prove her subordination in harmony with the Creator's original design.

It is evident that some wily writer, seeing the perfect equality of
man and woman in the first chapter, felt it important for the dignity
and dominion of man to effect woman's subordination in some way. To do
this a spirit of evil must be introduced, which at once proved itself
stronger than the spirit of good, and man's supremacy was based on the
downfall of all that had just been pronounced very good. This spirit of
evil evidently existed before the supposed fall of man, hence woman was
not the origin of sin as so often asserted.


E. C. S.



In v. 23 Adam proclaims the eternal oneness of the happy pair, "This
is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh;" no hint of her
subordination. How could men, admitting these words to be divine
revelation, ever have preached the subjection of woman!

Next comes the naming of the mother of the race. "She shall be called
Woman," in the ancient form of the word Womb-man. She was man and more
than man because of her maternity.

The assertion of the supremacy of the woman in the marriage relation
is contained in v. 24: "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his
mother and cleave unto his wife." Nothing is said of the headship of
man, but he is commanded to make her the head of the household, the
home, a rule followed for centuries under the Matriarchate.