Why Woman, and not Man?

          Devil approached Woman to tempt her into sinning. Was this a premeditated move by satan or was it by chance that the devil meets Eve first? Could it have been Adam? Satan isn’t so stupid to have not thought about it enough before acting. My take is that it was a deeply thought-out plot to have approached Woman and not Man. Let’s take a look at one such perspective after setting the context right.

     As we read in the Holy Bible, God creates man using dust and His breath of life (Genesis 2.7). Then God tells Adam not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17). Then God created the first woman from man’s rib so that man is not alone and that man has a helper like himself. (Genesis 2:18-23). Then Adam would have briefed Eve about God’s instructions regarding the tree of knowledge, the fruit of which is not to be eaten. He even seems to have gone a step further to tell her that she shouldn’t even go near it or touch it to be on the safer side since he loved his wife so much and did not want her to make a big mistake due to oversight.

     Devil waits until he spots the woman away from the man. He starts a conversation with the woman in the absence of her husband (Genesis 3:1). The opening statement is nevertheless a question. The devil knew pretty well that man was not an easy-prey to trap since he has been with God for much longer and since then would’ve certainly had multiple interactions with God even before the creation of woman (Genesis 2:19). Thus the devil could perceive that man knows the mind of God better enough to counter any tricky question posed to him. Or Man would have just ignored such questions saying that God said so and that there is absolutely no need for him to know all the reasons for it. Or he would have at the least called upon God immediately to ask Him the reason for that specific instruction about the tree of knowledge. Either way, the devil’s plot would have got decimated.

      On the other hand, the woman responded to the devil and she failed miserably by falling deeper into the trap when she continued responding to further questions. Neither did she think of calling her husband (her partner) for help nor did she call upon God (her Creator) for clarity. She ended up believing the words of a stranger more than the words of her husband or even God (Genesis 3:4-6). Further on she went with it to her husband and made him also eat the forbidden fruit. Even though man is to be squarely blamed for his disobedience to God, his fault was only that he believed his wife’s (a helper given by God) words. Since the sin of the woman was bigger than man by many counts and by all measures, God deemed that it is best that a husband has dominion over his wife such that the accountability of all the final decisions of the family shall be upon the husband and not the wife (Genesis 3:16).

     Let’s speculate on a few scenarios considering different responses by Woman to the devil in response to a few of his tricky questions;

Scenario 1: [Woman loses miserably]

Devil – Your name is Woman, right?

Eve – Who are you?

Devil – God calls me Lucifer.

Eve – But God hasn’t mentioned you to us to date.

Devil – He might have forgotten or maybe He might have thought that He doesn’t have to keep you informed of everything that He does. You are just a creature.

Eve – God is very friendly with us and He loves us so dearly. We love Him so much too.

Devil – Yes, that is what He says to all His creations but His actions do not match up to His words.

Eve – I don’t believe you. I don’t like the indifference in your tone and words.

Devil – I didn’t believe that either until my friend proved it to me a few days back.

Eve – What proof?

Devil – Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?

Eve – Just one. All the other tasty fruits are for us.

Devil – See, I told you so. He is smarter than you can imagine. Am sure He might have instructed you to not eat the tastiest of them all. More importantly, it must be the fruit from the tree named ‘Tree of Knowledge’.

Eve – Yes

Devil – Poor you

Eve – How do you know if it is the tastiest?

Devil – I’ve eaten from it several times. We have a garden full of those trees at my place. The best thing is that you will become smart like God. That is what He fears.

Eve – But God warned us that we would die the day we eat that fruit.

Devil – How silly. Look at me and now tell me if I am dead.

Eve – No

Devil – Believe me. Try it. You’ll never regret it.

Eve – It smells so good.

Devil – Come closer and touch it. Pluck it and smell it.

Eve – Ummmmm… [smells the fruit and the very next moment takes a bite]

Scenario 2: [Woman poses a tough fight, yet loses]

Devil – Woman, right?

Eve – How do you know my name?

Devil – We all know your name. You are the most beautiful among all creations.

Eve – We? Who all?

Devil – Me and my friends. We all admire your beauty.

Eve – Well, thank you. What is your name?

Devil – Lucifer

Eve – Nice name

Devil – Thank you.

Eve – I wonder why my husband never mentioned you.

Devil – Am sure God might have kept that as a secret.

Eve – I’ll check with him next time. God is so dear to us. He will not hide anything from us. He is God after all. Does He need to hide anything from His creations? How stupid of you.

Devil – Ohhh yes.

Eve – You see, God knows what, when and whom to tell, better than we can ever imagine.

Devil – You are smart.

Eve – What did you expect? Beauty shines brighter only when the Brain is alive. I learnt it from my husband though.

Devil – Very true. A fruit looks as good as it tastes.

Eve – Not all fruits. I’ve had a few fruits with quite average looks but the taste was simply awesome.

Devil – You are right. Am sure your favourite out of those would be the God-fruit. That’s my favourite fruit too.

Eve – God-fruit?

Devil – Yes, God-fruit. The goldish-pink cute little one with a blue seed.

Eve – Blue seed?

Devil – Don’t tell me you haven’t tried it yet. I don’t believe you.

Eve – Stop fooling around Lucifer. It was my husband who gave names to all creation including trees and fruits. And if there was one such fruit which was so good then he would have certainly made me try it already. He loves me so much.

Devil – Come on woman. You lost it this time. I thought you were smarter than me.

Eve – I don’t believe you.

Devil – I’ll prove you wrong this time. Come with me.

Eve – My husband is not around now. I’ll surely come along to prove you wrong when my husband is back.

Devil – Sure, but are you afraid to walk along with me?

Eve – No, I am not afraid. What should I be afraid of? God has given man dominion over all creatures on earth.

Devil – Great. So you are the queen of this earth. Then come along and face my challenge.

Eve – Fine. Be quick. I’ll have to back before my husband reaches home.

Devil – Here, this one. This is it. You haven’t tasted this fruit to date which means you lost the challenge.

Eve – This one is the Tree of Knowledge. This is out of scope. God had clearly advised us not to even get near this one. Didn’t God tell you about this one?

Devil – Exactly. See… you lost the challenge. I proved you wrong. Whatever be the name of the tree, that doesn’t concern me. You told me that there is no such goldish-pink fruit with a blue seed. I showed it to you. You lost. As simple as that.

Eve – This fruit is not in our domain since God said so.

Devil – Rubbish. Just as I thought. This is exactly what God told me too to scare me away but look at me. Did I die? I’ve had several of these fruits. To be frank, the taste is irresistible and so I eat at least 5 of them every day.

Eve – Are you telling me that God lied to me and my husband? Impossible. You are a liar.

Devil – Right. It’s up to you. Do I even care if you eat this fruit or not? Of course not. I have better things to do. See you. Nice meeting you. By the way, all that I want to tell you as a parting comment is that if I didn’t die after eating this fruit how will you die? That is not what God meant when He told you that you will die.

Eve – What did He mean then?

Devil – I’ll explain it to you. In the meantime, why don’t we pluck one fruit each while we walk along and talk?

Eve – [very hesitant to even go near the tree]

Devil – Come on. Don’t be afraid. Look at me eating it. Amazing smell and taste.

Eve – I don’t want to eat it now. Let me hear that explanation from you first.

Devil – Right. As you wish.

Eve – Make it quick, I have to reach back home.

Devil – Sure. God knows that anyone who eats this fruit will become super intelligent about what is good and what is evil. The moment you become all knowledgeable, God will not be the only one with complete knowledge of good and evil. You will also be like God. This is the fear of God.

Eve – If so why did God place that tree in the garden where we have easy access?

Devil – There are many such loopholes in God’s creations. After creating this tree, He realised that he is not able to remove it. So He invented a story around it saying that you will die so that you do not become like God. After you become like God, He will not have full control over you. That is why He doesn’t want you to eat the fruit.

Eve – [thinking, silently but is still not fully convinced]

Devil – I am living proof that God’s statement was a lie. And more importantly, God has only partial control over me since I know all about good and evil now. That is why I am spending my precious time to help you also to gain what I enjoy.

Eve – [staring at the ground silently]

Devil – See you then. I am leaving. I hope you can find your way back home.

Eve – [raises her eyes to look at the beautiful fruit]

Devil – I will be content if I see you pluck 2 of these fruits and take them home. You can eat them along with your husband later, only if you think what I said was for your good.

Eve – [A smile blossoms on her lips. She slowly walks up to the tree and touches a low-hanging fruit.]

Devil – [Remains silent and observes keenly but acts as if he is not interested and getting ready to leave.]

Eve – [The moment she touches the fruit, she is not able to control herself anymore. The smell is unbearably tempting. The feel of the touch is unimaginable. Within a few seconds, she plucks it and takes a bite.]

Devil – [smiles and leaves]

Scenario 3: [Woman wins single-handedly]

Devil – Isn’t your husband home?

Eve – Who are you?

Devil – I am an angel of God.

Eve – Good to see you. My husband will reach home in a short while.

Devil – I heard that God had instructed you not to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Eve – Yes, you are right. What about it?

Devil – Have you ever wondered the reason why He gave you such an instruction?

Eve – No

Devil – Why not? Shouldn’t you have asked Him the reason?

Eve – No

Devil – Why not?

Eve – Because God is not obliged to any of His creations and thereby a creation doesn’t have a right to question His Creator. However, as you know, our God wouldn’t really be offended by any of our genuine questions because He treats us like His children.

Devil – Man is created as a rational being, which means he is expected to ask and clarify if he is not convinced about something.

Eve – You are wrong in this context since that is an utter waste of time when the instruction is from God Himself. If I have understood the instruction clearly then it is stupidity to waste even a moment to think about the reason or to clarify the intended purpose. The smartest approach is to blindly allow God to use me as a tool for the results to be the best. The moment I use my mind or ask a ‘why’ question or try to reason it out at my end, the smooth flow of the intended output is disturbed proportionally.

Devil – Then what is the whole purpose of this faculty of intellect gifted by God to man?

Eve – That is intended to be put to use when it comes to interacting with all other creations, including angels.

Devil – [The phrase ‘including angels’ was like a tight slap on the face of the devil. The expression on the face of the devil was very evident.]

Eve – Right?

Devil – [silently stares at Eve but the devil looks completely distracted and seems out of place]

Eve – Right? What happened?

Devil – Nothing

Eve – Good

Devil – But don’t you think it is advisable for man to work towards gaining more and more knowledge of good?

Eve – Yes

Devil – Then why is God making a self-contradictory statement? On the one hand, He asks you not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of good and then He also says that you would die. Which of the two statements do you think is really true? Am sure as a rational being you would agree that only one out of the two can be true.

Eve – You seem to have a very short memory even though you claim to be an angel. I just told you a few moments back that man’s ability to decipher the logic of his Creator is very limited and that is a simple rationale that man is supposed to keep in mind when it comes to obeying the commandments of God. In this specific case, it was God who directly instructed us and so there wasn’t any possibility of interpretational errors even. It is as simple as that. Take it easy. Don’t get stressed out.

Devil – Sure. You are a very intelligent woman.

Eve – I know. Thank you.

Devil – Am sure you’ll be able to clarify another important doubt of mine.

Eve – Go ahead. Ask.

Devil – Firstly God teaches you to be good and do good. Then he says that you will die if you do good or if you have knowledge of good. What do you say about that?

Eve – [silent]

Devil – You are free to say that you don’t know the answer.

Eve – [silent]

Devil – Never mind. Forget it.

Eve – Firstly you are assuming that the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is good. God never said that. God never said so. You are simply misrepresenting God’s statement regarding this. More importantly, God is Omniscient. It is common sense to know that God will not make such self-contradictory statements. Your question does not apply to God in any case and that makes the question invalid.

Devil – No, it isn’t.

Eve – Your hypothetical question is similar to another invalid statement which is to claim that – God is not Omnipotent because he cannot draw a circle with five sides.

Devil – So be it. By the way, I just wanted to tell you that I have eaten this controversial fruit several times but I did not die. Doesn’t that prove God wrong?

Eve – No

Devil – Why not?

Eve – You are a stranger to me. Firstly I don’t believe your words over God’s words.

Devil – Fair enough. I shall pluck one while you are watching and eat is right in front of you. Would you concede then?

Eve – I won’t.

Devil – Why not?

Eve – I don’t know what instruction God has given you regarding this fruit and tree. What I am certain about is that God asked me and my husband to stay away from that fruit. And am sure it is for our good.

Devil – You have been asked not to eat the fruit of the tree but you want to go one step further and assert that you won’t even touch it. That doesn’t mean coming near and smelling the fruit is prohibited.

Eve – It is not prohibited.

Devil – Great. Then why do you try its smell once?

Eve – Not required

Devil – Don’t act like an eccentric person.

Eve – If I am most certain that I shouldn’t eat that fruit or even touch it then why do you insist that I smell it? If I were wise, I wouldn’t even have wasted all this time talking and responding to your questions concerning a matter which God had specifically asked us to keep away from.

Devil – But…

Eve – I am now almost certain that you are not an angel. Neither do I see the remotest intent in you to help me obey God nor an inclination to support me in using my intellect favourably to defend Truth.

Devil – You are mistaken woman. I was just trying to share with you my experience of tasting that wonderful fruit.

Eve – Who are you? What is your name?

Devil – Just try the smell once and if you want to go back after that, you may do so.

Eve – What is your name?

Devil – See you later.

Eve – Get lost.