God having named the man, and called him Adam, which signifies red
earth, Adam, in further token of dominion, named the woman, and called
her Eve, that is, life. Adam bears the name of the dying body, Eve that
of the living soul. The reason of the name is here given (some think,
by Moses the historian, others, by Adam himself): Because she was (that
is, was to be) the mother of all living. He had before called her
Ishah--woman, as a wife; here he calls her Evah--life, as a mother.
Now, 1. If this was done by divine direction, it was an instance of
God's favour, and, like the new naming of Abraham and Sarah, it was a
seal of the covenant, and an assurance to them that, notwithstanding
their sin and his displeasure against them for it, he had not reversed
that blessing wherewith he had blessed them: Be fruitful and multiply.
It was likewise a confirmation of the promise now made, that the seed
of the woman, of this woman, should break the serpent's head. 2. If
Adam did it of himself, it was an instance of his faith in the word of
God. Doubtless it was not done, as some have suspected, in contempt or
defiance of the curse, but rather in a humble confidence and dependence
upon the blessing. (1.) The blessing of a reprieve, admiring the
patience of God, that he should spare such sinners to be the parents of
all living, and that he did not immediately shut up those fountains of
the human life and nature, because they could send forth no other than
polluted, poisoned, streams. (2.) The blessing of a Redeemer, the
promised seed, to whom Adam had an eye, in calling his wife Eve--life;
for he should be the life of all the living, and in him all the
families of the earth should be blessed, in hope of which he thus
triumphs.