Today’s study in chapter three takes us on a journey into life in the Garden of Eden and the first marriage. The Bible doesn’t tell us how long Adam and the woman have lived together in the garden… how long they have been married. I think this story finds them early in their marriage but that is just my opinion.
I want to remind you, before we begin, of the two trees in the middle of the garden. There is the Tree of Life, from which they could eat and live forever, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, from which they were forbidden to eat at all. Both trees had edible fruit but I want you to know, neither of these were apples. Many people think of the forbidden fruit as an apple, but that was not the case. These were two unique trees. There have not been any other trees like them. Only Adam and his wife have ever eaten the fruit that comes from these two types of trees.
Verse 1 tells us that there was someone speaking to the woman there in the garden. Who was it? Now we know that a serpent, or snake, cannot speak, cannot reason with logic, and cannot tempt one to disobey God, so it stands to reason that the serpent is not who he appears to be. Scriptures tell us that one of God’s angels, Satan, along with his followers, was thrown out of Heaven and is now on the earth (Luke 10:18) seeking to devour whomever he can (I Peter 5:8). Satan had possessed this unfortunate serpent and was using it, because of its attractive appearance, to entice the woman.
Notice what Satan asks the woman. Compare this to Genesis 2:17. Is he even close to quoting what God had commanded? Satan is trying to make God sound unreasonable. In verse 2, the woman immediately refutes Satan as she recognizes he is twisting God’s words. Good girl. Now, the smart thing here would have been to walk away. Obviously, Satan is up to no good. But instead, she decided to debate with him. Notice her response in verse 3. How accurate is her version of what God had commanded? So far, no one is quoting God’s instruction correctly. And we will see that the woman stayed in this conversation, flirting with temptation, without any thought to the consequences.
Notice Satan’s next reply in verse 4. He tells Eve that she won’t surely die even though God has told her that she will. He has lied to her out right. Satan does this (John 8:44). He wants us to fail. The fact is, if Eve eats from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, she will be disobeying God (which is the very definition of sin). And what does the Bible tell us about sin (Romans 6:23)?
In verse 1, Satan tried to make God seem unreasonable. In verse 4, he lied to Eve directly. Now we will see one of Satan’s favorite tactics in verse 5. He appealed to her pride. We can learn a little bit about Satan and why he was thrown out of Heaven by reading Isaiah 14:12-15. Satan’s pride was such that he wanted to be like God and so he tried to organize a following of angels to help him enthrone himself to be worshipped. He knew from personal experience that the desire to be like God was very tempting and so he used it to tempt the woman.
Now please understand this… it is not a sin to be tempted. We see in the Bible that even Jesus was tempted (Matthew 4:1-11). But when faced with temptation, it is always best to just say “no” and immediately walk away. But notice in verse 6 what the woman did… she stopped to consider whether she should obey. She debated the merits of eating the fruit. Was it good for food? Was it pleasing to the eye? Was it desirable for gaining wisdom? Once she started thinking about it, Satan had won. Verse 6 tells us she took some and she ate it. In 2 Corinthians 11:3 and James 1:14-15, the Bible tells us clearly why we should not flirt with temptation. Do not make the mistake of fantasizing about how good sin might be. This is Satan’s greatest place of victory (Matthew 5:28).
What else does verse 6 tell us? Now most people think that the woman went and found her husband and somehow deceived him or tricked him into eating it and it was all her fault. But right here in verse 6 we can see that he was right there with her the whole time. He had witnessed the whole conversation between her and the serpent and not said a word. I suspect, what really went down, is that they were still sitting around honeymooning, and Satan approached them in a blissful moment. He loves a moment of weakness when our guard is down. While Eve was still eating her fruit, she probably reached one across to her mushy-faced husband who just went ahead and ate his too.
In verse 7 we learn that eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil did open their eyes which was unfortunate for Adam and his wife because they had now sinned and were very aware of their lost innocence. Being still naked, they were now ashamed. What was also unfortunate for these two was that clothes had not yet been invented. Imagine being in that situation! So Adam and his wife begin trying to cover themselves with fig leaves. Few of us would think we could hide our sins from God with fig leaves, but haven’t we tried to do the same with excuses and rationalizations? And isn’t that just as ridiculous?
Now picture Adam and his wife sitting around covered in fig leaves. Verse 8 tells us that they hear God walking in the garden. Before there was sin, God walked in the garden with man and had fellowship with him. Now, Adam and his wife hear Him coming and they try to hide among the trees. But God is coming to confront them for their sin and it is really quite humorous that they think they can hide. Verse 9 tells us that God calls to them, but we know that God already knew where they were (Psalm 139:7-12). We have talked before of His omnipresence and omniscience.
Notice in verse 10 Adam’s half-truth in his reply to God. What is he leaving out of the story? And in verse 11, God gives Adam the opportunity to confess. Why is this important (Psalm 32:5, Proverbs 28:13, I John 1:9)? God wanted Adam to confess his sin. God wanted to forgive him. Remember that list of God’s traits we started back on the first day of our study? Let’s add this one to the list… God is merciful.
Sadly, in verse 12 we see that Adam did not totally step up to the task. Instead of owning his mistake, he blamed the woman. How often are we guilty of trying to blame someone else when we know that we didn’t have to do what the rest of the crowd was doing? But Adam never had a mother to say, “If everyone else jumped off the cliff, would you do it, too?” Next, in verse 13, God turns to the woman and gives her the opportunity to confess. God wants to forgive her also. But, of course, she blames the serpent.
I want you to understand an important truth here. God does want to forgive our sins but that does not shield us from the consequences of our actions. Read Hebrews 12:4-11 to see what God’s Word says about God’s discipline. God gave Adam and his wife the opportunity to confess their sin and seek forgiveness from God but there would still be discipline.
Read God’s consequences levied on the serpent in verses 14-15. We see in verse 14 that the serpent now had to crawl along in the dust on its belly, cursed more than all the other animals. This tells us that, in the original creation, the serpent must have had legs and walked above the ground as other reptiles do. We see in verse 15 that God put enmity between the woman and the serpent and their offspring. Remember, in verse 1, the serpent was enticing to the woman, but I think we can agree that few women today still find snakes to be inviting.
Also, in verse 15 we see something else… something exciting. Remember when we said that God, even before man had sinned, already had a plan of salvation? We have a promise here in verse 15 concerning the offspring of the woman and the serpent. Notice the words ‘he’ and ‘his’. God is not speaking of all the woman’s offspring, but of a single man. Now remember also when we spoke of Adam being used in the Bible to illustrate the Christ. Read Romans 5:12-20. Verse 15 is prophetic of the battle between Satan and Christ, good vs evil, with Christ trying to achieve man’s salvation and Satan trying to destroy it. But notice here in verse 15, a wonderful prediction… Satan will strike Christ’s heel (an annoying wound), which represents Satan trying to undermine Christ and His work on earth to bring salvation to man, and Christ will crush Satan’s head (a fatal wound), which represents His ultimate victory over Satan in the end. Christ will win the war (Revelation 19:11-21). And no need to worry about God’s prediction being correct… He is omniscient.
In verse 16 we see the consequences God handed down to the woman. First, her pain in childbirth would be very severe. Anyone who has given birth can attest to the truth of this still being in effect. Second, her desire would be to her husband and he would rule over her. This is not quite as harsh as it sounds at first. Read the following scriptures to get an understanding of how this second consequence pans out:
- I Corinthians 11:3
- Ephesians 5:22-25
Verses 17-19 spell out the man’s consequences. God cursed the ground and it is no longer as fertile for him. Man has to work for his food by tedious labor tilling the ground. Not only does he have to farm, but he now has to also contend with weeds. Gone is the original creation where all plants are good to eat and food is freely available. Paradise has been spoiled (Romans 8:20-22).
Verse 20 tells us that Adam then named his wife Eve because she would become the mother of all living. The Hebrew version of the name Eve comes from the Hebrew word ‘chawah’ meaning ‘to breathe’ or the related word ‘chayah’ which means ‘to live’.
And now, with the punishments having been handed out, we see God, in verse 21, making Adam and Eve clothes in order to cover their shame. Notice that an animal had to die in order for this to happen. Because of sin, death has come into the world (Hebrews 9:22).
Isn’t this story the perfect illustration of God’s plan of salvation? Man sins and then is sorry (sorry enough to not want to do it any more). Man confesses his sin to God and God covers man’s sin but someone’s blood had to be shed in order for that sin to be covered. Here again, Adam is used to illustrate Christ. There are many, many illustrations of Christ and the plan of salvation such as this one within the Bible’s pages. We will see this again as we study Genesis.
In verse 22, we see a conversation among the Trinity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are discussing the implications of what has happened. Man is no longer without sin and cannot be allowed to live forever. Remember what God had told Adam when He said, “Don’t eat from this tree”? That’s right! He said, “Thou shalt surely die.” Man could not be allowed to eat from the Tree of Life and live forever, which is what would happen if he remained in the Garden of Eden. So, in verse 23, we see man banished from the garden. Even though man had not died immediately when he ate the fruit, he would now surely die because he no longer had access to the Tree of Life. And, even though Satan had told Eve she wouldn’t die, God had not lied. God cannot lie. Record this trait of God in your journal… God is truth.
Notice in verse 24 that God placed cherubim (mighty angels) at the entrance to the Garden of Eden so that man could not return and reach the Tree of Life. Now that man had sin, he could not freely have eternal life just for the taking. There are consequences for sin. God must punish sin. Record this trait of God in your journal… God is just.
Responding to God: Praise God today for His truth, justice, and omniscience and for the foreknowledge that Christ will ultimately defeat Satan. Thank Him for His mercy and His wonderful plan of salvation. Ask Him, in prayer, to help you to always be on guard for the tactics of Satan and to help you remember to not flirt with temptation or make the mistake of fantasizing about how good sin might be. Have a serious prayer time with God about whether there has ever been a time in your life when you have been so sorry for your sin that you did not want to sin any more causing you to confess your sin to God and ask for His salvation. If not, do that now.
Further Research: To learn more about God’s plan of salvation, read the following scriptures:
- Luke 1:76-77
- John 3:1-18
- Acts 4:11-12
- 2 Corinthians 7:10
- Ephesians 1:13-14
- Titus 2:11-14
- Titus 3:3-8
- I Peter 1:8-12
Add comment
Comments