Lessons on the Plan of Salvation
Lesson No. Twenty-One

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden

The account of the Garden of Eden is a masterful blend of both the literal and figurative –     “The account of the Garden of Eden, like the temple ceremony, combines a rich blend of both figurative and literal.  Our temples are real, the priesthood is real, the covenants we enter into are real, and the blessings we are promised by obedience are real; yet the teaching device may be metaphorical.  We are as actors on a stage.  We role-play and imagine.  We do not actually advance from one world to another in the temple, but rather are taught with figurative representations of what can and will be” (The Man Adam, edited by Joseph Fielding McConkie and Robert L. Millet.  Following quotes are from this book unless otherwise noted). 

Eve was not formed from Adam’s rib – “God formed man from the dust of the ground” (Moses 3:7, Abraham 5:7).  This is a sacred metaphor describing the process of physical birth.  Likewise, a sacred metaphor describes the birth of Eve: “And the rib which I, the Lord God, had taken from man, made I a woman, and brought her unto the man” (Moses 3:22).

“The imagery used to veil the account of Eve’s birth is most beautiful, particularly so in a day when there is so much confusion about the role of women.  Symbolically, she was not taken from the bones of Adam’s head nor from the bones of his heel, for it is not the place of woman to be either above the man or beneath him.  Her place is at his side, and so she is taken, in the figurative sense, from his rib – the bone that girds the side and rests closest to the heart.  Thus we find Adam declaring:  ‘This I know now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man’ (Moses 3:23).  Eve, unlike the rest of God’s creations, was of Adam’s bone and of his flesh, meaning that she was equal to him in powers, faculties and rights” (p. 26).

Adam and Eve were married in the Garden of Eden – God placed Adam in the garden before Eve and declared:  “It was not good that the man should be alone” (Moses 3:18).  God announced that he would provide Adam with his foreordained consort, companion, and friend.  The following words of the Father are his preface to the doctrine of eternal marriage:

“I will make an help meet for him” (Moses 3:18; italics added) – not one word, but two, meaning the Lord would bring forth “a helper, aid, or partner” who was “suited to, worthy of, or corresponding to” Adam” (See footnote to Genesis 2:18).  Eve was the prepared companion who was suited to Adam and a full partner in both temporal and spiritual things” (p. 97).

 God “blessed them, and called their name Adam” (Moses 6:9).  Here we learn that the Father himself married Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  As Joseph Smith said this was an eternal marriage.  “Marriage was an institution of heaven, instituted in the Garden of Eden; it was necessary it should be solemnized by the authority of the everlasting Priesthood” (HC 2:320).

That God “called their name Adam” (Moses 6:9) indicates that Eve took the family name of Adam similar to how a wife takes her husband’s name today.  Adam was a name which Eve esteemed as one of honor and which represented Adam’s willingness to love, protect, and provide for her.  The taking of Adam’s name fully symbolized their perfect unity.  They were one in purpose and destiny, commanded to remain together forever.  They set the divine pattern for all of their righteous posterity.

Testimony – The more we understand the teachings about the Garden of Eden the greater our ability to understand the importance of marriage and the equality of men and women.