The Voice of Thy Wife
“Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife ...”
By Walter Giddings
January 11, 2026
Reference Scripture: Genesis 3:17
(Proverbs 30:20). In our previous Lesson, Eve’s Story, we drew, from Genesis chapter 4, the thrilling Story of Eve’s triumph over her greatest Enemy! Is it an even greater Foe than those of our own Household, and greater still than Satan and all his unholy Horde? And they are Formidable! Is our greatest Enemy our own Carnal Nature? Pastor Jerry of Christian Reform Fellowship consistently preached “our Flesh hates God!” This Story of Eve’s Triumph plays out for 130 years! The corresponding Triumph is Adam’s Love for his wife that kept him ready to Raise Up a Cover for her to run under! To begin the story [Genesis 4:1-2] we began in Proverbs 30:20 to compare the way of an adulterous woman with Eve’s behavior in the 1st 2 Verses.
20 Such is the way of an adulterous
woman; she eateth, and wipeth her
mouth, and saith, I have done no
wickedness.
Proverbs chapter thirty.
“I have done no wickedness.” Is Sin that blinding? Is “an adulterous woman” deceived?!!! We compared “the way of an adulterous woman” with Eve’s behavior in Genesis 4:1-2:
c And Adam knew Eve his wife; and
she conceived, and bare Cain, and
said, I have gotten a man from the
LORD.
p 2 And she again bare his brother
Abel. And Abel was a keeper of
sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the
ground.
“Eve ... said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.” We noticed, in our last Lesson, Eve did not say the same thing about Abel! Does Eve favor Cain here? Did Adam and Eve fight over the kids? Did Eve aggressively sponsor Cain’s presence at the Sacrifice? Did The LORD God, The God of The Bible, intervene at The Sacrifice to Cain’s public embarrassment?
(Genesis 4:25). Does Eve say the opposite of what she said in Verses 1-2?
25 And Adam knew Eve his wife again;
and she bare a son, and called his name
Seth: For God, said she, hast appointed
me another seed, instead of Abel, whom
Cain slew.
Genesis chapter four.
Does Verse 25 say “instead of Cain”? Or does Verse 25 read “instead of Abel whom Cain slew”? In Genesis 4, verses 1-2 and 25 we have a total of 4 sentences. Is The LORD God, The God of the Bible, our Heavenly Father, a God of few words? How can anyone say so much in so few words?! In three Verses comprising four sentences we have Eve’s Story! From her Sin to her triumphant walk in repentance, God tells Eve’s Story in startling brevity! Who, in our world, writes like this?
We turn to our signature Scripture, Genesis 3:17
17 And unto Adam he said, Because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice
of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree,
of which I commanded thee, saying,
thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the
ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt
thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Genesis chapter three.
“Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife”
On July 4th, 1982, at the age of 37, I returned to The Bible! On October 12th, 1986, I was co-buried into Jesus’ death by Baptism. In the 1st month of the year 2025 I turned 80. After countless Studies of these Scriptures, for the 1st time ever, the thought occurred to me to ask two Questions about Genesis 3:17.
(1) What on God’s Green Earth did she say to her husband Adam?!!! and,
(2) Why does the Holy Spirit seem to expect we know what she said?!!!
To any, who might think these Questions are unimportant, consider this:
Whatever she said induced her husband to eat the forbidden fruit! Adam “hearkened unto the voice of” his wife! In eating, he abdicated the Throne of Dominion! He fell from Immortality unto Mortality and lost the ability to “subdue the earth”! “The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil” came into “the heavens and the earth which are now”! [2 Peter 3:7]. That Rebel Angel and all his Unholy Horde became the small “g” gods of this world! [2 Corinthians 4:3-4]. And it is still that way!
Our Heavenly Father, the LORD God, still pursues us, as He did Adam and Eve, seeking to draw us unto His 1st born Son of the Resurrection to make the switch back to The Tree of Life!!! Is The Great Sorrow of this life too few of us have any interest in Matters of Eternal Importance?! What happens to us “before the Judgment Seat of Christ” if we have failed to make the Switch Back to The Tree of Life? With The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil still in the world today, how important is it every wife in Adam knows what not to say to her husband! Ever! How important is it that every Husband in Adam know what his wife should not say to her husband? Ever!
Would any of our Sisters like to tell us what Eve said to her husband when Adam found her “in the Transgression”? Gentlemen, what about you?
Where are The Scriptures that point us to what Eve said?
(Scroll back to Genesis 3:13). Should we consider the woman’s Confession unto the LORD God?
13 And the LORD God said unto the
woman, What is this that thou hast
done? And the woman said, The
serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Genesis chapter three.
“The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” Does the Great I Am God of the Bible want His Family back? Has He ever forsaken us? Or did we forsake Him in Adam’s Transgression? “In Adam’s Fall we sinned all.” [The 1777 New England Primer] Is the whole reason for The Library of Books we call The Bible the outright Rescue of God’s Family called Adamkind? Are these Books all about God’s estranged Family and His Relationship with them called Covenants?
November 2025, I told Pastor Don I was working on the Question, “What on God’s green earth did Adam’s Wife say to her Husband [Genesis 3:17] to get him to eat the forbidden fruit with her?! He expressed enthusiasm at the possibility of The Lesson! And, the 2nd Question, why does the Holy Spirit, in these few words, seem to expect us to know what she said?!! Even though I had faith The Scriptures witnessed to what Eve said, I had no idea where to go!!! I got cold feet!!!
The thought occurred to me, maybe I was not the one God wanted to herald this, Lesson. To test this, I posed both Questions to an Elder in the Faith, brother Harrison. My proposition to him was to dump both Questions in the lap of the Congregation and let them wrestle with them. He told me criticizing the American Pulpit for its lack of preaching this matter, without so much as offering a Solution, right, wrong, or even incomplete, showed an utter lack of class, and showed disrespect to the Hearers of The Word !!! I was shocked! I had not considered that! On the way home I thanked Harrison, as a brother and a true friend, for saying the hard things to me, and kept me from troubling The Congregation. I could attempt to be part of the Solution instead of part of the Problem! But, still, I had no idea where to find The Scriptures! I got frostbite!!!
But still, it is hard for any man to admit he is clueless. So, desperately, I tried two more times, posing both Questions to two Elders, Chuck and Alan. They both said the same thing: Coverture! “She is trying to get back under Her Husband’s Cover and get Him to fix The Problem.” Immediately I searched this Lesson to see if I had cited any of the Coverture Scriptures! (1 Corinthians 11:3-16). And I found the citation (1 Corinthians 11:10) right before we took up Genesis 3:17 and our 2 Questions, where we read “For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.” Looking square at it, I had missed it!!!
There Eve and Adam were, in this awesome moment of undescribed Time! She was “in the transgression” and Adam was still the small “g” “god of this world”! What was it like for Adam to know there was “a great gulf fixed” between him and his Beloved, perhaps, as great as the gulf fixed between Lazarus and the rich man [Luke 16:26]?! What is it like for a husband, when he develops an interest in matters of Eternal Importance, when he comes to understand he cannot save his wife?!
And, if we think a husband would not die for his wife’s sake, we might consider this news story about a couple, having eaten at a Chicago restaurant in the 1970’s, making a fateful decision to take a shortcut. Instead of walking a block west to take the overpass, they crossed the tracks of the switching yard. The engineer, spotting people crossing the tracks, hit the brakes, reversed, and laid incessantly on the diesel Horn. Panicking at the sound of the arriving train, the combined metallic screeching of the reversal and the brakes, and the alarmed blasting of the diesel Horn, the couple who had been cautiously negotiating the rails and the ties broke into a run! The wife, following the fashion trends of the day, was wearing impossibly long spike heels cross laced all the way up to her knees. In their haste one of the woman’s heels sank to her ankle wedged between rail and tie. A complete stranger who had also eaten at the restaurant leaped to help them. Witnesses at a distance screamed helplessly for them to rescue the woman, now brightly spotlighted in the headlamp of the Engine. The Train could not stop! The two men failed to free her in time! All three died instantly! In their interviews the Witnesses marveled. Not only did the husband refuse to let his wife die, but the stranger also refused to let the woman die. The story made national news and was a sensation all over America.
Two men chose death rather than to let a woman die by train on their watch! If even a complete stranger would choose death over letting a woman die on his watch, what would a husband be willing to do for his wife?!!!
What did Adam become willing to do?!!! Could he save her? What happened when the Woman discovered that her Cover Adam was powerless to prevent her from suffering the consequences of her Act!The Serpent lied! He had said, “Thou shalt not surely die”!!! Her Husband was living forever. She was beginning to die. Is that a lot to take in, in one gulp?!
Before time rolled on into the Twentieth Century, in the late 1800’s, we have this story about how the families of the Remnant Churches conducted premarital Counseling. The daughters were taught, when God gave her the husband of His approval, she was never to say one thing to her Husband! Ever! “Prove you really love me: break one of God’s little laws for me!” The sons were also taught to never say one thing to the wives God had given to them. Ever! “When, as the Head of the Household, you make a decision, and the family has to suffer your bad choice, remember the buck stops with you!!! (1 Corinthians 11:3).
3 But I would have you know that
the head of every man is Christ;
and the head of the woman is the
man; and the head of Christ is God.
First Corinthians chapter eleven.
“The head of the woman is the man.” Gentlemen, “Your head is Christ, not the woman. Do not tell her she is to blame!!! Ever!
And what did Adam do with that Headship in that indescribable moment of Time? When the Woman knew of a certainty that Adam was unable to save her from the consequences, she was enduring for running out from under Her Husband’s Cover, how deep was that Grief between them?! What did she ask him to do? What does this Scripture, Genesis 3:6, directly say? [The pertinent part is on the screen] Let us read in unison this pertinent part:
(6) … and gave also unto her hus-
band with her, and he did eat.
Genesis chapter three.
What put the warm socks on my feet, to bring this Lesson, is this thought that occurred to me: find other marriages in The Bible where the husband and wife fought over the kids. Did Abraham and Sarah differ strongly on how to handle the children Ishmael and Isaac? (1 Peter 3:5-6). Did Sarah do what Eve did? Or did she obey Abraham?
p 5 For after this manner in the old
time the holy women also, who trus-
ted in God, adorned themselves, be-
ing in subjection unto their own
husbands:
c 6 Even as Sara obeyed Abraham,
calling him lord: whose daughters
ye are, as long as ye do well, and are
not afraid with any amazement.
First Peter chapter three.
Verse 5 begs the Question: With what did “the holy women” adorn themselves? Did they adorn themselves with “being in subjection unto their own husbands”?
Verse 6: “As long as ye do well.” Is the best Commentary on the Old Testament Scriptures, the Scriptures of the New Testament? Does it seem clear to us that the Apostle Peter saw Sara as doing well?
(Genesis 16:3-5). In Genesis 16 we find Sarai, Abram’s wife, closing the deal with her Husband to have a child by surrogate, Hagar, her Egyptian handmaid.
c 3 And Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Ha-
gar her maid the Egyptian after Ab-
ram had dwelt ten years in the land
of Canaan, and gave her to her hus-
band Abram to be his wife.
p 4 And he went in unto Hagar, and
she conceived: and when she saw
that she had conceived, her mistress
was despised in her eyes.
c 5 And Sarai said unto Abram, my
wrong be upon thee: I have given
my maid into thy bosom; and when
she saw that she had conceived, I
was despised in her eyes: the LORD
judge between me and thee.
Genesis chapter sixteen.
“My wrong be upon thee.” What did Sarai mean by that?! Was she shifting the blame to her Husband? Or was she appealing to something?
What did Sarai see as her “wrong”? Is her “wrong” in Verse three?“And gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife”? How would a man openly practicing polygamy today be viewed in our Remnant Churches? Would the Elders have him leave the Assembly? Would our wives want that man in our Congregation today? Did Abram having two wives, 10 years into sojourning in Canaan, create more problems than it solved? Problem then? Problem now?
My wife Maggie is now with her 1st and Eternal Husband Jesus Christ. Growing up in Family taught me women understand women much better than men do! When Maggie had discernment concerning a sister in The Faith, I listened. Her take on things was a Blessing to my Headship.
What did Sarai mean when she said, “My wrong be upon thee.” [Our wives may communicate with their husbands in the Pews. And if a husband is so inspired he may rise to be recognized by The Pulpit/Podium].
And why (!) on God’s green earth did Hagar choose to despise her Mistress?! Do we have any screenwriters with us in Assembly today? Could imagination supply us with some juicy dialogue from Life Experience? [What a man that Abram! First time he goes in unto me: Bang, Boom, Zowie!! I am with child!!! No problem with that man! The Problem is with you, girl!]
Do we have any former Pyromaniacs with us in Assembly today? Perhaps you can give us some idea what it is like to throw a gas can into a smoldering dumpster fire, retire to a safe distance away, and be thrilled from the hair roots to the toenails by what happens! Do we have two women doing stupid sheep stuff? We men are not immune from that either!!
What did Sarai mean, when she said to Abram, “The LORD judge between me and thee.”? To what was Sarai appealing?
Did Sarai appeal to her Cover, all the way from The LORD God unto her husband Abram?
More dialogue from the Screenwriter: [You ratified my wrong: now you can fix it!]. Can we see how The God of our Fathers is, as The Capital “A” Author, the Master of Brevity? Our Heavenly Father says so much in the fewest possible words!
In Genesis 21, we learn that Ishmael inherited. But he did not inherit with Isaac! Did Sarah display resentment toward her Husband Abraham for hearkening unto the voice of his Wife in the matter of Hagar? Did Sarah blame Abraham on the matter of Hagar? Or, did she say, “My wrong”? Were Abraham and Sarah clearly aware of what occurred in The Garden of Eden, and all the consequences following “Adam’s Fall”?
Did Eve grow to resent Adam for hearkening unto her voice in the matter of eating the Forbidden Fruit? Did she blame her Husband for Abel’s assassination?
Do Marriages break up over a lot less? Did Eve run out from under her Husband’s Cover? Did Sarah remain under her Husband’s Cover? Did it take at least 100 years for Adam to beget Seth?
Isaac preferred Esau. Rebekah preferred Jacob. She masterminded Jacob to deceive his Father Isaac. (Genesis 27:33). What did Isaac do when he discovered that Jacob had deceived him? And Jacob had received the Blessing of the 1st born, instead of Esau! Should Isaac have been outraged over Esau being defrauded out of his Blessing?!!!
33 And Isaac trembled very exceed-
ingly, and said, Who? Where is he
that hath taken venison, and brought
it me, and I have eaten of all before
thou camest, and have blessed him?
yea, and he shall be blessed.
“Yea, and he shall be blessed.” Did Rebekah conspire with her younger Twin Jacob to deceive, or trick her Husband Isaac, and defraud Esau of The Blessing of the 1st Born Son? We, just now, shared the recitation of Verse 33 telling us Isaac knew he had been tricked!!!
Since The Birth of America, American Law has operated on the basic Axiom that whenever Fraud is proven to exist in any Transaction, “Fraud vitiates everything!” What was going on in Isaac’s mind? How long did it take Isaac to know that Jacob could not have done all this without Help(!), and that his Wife Rebekah had conspired with Jacob to trick him? And what was going on in Rebekah’s mind that it was so paramount that Jacob receive The Blessing that she would operate against the Wish of her Husband?
Can The Scriptures shine Light on some of our Questions? (In Genesis 27:34-35). Let’s do Verses 34 and 35 responsively.
p 34 And when Esau heard the words
of his father, he cried with an exceed-
ingly bitter cry, and said unto his
father, Bless me, even me also O my
father.
c 35 And he said, Thy brother came
with subtilty, and hath taken away
thy blessing.
Verse 35: “Thy brother came with subtilty,” Is the word “subtilty” also used in connection with what The Serpent did with Eve? Do these words sound familiar? “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” [2 Corinthians 11:3]. Did Adam, in the Fallen Condition, become more easily deceivable? And look at this 2nd Contextual Witness in Verse 35: “and hath taken away thy blessing.” Is this Isaac’s 2nd Mention The Blessing is gone to Jacob?!!! Is there some kind of Higher Law in operation here that precludes Esau from having Recourse and Remedy? What would that Higher Law be?
(Genesis 27:45). We discover in this Chapter Esau hated Jacob, his twin, because of the Blessing with which his Father blessed him, and purposed to kill his brother after Isaac’s death! Rebekah heard of it, and told Jacob, “Obey my voice,” and flee to Laban, and stay a few days until Esau’s fury passes.
45 Until thy brother’s anger turn a-
way from thee, and he forget that
which thou hast done to him: then
I will send and fetch thee from then-
ce: why should I be deprived also
of you both in one day?
“Why should I be deprived also of you both in one day?” What did Rebekah mean by this? Did she love both her sons? If she loved them both, why then would she conspire against her eldest to favour the younger? Did she want them both to do well? (Verse 46). The next conversation, recorded in The Scriptures, that Rebekah had with her Husband Isaac is in Verse 46:
46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am
weary of my life because of the
daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a
wife of the daughters of Heth, such
as these which are of the daughters
of the land, what good shall my life
do me?
Genesis chapter twenty-seven.
“What good shall my life do me?” This is The Last Verse of Genesis 27! The only part of the Conversation Rebekah and Isaac had at this time together, that is reported, is what Rebekah said to her Husband about their children! This is also the 1st mention of what they talked about, following Jacob taking away Esau’s blessing! Do we recall what action Isaac took, following their discussion of family matters? (Genesis 28:1). As Patriarch of the Family, what did Isaac command his son Jacob to do?
And Isaac called Jacob, and bless-
ed him, and charged him, and said
unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife
of the daughters of Canaan.
“Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan”(!!!) Did Isaac hear his Wife and take immediate action?! (Verse 2). Did Rebekah forbear to tell her Husband what she knew of Esau’s intent to slay his brother after his father’s death? Did she succeed in getting Isaac to command Jacob to be a healthy distance away from his twin brother?!
p 2 Arise, go to Padanaram, to the
house of Bethuel, thy mother’s fa-
ther, and take thee a wife from
thence of the daughters of Laban
thy mother’s brother.
Genesis chapter twenty-eight.
“Take thee a wife from thence.” [To remain in remembrance: Aram, as in Padanaram, and his descendants, spoke and wrote in the Aramaic Language!] Tarrying a few days with Laban turned into 20 years and is known to disciples of The Bible as “the time of Jacob’s Trouble” and is supposed to occur again at the End of the Age as a time of trouble unprecedented in History since the Fall of Adam!
Since 1986, I have from time to time heard criticism of Rebekah’s successful attempt to thwart her Husband’s Wish in the matter of The Blessing of Esau. This leads us to our two unanswered Questions:
(1) Why did Isaac so readily accept that Blessing had gone to Jacob, despite the appearance of fraud and deceit!
(2) And why did Rebekah champion her younger twin son to take Esau’s Blessing by “subtilty”?
Could it be there was Higher Law in operation here? And, if so, what was that Higher Law? Could that Higher Law be The Law of Prophecy? “For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil ... it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” [Romans 9:11-13]. Where do we find that “written”? (Genesis 25:22-23). Do we recall that Isaac married Rebekah when he was forty years old? Were The Twins born to Isaac when he was 60 years of age? Was Rebekah, who was to become, according to The Blessing given her from her own Family, “the mother of thousands of millions” and that “thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them” [Genesis 24:60], was She, childless for 20 years?!
p 22 And the children struggled toge-
ther within her; and she said, If it
be so, why am I thus? And she
went to enquire of the LORD.
c 23 And the LORD said unto her,
Two nations are in thy womb, and
two manner of people shall be sepa-
rated from thy bowels; and the one
people shall be stronger than the
other people; and the elder shall
serve the younger.
Genesis chapter twenty-five.
“And the elder shall serve the younger.” When, and where, has anyone of God’s Prophecies failed?!!! Would The Law of Prophecy be Higher Law? Did Rebekah ever run out from under Her Husband’s Cover? Or did Isaac respond to Rebekah’s despair, and as Head of the Household take decisive action? Were both Isaac and Rebekah thoroughly acquainted with Eve’s Story? Were they thoroughly acquainted with the consequences of Eve running out from under her Cover, instead of running under Her Husband’s Cover?
We conclude with Genesis 3:17. Is the whole Purpose our Signature Scripture was written, to afford every man and every woman in Adamkind an opportunity to imagine themselves as Adam or Eve, in that indescribable Time when She was “in the Transgression” and He found her?!
If my wife had been Eve, and if I had been Adam, what would I have done?!! What if she was weeping uncontrollably, and blurted out in total desperation, “Walter, (adam), please don’t leave me here all alone like this!!!? What do you predict I would have done? On this side of Life, it is an awful and awesome moment, when a man confronts who and what he is.
Bibliography
Genesis 3:17 “Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife ...”
Proverbs 30:20. “the way of an adulterous woman”
Genesis 4:1-2. “I have gotten a man from the LORD”
Genesis 4:25. “...instead of Abel whom Cain slew.”
Genesis 3:17. “... I commanded thee, saying, thou shalt not eat of it ...”
2 Questions about Genesis 3:17:
[2 Peter 3:7] “the heavens and the earth which are now”
Genesis 3:13. the woman’s confession unto the LORD God.
[The 1777 New England Primer] “In Adam’s Fall we sinned all.”
[1 Corinthians 11:3-16] Coverture Scriptures
(1 Corinthians 11:10). “because of the angels”
[Luke 16:26] “a great gulf fixed”
(1 Corinthians 11:3). “The head of the woman is the man”
Genesis 3:6, (in pertinent part).
1 Peter 3:5-6. “Sarah obeyed Abraham”
Genesis 16:3-5. “my wrong be upon thee”
[Genesis 21] Ishmael did not inherit with Isaac.
Genesis 27:33. “yea, and he shall be blessed.”
Genesis 27:34-35. “Thy brother ... hath taken away thy blessing.”
Genesis 27:45. “why should I be deprived also of you both in one day?”
Genesis 27:46. “what good shall my life do me?”
Genesis 28:1. “Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.”
Genesis 28:2. “Take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban”
[Romans 9:11-13] “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated”
[Genesis 24:60] “the mother of thousands of millions”
Genesis 25:22-23. “and the elder shall serve the younger”
Genesis 3:17. If my wife had been Eve, and I had been Adam, what would I have done?!!!
