Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Ver. 1. _Now the serpent was more subtile, &c._] And so a more fit instrument of that old serpent the devil, that de... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:_ Ver. 2. _And the woman said unto the serpent._] Our first parents were not, in the state of innocency, silly and witless, like young children, as Socinians make them; but very knowing, though but of small exp... [ Continue Reading ]
But of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. Ver. 3. _Neither shall ye touch it._] This is of the woman's own addition, and of a good intention doubtless. For afterwards, when she had drunk in more... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:_ Ver. 4. _Ye shall not surely die._] He saith not, Dying ye shall not die, or, Surely ye shall not die; this had been too plain a contradiction to that word of God that had threatened assured death; but, Ye shall not die in dying; that... [ Continue Reading ]
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Ver. 5. _For God doth know, &c._] It should take care of itself because nothing is hidden with God. _Id quod cum Deum non lateat, sibi cavet._ _a_ It is remarkable that... [ Continue Reading ]
And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. Ver. 6. _And when the woman saw._] At this portal the d... [ Continue Reading ]
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they [were] naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. Ver. 7. _They knew that they were naked._] Bereft of God's blessed image; no more of it left than, as of one of Job's messengers, to bear witness of our great... [ Continue Reading ]
And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. Ver. 8. _And they heard the voice of the Lord._] Either speaking something by himself of that which Adam hat... [ Continue Reading ]
And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where [art] thou? Ver. 9. _Where art thou?_] Not as if God knew not; for he searcheth Jerusalem with lights; yea, himself is the "father of lights," Jam 1:17 the great eye of the world, to whom the sun itself is but a snuff. He hath "seven eyes... [ Continue Reading ]
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I [was] naked; and I hid myself. Ver. 10. _I heard thy voice._] So he had done before his fall, and feared not. "Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?" Mic 2:7 Excellently St Austin, _Adversarius est nobis, qua... [ Continue Reading ]
And he said, Who told thee that thou [wast] naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? Ver. 11. _Who told thee._] His own conscience, awakened and cited by God's voice, "told him" - as the woman of Samaria said of our Saviour - "all Joh 4:29 that ever... [ Continue Reading ]
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest [to be] with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. Ver. 12. _The woman whom thou gavest._] Here he rejects the fault upon the woman, and, through her, upon God, who gave her to be with him, or before him; or such another as himself (with reference... [ Continue Reading ]
And the LORD God said unto the woman, What [is] this [that] thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. Ver. 13. _And the woman said, The serpent._] Thus the flesh never wants excuses; nature need not be taught to tell her own tale. Sin and shifting came into the wor... [ Continue Reading ]
And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou [art] cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: Ver. 14. _And the Lord said to the serpent._] The serpent was not examined, be... [ Continue Reading ]
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Ver. 15. _And I will put enmity._] Instead of that amity and familiarity thou hast lately had with the woman. And here begins the Book of the Lord's wars: h... [ Continue Reading ]
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire [shall be] to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. Ver. 16. _I will greatly multiply thy sorrow._] The greatest of sorrows this is, as we are given to unders... [ Continue Reading ]
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed [is] the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat [of] it all the days of thy life; Ver. 17. _Because thou hast hearken... [ Continue Reading ]
Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; Ver. 18. _Thorns also and thistles._] _Ubi veritas dixit, quod terra homini spinas et tribulos germinaret, subintelligendum fuit, ait Petrarcha, et rusticos tribulis omnibus asperiores._ _a_ The clowns... [ Continue Reading ]
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou [art], and unto dust shalt thou return. Ver. 19. _In the sweat of thy face._] Or, of thy nose, as one _a_ rendereth it; that sweat that, beginning in thy brow, runs down by... [ Continue Reading ]
And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. Ver. 20. And Adam called his wife's name Eve.] That is, Life, or Living. Not, per antiphrasim, as some would have it; much less out of pride and stomach, in contempt of the divine sentence denounced against them both, th... [ Continue Reading ]
Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. Ver. 21. _Coats of skins and clothed them._] God put them in leather, when yet there was better means of clothing, to humble them doubtless, and draw them to repentance. Whether God created these skins anew, or t... [ Continue Reading ]
And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Ver. 22. _The man is become as one of us._] A holy irrision of man's vain affectation of the Deity. _Quod Deus lo... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. Ver. 23. _Therefore the Lord God sent him forth._] He gently dismissed him, as the word signifies; placed him over against Paradise, in the sight thereof (as Stella _a_ observeth out of the S... [ Continue Reading ]
So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. Ver. 24. _So he drove out the man._] The Hebrews say, God led Adam gently by the hand, till he came to the porch of Paradise, and then... [ Continue Reading ]