Reading Notes: Week 3, Part A (Eve & Potiphar's Wife)

The Unit I chose to focus on for this week was "Biblical Women," a unit about prominent women featured in the Bible. The two stories I wanted to focus on in Part A are Eve and Potiphar's Wife – one woman in the Bible who could be seen as the bad character, and one woman who straight-up is the bad guy in the story. This week's reading could be centered on "bad" women in the Bible, and I will be telling their stories. 

Photo of a bunch of red apples 

(Taken by Matheus Cenali on Unsplash)

Story 1: Eve, found in The King James Bible, Genesis 2 and 3

The story of Eve is found in the beginning of the Bible, as Eve is a crucial character in the beginnings/origin of the Bible. Eve was the partner for Adam, created by God to be a help-mate for him. When it came for Adam to start naming all of the animals that God brought forth to him, Adam never found one that would be suitable for a life mate. All of the animals were created from the ground, the dust of the earth, but there was something special about Eve, something that distinguished her from the animals. One day, God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep, and from one of his ribs, God formed Eve. From then on, when a man and wife get married, it is referred to as "two becoming one," referencing that woman was essentially taken from man, and getting married joins them back together. Adam and Eve lived the perfect life in the Garden of Eden – they were blameless and innocent in each other's eyes and in the eyes of God. God's ONE command to them was to not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and they both obeyed that command, until one day the serpent tempted Eve with eating an apple off the tree. Eve ate the apple and then convinced Adam to do it, causing them to have committed the first sin ever in the world. They tried to hide their sins from God, but of course, God knew that they had sinned. They hid from God and made clothes to cover themselves up because they realized they were naked and were no longer comfortable with that. From this sin, God cursed the ground for Adam to work on, and He caused childbirth to be painful for all women. Adam and Eve then had to leave the garden, for they could no longer live in the "perfect" world. 

Eve fell into temptation, and today she gets a lot of hate, perpetuating the stereotype and sayings that women cause men to fall into temptation and are essentially "evil" because they committed the first sin. I do not think Eve is a bad character in the Bible or inherently evil in any way, I think she is a good first example of real-life struggles that we as humans face daily – she just happened to be the first person to EVER commit a sin. 

Story 2: Potiphar's Wife, found in The King James Bible, Genesis 39

Potiphar's Wife is found in a Bible story about Joseph, when he is getting brought to Egypt after being put into slavery by his brothers. Joseph was "purchased" by a man named Potiphar, who was a good and just man in Egypt. He saw the good in Joseph and realized that he was an honest, righteous and godly man. Everything in this time was good for Joseph, until he began to catch the eye of Potiphar's wife, who tried to entice Joseph to be with her. After multiple interactions where Joseph turned her down, there happened to be one day where it was just them two in the house. Potiphar's Wife saw this as an opportunity to try and get Joseph alone with her, so she sneaked up on him, only for Joseph to run away but with her grabbing part of his cloak to use as proof against him. She was furious, and when Potiphar arrived at home that evening, she said that Joseph came into the room to "make fun of her," and try to get with her, where he ended up leaving his cloak in the room after he left. This upset Potiphar, and he sent Joseph to prison because of the actions his wife accused him of. 

Potiphar's Wife, to me, could be considered a "bad" woman of the Bible based off of this story. She essentially wanted to commit adultery with Joseph, and when he refused, she turned the story on him to make him look like the bad guy and in the wrong. She was selfish and needy in ways that were not supported by Joseph, and when he declined she decided to ruin his life. But, if you know the story, you know that Joseph is later recused of his accusation, and given a very high and prominent position in Egypt.