In archaeological excavations, female figurines have turned up. They could depict mother goddesses. The most famous one is the Venus of Willendorf, from around 23,000 BC. In ancient cultures, mother goddesses represented fertility. The ability of women to produce offspring could have been the essence of mother goddess worship. Women give birth, and early humans may not have understood fatherhood. Perhaps some people even thought men had no reproductive use and merely existed to please women. The mother goddess can give birth as a virgin, which is the miracle of the mother goddess. One of the best-known mother goddesses was Isis in ancient Egypt.

Women can be sure their children are their own, but for men, this is different. When the fathers of children are unknown, families are matrilineal, which means family lines depend on motherhood. The goddess worship may have disappeared because men desired to control women and their sexuality. The transition from hunting-gathering to agriculture may have played a crucial role in this development.

Hunter-gatherers were wanderers. They had few territorial conflicts because population density was low. Their disputes were not intense because they had no property and could move on.¹ That changed with the advent of agriculture. Farmers had to defend their property and family. Otherwise, they would starve and lose their offspring. Men are willing to protect women and children they consider their own. And they can walk out when they doubt their fatherhood. That may have given them a position of power so patriarchy could emerge.

In her book, When God Was a Woman, historian Merlin Stone claims that goddess worship was the earliest religion in the Near and Middle East. The Creator was a woman before men rewrote history. Stone bases her claim on female figurines in archaeological finds. Hunter-gatherers left no writings, so we know little about their beliefs and family structures.

The Garden of Eden comes from an ancient Mesopotamian myth, the Epic of Gilgamesh. The garden was near the rivers Tigris and the Euphrates. The Jews lived in exile in Babylon when their priests compiled their holy scriptures. It might explain why the first chapters of Genesis took place in Mesopotamia, while the Jewish deity Yahweh originates in Canaan. Jewish scribes tailored Mesopotamian myths to their needs. Jewish history in the Jewish Bible began when Abraham left Ur in Mesopotamia and headed for Canaan.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the gods created a man from clay, just like in Genesis, but in another creation myth, a goddess gave birth to humanity. Eve could have been Adam’s mother in the original tale. It makes more sense than Eve coming from Adam’s rib. She is the Mother of All the Living (Genesis 3:20), and we are the woman’s offspring (seed) (Genesis 3:15). Elsewhere in the Bible, a child is the father’s offspring. That is a remarkable difference. Thus, Genesis might imply we come from women and that men have no reproductive role. And Eve was a virgin when she gave birth to Adam. The miracle of the Mother Goddess is virgin birth. If Jesus was the reincarnation of Adam and the son of God, he could have been born from a virgin Mother Goddess.

The Bible claims God made the woman a mate for the man (Genesis 2:18). In the original story, the gods may have created the man as a mate for the woman. A reason to think so is that Genesis mentions the woman’s desire for her husband rather than the man’s desire for his wife (Genesis 3:16). It suggests the original tale could have had a woman’s perspective and that Adam’s purpose was being a husband to Eve and to please her. Eve could have been the leading character in the original story. She discussed eating the fruit with the serpent and made Adam eat from it (Genesis 3:1-6).

Add to this, that a man left his father and mother to be with his wife (Genesis 2:24). Women usually join their husbands’ families in patrilineal and patriarchal societies. Paradise might have been matrilineal or even matriarchal. The title Mother of All the Living can refer to the mother goddess.² In this sense, Eve could resemble Namma, the primaeval mother in the story of Enki and Ninmah, who kneaded clay, placed it in her womb and gave birth to the first humans. A reason to fabricate the rib story might have been the problematic suggestion of a mother taking her son as her husband and people taking it as an example.

The Fall reflects the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture. The life of hunter-gatherers was more agreeable than the plight of farmers who came later on. In this sense, the Agricultural Revolution was a curse for human beings. The Garden of Eden provided for everything. Eve and Adam were naked (Genesis 2:25) like hunter-gatherers in the jungle today. Adam was banished from the garden to work the ground and condemned to a life of toil (Genesis 3:17-19). And perhaps the original tale was about the downfall of women rather than men. Women had to obey their husbands from then on (Genesis 3:16). The original theme could have been the Agricultural Revolution and the power shift it caused between the sexes.

In ancient cultures, people worshipped snakes for their wisdom or knowledge. Hence, the serpent may have given counsel to Eve. The tree of knowledge relates to the sacred tree, which may explain why it was forbidden to eat from it. Eve’s deed may reflect the role of women in shifting from gathering to planting crops that condemned men to a life of property and warfare. Farmers have to protect their crops from thieves. Otherwise, they face starvation. Perhaps Cain murdered Abel because Abel’s flocks ate Cain’s crops, so he had only meagre offerings for the gods, while Abel could please the gods by offering well-nourished animals. The first murder happened just after the Fall and was a conflict between a cattle herder and a crop planter. Knowledge of agriculture and animal husbandry were a curse for humans, and Paradise was lost.

At first sight, this explanation does not fit in with the Abrahamic religions. The Jewish deity Yahweh and the Arabian deity Allah were male, even though many people now think God has no gender. Yahweh and Allah had a wife and children before monotheism took over. Allah was the supreme deity of Mecca. Later, the owner of the universe appropriated this title. Unlike Christians, Jews and Muslims do not see God as a Father. Christians are born of God, and there is no Father in the Jewish Bible, but Eve is the Mother of All the Living.

The Quran extensively mentions the creation of Adam but says little about how Eve came into existence. The Quran does not claim that Eve came from Adam’s rib but that men and women come from one soul (Quran 4:1, 7:189). It doesn’t give details, but Muslims believe this soul is Adam. The Quran further claims God created Jesus like Adam from dust (Quran 3:59). The Quran also corroborates the virgin birth story of Jesus (Quran 3:47, 66:12). That opens up the possibility that being created from dust means being born from a virgin so Eve could have been Adam’s mother. The account of the Fall in the Quran differs from Genesis. The Quran features no serpent, and Eve did not make Adam eat from the tree. The Quran blames Eve and Adam both for the Fall (Quran 7:19-23). Another fragment only blames Adam,

But Satan whispered to him, saying, ‘O Adam! Shall I show you the Tree of Immortality and a kingdom that does not fade away?’ So they both [Eve and Adam]] ate from the tree and then their nakedness was exposed to them, prompting them to cover themselves with leaves from Paradise. So Adam disobeyed his Lord, and so he lost his way.

(Quran 20:120-121)

The historical context of the original story, the curse of the Agricultural Revolution caused by women, is lost in the Quran. In hindsight, it doesn’t seem like a mere reciting error of those who memorised the Quran before a written edition came out. Casting the blame on Adam may have been early Christian teaching. After all, you cannot blame Eve if She was God. Thus, Jesus, being Adam reincarnate, had to redeem himself.

The first Christians may have believed Eve was God and the Mother of all the Living, Mary Magdalene was Eve, and Jesus was Adam. And Eve did not come from Adam’s rib, but Adam was born as Eve’s son. So Adam and, therefore, Jesus were the Son of God. Humanity descends from Eve, so we are God’s children (John 1:13). Tribes exist by believing they share common ancestors. Usually, these ancestors are mythical people who lived long ago. Hence, the myth of Eve and Adam can turn humanity into a single tribe. And God’s plan may work like so. Paul may have realised this message concerns humankind rather than Jews alone.

Latest revision: 4 November 2023

Featured image: Eve in the Garden Of Eden. Henri Rousseau (1906-1910). Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

Other images: Venus of Willendorf. Don Hitchcock (2008). Wikimedia Commons.

1. A Brief History Of Humankind. Yuval Noah Harari (2014). Harvil Secker.
2. Asherah – Wikipedia [link]: Some scholars have found an early link between Asherah and Eve, based upon the coincidence of their common title as “the mother of all living” in Genesis 3:20 through the identification with the Hurrian mother goddess Hebat. Asherah was also given the title Chawat from which the name Hawwah in Aramaic and the biblical name Eve are derived.