CATASTROPHE IN THE GARDEN (3:1-24). Genesis 3:1 a ‘Now the snake was wiser than any creature that the Lord God had made.' The word for snake always refers to ordinary snakes in the Old Testament, with the exception of Isaiah 27:1 and possibly Amos 9:3. However these exceptions do show that the Isr... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the woman said to the snake, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But God has said ‘you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, nor shall you touch it, lest you die'.”.' The woman's conscience is struggling to be fair to God. But she cannot h... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the snake said to the woman, “You shall not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it then your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God knowing good and evil”.' The snake knows he has won. He now drops his mask. He no longer prevaricates but blatantly and with stress reveal... [ Continue Reading ]
‘So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate.' The woman clearly did not give way immediately. She contemplated the tre... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked, and they joined fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.' What a dreadful moment. Having eaten they suddenly became aware of their puniness, and their inadequacy, and that they could no longer face God because the... [ Continue Reading ]
Genesis 3:8 A ‘And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze (ruach - literally “‘in the wind of the day”)'. It may well be that they had communed with God each evening, and that the sound in the trees had indicated to them His presence. It would h... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” ' God speaks directly to the man. This is no vague call but a word spoken directly to the heart. God, of course, knew where he was, but He was making him face up to his present situation. He was giving him a chance to express hi... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he said, “I heard the sound of your presence in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.” ' How quickly the man gives himself away. The futile coverings that they had made had proved useless, as do all man's attempts to make himself acceptable to God. (‘Our righteous... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he (God) said, “Who has made you aware that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” ' The man, of course, had always known that he was physically naked, but that had been unimportant. This question goes deeper. There is something in the man... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.” ' What an accurate picture of a man suffused in guilt. He seeks to place the blame anywhere but on himself. ‘The woman --'. She is the one who is to blame. She gave it to me. ‘Whom you gave to be... [ Continue Reading ]
Genesis 3:13 A ‘Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” ' Only God really knew the answer to that question as He looked down the suffering of the ages, and saw finally the suffering of His own Son. He knew what she had done. But, although the woman may have been awa... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the Lord God said to the snake, “Because you have done this, cursed are you beyond all cattle, and beyond all wild animals. On your belly you will go, and dust will you eat all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will br... [ Continue Reading ]
‘To the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your pain, especially in childbearing, in pain you will produce children, and your desire shall be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” ' In Genesis 1 the producing of children is a duty, a privilege and a blessing, but now that duty, privile... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And to the man he said, “Because you have listened to your wife's voice, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you ‘you shall not eat of it', cursed is the ground because of you; in toil (pain) you shall eat of it all the days of your life, thorns and thistles it will produce for you, and... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.' The man recognises that God has shown mercy to him and that, in spite of all, life will therefore go on. And by revealing his willingness to carry out God's command to ‘be fruitful and multiply' (Genesis 1:28), he i... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife clothing made from skins and covered them.' God now makes clear their new position. They can no longer walk naked before him, for they have made themselves feel vulnerable, inadequate and ashamed. Thus they must be covered to give them a feeling of secur... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Then the Lord God said, “Look, the man has become like one of us knowing good and evil, and now, to prevent him from reaching out and taking also of the tree of life so that he might eat and live for ever ----” therefore the Lord God expelled him from the plain of Eden, to serve the ground from whi... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Therefore the Lord God expelled him from the plain of Eden to serve the ground from which he was taken.' Man not only loses the tree of life, but all the trees in the plain of Eden. He is sent out into a place where he must eat ‘herbs of the field', scrabbling among the weeds to obtain his food, a... [ Continue Reading ]
‘So he drove out the man, and at the east of the plain of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.' The verb is forceful - ‘He drove out'. This suggests some powerful catastrophe that made it impossible for man to stay where he w... [ Continue Reading ]