It has been said that: “A picture is worth a thousand words,”. Of the more famous pieces of art is the picture painted for us at the end of the third chapter of Genesis. We have probably all seen paintings of this event because many artists have dealt with it. Most of the great Renaissance painters handled this theme. So did William Blake in his well-known illustrations for Milton’s Paradise Lost. (One of the most famous) is the work of Masaccio done in fresco for the wall of the Brancacci Chapel, Church of the Carmine, Florence. The work is called “Expulsion from Paradise” and features bold contrasts of light and darkness that serve to highlight the picture’s drama. In it Adam and Eve are being driven away by an angel who hovers overhead, sword in hand. The human pair are engulfed in anguish. Adam’s head is bowed low, hands covering his face. Eve’s head is thrown back, her mouth open in a cry of deep personal pain. As Adam and Eve walk away from the Garden of Eden their withering shame is painfully evident in the very motion of their bodies. This fresco, like the verbal portrait given to us in Genesis, at once etches the shame and misery of the human condition on our minds (Boice, J. M. (1998). Genesis : An expositional commentary (241–242). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.).
If Genesis 1–2 was paradise, then, sadly, Genesis 3 and what follows is a description of paradise lost. Through one foolish and rebellious act—eating the fruit God had forbidden—Adam and Eve lost their innocence, their dignity, their home, and their perfect relationship with God. And so, says Romans 5:12, did you and I: “through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” The reason we are the way we are—diseased, discontent, disobedient, disappointed, and disenfranchised from God—is because each one of us has inherited a sin sickness and a death sentence from Adam, our first father. (Strassner, K. (2009). Opening up Genesis (31–32). Leominster: Day One Publications.)
Expulsion from the garden brings us the last of the consequences of the disobedience. Because sin has become universal, a new boundary has been given, one that cannot be crossed. Control has replace freedom. Coercion has replaced persuasion. God’s act to withhold the tree of life cannot be violated. Death, however delayed, will come (Yet there is an) element of grace in this withholding of the tree of life. Humanity cannot choose to eat from the tree of life and thus remain living indefinitely. In a distorted and disrupted world, never-ending life would be unbearable. In expelling humanity from the garden we experience a God who withholds, but who also provides (Roop, E. F. (1987). Genesis. Believers church Bible commentary (46–47). Scottdale, Pa.: Herald Press.)
In the midst of a life of sin, shame and death, there is a God who brings a fallen humanity to life, glory and life. For those who repent of their sin and trust in the work of Christ alone for eternal life we see 1) Confidence (Genesis 3:20), 2) Contribution (Genesis 3:21), 3) Correction (Genesis 3:22-23), 4) Constraint (Genesis 3:24)
1) Confidence (Genesis 3:20)
Genesis 3:20 [20]The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living (ESV)
Arraigned, convicted, judged, the guilty but pardoned pair prepare to leave their garden home—the woman to begin her experience of sorrow, dependence, and subjection; the man to enter upon his life career of hardship and toil, and both begin spiritual and physical death. The impression made upon their hearts by the Divine clemency, though not directly stated by the historian, may be inferred from what is next recorded as having happened within the precincts of Eden as they entered on their exile.
The Man (Adam) called his wife’s name Eve. There is ambiguity whether this was appended by the narrator (Delitzsch, Lange) or uttered by Adam (Kalisch, Macdonald). The text says Eve was (hāyeṯá) the mother of all living. But she has yet to give birth to a second generation! Such usage is called a prophetic perfect, for the use of the perfect reinforces the certainty of the distant fact. It is as good as done... the verse is appropriately placed and functions in the first place as a promise from God. God had said that Adam and Eve would die, and Adam did die physically after 930 years. But he also died spiritually, in that he was separated from God because of sin. God promised the birth of a Savior through the woman, and Adam believed this promise and was saved. God did not change the physical consequences of sin, but he did remit the eternal consequences—hell (Wiersbe, W. W. (1993). Wiersbe’s expository outlines on the Old Testament (Ge 3:20–24). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.).
Look back at the promise in Genesis 3:15
God shows this couple and all of us, how sin has a price. The end of sin is death. It was necessary for God to fulfill His promise of death for rebellion to sacrifice. This is a sacrifice of an innocent. The animal did not rebel. This sacrifice of an innocent to pay for the sin of humanity prefigured the fulfillment of the promise of Genesis 3:15:
Genesis 3:15 [15]I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." (ESV)
• Genesis 3:15 states that Messiah will crush the head of the serpent, that is, Satan (Revelation 12:9, 15; 20:2). In the process Satan will manage to wound the heel of Messiah, but will be unable to prevent his own destruction. The bruising of Messiah’s heel took place at Jesus’ crucifixion—painful but, in the eternal sense, not fatal. The crushing of the serpent’s head began with Jesus’ death and resurrection, a point made in Hebrews 2:14–18. Romans 16:20 sees the crushing of Satan’s head as still future and, so, his final destruction will not come until he is thrown into the Lake of Fire, as described in Revelation 20:10 (Fruchtenbaum, A. G. (1998). Messianic Christology : A study of Old Testament prophecy concerning the first coming of the Messiah (14). Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries.).
In spite of man’s sin and disobedience, God’s original command to man to multiply and be fruitful is not withdrawn. In the second place Adam’s naming is an act of faith on his part. Though threatened by death Adam does not believe that he and his wife are to be the first and last beings of the human race. Motherhood will emerge. (Hamilton, V. P. (1990). The Book of Genesis. Chapters 1-17. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (205). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co).
• There are two significant applications for us. First, is there a sin in your life that you think disqualifies you from God’s blessing. Through repentance and faith, God will fulfill His plan in your life.
• Second, the greatest faith is exercised in circumstances when everything around you points to failure and doom. That is exactly when God wants you to trust Him. It is the most powerful time when God will do the most wondrous things to fulfill His promises.
Illustration: (CONFIDENCE)
Nicolas I ruled Russia with unopposed sovereignty for thirty years. All his people, and all the world’s rulers, recognized his dominion. Yet he never felt secure. While he shouldn’t have cared what any citizen or foreigner thought, he craved obedience by all, even those over whom he held no power. The constant repetition of his authority demeaned rather than enhanced his reputation. For Christians, God’s presence within should be sufficient to build that confidence. Our importance is based on what God has done for us in Christ! We are God’s children. However unsure of ourselves we become, we can always have confidence in our relationship with Christ. That awareness should (enable us to face any challenge with confidence)—and it eliminates the need to look to others, to sexual conquests, to riches, to fame, or to any other source for self-esteem (Hurley, V. (2000). Speaker’s sourcebook of new illustrations (electronic ed.) (40). Dallas: Word Publishers.).
2) Contribution (Genesis 3:21)
Genesis 3:21 [21]And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. (ESV)
As a result of sin the man and woman now stood in a wrong relationship to God, one another, and themselves. They felt exposed. The psychological exposure was intolerable. So they tried to cover themselves up. In the beginning they used fig leaves. Later, when God appeared in the garden to confront them with their sin, they used evasions, excuses, and at last tried to put the blame on God (Boice, J. M. (1998). Genesis : An expositional commentary (235). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.).
The Lord God make garments of skins/coats (cathnōth, from cathan, to clothe/cover them. Neither their bodies (Origen), nor garments of the bark of trees (Gregory Nazianzen), nor miraculously-fashioned apparel (Grotius), nor clothing made from the serpent’s skin (R. Jonathan), would rectify the sinful state of the man and women. What they are literally provided with are “Tunics of skin.” A tunic (כתנת), the basic outer garment worn next to the skin, was a long shirt reaching the knees or ankles (Wenham, G. J. (2002). Vol. 1: Word Biblical Commentary : Genesis 1-15. Word Biblical Commentary (84). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.)
The Lord acts immediately in behalf of the vulnerable couple by providing adequate protection to cover their embarrassment and to preserve them in the new hostile environment to which they will be banished (v. 21; cf. vv. 7, 18, 23). In the same way that the woman’s pain at birth is a reminder of their disobedience, their clothing confirms that they have sinned against God and that no longer can they walk before deity in innocence (2:25) (Mathews, K. A. (2001). Vol. 1A: Genesis 1-11:26 (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (254). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.).
This is the first place that the Bible mentions killing animals for human use. The shedding of the blood of these animals was a shadow, in a way, of the shedding of the blood of innumerable animals in the sacrificial system that would be enacted under Moses.
And all the sacrifices under Torah would one day point to the greatest sacrifice of them all, the death of Savior Jesus as the propitiation of our sins (Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1999). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible commentary (Ge 3:21). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.).
Please turn to Isaiah 61
There were many things purposed in the clothing of them by God. Earlier in the narrative (v. 7) the attempt of the man and the woman to cover their nakedness with leaves expressed their sense of alienation from each other and from God. By giving them more substantial coverings, God indicates this alienation is greater than they realize. (Biblical Studies Press. (2006; 2006). The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Ge 3:21). Biblical Studies Press.)
Isaiah 61:8-11 [8]For I the LORD love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. [9]Their offspring shall be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are an offspring the LORD has blessed. [10]I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. [11]For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations. (ESV) (cf. Ps. 132:9, 16; Rom. 13:14; Ephes. 4:24; Col. 3:10).
The only way sinners can be saved is by faith in the shed blood of Christ (Heb. 9:22; see also Isa. 61:10; Eph. 2:8–9).Jesus Christ is “the last Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45–49). The first Adam’s disobedience plunged us into sin, but the Last Adam’s obedience brought salvation (Rom. 5:12–21). The first Adam was a thief and was cast out of Paradise. The Last Adam told a thief he would enter paradise (Luke 23:43). In Adam we die; in Christ we have eternal life (Wiersbe, W. W. (1997). With the word Bible commentary (Ge 3:1). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.).
There are four great lessons that we see from the fig leaves and the fact that God clothed them with skins: (1) Man must have adequate covering to approach God. You cannot come to God on the basis of your good works (Fig leaves). .... (2) Fig leaves are unacceptable; (Covering up our sin will never work. God will expose sinful deeds and the end result is death.). (3) God must provide the covering. (God Himself dictates the terms upon which we can come to Him and live) (4) The covering is obtained only through the death of the Lord Jesus. (Sin has a price, and that price is death. We will either pay it with our own lives, or accept the one and only acceptable substitute) (McGee, J. V. (1997). Thru the Bible commentary (electronic ed.) (Ge 3:21). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.)
Most people come to God with fig leaves. They may not be much; but they are something they have done for themselves, and they want God to recognize them. They will acknowledge his grace, they will accept his help—so long as there is that little bit of their own good works mixed with it. But this is precisely what God will not accept. Good works may please other men and women; fig leaves may look beautiful. But they will not please God because there has been no death, and “the wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23). If you have been coming to God with fig leaves—if you are coming with fig leaves now—I urge you to throw them aside, admit they are useless, and accept the clothing God offers. Then the nakedness of your sin will be covered, and you will be able to sing with the redeemed from every place and century:
Hymn: "My hope is built on nothing less, Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness". And especially the last verse: "When he shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in him be found, Dressed in his righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand". (Boice, J. M. (1998). Genesis : An expositional commentary (239–240). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.).
3) Correction (Genesis 3:22-23)
Genesis 3:22-23 [22]Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever--" [23]therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
(ESV)
The comments now show a deliberation where God dialogues with himself and observes that: "Behold, the man has become like/as one of us, refers not to the angels (Kalisch), but the Divine Persons (cf. ch. 1:26). That they would be knowing good and evil, implies an experiential acquaintance with good and evil which did not belong to the man and women in the state of innocence. The LORD God does not experientially know good and evil like mankind does, but mankind does not know the full cost and wretchedness of good and evil like the LORD God does. For the man and woman: rather than experiencing bliss, they encounter misery. Rather than sitting on a throne, they are expelled from the garden. Rather than new prerogatives, they experience only a reversal. The couple not only fail to gain something they do not presently have; the irony is that they lose what they currently possess: unsullied fellowship with God. They found nothing and lost everything. (Hamilton, V. P. (1990). The Book of Genesis. Chapters 1-17. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (208). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.).
God told man that he would surely die if he ate of the forbidden tree. Now, lest he put reach out his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever, God’s concern may also have been that man not live for ever in his pitifully cursed condition. Taken in the broader context of Scripture, driving the man and his wife out of the garden was an act of merciful grace to prevent them from being sustained forever by the tree of life (thereby eternally separated from Him). (MacArthur, J. J. (1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed.) (Ge 3:22). Nashville: Word Pub.).
Lest the man and woman should conceive the idea that immortality might still be secured by eating of the tree, instead of trusting in the promised seed, and under this false impression attempt to take its fruit, which, in his case, would have been equivalent to an attempt to justify himself by works instead of faith (Calvin, Macdonald);
Therefore, verse 23 specifies that the Lord God sent/cast (shalach) him out from the garden of Eden. That God sent/cast conveys the idea of force and displeasure.
1 Kings 9:1-9 [9:1]As soon as Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD and the king’s house and all that Solomon desired to build, [2]the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. [3]And the LORD said to him, "I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. [4]And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, [5]then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ’You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ [6]But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, [7]then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. [8]And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ’Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’ [9]Then they will say, ’Because they abandoned the LORD their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the LORD has brought all this disaster on them.’" (ESV)
(cf. Deut. 21:14;)
• The man and the woman allied themselves and served a false god when they obeyed Satan.
There is a casting out and consequence for their disobedience. Their difficulty is now specified, that Adam and his discendents would have to :
work/till the ground from which he was taken. (i. e. the soil outside of paradise, which had been cursed for his sake)
Illustration: (Fall of man)
A favorite nursery rhyme is the familiar tale of an egg that takes an unfortunate tumble: Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.
According to those who know about such things, this piece of wisdom is a relic thousands of years old. Versions have appeared in eight European languages. In its primitive stages, however, Humpty Dumpty was a riddle. It asked the question: what, when broken, can never be repaired, not even by strong or wise individuals? As any child knows, an egg. Regardless of how hard we try, a broken egg can never be put back together again.
(The Great "Fall" in scripture that involved the rebellion) of Adam and Eve... and regardless of how hard we try, things can never be put back together again.
Our contemporary fall is seen in the feeling that things just don’t work anymore. Our lives appear out of control. Changes come faster than our ability to cope. Broken eggs are an appropriate symbol. Wherever we step we hear the crunch of fragile shells beneath our feet (Larson, C. B. (2002). 750 engaging illustrations for preachers, teachers & writers (162–163). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.).
4) Constraint (Genesis 3:24)
Genesis 3:24 [24]He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. (ESV)
Finally, we see that God drove out the man (along with his guilty partner); and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed (literally, caused to dwell) the cherubim. These cherubim are “Beings who approach God and minister to him,” taking cerub = karov, to come near, to serve (Hyde).
Biblical notices describe them as living creatures (Ezek. 1:5; Rev. 4:6) in the form of a man (Ezek. 1:5), with four (Ezek. 1:8; 1:23; 10:7, 8–21) or with six wings (Rev. 4:8), and full of eyes (Ezek. 1:18; 10:12; Rev. 4:8); having each four faces, viz., of a man, of a lion, of an ox, of an eagle (Ezek. 1:10; 10:16); or with one face each—of a man, of a lion, of a calf, and of an eagle respectively (Rev. 4:7). Representations of these chay˒ath—LXX., ζωά—were by Divine directions placed upon the Capporeth (Exod. 25:17) and curtains of the tabernacle (Exod. 26:1, 31; 36:8, 35), and afterwards engraved upon the walls and doors of the temple (1 Kings 6:29, 32, 35). In the Apocalypse they are depicted as standing in the immediate neighbourhood of the throne (Rev. 4:6; 5:6; 7:11), and as taking part in the acts of adoration and praise in which the heavenly hosts engage (ibid. 5:11), and that on the express ground of their redemption (ibid. 5:8, 9). These mysterious creatures were symbolic of redeemed and glorified humanity (Jamieson, Fairbairn, Macdonald, Candlish). Combining with the intelligence of human nature the highest qualities of the animal world, as exhibited in the lion, the ox, and the eagle, they were emblematic of creature life in its most absolutely perfect form. As such they were caused to dwell at the gate of Eden to intimate that only when perfected and purified could fallen human nature return to paradise. Meantime man was utterly unfit to dwell within its fair abode.
Enforcing the will of God besides the cherubim was "a flaming sword, that turned every way". Literally, the flame of a sword turning itself; not brandished by the cherubim, but existing separately, and flashing out from among them (of. Ezek. 1:4).
Please turn to Exodus 25
The Cherubim and family sword was an emblem of the Divine glory in its attitude towards sin (Macdonald). It’s purpose was to guard/watch over (cf. ch. 2:15) the way to the tree of life. To guard/watch over the way signifies to keep the way open as well as to keep it shut” (Macdonald).
Exodus 25:10-22 [10]"They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. [11]You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside shall you overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold around it. [12]You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. [13]You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. [14]And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them. [15]The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. [16]And you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you. [17]"You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. [18]And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. [19]Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. [20]The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. [21]And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. [22]There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel. (ESV)
When the wilderness tabernacle with its furnishing was finished, the shekinah glory cloud of God, which symbolized the presence of God, descended on the tabernacle and took its place between the wings of the cherubim. ...When Moses entered the Tent of Meeting to speak with the LORD, he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the atonement cover on the ark of the Testimony. And he spoke with him.” We read this and see immediately that the ark reproduces the essential elements of the scene in Eden: the presence of the glory of God and the cherubim who guard it from the eyes of sinful people. (None could enter the Holy of Holies save the high priest and that only once a year on the Day of Atonement.) It is a scene of wrath, of judgment. But it is changed, for it now has this new and wonderful element: It is designed around the mercy seat, here called the “atonement cover,” on which the high priest was to sprinkle the blood of a sacrifice once a year as a sign that a substitute had died for the people’s sin (Boice, J. M. (1998). Genesis : An expositional commentary (245–246). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.).
Illustration: Sir Edward C. Burne-Jones was a prominent artist in England during the latter part of the nineteenth century. One day he was invited to tea at the home of his daughter. On this occasion his little granddaughter was also seated at the table, but she became so naughty that her mother made her stand in the corner with her face to the wall. Sir Edward was a well-trained grandfather, so he did not interfere. But the next morning he arrived at his daughter’s home with his paints and palette. He went to the wall where the little girl had been forced to stand, and there he painted pictures—a kitten chasing its tail, lambs in a field, goldfish swimming. The wall on both sides of that corner was decorated with his paintings, all for his granddaughter’s delight. Now, if she had to stand in the corner again, at least she would have something to look at. As you study the picture of Adam and Eve being driven from Eden by the cherubim and recoil in sorrow, remember that God has taken this scene of judgment and transformed it into one of the most wonderful pictures of his grace in the Bible... “As soon as man sinned, God found him and provided him a Savior. He opened a way back to himself and guards that way jealously lest anyone should close it.” ... The lesson for us is to turn from sin and come to God in the way he has appointed. (Donald Grey Barnhouse, “Falling into Grace,” Tragedy or Triumph (Philadelphia: The Barnhouse Booklet Club, 1967), 45.).
(Format note: Some base commentary from The Pulpit Commentary: Genesis. 2004 (H. D. M. Spence-Jones, Ed.) (72–74). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc).
