Rethinking sin and deception through a Hebraic lens.
The traditional narrative often frames Chavah (Eve) as the one who failed first—who led Adam astray and brought sin into the world.
But when we look closely at the text, that version falls apart. Lets start by taking a look at what Adam’s role was.
🧔 What Does It Mean to Be a Man? Understanding the Zakar
In my previous blog post, we explored the woman and how Yahuah (The Lord) defines her: ezer kenegdo—strong, essential, and corresponding.
But what about Adam?
In Hebrew, the word for male is zakar (זָכָר).
It shares its root with the verb zakar—to remember.
Not just intellectual recall, but covenantal remembering—the kind that leads to action. A zakar doesn’t just know Yahuah’s (The Lord’s) Word. He guards it, embodies it, and protects those entrusted to him.
Adam’s role was to remember and respond.
To keep covenant.
To speak truth.
To stand firm.
This plays a huge role in how the story unfolds.
📖 What Actually Happened in Eden?
And 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, and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her man with her; and he did eat. -Bere’shiyth (Genesis) 3:6, Cepher
Did you catch that?
“She gave also unto her man with her; and he did eat.”
Adam wasn’t off in the fields. He was right there. Silent. Passive. Watching. But let’s rewind, because to understand why this was such a big deal, we first have to understand the context surrounding the story.
📜 The Command
Before Chavah (Eve) was even formed:
And Yahuah Elohiym (The Lord God) commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die. -Bere’shiyth (Genesis) 2:16–17, Cepher
Adam received the command—alone.
Chavah wasn’t even on the scene yet.
So when she later tells the serpent:
Elohiym has said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
-Bere’shiyth (Genesis) 3:3, Cepher
—we have to ask: Where did she get “neither shall ye touch it”?
That’s not what Yahuah (The Lord) said.
The text implys, Adam told her.
Maybe he was trying to be cautious. Maybe he wanted to “build a fence” around the command to triple make sure she doesn’t mess up.
But the moment Adam added to Yahuah’s perfect Word, it now by definition becomes imperfect, and he thereby introduces a problem.
🐍 When Adding to Yahuah’s Word Opens the Door to Deceit
So what happens when the serpent touches the fruit?
Chavah sees it. Nothing happens. No death. No curse. Just a serpent—handling the very thing she was told would kill her.
And in that moment, a deeper doubt takes root:
“Did God lie?”
And Adam—right next to her—does nothing.
He doesn’t interrupt.
He doesn’t defend Yahuah’s word.
He doesn’t clarify what was actually said.
He doesn’t guard and remember the word of Yahuah.
Instead of humbling himself and owning his failure to speak and guard, he simply joins her in disobedience, he with the full knowlage and context, not under deception, makes a choice.
And when Yahuah confronts him?
“The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” – Bere’shiyth (Genesis) 3:12, Cepher
He blames Chavah and Yahuah—dodging accountability altogether.
Chavah was deceived.
Adam chose rebellion.
⚖️ Deception vs. Rebellion
This premiss is later cemented in scripture by Sha’ul (Paul) himself, who draws a stark contrast:
“And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” – Timotheus Ri’shon (Timothy 1) 2:14, Cepher
This isn’t about blame—it’s about the type of failure.
Chavah was misled into believing the fruit was good.
Adam knew better—and ate anyway.
Which is why Sha’ul (Paul) also writes:
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the Torah sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no Torah. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Mosheh, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.)” – Romans (Romiym) 5:12–14, Cepher
Sin is attributed to Adam, not Chavah—because he bore the covenantal responsibility.
⚔️ The Tragedy Wasn’t Female Leadership—It Was Male Abdication
For generations, the church has warned against “women leading men.”
But in Eden, the greater danger was abandoning responsibility.
Adam’s fall wasn’t that he listened to his wife.
It’s that he refused to cover her.
He let the serpent speak.
He let deception fester.
He let the Word of Yahuah become twisted.
When the moment came to lead with courage and clarity, Adam chose silence. And when everything fell apart, his first move was finger-pointing. As was Chavah’s.
But covenant requires accountability.
It demands that we remember what was said, and that we act accordingly.
Because adding to the Word is dangerous. But ignoring it?
That’s how we end up hiding behind fig leaves and hoping God doesn’t notice.
📉 “And He Shall Rule Over You” Was a Curse—Not a Command
“…and your desire shall be to your man, and he shall rule over you.”
–Bere’shiyth (Genesis) 3:16, Cepher
This verse is frequently misunderstood as a divine directive, but that misses the point entirely. It isn’t prescriptive—it’s descriptive of what sin inevitably produces.
Before sin, ish (man) and ishah (woman) lived in harmony, each fulfilling their role as part of a cohesive whole. After the fall, that unity fractured, replaced by struggle, competition, and control.
The Hebrew word translated as “desire” here (teshuqa) carries the idea of turning toward someone with longing —but because of sin, this healthy desire became distorted. Instead of mutual honor, vulnerability, and partnership, the relationship between man and woman became a battleground.
Sound familiar? Today’s culture wars—patriarchy versus feminism, control versus independence—aren’t new. They’re just manifestations of the same ancient fracture with a fresh coat of Instagram paint.
- Patriarchy asserts that men must dominate, rule, and control.
- Feminism counters that women must reject all interdependence and authority.
Both extremes reflect the same relational distortion introduced by sin. Both positions fail because both misunderstand that the original design was never about hierarchy or independence—it was about unity, partnership, and shared strength.
Yahuah’s words in Genesis 3:16 weren’t commands; they were a sorrowful diagnosis of what sin would bring: struggle, power imbalances, and heartbreak.
The tragedy? Many believers have mistakenly built their theology upon this brokenness, elevating a cursed condition to a divine ideal.
Yahusha (Jesus), however, came to redeem exactly this. Through His sacrifice, He modeled the return to Eden’s original intention—restoring relationship, and replacing struggle with sacrificial love.
🔚 Conclusion: Stop Handing Her the Blame He Earned
The story of the fall is not about feminine weakness.
It’s about masculine silence. It’s about what happens when we add to a command that’s already perfect.
The story of the fall is fundamentally about trust issues: first with Adam to Chavah, and then with Chavah to Yahuah.
The serpent targeted the woman—but it was the man who failed the covenant. That doesn’t make Chavah innocent, she was indeed beguiled. But Adam sinned.
It’s time to stop handing Chavah all the blame.
We need to begin the work of breaking the curse not breaking the design—restoring both zakar and ezer to their original, powerful, co-laboring intent.
🖐️ You might be thinking…
Maybe you’re thinking this is dangerously close to ignoring the Bible’s clear teachings about headship. Perhaps you feel I’m downplaying established roles in marriage—after all, doesn’t Paul explicitly say “the man is the head of the woman”?
I understand your concern.
But what if our modern understanding of headship isn’t what Paul meant at all? Could it be possible that our translation and cultural assumptions have distorted the original message?
In the next post, we’ll dive deep into Ephesians 5. We’ll examine the Greek word kephalē—often translated as “head”—and reconsider what Paul was truly saying about authority, leadership, and submission.
Because restoring biblical relationship means re-examining every assumption—including the ones we’ve held most dearly.
The Flocking Farm 
Leave a comment