Genesis 3:20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. Consider that aspect of this terrible calamity which is afforded us in the action of Adam. It is clear that he understood what was involved in the act he had just committed. Scarcely are the words uttered by God, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread," etc., than he seems to turn to his wife and say, "Eve, the mother, the living one; because she is mother of all living." There is no defiance here. It is not because the man refused to accept the judgment of God, not because he refused to submit to the doom. He did not refuse, he did not set himself up against God. He caught the tenderness of the Divine voice even as it pronounced the judgment. He saw the gleam of grace in the darkness of the doom. It is then that he turned to his wife and said, "Eve, the living one." "Her seed shall bruise the serpent's head; shall yet triumph over the evil power that has almost destroyed her; and though this day we die, beyond is a life eternal, for she is the mother of all that shall live." How true this is to human nature! It is illustrated, it is constantly illustrated, in the experience through which we pass. Who has not known it? — Men turning back to their wives in the hour of trouble. Man, suddenly stripped of his glory and possessions, stands amongst the wreck of all his life; that moment, with a fresh trust, he puts his hand in his wife's and says, "Well, the future is still before us, we shall not lose hope." "Eve, the living one. Mother of all that live." Is there not, in the first place, a recognition of the dignity of the woman? Her name is not mentioned before. She is simply "the woman"; the other side of human nature — the man and the woman. Adam had his name, the general name of humanity centring in him. But when the loss comes, woman takes her place. She is no longer woman only, she is "Eve." She is herself. Bound by a closer tie than ever to her husband, but with a dignity of her own. And is it not also the assertion of the dignity of motherhood? What is woman's highest dignity? To be the mother of men. She had been the wife of man before, but a wife is not perfected until she is a mother. And so she receives her name when she is recognized as mother. It is also the immediate acceptance on the part of Adam of the promise of God. God has confirmed his earthly nature. "Earth thou art." God had also declared that there was to be a continuance of the race by reference to immediate hope. "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception." But had there not been before this these words: "I shall put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou shaft bruise his heel"? Then came the judgment upon the man, and yet, the moment the judgment is uttered, he calls his wife "Eve." He sees the promise that is contained in the motherhood, and in the conflict of the seed and the serpent. He seals with his own word the promise of God. The chief subject of our consideration, however, is the aspect in which Adam seemed to regard his wife, "mother of all living!" As we speak the word, there rises before us the vast multitude of the human race! The mother of all living — all who shall live! All in the past — all now — all in the future! Mother of all living! How the generations move along the road of life in the great march of mankind — like a river rolling swift with ever broadening stream into the vast ocean of eternity! Wave after wave rolls up and breaks upon the shore of time from the exhaustless tide of life! The life that is around us, in our own city. Multiply these teeming millions by all the cities of the world, or all the ages of human existence, and think of them all gathered up within this woman's name. Has our first father been prophetic? Did he, for a moment, see down the vistas of centuries, the masses of humanity enfolded in the motherhood of Eve? Then the thought would come that all these living ones would die. You remember the story of Darius, who, when he reviewed those mighty hosts that followed his standard when he marched to the invasion of Greece, was observed to weep. The squadrons were there, their arms all flashing in the sun, and round about them in the outlying regions the multitudes of followers that attend an army. Magnificent battle array! Vast concourse of men all obedient to his will, and yet the monarch weeps! "Why weepest thou, O king?" "I weep because in one hundred years not one of this great host will be alive." And many feel as felt the king when they contemplate a crowd. When the people are out upon a gala day, and from some high window we look down upon them, a strange melancholy creeps into the heart. When we visit foreign lands, and passing from city to city behold everywhere human life teeming in countless millions, a sense of awe comes over the spirit, and a sense of sorrow. And yet, I am not quite sure that this is right. I would rather catch the gleams of light that the eye of Adam saw shining in the promise of God. I would rather hear the words of cheer of our first father when he gathers up the hope of humanity within his soul, and though the judgment had been only a moment uttered, called her who stood beside him — Eve, because she was the mother of all living, and seals his acceptance of the promise and the hope, in the name he gave to his wife. And man generally has been true to this Divine instinct of the Father. The hope of human life has been unquenchable. Read history, and you will find that no misfortune has daunted men. They remain always hopeful. In the increase of poverty, in the presence of disaster, after war, accidents, oppression, life reasserts itself, and in that up-springing of life, mankind declares its hope. You never can crush it out. Today, the victorious foe may spread desolation over the homes of people whom they destroy, but let the tide of war roll back, and hope will return, and the very battlefield will grow green with harvest promise, and the streets down which the destroying legions thundered, echo with the voice of the children at their play. You cannot crush out life, you cannot destroy man's hope in himself. This name of "Eve," the "mother of all living," is only the hope that sprang to being in Adam's breast, and which, since that moment, has never died from human hearts. Hence it seems to me that human nature is a perpetual gospel. Life is full of evangel. The very vastness and fulness of humanity are the large letters in which God's promise and Adam's interpretation of it, are written out that all may read. (L. D. Bevan, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.WEB: The man called his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living. |
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