Genesis 3:1

SIN AND DEATH. -- Genesis 3:1-6; Genesis 3:17-19.

GOLDEN TEXT. -- By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. -- Romans 5:12. TIME. --Not certainly known. According to Usher B. C. 4004. PLACE. --The Garden of Eden. HELPFUL READINGS. -- Genesis 2:8-25; Genesis 3:7-16; Matthew 14:1-11; Revelation 20:7-15; Revelation 22:1-5. LESSON ANALYSIS. --I. The Tempter; 2. The Temptation; 3. The Curse.

INTRODUCTION.

The verses introduced in this lesson have been more fruitful of discussion than almost any others in the Bible. Some interpreters have held that the account of the Fall is. literal history, while others have contended that it states. great fact in human history by the employment of poetical figures; that the tree of knowledge, of life, and the serpent are symbols used to represent great principles. It is not within our scope to enter into this discussion, but the student may do well to bear in mind that Christian writers have taken different views from the times of Irenæus, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen, down to Lange; but whatever view is taken, the real meaning underlying the facts or figures is the same, and this meaning is confirmed by all history and experience. Our race has to deal with the sad facts of sin and death. That man is in. fallen state need hardly be proven to any but those who call evil good. The bloodshed, sins and miseries of humanity for six thousand years proclaim with unmistakable emphasis the fall of man, sin working in his members, and the consequences of sin in the woes of humanity. But whence came sin and evil? How was the ruin of our race wrought? The only key ever given for the solution of what had been otherwise an inscrutable mystery, is that supplied in the scriptural account of the Fall. The traditions of almost every race bear witness to the fact that the story of the Fall has been graven into the primeval history of man. These traditions have assumed various and perverted forms, but still retain the idea of great calamities that have been visited on our race on account of sin. The Greek mythology told of the woes that came upon mankind through the woman Pandora, on account of the sin of Prometheus; Zoroaster taught and the ancient Persians received an account of the temptation and fall so much like that of the Bible that many suppose that he borrowed it; George Smith discovered among the Babylonian and Assyrian inscriptions undoubted relies of the same story, and even deciphered the curse upon the serpent; in the Skandinavian legends, Thor, the first-born, has. conflict with the great serpent, and finally slays it with his club, but at the price of his own life; Hindoo, Persian, Assyrian, Greek and Arabian traditions all testify of the tree of life, and among all nations was diffused. story of an original state of happiness and innocence.

I. THE TEMPTER.

1. Now the serpent was more subtil than any, beast of the field.

The serpent is introduced in the account as the tempter. Two views have been presented: (1) That the term serpent is used as. symbol of that malign influence which fights against good, "the old serpent, the devil;" and (2) That Satan took the form of. serpent in order to carry out his devilish work. Whichever view is taken, the teaching of Scripture is plain that Satan was the tempter. As he assailed the second Adam, our Lord, so he assailed the first Adam. (See Revelation 12:9 and John 8:44.) It is held by some interpreters that the Hebrew word here rendered "serpent" (Nachash) may mean. snake,. crocodile,. hippopotamus, an enchanter, etc. It is urged, therefore, that it is by no means necessary to assume that Satan appeared in serpent form. There is. probability, from verse 14, that whatever creature form was assumed by Satan, it was degraded at the Fall. Before it was probably erect, beautiful, and far less repulsive. He was also the most cunning of the brute creation, and next to man in intelligence. Whatever may be our opinions concerning the form, we must not forget that Satan was the real agent, in disguise.. deep truth is indicated here. Satan usually works in disguise, sometimes even transforming himself into an angel of light.

Said to the woman.

Observe the craftiness of the tempter's attack. He does not appear to the pair together, but to the woman, the weaker of the two, alone, when she is without the aid and counsel of her companion. Surprise has been expressed that Eve should not have been startled by the power of speech in the serpent. It should be borne in mind that in experience, observation and guilelessness she was. little child. She was new in. new world, and knew almost nothing of natural laws.

Yea, hath God said.

Is it even so that God hath said? The wily adversary begins his attack by insinuating. doubt that God has said anything of the kind. He is too crafty to shock the woman at first by. contradiction of the divine word.

Of every tree of the garden.

The prohibition is found in Genesis 2:17. The whole of Paradise was freely granted, save the fruit of the forbidden tree. Scoffers have made merry over the fall of man on account of eating an apple, and in doing so have shown their own shallowness.. great principle was involved, that of faith in and loyalty to the Creator. The one prohibition tested the loyalty of the creature as well as. hundred could have done. When man broke it he committed treason against his Divine King. Beside, it was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the experimental distinction between the two, by having tried both. Adam and Eve tried the good while in. state of innocence; they could only obtain the knowledge of evil by an experience in sinning.