So, God spoke and the world was created. Man was created. Then Woman. The first man on an Earth, an Adam and an Eve.
And then, in the Book of Moses (not one of the five books of Moses, but the book of Moses--confused? Want to find-out more? Ask a missionary, please...
Back to the question-at-hand: Why Eve and not Adam?
Let's start with verse 26, of the 2nd chapter of Moses:
26 And I, God, said unto mine Only Begotten, which was with me from the beginning: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and it was so. And I, God, said: Let them have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 And I, God, created man in mine own image, in the image of mine Only Begotten created I him; male and female created I them.
28 And I, God, blessed them, and said unto them: Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
(Did you catch that? God’s first command to the first couple was what? Multiply and replenish the Earth!)
... 31 And I, God, saw everything that I had made, and, behold, all things which I had made were very good; and the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
then, in chapter 3, verse 7:
7 And I, the Lord God, formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also; nevertheless, all things were before created; but spiritually were they created and made according to my word.
8 And I, the Lord God, planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there I put the man whom I had formed.
9 And out of the ground made I, the Lord God, to grow every tree, naturally, that is pleasant to the sight of man; and man could behold it. And it became also a living soul. For it was spiritual in the day that I created it; for it remaineth in the sphere in which I, God, created it, yea, even all things which I prepared for the use of man; and man saw that it was good for food. And I, the Lord God, planted the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and also the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Then chapter 3... 15 And I, the Lord God, took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden, to dress it, and to keep it.
16 And I, the Lord God, commanded the man, saying: Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat,
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee; but, remember that I forbid it, for in the day thou latest thereof thou shalt surely die.
So, now the stage is set and there is a caveat, "nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself"--if it was sinful to do, then there would not and could not have been this caveat.
18 And I, the Lord God, said unto mine Only Begotten, that it was not good that the man should be alone; wherefore, I will make an help meet for him.
... 21 And I, the Lord God, caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam; and he slept, and I took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in the stead thereof;
22 And the rib which I, the Lord God, had taken from man, made I a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said: This I know now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh.
Then, in chapter 4 verse 5 And now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which I, the Lord God, had made.
6 And Satan put it into the heart of the serpent, (for he had drawn away many after him [1/3 of the host of heaven! No idea how many that is or what that entails... Neither does anyone who will write about it--yet...) and he sought also to beguile Eve, for he knew not the mind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world (and actually opened-up the way for Jesus Christ and every other spirit child of God, to be born on this Earth!).
7 And he (he serpent) said unto the woman: Yea, hath God said—Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? (And he spake by the mouth of the serpent.)
8 And the woman said unto the serpent: We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden;
9 But of the fruit of the tree which thou beholds in the midst of the garden, God hath said—Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die (this was the second commandment given to Adam & Eve!).
10 And the serpent said unto the woman: Ye shall not surely die (cause who you going to believe, the omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent God of this entire universe and the Father who does not lie, or this spirit that you know nothing about?).
11 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil (the temptation! Oh, that wily snake!).
12 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it became pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make her wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and also gave unto her husband with her, and he did eat.
So was Eve beguiled! Yet, she must have already been thinking about those two commandments: 'How can we multiply and replenish the Earth and the forbidden fruit that we were commanded not to eat (or even touch) or we would die.' Eve, I am confident, that the prospect of becoming more wise (which only means: the righteous use of knowledge), was beguiled, or confused and tricked, when she partook of the forbidden fruit--though, that does not mean that she didn't fundamentally know that it was part of the Plan of God to be born on this Earth and be saved by Jesus Christ's atonement--I am not sure, though, to which degree she was allowed to remember the things she had learned in the Pre-Mortal Spirit World.
Adam, I am sure, was also tempted. Probably first. But, then, why wasn't he beguiled? My best guess is that Adam was like most men, but much more so (after all, he was the prototype, right? Well, for the purposes of this rant, we'll say that Adam was the prototype...). Adam's foremost thought, I'm sure, was to obey the commandments of God. The first commandment was multiply and replenish the Earth, but that just don't make no sense! He would have to table that commandment until he was given more knowledge and would make sense to him... The woman, Eve, was thinking in multiple dimensions and actually using both hemispheres of her brain.
The second commandment, though, he could deal with and obey strictly and valiantly, after all it was a totally straightforward command: Thou shalt not even touch the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He knew how to do that, and just watch him do it!
Eve, on the other hand, was more mature (just like a woman to show-up the man on the scene!). The way she did it, in fact, was very Christlike, indeed: A tragic irony turned to victory!
President Henry B. Eyring gives this insight into their plight, during a conference address given to the Women's General Conference (October, 2018):
Why, then, does a daughter of God in a united and equal relationship receive the primary responsibility to nourish with the most important nutrient all must receive, a knowledge of truth coming from heaven? As nearly as I can see, that has been the Lord’s way since families were created in this world.
For instance, it was Eve who received the knowledge that Adam needed to partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge for them to keep all of God’s commandments and to form a family. I do not know why it came to Eve first, but Adam and Eve were perfectly united when the knowledge was poured out on Adam.
Was Eve smarter than Adam? No, just had different strengths... Just like my wife has different strengths from me! Just like we learn from the Constitution of the United States: Separate but equal (that was referring to the the rights of men and women).
Not a definitive answer, but I don't know that we will get the definitive answer as a group--you may get it personally, however.
Maybe another part of the reason is that men's and women's brains, and therefore, they are quantifiably and quantitatively different, as shown at this BBC webpage, and therefore respond to different stimuli differently:
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-25198063
JPS
26 And I, God, said unto mine Only Begotten, which was with me from the beginning: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and it was so. And I, God, said: Let them have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 And I, God, created man in mine own image, in the image of mine Only Begotten created I him; male and female created I them.
28 And I, God, blessed them, and said unto them: Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
(Did you catch that? God’s first command to the first couple was what? Multiply and replenish the Earth!)
... 31 And I, God, saw everything that I had made, and, behold, all things which I had made were very good; and the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
then, in chapter 3, verse 7:
7 And I, the Lord God, formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also; nevertheless, all things were before created; but spiritually were they created and made according to my word.
8 And I, the Lord God, planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there I put the man whom I had formed.
9 And out of the ground made I, the Lord God, to grow every tree, naturally, that is pleasant to the sight of man; and man could behold it. And it became also a living soul. For it was spiritual in the day that I created it; for it remaineth in the sphere in which I, God, created it, yea, even all things which I prepared for the use of man; and man saw that it was good for food. And I, the Lord God, planted the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and also the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Then chapter 3... 15 And I, the Lord God, took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden, to dress it, and to keep it.
16 And I, the Lord God, commanded the man, saying: Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat,
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself, for it is given unto thee; but, remember that I forbid it, for in the day thou latest thereof thou shalt surely die.
So, now the stage is set and there is a caveat, "nevertheless, thou mayest choose for thyself"--if it was sinful to do, then there would not and could not have been this caveat.
18 And I, the Lord God, said unto mine Only Begotten, that it was not good that the man should be alone; wherefore, I will make an help meet for him.
... 21 And I, the Lord God, caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam; and he slept, and I took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in the stead thereof;
22 And the rib which I, the Lord God, had taken from man, made I a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said: This I know now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh.
Then, in chapter 4 verse 5 And now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which I, the Lord God, had made.
6 And Satan put it into the heart of the serpent, (for he had drawn away many after him [1/3 of the host of heaven! No idea how many that is or what that entails... Neither does anyone who will write about it--yet...) and he sought also to beguile Eve, for he knew not the mind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world (and actually opened-up the way for Jesus Christ and every other spirit child of God, to be born on this Earth!).
7 And he (he serpent) said unto the woman: Yea, hath God said—Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? (And he spake by the mouth of the serpent.)
8 And the woman said unto the serpent: We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden;
9 But of the fruit of the tree which thou beholds in the midst of the garden, God hath said—Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die (this was the second commandment given to Adam & Eve!).
10 And the serpent said unto the woman: Ye shall not surely die (cause who you going to believe, the omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent God of this entire universe and the Father who does not lie, or this spirit that you know nothing about?).
11 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil (the temptation! Oh, that wily snake!).
12 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it became pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make her wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and also gave unto her husband with her, and he did eat.
So was Eve beguiled! Yet, she must have already been thinking about those two commandments: 'How can we multiply and replenish the Earth and the forbidden fruit that we were commanded not to eat (or even touch) or we would die.' Eve, I am confident, that the prospect of becoming more wise (which only means: the righteous use of knowledge), was beguiled, or confused and tricked, when she partook of the forbidden fruit--though, that does not mean that she didn't fundamentally know that it was part of the Plan of God to be born on this Earth and be saved by Jesus Christ's atonement--I am not sure, though, to which degree she was allowed to remember the things she had learned in the Pre-Mortal Spirit World.
Adam, I am sure, was also tempted. Probably first. But, then, why wasn't he beguiled? My best guess is that Adam was like most men, but much more so (after all, he was the prototype, right? Well, for the purposes of this rant, we'll say that Adam was the prototype...). Adam's foremost thought, I'm sure, was to obey the commandments of God. The first commandment was multiply and replenish the Earth, but that just don't make no sense! He would have to table that commandment until he was given more knowledge and would make sense to him... The woman, Eve, was thinking in multiple dimensions and actually using both hemispheres of her brain.
The second commandment, though, he could deal with and obey strictly and valiantly, after all it was a totally straightforward command: Thou shalt not even touch the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He knew how to do that, and just watch him do it!
Eve, on the other hand, was more mature (just like a woman to show-up the man on the scene!). The way she did it, in fact, was very Christlike, indeed: A tragic irony turned to victory!
President Henry B. Eyring gives this insight into their plight, during a conference address given to the Women's General Conference (October, 2018):
Why, then, does a daughter of God in a united and equal relationship receive the primary responsibility to nourish with the most important nutrient all must receive, a knowledge of truth coming from heaven? As nearly as I can see, that has been the Lord’s way since families were created in this world.
For instance, it was Eve who received the knowledge that Adam needed to partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge for them to keep all of God’s commandments and to form a family. I do not know why it came to Eve first, but Adam and Eve were perfectly united when the knowledge was poured out on Adam.
Was Eve smarter than Adam? No, just had different strengths... Just like my wife has different strengths from me! Just like we learn from the Constitution of the United States: Separate but equal (that was referring to the the rights of men and women).
Not a definitive answer, but I don't know that we will get the definitive answer as a group--you may get it personally, however.
Maybe another part of the reason is that men's and women's brains, and therefore, they are quantifiably and quantitatively different, as shown at this BBC webpage, and therefore respond to different stimuli differently:
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-25198063
JPS
Maybe another part of the reason is that men's and women's brains, and therefore, they are quantifiably and quantitatively different, as shown at this BBC webpage, and therefore respond to different stimuli differently:
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-25198063
JPS
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