The Archetypal Eve

 

Creation of Eve, marble relief by Lorenzo Maitani on the Orvieto Cathedral, Italy.

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

To understand the Messianic or Christological Faith that we received from the biblical Hebrew we must distinguish two different threads concerning Eve: the archetypal Eve and the historical Eve. Much theological speculation surrounds the archetype of the woman beguiled by the Serpent, and too little attention is given to the historical Eve, the mother of Cain, a Hebrew city builder.

Theological approaches do not distinguish the historical Eve from the archetypal Eve. On the other hand, an anthropological approach identifies significant data that helps to identify Eve as one of the founders of the Hebrew ruler-priest caste. Because the earliest known Hebrew presence is in the Nile Valley, it helps to consider what Eve represented to her Nilotic Hebrew descendants.

It is evident that the early Hebrew believed in a hierarchical order of creation. God is outside and above that hierarchy. At the pinnacle of the created order are humans, created male and female. Other created beings exist as servants and messengers of the High God. These lesser spirits or angelic beings are venerated but not worshiped. This devotion to a Supreme God while accepting the existence of other lesser divine beings is called “henotheism.” The term was coined by Max Müller (1823-1900) who specialized in Oriental religions. He applied the term to the schools of Hinduism that acknowledge a High God as well as other lesser deities.

In Traditional African religions (TAR) and in the biblical view, God is intimately involved in the affairs of humans as a devoted father. Humans are to their Creator what children are to their biological parents.

The late Dr. Abraham Akrong (McCormick Theological Seminary) explains: "God in Africa is a relational being who is known through various levels of relationship with creation. In relationship to humanity, God is the great ancestor of the human race. Therefore, all over Africa God is portrayed more in terms of a parent than as sovereign."

C. L. Crouch made this observation about the relationship of humans to our Creator. He wrote, "The linguistic and cultural background of the words םלצ [image] and תומד [likeness] supports a reading of Gen. 1:26–7 as a statement of humanity’s divine parentage. As such it is intended to evoke the responsibilities of child to parent and of parent to child in the minds of its readers. Such an interpretation accommodates both the semantic range of the key terms םלצ and תומד and the sense that the statement is meant to be theologically significant."

This clarifies the early Hebrew conception of Eve who disobeyed the command of the Father and succumbed to the temptation of the Serpent. By heeding the Serpent’s voice, the archetypal Eve set aside her moral obligation to her Heavenly Father. Those who wish to be conformed to the image and likeness of the Father must be like Jesus whose priority was always to please his Father. That is summed up in the first and great commandment: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” (Matt. 22:37-39)

In the early Hebrew conception of the order of creation humans are at the pinnacle over which the Creator rules as a loving Father. As the last of God’s creations, Eve is the crown of the created order. As such, she is the prime target of the Serpent who wishes to invert the pyramid, placing himself at the pinnacle. That is the closest the Serpent can get to the level of God since the archetypal Serpent (the Devil) is also a creature.

Eve’s submission to the belly-crawler exchanged her exalted position for the serpent's dust and surrendered her glory for a baser image. In submitting to the serpent's will, the pyramid of God’s design was inverted. The serpent now reigns over the fallen world. This is why Satan is called “the prince of this world” in John 12:31.

In the scheme of redemption, a daughter of Eve is appointed to bring forth the Son of God. In this sense, the Bible is the Woman’s story; beginning with Eve’s failure and climaxing with the Woman who brings forth the Son of God who crushes the Serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15). This is the theological thrust from Genesis to Revelation and it involves historical people. The narrative suggests that women were held in higher regard by the early Hebrew than is generally recognized. Certainly, women play a significant role in God’s plan of salvation.

The archetypal Eve is wrapped in theological speculation about the origin of sin and death, the presence of evil, and the necessity of divine intervention. Theological speculation rarely connects to historical realities. However, considerable data is available to gain an accurate picture of the historical Eve. She was the Hebrew mother of at least one surviving son, Cain. Cain had a brother, Seth, who may have been the firstborn of Adam’s second wife (assuming that Adam observed the marriage and ascendancy pattern of the biblical Hebrew). Both Cain and Seth were clan chiefs and rulers over territories. Their descendants intermarried (caste endogamy) according to a marriage pattern that was already well established. Their heirs ascended to positions of authority. They established settlements, built fortifications, navigated rivers, patronized skilled craftsmen, engaged in commerce, observed and recorded celestial patterns, pioneered medical treatments, and enforced sacred law. 

The biblical data makes it clear that Eve and her Hebrew people were not the first humans on earth. As far as the material evidence goes, the first humans lived in Africa between three and four million years ago.

Related reading: The Adam and Eve of History; Hebrew Rulers with Two Wives; The Social Structure of the Biblical Hebrew; A Book about the Nephilim; Why Nekhen is Anthropologically Significant; Mounds of the Horite and Sethite Hebrew; The Historical Eve; The Father of Adam and Eve