Genesis 3:1-24 • The fall of man
- Steve Schott
- 6 days ago
- 7 min read
Gen 3:1-24 → 1Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” 4The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
• The saying "all good things must come to an end" certainly apply to our creation story. In the Biblical text, we've just experienced the joy and majesty and glory of all the creative work performed by God, but now man is going to ruin the party.
• The "serpent", literally a snake' and a talking one at that, put in the woman's mind a doubt of God's command. "Has God said..." were the words in used to introduce that doubt, but then he also correctly repeated God's word.
• The woman correctly responds with God's admonition "you shall not eat", but then for some reason adds the tag line "or touch it". Don't remember God saying that. It's probably implied, in the simple idea that if you don't want to accidently fire that hand gun, you probably shouldn't pick it up. But that part was NOT commanded.
• She did correctly reply with God's dire warning "or you will die". Not that she had at that point any idea exactly what it meant to die, having never experienced death.
• Then the serpent, who we know to be Satan (or at least possessed by Satan) from Revelation 12:9 and 20:2, refutes that condemnation making his multipart claim that, 1) "you surely will not die", and 2) "your eyes will be opened", and 3) "you will be like God, knowing good and evil".
6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
• We have no way of telling for sure how much time has gone by since the man and woman were created by God, but it's still amazing to me, that someone in such a perfect state, even when God was still walking around in the garden, would have the audacity and/or stupidity to go so blatantly against the one specific directive given to them by God.
• We already know that the tree was "good for food" and a "delight to the eyes" (Gen 2:9), but how in the world does she determine that becoming "wise" in the ways of right and wrong is her privilege?
• And she didn't just corrupt herself; she put it upon her husband to do the same. HOW COULD THEY BE SO STUPID!!!!! (Yes, I'm yelling!)
• The text says their "eyes... were opened". I bet they were. I bet they both instantly knew they had made a mistake. I can understand. I've made choices I regretted almost immediately several times, but this one is the worst!
• Right out of the box, now all of a sudden they are ashamed about being naked.
8They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” 11And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
• So here He comes. The LORD God (YHWH Elohim), I believe the preincarnate Jesus Christ, walking in the garden. If you had planted a beautiful garden, wouldn't you want to walk in it also?
• The man and woman are hiding. As if you could hide from God. God calls to Adam "where are you?" as if He doesn't already know.
• Adam responds by saying he hid because he was afraid because he was naked. I'm thinking he's probably really afraid because he knows that God knows that he disobeyed.
• God responds by asking Adam two questions that He already knows the answers to...
1 → "Who told you that you were naked?"
2 → "Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"
• Adam responds by blaming the woman.
13Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
• The woman responds by to God's query by blaming the serpent.
• God responds to the serpent by cursing him. "On your belly you will go..." leads one to believe that up to this point the serpent/snake possibly didn't lay on the ground (legs perhaps?) but now would do so forever.
• He also prophesied the enmity with, and crushing defeat delivered by, the "seed" of the woman, whom theologians will tell you is Jesus Christ, who at His 1st coming defeated the serpent/snake/Satan at the cross and resurrection, and will carry out their final sentencing at His 2nd coming.
• God responds to the woman by increasing her pain at childbirth (we have to assume that she hasn't had any children yet as it would create a theological quagmire if their kids were still sinless, while they were under sin).
• He also states that while her desire will be for her husband, yet she will be subject to him moving forward. Some commentators talk about the woman's desire to be that of controlling her husband, thus a new conflict in their partnership where now they will struggle with the value and/or primacy of their roles toward each other.
17Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;
• God responds to Adam by telling him that in essence, he's going to have to work his butt off for the rest of his life to put food on the table, and then he will die.
20Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. 21The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
• So now Adam gives his woman a name, Eve, which means "life" or "living", which is really ironic since they are both now condemned to death.
• And God replaces their fig leaf clothing with "garments of skin", the implication being that some animal had to die to provide the skin. So even though the man and woman didn't die right away, something else did.
22Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— 23therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. 24So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
• So now God banishes Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, to keep them from eating from the tree of life and living forever in a state of sin. Not a happy picture. If I saw this in a movie theater, I'd ask for my money back - how depressing!
• What we can learn from this passage is that God is serious about sin. It's unacceptable always.
• While we don't receive death instantly, we will receive it inevitably. It's unavoidable always.
• While we can't fix the problem ourselves, we've been promised that God's Seed (Jesus) will fix it for us. It's undeserved always - BUT it's always available to those who put their trust in Jesus.
Photo → 8/3/2018 • Some rocks at Dehy Park, Independence, CA, under which are the ashes of my sister Patti.
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