[Nell]

Originally Posted by Ohio

There is no record in Genesis that Eve ever directly heard God's command to NOT eat the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (TOKOGAE) So how can all women be considered "easily deceived" compared to all men when we really don't know what kind of instruction Eve had received, apparently 2nd hand thru Adam. Perhaps on their wedding night Adam only mentioned it in passing, "Oh, by the way Lovie, you might want to avoid that one tree in the morning . . . "

Another possibility is that God himself later repeated directly to the woman, his command not to eat of the tree of knowledge. Total speculation, but possible.

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Where was Adam to protect her from all of the animals which he had previously named in the presence of God?

Good question.

Gen. 3:6 says this:
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Where was Adam? It appears he was standing right there beside her, watching the whole thing. Instead of protecting her, he just stood there watching it happen. He knew what God's command was...it was spoken directly to him...he knew exactly what was happening to her and he let it happen. Then later...like a coward...he blamed her for something that he could have stopped from ever happening.

If Eve was deceived, then Adam was doubly deceived. And he disobeyed God, which was his transgression alone.

Well...the Word says that Adam was not deceived, but I understand your point.
Paul says: 1 Timothy 2:14 "And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression."

What we are missing here is "context." What was the situation Paul and Timothy were discussing? What had been said that we don't know.

I have provided some context in my post #16. We know from history that in the day, Caesar Nero was targeting women. Paul wrote a personal, "pastoral" letter to Timothy urging him to keep women out of harm's way by keeping them quiet, covered, "distance learning" if you will, etc.. See Post #16.

It would be interesting to ask Paul, someday, if he realized that his personal letter to Timothy...his attempt to protect women...would live to be misinterpreted as commands to follow for all time...to denigrate, mistreat, and otherwise stifle the woman in her position in the Body of Christ and in the world as a whole. This seems to be another instance of prescriptive vs. descriptive.

So what did the devil know when he approached Eve with his scheme? Why did he go to her first, and not Adam? (I think he probably knew that going through Eve was a good way to get to Adam and that it would be difficult for him to resist Eve. Therefore he went to Eve first.)

Sounds right. She was a target. Did the serpent know what a coward her husband was? He was more subtle than any creature yet made by God. He manipulated the man and the woman.

Genesis 3:3 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Nell