Genesis 3:8

CONCEALMENT FROM GOD IMPOSSIBLE

‘Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.’

Genesis 3:8

I. That which strikes us first of all is, that Adam represents the average sinner.—A man may do worse than Adam. Many men have done and do worse than hide themselves from God after outraging Him by sin. Adam’s conduct proves that the sense of God’s presence, awfulness, greatness, was still intact in his soul.

II. ‘They hid themselves.’—It was not the result of a consultation: it was an instinct. Two motives would concurrently have determined the action of Adam. (1) Fear. God’s greatness was now the measure of the terror of the creature who had dared to disobey Him. (2) Shame. Adam had felt a fear of God in his unfallen life which differed from the cowering fear of his guilty conscience much as a healthy circulation of the blood might differ from the pulse of fever. But shame was an absolutely new thing, unlike any other capacity or experience in himself with which our first father had been previously acquainted. As the greatness of God was the measure of Adam’s fear, so his own lost greatness was the measure of Adam’s shame.

III. ‘Amongst the trees of the garden.’—The trees beneath the shade of which the human soul seeks refuge from its God are: (1) pleasure; (2) occupation; (3) moral rationalism.

IV. We have no difficulty in characterising this act of Adam as foolish and irrational. It was so: (1) because it was to attempt the impossible; and (2) because it was to fly from the one hope and opening for restoration and safety.

Canon Liddon.

Illustration

(1) ‘The soul has many hiding-places. There are: (1) The hiding-place of self-complacent propriety; (2) the hiding-place of the reasoner; (3) the hiding-place of theological dogmas. But the true hiding-place for the soul is Jesus.’

(2) ‘The disturbed relation with God, which is presented in the highly symbolical form fitting for early ages, is as true and impressive for the twentieth century as for them. Sin broke familiar communion with God, turned Him into a ‘fear and a dread,’ and sent the guilty pair into ambush. Is not that deeply and perpetually true? The sun seen through mists becomes a lurid ball of scowling fire. The impulse is to hide from God, or to get rid of thoughts of Him. And when He is felt to be near, it is as a questioner, bringing sin to mind. The shuffling excuses, which venture even to throw the blame of sin on God (“the woman whom Thou gavest me”), or which try to palliate it as a mistake (‘the serpent beguiled me’), have to come at last, however reluctantly, to confess that ‘I’ did the sin. Each has to say, “I did eat.” So shall we all have to do.’

(3) ‘Hideous feeling! There is no pain so horrible as that of wanting to hide from the eyes of those we love or respect. Who has not compressed immeasurable agony into a few such moments, when trying to avoid detection? I know quite well how Adam and Eve felt,—don’t you? But what must it be to live in such a state perpetually? Think of the men who are trying each day of life to “hide” from the eyes of their wives and their children; of the criminals who are trying to “hide” from the police; of the embezzlers who are trying to “hide” from their employers! A lifetime of happiness can never quite compensate for a day of such shame. But how beautiful to live an open life,—to live so that the sudden discovery that the eyes of the world were on you should not cause you a quiver!’