Genesis 3: 1 – 24
How Come?
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” 2And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. 8 And they heard the sound 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 among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” 11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” 12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” 13 And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” 16 To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” 17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” 20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. 22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
At various times I have a few people who come up to me and say, ‘I have a question for you.’ In most situations in Philly the normal question someone presents to me is started off by the words ‘How come?’ It is how come this is so or how come that is so. I like questions from people because I know that they are thinking about our Holy God’s Word. Questions help me also try to keep sharp on the Lord’s Amazing Bible.
I think that many men who teach God’s Word give in to difficult questions. In most cases they fudge their answers. Hey after all they do not want to look like they are not knowledgeable in the Lord’s History. I try to steer clear of that problem by just saying, ‘Hey, that is an excellent question. I am not totally sure my answer would be totally accurate so let me look into this a little and get back to you. I think people will appreciate you more when you do not try to be the all knowing Pastor every time.
I bring up this issue because the study that we are about to embark on is teeming with questions. I want to get you thinking about some of these issues before we undertake the study. Here are some;
. Why did God allow temptation for Adam and Eve?
. What exact sins did Adam and Eve commit?
. Did God tell the woman also about not eating of the forbidden tree?
. Did Eve talk to something else than the snake?
. How come she wasn’t startled when the serpent spoke?
. What was Eve’s name before Adam named her Eve?
. Was the fruit an apple?
. How come Adam and Eve did not die after eating from the forbidden tree?
. What would have happened if Adam did not eat of the forbidden fruit?
. What was the purpose of the Tree of Life?
. What was wrong with knowing ‘Good and Evil’?
. What first death was a result of the fall?
. Why did God put Cherubs to stop Adam and Eve from ever coming back to the Garden?
. Why was Adam not with Eve since she wandered off?
. How did the serpent succeed in persuading Eve?
. How long did Adam and Eve live in the Garden before their fall?
. Wasn’t God a little too strict in punishing Eve since after all she was innocent and then deceived? Something happened that she would never have understood because at that time she was sinless?
. Had Satan already fallen into sin before the Garden story?
. Did the snake have legs before being cursed?
. Was Adam and Eve cursed by God?
. Were Adam and Eve playing hide n seek from God?
. Did God not know where Adam and Eve were hiding?
. Why did Adam and Eve pick fig leaves to cover themselves up?
. How come Adam and Eve were not embarrassed at being naked until after they fell?
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
Many versions list the serpent as a snake. So, first of all, what are we seeing here? Is something else being referred to? To answer this question let us go to the source book – The Bible. We have to turn to the end in the book of Revelation chapter 20 to find out exactly who or what the Scripture is speaking about? “He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.”
If the woman was talking to a snake or an actual serpent then the scriptures would not have said ‘it was more cunning than any beast of the field.’ It would have added ‘and to any creeping thing. For a snake and serpent is listed under this category of reptiles.
This then might answer age old questions as to why the woman wasn’t surprised or startled with a snake speaking to her. In addition something for you to consider is the fact that it was possible although not listed in the bible is that Satan might have been showing up in earlier meetings with the woman which could also bear weight that the woman was familiar in talking to this created being [creature]. It would also be a reason why the woman went out on her own without Adam.
To me I also find it very interesting that the word ‘field’ signifies doctrine; possessions and treasures which denote the spiritual riches of faith, or the things that belong to the doctrine of faith. We are going to next see how Satan manipulates God’s doctrines.
So, we know that the Lord said to Adam in chapter 2, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
So, in truth, it does not list in any other scripture that our Holy God told the woman the same warning that He told the man. Yet, we see that somehow she did find out because it wasn’t so wordy to forget. In fact when Satan asks the woman a very tricky question, ‘Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’? – She responds with the answer so in fact she did know about God’s warning.
2And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
Do you catch the opening for Satan? In the book of Revelation chapter 22 we read, “18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”
The woman added to the word of God. God did not say anything about touching the tree or fruit. So you can see the opening Satan recognizes.
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
You see Satan knew and spoke partially the truth about eating the forbidden fruit. For he knew that they would not die physically right away but they would die spiritually. In addition Satan also knew that eating the fruit did not do anything special. It was the disobedience that she committed and therefore now ‘experienced’ where she now learned what evil is.
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
So, the woman went ahead and touch the fruit which as I mentioned our Holy God never commented about. Now let me ask you a question – Did she die when she touched the fruit? The answer as I have mentioned is yes and no. She did not die right away physically but she died spiritually.
Sin always affects others. It is hardly ever independent. The woman brought the fruit to Adam. She did not bake some apple pie and give him a slice in which he then would have said, ‘Oh, you tricked me.’ No, in effect Adam had a choice to make. Stay loyal to our Holy God or choose the woman. Guess which choice he made? He chose the woman over the Lord. Wow!
What a dreadful moment. Having eaten the two suddenly became aware of their puniness, and their inadequacy, and that they could no longer face God because they were defiled. ‘They knew that they were naked’. It was true that they had indeed received a form of knowledge, but it was a knowledge of what they had lost, a knowledge that they could no longer be His representatives, a knowledge that they no longer enjoyed the approval of God, a knowledge that they lay bare before Him, a knowledge that they could no longer face Him. They had become aware that they had forfeited their position totally; aware that all that awaited them was death.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
Their response to their nakedness is not said to have had anything to do with sexual awareness, and the fig leaves were not said to be placed delicately over their private parts. Rather what they wanted to do was to hide themselves, to cover themselves totally, for they were afraid of God. ‘They joined fig leaves together’. They had never had clothes and now they had to make a pathetic attempt to find something which would cover them. They could not, of course, sew. All they could do was take the feeble fig leaves and try somehow to join them together into coverings, something for which the fig leaves were really not suitable.
What a pass this couple has now come to. From proudly walking with God and having dominion over their world, they have come to scrabbling around trying pathetically to tie fig leaves together to make some kind of covering so that they could hide themselves from God. Truly they have received knowledge, the knowledge of what good was, and what evil is, the knowledge of the consequences of sin and disobedience. And what has it produced?-Panic and fear.
The idea of nakedness here is that of inadequacy before God, of being seen for what they are. ‘All things are naked and open before the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do’ (Hebrews 4.13). We can compare with this how Paul does not want to be found ‘naked’ before God when he goes to meet Him (2 Corinthians 5.3). Nakedness was now a thing of shame (compare Isaiah 20.2-4; Ezekiel 16.7; Revelation 3.17). There is no reason at this stage to equate it with sexual awareness. That will come later.
8 And they heard the sound 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 among the trees of the garden.
It may well be that they had communed with God each evening, and that the sound in the trees had indicated to them His presence. It would have brought to them the thrill and joy of worship. But now the overtones are different. Now the sound is to them the approach of a vengeful God which is made known to them by the sound of the wind in the trees, and they would be filled with terror. Compare 2 Samuel 5.24 where God is known by ‘the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees’. This is no stroll. To their guilty consciences it is the sound of the approach of God to tackle them over what they have done.
Like the scrabbling together of coverings from fig leaves, this was another desperate and foolish attempt to hide from the all-seeing eyes of God. They were almost frozen with fear. They sought out the darkest place they could find among the trees of the garden, the trees which God had provided as a blessing and which had now become their only hope of hiding from Him. Possibly they hoped that if they could not be seen God would pass them by. How foolish we are when we think that we can hide anything from God or avoid facing up to Him.
9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
God speaks directly to both of them. You might be saying that my point is wrong because it says God spoke to Adam. No, I stick with my point because I want you to turn to chapter 5 and verse 2 but this request is for only those of you who have the King James Version. What does it say? “2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.”
You see they were both called ‘Adam’. I know, I know you are thinking then how come my version says something different like ‘mankind’. This is because like our Precious Holy Spirit taught us in the book of Revelation about not adding or subtracting from His Holy Word. Here we have some people who take it upon themselves that there must have been some mistake so they changed the word. Shame..shame on them.
This is no vague call but a word spoken directly to the heart. God, of course, knew where he was, but He was making him face up to his present situation. He was giving him a chance to express his deep sorrow and repentance. You see we do not have a voice tone of our Holy God. I believe with all my being that what we read is a heartbroken Lord. Do you know the statement about not grieving the Holy Spirit? Do you know what it means? To grieve the Holy Spirit is for us to do something that He knows is ultimately going to hurt us. You see He Is grieving about us having to suffer the consequences of our sinful actions.
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
The man speaks up. The futile coverings that they had made had proved useless, as do all man’s attempts to make him acceptable to God. (‘Our righteousness’s are as filthy rags’ declares the prophet in Isaiah 64.6) Now he has to recognize the folly of his ways. ‘I was afraid because I was naked’. The knowledge of God’s presence had intensified his sense of shame. Now he knew himself for what he now was, and it caused him to give himself away completely. ‘And I hid myself ’. The frank admission that alone could give him hope. He does not try to brazen it out before God. He admits his unworthiness, his shame, that he is not fit to meet God.
We note here that his fig leaf covering has not removed his awareness of nakedness. That was because his nakedness was not physical, but moral. He was laid bare before God.
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
The man, of course, had always known that he was physically naked, but that had been unimportant. This question goes deeper. When he was naked he was not conscious of being naked. Now he is covered he is aware of his nakedness. There is something in the man that has filled him with conscious shame that has made him afraid to be looked at by God. The man is ashamed of his inner nakedness, which reveals him as one who has failed God, as one who has rebelled against God, as one who has weakly given way to the one for whom he was held responsible.
God is aware of what the man means, He knows that there is only one thing that could have filled him with this sense of shame and He determines to pin him down and to make him admit the whole truth. ‘Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’ If there is to be a remedy the lesson must first be brought fully home.
12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
What an accurate picture of a man suffused in guilt. He seeks to place the blame anywhere but on himself. He now passes the buck. It is not my fault –It was the woman’s fault’. She is the one who is to blame. She gave that forbidden fruit to me. – By the way Lord You are the One Who gave her to be with me. So, It was really your fault, God; it was you who gave her to me. If you didn’t I wouldn’t have sinned.’ In the end he has to admit a tiny bit of blame for himself as he replies so ‘I ate’.
It is Adam’s now slick presentation that the real culprits are the woman, and to some extent God. The fact, of course, was that the man himself was largely to blame. He was not deceived. He had been appointed by God and told that the fruit of the tree was banned. The tree was holy to the Lord. Had he stood firm, how the course of history would have changed. But he was deliberately disobedient. Possibly his only real excuse was that the woman was very beautiful and persuasive. But like the woman, he should have run away with his fingers in his ears.
13 And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
The original passing the buck was started by Adam the male. He knew what she had done. But, although the woman may have been aware of some of the consequences for herself, she could have no idea what she had done. Sin is like that. It reaches further than we can ever know. So, since the man came up with an excuse the woman keeps this excuse going.
She did not blame God. It was the serpent’s fault. She admitted she had been deceived, but it was only because he was so beguiling. She could not accept that she was really to blame. But earlier she had told the serpent quite clearly what the position was. She too was without excuse. And in the end she admits ‘I ate’.
14 So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
Do you really think that the serpent had once had legs, which were now removed? I do not and I think you will agree with my reasoning. You must note that it is only the serpent which is cursed. This created being that was made eternal. So, his sin has resulted in a curse.
The author knows that the serpent does not actually eat dust. The ‘eating of dust’ is a symbol of defeat and humiliation (Psalm 72.9; Micah 7.17; Isaiah 47.1; 49.23) and crawling on the belly was widely known as something expected by kings of their humbled foes (see also Psalm 44.25 where it symbolizes affliction and oppression).
So from now on one who had walked in Eden as our Precious Holy Spirit taught through the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 28 or his book, “Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. 14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
Satan will be humbled and defeated.
We now come across a very interesting verse which I have learned that many teachers avoid. We read, “15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”For me though I find it an amazing prophecy from our Great and Holy God. So much so, that I dedicate a whole study into it which we will go over in our next study.
16 To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
In Genesis 1 the producing of children is a duty, a privilege and a blessing, but now that duty, privilege and blessing will be accompanied by intense pain. It is in the mercy of God that, in spite of what she has done, she will still be allowed the blessing of producing children. It is the punishment of God that this will be achieved through much pain.
We run into problems today because women look at these words from our Lord as hurtful. They are not. The Lord Is One Who puts all things in order. If I asked you what should be the importance of relationships, you might list things these ways
Father God
Lord Jesus God
Holy Spirit God
Man
Woman
Children
Yet when you read the Scriptures you see a different order from our Lord. I suggest you read the Gospel of John chapter 17 for when you do you will note the proper order which is horizontal or that in Christ all are together. The horizontal points out and order of authority.
Father – Lord Jesus – Holy Spirit – Man – Woman – Children
Women can become anything they want except a Pastor. For because of the first sin this position was placed on the man to fulfill.
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
It is noteworthy that God does not curse the man, as He cursed the serpent. From now on it is his daily provision that is cursed, something that will constantly remind him of his position and what he has done.
From now on man will have to toil in pain for his food against ever increasing difficulties. He will have to contend with thorns and thistles, which will be ever ready to prevent the growth of what he will eat. It is the vegetation that tears at his hands and prevents him having food that will grow on its own, as once; in contrast, the trees of the garden had grown on their own to provide him with food. Seeking his food will be a constant struggle. The place to which he will be sent will not have sufficient trees to provide his food. It must now be sought amidst thorns and thistles, which will tear not only his hands, but his heart.
Then, in the end, the ground that has been cursed will receive him, and he will become once more part of the ground. He will return to the dust. Thus the curse will fully attach to him in the end. But the cursing of the ground and not the man is God’s indication that in mercy He is delaying punishment. The man will die, but not yet.
20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
The man recognizes that God has shown mercy to him and that, in spite of all, life will therefore go on. And by revealing his willingness to carry out God’s command to ‘be fruitful and multiply’ (1.28), he is making a statement of faith. ‘The man called his wife’s name ‘Eve’ (‘life’) because she is to be the mother of all who will live’. Suddenly tragedy has been tempered by hope. All is not yet lost. Although they have lost everlasting life, they will live on in their children.
21 Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
God now makes clear their new position. They can no longer walk naked before him, for they have made themselves feel vulnerable, inadequate and ashamed. Thus they must be covered to give them a feeling of security and acceptance. The clothes will ever be a reminder of the wonderful relationship with God that they have lost.
Yet with some surprise we learn that the clothes were ‘of skins’. Here we have the first hint of actual deaths. No reader could fail to relate the provision of skins with the deaths of animals. And in this story it stands out dramatically, for death has been totally absent. Thus man receives his first lesson that his disobedience has brought death. Already a substitute is required. Others die that he might be able to face God. Here we have the primitive beginnings of the idea of sacrifice, which will lead on to the final Sacrifice.
22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
Once again, as in chapter 1.26, we have the introduction of ‘us’ - ‘like one of us’. God again reveals Himself.
The sentence for man, although reduced, is again emphasized. Death will now become his destiny because the means of ‘life unto the ages’ will be removed. He will no longer be able to eat of the tree of life, the tree whose fruit has the special quality that it can renew life and prevent old age. By this man is sentenced to a lingering death.
Man not only loses the tree of life, but all the trees in the plain of Eden. He is sent out into a place where he must eat ‘herbs of the field’, scrabbling among the weeds to obtain his food, and scratching at the surface of the ground in hope that it will increase its production. He had been raised above it by God, but now he returns to it, a reminder of his new situation.
In chapter 28 of Ezekiel did you catch the identity of Satan and his rank? He was the ‘anointed cherub’. In other words He was the top cherub. How ironic for him now that place at the entrance to the Garden of Eden at least two cherubim his underlings to now keep him out yet to additionally guard the Tree of Life for we shall hear of it again in use as we read the last book of the bible chapter 22, “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.”
