The question of why Satan targeted Eve and not Adam in his temptation in the Garden of Eden has been asked repeatedly; not just over the centuries, but in many Theology of the Body talks I have been to and delivered over the last ten years. It is my hope that the ideas and insights presented here will offer a new perspective and shine some light on this question. In no way do my thoughts here or even the thoughts of my teachers in the Theology of the Body claim to have settled this discussion once and for all. Hopefully it will merely encourage you to take this to prayer and ponder this mystery much deeper.
To begin, Satan has a diabolic hatred for male and female, because Scripture tells us they were made in God’s image after God’s likeness (Gen 1:26) and they were called to become one flesh (Gen 2:24). St John Paul II called the union of man and woman the primordial (or original) sacrament. In the beginning, prior to the fall into sin, male and female were the only sacrament or visible sign of the invisible reality of God (see TOB 98:3). If Satan hates God, is it any wonder that he hates the visible sign of the divine mystery (man and woman) with so much passion and fury?
Satan tempted Adam and Eve in the garden because one of his primary goals was to destroy the communion of man and woman. The family, as St John Paul II says, is an image of the Communion found in God (see TOB 9:3) and so Satan aimed his arrows right here. To do this, Satan strategically attacks both the man and the woman in their respective roles in imaging God.
Let’s examine “their respective roles in imaging God”. Our sexual identity as male and female, maleness and femaleness, are revealed through the body. I am a man not because I ‘feel’ like a man, but because I have a male body. Our sexual identity reveals a specific mission and manner of loving in the image of God. Our sexual difference makes sense only in light of our calling to become one flesh and be fruitful and multiply. It is through our sexual difference that our mission to love is revealed and distinguished. The man gives the seed outside of his body, and the woman receives the seed and conceives new life inside of her body. This is of great theological significance.
Within the “spousal analogy” John Paul II makes clear that God is the Bridegroom and humanity is the bride. God is the lover who gives the gift of His Divine Life and Love to us, his Bride, in the hope that we would freely receive (and nurture) that gift from Him inside of us. John Paul II says that because of this, woman is the model and archetype of the whole human race. Woman represents most perfectly, because of the manner in which she is called to love, what it means to be human (see Mulieris Dignitatem 4). We could even say that woman is the icon of receptivity in the world.
It is for this reason that Satan aims his diabolic attack at the human race, towards Eve, who is the model of all humanity. Satan knew that if Eve were tempted to disobey God, she would receive and nurture this lie, and in doing so, man and woman would reject their posture of receptivity and trust in God as their Father. Satan did not tempt the woman because she was the weaker of the sexes. This is a grave misunderstanding of the dignity of woman.
Interestingly, by tempting Eve, Satan strategically tempts Adam and his mission. Why? Adam was given the clear command from God to ‘till and keep’ the garden. This accurately translates to ‘serve and protect, or defend’ the garden and everything in it, including his bride, Eve. Where was Adam, the protector of his wife and the garden, when Eve was being tempted? He was standing right there, and he failed to step in and defend his wife from Satan. He allowed the serpent to enter the garden and confuse his wife while he was silent. He did not step in to support her when she was confused and put words in God’s mouth (see Gen 3:3). He watched her take the fruit and eat of it, then received it from her to eat afterwards (Gen 3:6). This is a tragic example of fallen manhood, and it was just as much the fault of Adam as it was of Eve to commit the Original Sin.
Satan knew that by tempting Eve as the model of humanity, he was also attacking Adam’s mission to be the protector and defender of his bride. Satan attacked Adam and Eve as a married couple, as an icon of the Communion of God in their respective ways of imaging God. This brought destruction to the primordial sacrament of marriage, which ruptured the male-female relationship and destroyed man’s posture of receptivity before God.
Satan brought about the bad news of sin, but the good news is that Jesus came to redeem and restore man to the purity of our origins! Have hope in the redemption Christ came to give!
God’s Word says, “the devil comes not, but to steal, kill, and destroy
And in the garden that Is and was his mission in this life. Eve was beguiled by satan, and Adam was beguiled by Eve…And Eve was impregnated by the devils lies and also was Adam not having “knowledge of evil ( Adam nor Eve could discern, having only known God Goodnress, that the devil is a liar…And they two hated God for driving them out of the garden. Caun was then conceived to kill his brother ( because he was raised hating the goodness and mercy of God…he didn’t know God’s goodness because his parents only knew the devils side of things and complained all the time about being “driven out of their home by God”…
Only God knows how things play out from the Beginning to the End…We can only speculate at best…God Bless You All and thank you for your time…
The issue that you raised is very interesting. It has important elements due to the following reasons. firstly, your point of view mainly explains the very beginning human beings/Adam and Eve involvement in the wrong, disappointing and evil measure. Secondly, as the bible always tells us, Eve was created for Adam not to be alone and to be helper to him. moreover, Adam knew that Eve was created by God taking a Bone from him. in other words, Adam was the major responsible and accountable person for any activities performed in the garden of Eden. Thereffore because of Adam was living i.e, thinking, talking, performing any activities in spirit realm, he had been to fulfil God’s one and decisive commandment for ever. hence, all the mistakes/faillerity belonged to him. Lastly, I have got a great lesson to follow the commandment of God in the way of gres end truth with the helper of holy spirit meditating the word of God. We have also seriously protect ourselves not to be entered to temptation.