By Dale Ward
Russian programming sometimes incorporates drama as a way of making clear Biblical truth. The following script, written by Dale Ward, was written to emphasize the promise that God is ultimately faithful and is the author of mercy as well as justice. Eve embodies not only everyone who fails by yielding to temptation, and therefore suffers, but also one who endures and whose faithfulness is crowned with God’s mercy.
CHARACTERS
NARRATOR: He is the guide through the text; the listener’s friend who constantly points to the source of the story by saying, “And the Bible says…”
GOD: Yes, this is the Creator who must be just. But this is not the God of thunder and retribution. This is the Father who walks and talks with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. This is the God who cursed the serpent [Genesis 3:14] and protected even Cain, the first murderer, from revenge. [Genesis 4:15]
ADAM: Weaker of will but in the script he grows in strength and compassion, especially toward Eve. The quarreling of every husband and wife is part of the script, but Adam still loves and needs the wife that God gave him.
EVE: Strong of voice and will. Just as passionate in expressing her remorse for sin as well as her confusion in weighing the actions of God. Like so many women of Russia and the rest of world, this Eve not only expresses her pain eloquently, but also her enduring faith in God. This is the “mother of all living” that God restores to her proper place as she confirms in the ending of the script, all of which is just an echo of the biblical text. {Genesis 4: 25]
EVE
NARRATOR: In the beginning the Bible states concisely in plain words that God made the world, the sun, moon and stars…every growing thing and all animals. God also created Eden—a perfect garden for Adam and Eve, the first man and woman. They were to tend and keep the garden. They were the only beings made in the image of God; free of sin, naked, yet not ashamed. God encouraged them to eat from the tree of life, which would grant them eternal life. The Lord had but one law, one commandment.
GOD: “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” [Genesis 2:16-17] NARRATOR: Satan in the form of the cunning serpent tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They both ate from the tree of knowledge. The Bible says, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked…and they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” [Genesis 3:7a; 8]
ADAM: God knows where we are.
EVE: I don’t want him to see me.
ADAM: Because of that wicked serpent, we will no longer be able to live in the garden. How could you fall for a trick so easily? EVE: I feel so ashamed! Please do not add to the pain my sin has caused. And you are not without guilt, are you!?
ADAM: What will happen to us now?
EVE: I don’t know. It is hard to believe that only moments ago, we were living in paradise without a single worry. Now this world feels like an evil, lonely place.
ADAM: I am afraid of seeing Him face-to-face.
EVE: He will see that we know good and evil.
ADAM: How foolish we were. I am angry that God made it so easy for us to sin. Of all the trees in this perfect garden, why was it the forbidden fruit that looked so irresistible?
EVE: This knowledge is a feeling I would rather not have. I was so much happier when I didn’t know shame, guilt, and regret.
GOD: Why would you hide? “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
NARRATOR: And the Bible says, “God drove man out; and at the east of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.” [Genesis 3:24] God’s warnings of other consequences of sin also came to pass.
GOD: “Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life….By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground…” [Genesis 3:17b, 19a] EVE: The earth looks so hard. It is cracked by the sun, without luscious green grass or blooming flowers.
ADAM: If only you had not sinned. Why would you even approach the tree of knowledge? Now all the days of my life, which can now be counted in numbers, will be spent toiling over the ground, having to force the plants to grow. Why did I want a wife?
EVE: I am the woman and wife God gave you! What did I do that you yourself did not do? What pain will you endure that I will not also have to bear?
ADAM: Yes, you are right about me. But remember what God said. There is pain that you and you alone will endure when you bear our children.
EVE: I feel it would have been better to die and return to dust than to be banished in shame from our garden. Our children and their children will know of our sin and ask why we were so foolish.
ADAM: This indeed is a new world, and only two sets of human hands to begin the work. Where should we start?
EVE: God has not left us completely alone. He will continue to guide us, and has promised that great things will come from our work.
NARRATOR: Adam and Eve did toil as the Lord had instructed. And they were also given children. “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain.” [Genesis 4:1]
EVE: “I have acquired a man from the Lord!” [Genesis 4:1]
NARRATOR: “Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel.” [Genesis 4:2] EVE: What a wonderful thing children are!
ADAM: How can such joy come after such pain? Eve, you are beautiful—the mother of all children now and forever.
EVE: These babes are as we once were Adam, pure… unstained by sin. How I wish the day would never come when they will certainly know good and evil. They look just like us in so many ways. What a gracious God we have to offer great happiness and mystery in this gift of life.
NARRATOR: But soon, very soon….just as in each of our lives, in each of our families, sin visited the home of Adam and Eve….just like our homes, our whole world. The serpent of sin is alive, cunning, still spreading envy, hatred and rejoices when murder follows in his path. Cain was the first son. His envy of Abel led to murder—one brother against another. The name Cain still lives as a synonym for hate and violence. The time would come when Adam and Eve would be blessed with another son named Seth. But now, over the fresh grave of Abel….the cries of Eve speak for all her daughters. What would she pray? The Bible does not say. One daughter of Eve who lives in our times suggests that Eve’s prayer would sound like this…
EVE: Oh God! Why? Why did you let this happen? You control the rising of the sun and the greening of the earth. Could you not also control the anger of my firstborn. Is this what knowing good and evil means? Is this the knowledge I craved in the garden? Oh for the simplicity of innocence! Oh to be ignorant of evil! Oh Lord! How long will you stay angry with me? Eden was a lifetime ago! Both my sons are lost to me! Cain’s hands are red with the blood of his brother. Abel’s eyes are closed in the depths of an early grave. Forgive me, God – for I am your last creation and would claim again your closeness, your friendship. I know you care about all of your creation. Every flower has the right amount of petals; every tree has just enough roots; every night sky has the perfect number of stars. Make me complete, too — for I feel so alone. I have no mother, no sister, no father but you, God. And now I have no children – no warmth of a suckling infant; no music of childish laughter; no tiny fingers wrapped around mine. Take pity on me. Oh great Creator and Father, FILL MY WOMB AGAIN! Let my heart sing—like the twilight cooing of turtle doves in my lovely, lost Eden.
NARRATOR: And the Bible says, “…and [Eve] gave birth to a son and named him Seth, for she said `God has *[appointed] me another offspring in the place of Abel.’”[Genesis 4:25]