Genesis 3
The Man and Woman Sin
1) "The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, 'Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?' "
Shrewd- having or showing sharp powers of judgement; piercingly cold. So the serpent was cold, sharp, and cunning. Also, it is never stated that animals could all talk, but this one spoke to the woman and it doesn't say that she was shocked that it happened. So I just assume that it was normal. Either way, he asks the woman a very interesting question. He doesn't ask her about the specific tree that he knows she can't eat of. He asks about all the trees. The serpent, being embodied by Satan, tries to trip up the woman by asking her something to get her thinking maybe she didn't hear God right. Maybe she was mistaken and it will be ok.
2) " 'Of course we may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden,' the woman replied. 3) 'It's only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, 'You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do you will die.' "
So the woman tells the serpent that it's just the one tree in the middle they can't eat. This shows that she knew exactly what God said to them. She knows God said they would die if they ate or touched it.
4) " 'You won't die!' the serpent replied to the woman. 5) 'God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.' "
I imagine the serpent laughing, "Oh you silly girl! You're not going to DIE! That's just ridiculous! God doesn't want you to know what He knows or be like Him. That's why He told you not to eat it." Satan is slick. Even though sin had not yet entered the world, he knew the woman had free will and all he had to do was give her enough temptation to make her faith shake. We always want what someone says we can't have. Don't touch that! We get burned. The history of man has always wanted what God said was not good for him.
6) "The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too."
That little bit of temptation from Satan was all it took for her to take her eyes and heart from God and look at the tree. She saw how beautiful and delicious it looked. I doubt the tree looked much different from the others, but at that moment it was the one thing she wanted more than anything. She had to have what she thought it would give her; and she took it. Some people like to think that the man ate the fruit without knowing, but this shows that isn't the case. He was with her. He knew what it was. He knew what he was doing.
7) "At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves."
The moment they ate the fruit they felt shame. That was it. Until then, they knew nothing of nakedness. They lived each day only to please God. Now, they had sinned. They had believed they knew better than their creator. Their eyes were opened as the serpent had said, but it didn't feel good. It was shameful. They had to cover themselves. When we sin, we often want to cover it up so no one knows. Satan promises good feelings and fun. But it is so often short-lived and after we feel guilt, shame, and regret.
8) "When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees."
Evening comes and God is walking around in the garden looking for his creation, but they are hiding from Him. To them, they no longer deserved God's love and I imagine they feared that He was going to come and kill them, as He said they would die. Once again, they misjudged God. God made them because He loved them. He loves us.
9) "Then the Lord God called to the man, 'Where are you?' 10) He replied, 'I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.' 11) 'Who told you that you were naked?' the Lord God asked. 'Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?' "
God calls for the man, knowing full well where he was. God knows everything. Yet sometimes, He calls for us because we are straying from Him. He wants us to realize we are lost. The man tells God he hid from him because he was naked and he was scared. Again, God already knows why the man knows he's naked, but He asks him if he ate the fruit. God wants him to admit what he did.
12) "The man replied, 'It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.' "
Here comes sin number 2...blame. The man didn't want to be in trouble so he blames the woman. "It wasn't my fault!" I laugh when he says "this woman YOU gave me". Just a few verses ago Adam was praising this 'bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh', now she's "the woman you gave me". Like, "I didn't ask for her!".
13) "The the Lord God asked the woman, 'What have you done?' 'The serpent deceived me, ' she replied. 'That's why I ate it.' "
More blame. Man blames woman; woman blames the serpent.
14) "Then the Lord God said to the serpent, 'Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. 15) And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.' "
There is a lot to unpack here. God tells the serpent that now he will crawl on his belly and live on the ground. Did snakes walk up to that point?! I shutter to think! Now they will be considered the lowest of the low. The next verses take on a literal as well as a prophetic meaning. Woman and humans in general don't really like snakes. They bite. They're poisonous. We are generally afraid of them. Not only will this hostility be with the animal form of serpents, but with Satan himself as well. The offspring of this woman will bring forth the Messiah someday, and He is the one who will strike Satan's head, even though Satan strikes His heel. All the way at the beginning when sin entered the world, God already had a plan in place to rid the world of Satan. God cares about us all so much He didn't let us just from our sin. He still wanted us to be with Him someday. His plan will take thousands of years to complete, but God's timing is perfect!
16) "Then He said to the woman, 'I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.'
Imagine no pain in childbirth. It's impossible. Had sin never come to the world, it would have been the normal way. So much was changed because of sin. Sin changes us every time we choose it. God also says women will wish to control their husbands. Wow this is so true especially today. Submission to our husbands is something many women struggle with and even don't believe in. However, this is the way that it is, and it would've been something that was natural had there been no sin.
17) "And to the man He said, 'Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. 18) It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. 19) By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.' "
So now to the man God says the ground will now not easily yield its crops. He will have to sweat and work very hard to earn anything from it. It will be thorny and hard to manage. It will still produce food, but not without lots of hard work. Then, God tells them that one day they will return to the very ground from which they were made. "Dust to dust."
Paradise Lost:God's Judgement
20-24) The the man-Adam- named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all who live. And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife. The the Lord God said, "Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!" So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. After sending them out, the Lord God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden. And He placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Adam and Eve (the mother of all) receive clothing from God made from animal skins. This is the first sacrifice of sorts. The animals were used to cover the nakedness of the man and woman, as the blood of Christ covers our sins. Then God speaks as His triunity once again, stating that if they take of the tree of life they would live forever as sinful humans. He decides this can't happen, so He sends them out of the garden and tells Adam to cultivate the land. God places mighty cherubim to protect Eden. These are mighty angels from heaven. He places a flaming sword to protect the tree of life.
So now Adam and Eve have to leave this perfect place. They are set out into an unknown land to cultivate it and live there. They can never again return to the place where God walked with them. Sin has ruined a perfect creation. Sin always chips away at our relationship with God. He will always love us the same, but we change. Once we sin, we have guilt and shame. We fell not good enough and strive to find things to make us feel better, when all along all we needed was God.
-Til next time
Heather
Add comment
Comments