_A.M. 1. B.C. 4004._ The general contents of this chapter we have, Romans 5:12. By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. More particularly, we have here, ( 1,) _ The innocent tempted, Genesis 3:1._ (2,) _ The tempted tran... [ Continue Reading ]
The _serpent was more subtle_, &c. Some would render the word נחשׁ _, nachash_, here, _monkey_ or _baboon_, and the word ערום, _arum, intelligent:_ but it may be demonstrated from divers other passages of the Old Testament, where the same words are used, and from several parts of the New, where they... [ Continue Reading ]
_The woman said_ With a view to defend the conduct of her Maker toward them, against the insinuations of the tempter. _We may eat of the trees of the garden_ Of all the trees _except one._ It is only concerning _one_ that God hath said, “Ye shall not eat of it.” But when she adds, _Lest ye die_, it... [ Continue Reading ]
The tempter, finding that the woman began to doubt whether eating this fruit was a crime, and if it were, whether punishment would follow, now became more bold in his attack, and, giving God the lie direct, asserted roundly, “Ye shall not surely die.” So far from it, you shall have much advantage fr... [ Continue Reading ]
_When the woman saw_, (or perceived) But how? Certainly by believing Satan and disbelieving God. Here we see what her parley with the tempter ended in; Satan, at length, gains his point; God permitting it for wise and holy ends. And he gains it: 1st, By injecting unbelief respecting the divine decla... [ Continue Reading ]
_The eyes of them both_ Of their minds and consciences, which hitherto had been closed and blinded by the arts of the devil; _were opened _ As Satan had promised them, although in a very different sense. Now, when it was too late, they saw the happiness they had fallen from, and the misery they were... [ Continue Reading ]
_They heard the voice of the Lord God walking_, &c. It is supposed he came in a human shape; in that wherein they had seen him, when he put them into paradise. For he came to convince and humble, not to amaze and terrify them. And they _hid themselves_, &c. A sad change! Before they had sinned, if t... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord God called_, (probably with a loud voice,) _Where art thou?_ This inquiry after Adam, may be looked upon as a gracious pursuit in order to his recovery. If God had not called to him to reduce him, his condition had been as desperate as that of fallen angels.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I was afraid, because I was naked_ He confesses his nakedness, which was evident; but makes no mention of his sin. This he wished rather to hide, feeling, indeed, the shameful effects of it, but not yet being truly penitent for it.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who told thee thou wast naked?_ That is, how camest thou to be sensible of thy nakedness as thy shame? _Hast thou eaten of the tree_ Though God knows all our sins, yet he will know them from us, and requires from us an ingenuous confession of them, not that he may be _informed_, but that we may be... [ Continue Reading ]
_What is this thou hast done_? Wilt thou own thy fault? Neither of them does this fully. Adam lays all the blame on his wife; nay, tacitly, on God. _The woman whom thou gavest to be with me_ as my companion, she _gave me of the tree._ Eve lays all the blame on the serpent. _The serpent beguiled me._... [ Continue Reading ]
_God said unto the serpent_ In passing sentence, God begins where the sin began, with the serpent, which, although only an irrational creature, and therefore not subject to a law, nor capable of sin and guilt, yet, being the instrument of the devil's wiles and malice, is punished as other beasts hav... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will put enmity_, &c. The whole race of serpents are, of all creatures, the most disagreeable and terrible to mankind, and especially to women: but the devil, who seduced the woman, and his angels, are here meant, who are hated and dreaded by all men, even by those that serve them, but more espec... [ Continue Reading ]
We have here the sentence passed on the woman: she is condemned to a state of _sorrow and subjection:_ proper punishments of a sin in which she had gratified her pleasure and her pride. _I will greatly multiply thy sorrow_ In divers pains and infirmities peculiar to thy sex; and _thy conception_ Tho... [ Continue Reading ]
_Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife_ Obeyed her word and counsel, contrary to my express command. He excused the fault by laying it on his wife, but God doth not admit the excuse: though it was _her_ fault to persuade him to eat, it was _his_ fault to hearken to her. _Cursed is the... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread_ His business, before he sinned, was a constant pleasure to him; but now his labour shall be a weariness. _Unto dust shalt thou return_ Thy body shall be forsaken by thy soul, and become itself a lump of dust, and then it shall be lodged in the grave, a... [ Continue Reading ]
God having named the man, and called him _Adam_, which signifies _red earth;_ Adam, in further token of dominion, named the woman, and called her _Eve_, that is, _life._ Thus _Adam_ bears the name of the dying body, _Eve_, of the living soul. Though for her sin she was justly sentenced to a present... [ Continue Reading ]
_Unto Adam and his wife did God make_ By his own word, or by the ministry of angels; _coats of skins_ Of beasts slain, either to show them what death is, or rather, as is more probable, in sacrifice to God, to prefigure the great sacrifice which, in the latter days, should be offered once for all. T... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord God said_ In his own eternal mind: _Behold, the man is become as one of us_ See what he has got, what advantages, by eating forbidden fruit! This is said to humble them, and to bring them to a sense of their sin and folly, that, seeing themselves thus wretchedly deceived by following the d... [ Continue Reading ]
_So he drove out the man_ This signified the exclusion of him and his guilty race from that communion with God which was the bliss and glory of paradise. But whither did he send him when he turned him _out of Eden?_ He might justly have _chased him out of the world, Job 18:18_; but he only chased hi... [ Continue Reading ]