cain's sad fall into darkness, the writers insert a descendancy chart from Cain: Cain begat Enoch (not the famous Enoch), who begat
Irad, etc. Only the men are named, as is
common through most of the Bible. But then, when his great-great-great-grandson is
listed (Lamach), so are his wives! Their
names are Adah and Zillah. Each of them had two children who are also named,
even the one who was a girl, Naamah! (Genesis 4:19-24.)
Whenever women’s names appear in the Old Testament, there’s going to be an interesting story! As God foretold, the history of the world is the history of men ruling over women. And those who tell and write the stories are men. If they suddenly tell the story of women, they must have been highly impressive women.
Why have the storytellers bothered to mention this family so specifically? The Book of Genesis doesn't tell us. To find the answer, we have to go to Joseph Smith’s inspired translation in Moses 5 beginning with verse 47:
“And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and
Zillah: Hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech; for I have
slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.”
Lamech had followed his ancestor’s
footsteps and entered into a secret society, doing evil deeds with other
gang members. One of his older relatives found out about this and was going to expose him to his elders. (The other sons of Adam and Eve were still alive because
they all lived so long back then.) But Lamech killed him, “not for the sake of
getting gain, but…for the oath’s sake,” to protect his status in the secret club.
He then asked his wives to cover for him, concerned not about the death and
sorrow he had caused, but about the “wounding” and “hurt” it would do to him.
Because of Lamech’s deeds, more “works [of]
abominations…began to spread among all the sons of men. And it was among the sons
of men” (Moses 4: 52, emphasis added).
And here is where Adah and Zillah become
the heroines: “And among the daughters of men these things were not spoken
because that Lamech had spoken the secret unto his wives, and they rebelled
against him, and declared these things abroad, and had not compassion [for
Lamech’s trouble]; wherefore Lamech was despised, and cast out, and came not
among the sons of men, lest he should die” (Moses 4:54).
Lamech tried to rule over Adah and Zillah, but they refused to step into the darkness with him. And although he lived the rest of his life on the run because of his crime, we can presume his children lived on with their mothers in righteousness. And we never find a story about a secret society of women doing evil deeds in the Old Testament (or in the Book of Mormon) because these women would not pass on the tradition of darkness. It's only found "among the sons of men."
Thousands of years later, thanks to one his wives, the line of Lamech would produce a great man named Joseph, who would become the husband of Mary, the Mother of God. (See Luke 3:23, 36-38.)
WOMEN WHO CHOOSE RIGHTEOUSNESS
The first three women named in the Old Testament, Eve, Adah, and Zillah, were all women who took the initiative to do what was right, even when it was hard, even when it caused pain. They also suffered great sorrow because of the sins of a family member. Yet they put their trust in Christ and his Atonement, offering their sacrifices literally and figuratively on the altar of God, and because of that, they could know "the joy of [their] redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient" (Moses 5:11).
These women's wounds would be healed and their tears wiped away through the power of Christ's word and the strength of His love. Their troubled family members would hear the gospel preached and have another chance at redemption in the next life.
"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah... (1 Peter 4:6).
Christ has told us, "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).
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For more about Eve and the Fall, please see Elder Dallin H. Oaks, "The Great Plan of Happiness," General Conference Address, October 1993, and Valerie M. Hudson, "I Am a Mormon Because I Am a Feminist," Meridian Magazine, April 22, 2013
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