Daughters of Eve

by Heather Myer

The most innate and basic desire for love dates back to the very dawn of time. It is the result of original sin. Sons of Adam are cursed to toil the soil and have physical difficulty due to the unyielding earth and to return, as dust to the ground. Daughters of Eve are cursed emotionally, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you" (Gen. 3:16). Are all Daughters of Eve are affected by this curse? Single women do not have husbands dominant over them. We do not have husbands to physically desire. And pain in childbirth? What child? At first glance, this seems to be a married woman’s curse.

Being a bride is a game little girls play at a very young age. They drape sheer white curtains over their hair, wear their mother’s high heels, and walk down an imaginary aisle. As adults, ladies flip through bridal catalogs and window shop at David’s Bridal and the Secret Garden. Single women yearn for love. Most are haunted by missed opportunities or jaded by past hurts. We long for the blessings of marriage: to be a wife, a lover, and a mother. Eve's curse was to desire after her husband. Does this refer to only a carnal, physical desire? Or can it mean something more?

With Eve’s sample of the forbidden fruit, God cursed her with a longing for completion. Daughters of Eve are to desire Sons of Adam, despite the fact that they are fated to return to dust. Genesis 2:18 says that it is not good for man to be alone. God ensured that Eve would want to complete and accompany Adam despite the finality and hardships of his life. She possessed knowledge of his fate and the pain that an imperfect relationship could cause. Yet, God made Daughters of Eve desire Sons of Adam with full knowledge of their labor, hardships, and mortality. As single women, we are fated to long for what do not have: completion. Rather than being based in Lucifer’s lies, this basic desire of the heart originates with Lady Eve‘s first taste of the Tree of Life and results in a curse made especially for us.

-----
Photo by Ravonne Post