Translation
And the adam called the name
Go to footnote numberof his wife CHAVVA
Go to footnote numberbecause she was the mother
Go to footnote numberof all the living.
Paraphrase
So the man called
his wife by the name LIFE because she was the point of departure for all humans to live after them.
Footnotes
1: “called the name”
It is interesting to note that Adam did not give his wife a name until after they fell into sin – at least that is what seems to be implied by the flow of the text. I have been referring to her as Eve in my comments up till now because that is how we identify her, but in the text itself, this is the first time the name appears. This seems to infer that Adam realized that, in the case of his wife, he had failed to properly exercise his God-given authority and leadership, which in the case of the animals, was demonstrated by giving them names. So he gave her a name now, showing that he hoped to do better in the future in his role of leader of the home.
Since that time there has been a constant struggle over the leadership of the home, and there have been many abuses from both sides. However, the fact men have not utilized their authority well, does not mean it should be taken away, rather it means we should do a better job of training and motivating men to fulfill their role. The fact that women have often wanted more freedom and more opportunities has come from two causes, 1) it is now their nature to push in that direction, 2) the more that men do a poor job in their role, the more women will seek a different arrangement. As we all know, this struggle continues, and a good balance usually remains elusive.
What does a “good balance” look like? It will be one in which all the key needs of both man and woman will be met, each will feel valued, respected and cherished; each will know their role and feel comfortable in it, and they will glorify God by how they live out their relationship. That is the God-ordained path for marriage, but few there are that find it.
2: “Chavva”
Her name means “life,” or possibly “life-giver.”
The CH at the beginning of the name was a hard CH similar to the CH at the end of the name Bach. How did we get from Chavvah to Eve? Most likely it came to us by some convoluted, circuitous route through various languages. For instance, other words have also undergone significant changes as they have made a journey from Hebrew to Greek to Latin and then to English, suffering spelling changes with each transition.
3
The word for mother means “to divide, to separate, to be a point of partition” and refers very specifically to the birthing process.