1st woman mentioned in the Bible: Eve Part 1

I haven’t sat down and read the bible since high school (which was many years ago). At that time, I remember reading it in English class as literature (this was in a Catholic school). So, I’ve decided to read the Bible and focus on the stories of the women in the Bible. Lately, I’ve read several historical novel that use biblical women as their main characters. I am not a person who believes the Bible word for word. I tend to see it as literature that may be a written oral history, but much of it is stories to impart a lesson or to support a belief.

So, I started at the beginning. Suddenly there was Eve. Things were nice and good in the Garden of Eden when she let her self be persuaded by a snake. (I imagine a number of women can say that.). I finish reading about how Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of life and realized they were naked. Eve sewed together some leaves to cover themselves. My first thought: Eve not only invented sewing, but she invented clothing. What has Adam been doing until then?

So, God is not happy (understandably). Women are subjected to pain in childbirth and to consider their husbands as their masters. Men are subjected to toil in labor and get food from the earth. I live in a city. My husband has never toiled to get food from the earth. He doesn’t even pick tomatoes off the plants in the garden. Of course, I don’t consider my husband, my master either. Now, why are men no longer subjected to toiling, yet women are subjected to the pains of childbirth?

Have you ever known women who seem to thrive despite obstacles set before them? We all seem to know women who say “Go ahead, throw whatever you can at me, and I will overcome it.” Some people think it is being stubborn, I prefer thinking of it as persistence. Eve is a great example of that. God has told her she will suffer severe pain in childbirth, yet she goes on to give birth. I just picture Eve standing there and saying, “Go ahead God, bring on the pain, yet I will do as you ask and give birth to people.” I’m sure she was much nicer than that, but the whole image makes me chuckle.
I know some will think my view of the readings is irreverent. It’s not meant to be, it really is just the result of a mind that sometimes goes off on a tangent.