Direct scriptural quotations from Mother Eve are few and precious. Sparse quotes from Eve do not signify her unimportance; rather, I think the authors of scripture were conforming their narratives to a pre-established template in which a matriarch makes a brief observation about herself, God, and her children, and their interrelationship. Three mothers make such parallel statements in scripture. The similarities between them seem too marked to be accidental.
Eve
Brigham Young taught that when the mouth is open, the mind is on parade. Words from Eve in the scriptures give us a glimpse into her heart and mind. In Moses 5:11, we hear her own voice, not someone talking to her, or about her: “And Eve, [Adam’s] wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.”
The first thing that strikes me as I read this quote is her use of plural pronouns. With Adam (in verse 10), it is “I” and “my;” with Eve it is “we” and “our.” She concurs with his sentiments, but in an inclusive way. It is also strange to my Latter-day Saint ears to hear them rejoice about transgression. The Eden narrative seems simple on its face, but the more one studies it, the more cognitive complexity it requires of us. Transgression a necessary element of the plan? Putting the forbidden fruit in the garden? Letting Satan tempt childish, innocent beings? It baffles the mind. What was the Lord up to? Surely (and thankfully) His thoughts are higher than ours.
But Eve is not celebrating sin; she speaks of the joy of redemption and eternal life God gives the obedient. It seems almost as if she is implying that the Lord gave them two contradictory commandments, and they had to break one initially (don’t eat the forbidden fruit) to keep the other fully (have children). Why else would she exult about joy through obedience and transgression in the same breath? She also speaks of acquiring the ability to discern good from evil.
Perhaps most dear to her heart, the very first outcome of the Fall she mentions, is “seed,” her children.
Her emotional valence in this brief quote is joy and exultation. She is glad; she has kids; she has wisdom; she rejoices in redemption and eventual exaltation; she notes her part in the plan, being “obedient.” These are some basic elements of Eve’s mind and heart we can derive from this precious, brief statement.
Sariah
Sariah, the wife of Lehi, also gets precious little airtime in the scriptures. Her brief statements center around the same themes as Eve’s.
In 1Ne. 5:2, she tells her husband, “Behold thou hast led us forth from the land of our inheritance, and my sons are no more, and we perish in the wilderness.” This is reminiscent of Adam’s and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden. Lehi and Sariah are driven from their comfortable, richly furnished home on pain of death; Adam and Eve are driven from the garden, knowing their expulsion included a death sentence. Both couples take the bare minimum of essentials with them into their respective wildernesses.
She is anxious about her sons, but Sariah ultimately rejoices in verse 8: “And she spake, saying: Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath commanded my husband to flee in to the wilderness; yea, and I also know of a surety that the Lord hath protected my sons, and delivered them out of the hands of Laban, and given them power whereby they could accomplish the thing which the Lord hath commanded them. And after this manner of language did she speak.”
She is glad like Eve; she speaks of her children like Eve; she speaks of newly acquired knowledge like Eve; she rejoices in the Lord’s power to redeem and deliver; she notes the importance of being obedient to the Lord’s commandments. 1Ne. 5:8 parallels Moses 5:11.
The Earth
A third (and highly unlikely) matriarch makes a statement too similar to Eve’s to be mere coincidence. The earth itself speaks in a vision of Enoch. The following verse stretches the imagination: “And it came to pass that Enoch looked upon the earth; and he heard a voice from the bowels thereof, saying: Wo, wo is me, the mother of men; I am pained, I am weary, because of the wickedness of my children. When shall I rest, and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me? When will my Creator sanctify me, that I may rest, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face?” (Moses 7:48). This is not a direct command to alter behavior; it is an oblique plea, a “hint” to us.First, a few explanatory notes.
How can the earth speak? Is this literal? I believe it is. There seems to be abundant evidence in the scriptures that everything, even things we typically think of as unconscious, unaware, and inanimate, truly have a measure of consciousness, awareness, and intelligence in them, the power to respond to God’s instructions.
Many consider the Pearl of Great Price to be an interesting, yet non-essential scripture, a kind of freakish curiosity in the standard works meant to keep intellectuals occupied. Who would be surprised that it would speak of exotic things, e.g. sentient lumps of matter? They prefer the plain and precious Book of Mormon. No challenging ideas there. There is nothing superfluous in the Book of Mormon, no planets talking or Adam being baptized or giants or other oddities like that. And yet it also teaches plainly that matter obeys God.
In Helaman 12:7-26, Mormon laments the nothingness of man. “O how great is the nothingness of the children of men; yea, even they are less than the dust of the earth.” Why are we lower than dirt? “For behold, the dust of the earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of the great and everlasting God...Yea, behold at his voice do the hills and the mountains tremble and quake.” Verse 13 makes it plain that the matter is actually comprehending and complying: “Yea, and if he say unto the earth—Move—it is moved. Yea, if he say unto the earth—Thou shalt go back, that it lengthen out the day for many hours—it is done...if he say unto the waters of the great deep—Be thou dried up—it is done...if he say unto this mountain—Be thou raised up, and come over and fall upon that city, that it be buried up—behold it is done” (Hel. 12:7-17). The Lord calls the things in these verses “thou” (hey, you!) and instructs them as to what to do. The Lord speaks to humans using the same word—thou—in verses 20 and 21.
This concept of inanimate things obeying commands is abundant. The sun and moon obey Joshua (Joshua 10:12-14); Nephi tells his brothers that, with God’s permission, he could tell water to become dirt (1Ne. 17:50); the Lord tells a later Nephi that temples and mountains will crumble and move at his command (Hel. 10:8-9); Jacob says that in the name of Jesus, trees, mountains, and seas obey him, and that God commands the earth and the things on its face (Jacob 4:6, 9); waters obey Moses as if he was God (Moses 1:25).
Unlike Eve, the earth is lamenting, but it is still focused on its kids; it anticipates redemption and eventual exaltation for itself and its children; it notes its part in the plan, and cites the promises of God. Eve and Sariah get one solid verse and a few fragments elsewhere; this mother has only one verse. Like the rest of us, whatever consciousness the earth has is ultimately celestial in origin, and will not be satisfied until it returns home to its native environment. The earth, like Eve and Sariah, has been kicked out of its native land, and must wander and die in the wilderness.
The parallels between these three verses are part of a pattern, and this is an important line. Enoch, Moses, and Nephi seem to be depending on a recipe for scriptural composition in their accounts: Each speaker is a matriarch. The emotional state of each is discussed. Each one speaks of her part in the larger plan of salvation. Each notes the importance of obedience. Each one speaks of acquired knowledge, or testimony, about the Lord’s mercy. Each one has intense feelings, joy or pain, regarding their offspring. And each quote is brief.
Lessons
Elder Oaks encouraged us to include a “therefore what?” in our talks—these ideas may be true, but what’s the point? What can we learn from this? There are direct instructions in scripture (like the Decalogue). But there are general principles that can be gleaned from scripture, even without overt commands.
Sariah exemplifies great faith with her willingness to follow the current prophet (even if he happens to be her husband). She echoes Nephi’s statement that when the Lord commands, He prepares a way to accomplish what He commands.
Eve talks of “our” and “we,” and “all the obedient.” Joy is incomplete until it is shared. She is able to rejoice despite their fallen circumstances, because she knows the eventual solution for death and sin—the “joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.” She finds happiness in dreary surroundings with her faith, her bright anticipation of a better world. She knew the Savior would redeem us from the Fall.
Jesus’ ministry included the performance of miracles. While these miracles blessed individuals, they also foreshadowed the eventual reversal of the Fall. Death, disease, pain, laboring for food, were all physical consequences of Adam and Eve’s choice in the Garden, and Jesus’ miracles alleviated these physical burdens, if only in isolated circumstances for a few individuals. They demonstrated His power to restore the earth to its paradisaical glory. He also removed spiritual problems. Sin, misery, harassment by Satan, and separation from God were spiritual consequences of the Fall. Jesus told the paralytic his sins were forgiven (spiritual) before He commanded him to arise and walk (physical) (see Mark 2:1-12). Eve rejoiced that sin and physical ailments would one day be permanently and universally healed by the Savior.
What can we learn from the earth’s statement? It seems to be pleading for the annihilation of the human race itself, and Enoch knew the flood was coming. But Enoch interceded, begged, on behalf of the human family and the earth. Out of the interchange between the earth, Enoch, and God, a decision was reached. The solution to the problem was 1. The Lord would stay the floods and “call upon” us to repent; 2. The Messiah would be a descendant of Enoch and Noah, and He would eventually cleanse the earth. Humanity would be spared for a while. Before the destruction at the Second Coming, the Restoration would provide the world with the opportunity to hear the gospel and repent. Then the millennial reign of the Savior would bring peace to the earth, and to those who were saved.
When something is repeated in the scriptures, it must be important. These verses show us three witnesses for God. Ultimately, these three mothers teach us about joy—joy that comes when we obey God and trust His plan.
