The Eyes Of Eve In Eden

February 17, 2002 Genesis 2:7-9,15-17; 3:1-7

7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. 8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

There once was a man named Amnon who fell madly in “love” with his half-sister Tamar. Actually, it was just lust. He wanted to have sex with her - worse than a dog in heat. In fact, he was so obsessed with her that he was starting to lose his health. Such a relationship was forbidden, but this didn’t deter Amnon. After consulting with his good friend Jonadab, he decided to fake a sickness, call on Tamar to serve him, and then rape her. (2 Samuel 13) Here’s a sick story of a man who went to great lengths just to get what he wanted.

Have you ever done maybe not sick, but strange things to get what you wanted? When I was in 1st grade, I noticed that several of my classmates had eyeglasses. I thought they were pretty neat, and I wanted some. So I decided to pretend like I had a hard time reading books. Immediately the teacher asked if I had a hard time seeing it, and I said yes. Before I knew it, I was at the eye doctor’s getting my eyes tested.

You might compare this to what Eve did in today’s text. She had perfectly good eyesight. But Satan convinced her that she needed glasses, so to speak - that she could see even more. All by eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Today, as we begin our Lent Sundays, we’re going to look at what started the whole reason for Lent - as we look at -

The Eyes of Eve in Eden

I. Had plenty to see

When you move into a new house, what’s the first thing that you usually do after you get situated? It is traditional in America to give people a tour of your new facilities. The LORD God had built some new facilities for Adam and Eve to live in. And our text says, the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. Adam was given a variety of trees not only to look at, but also to eat from - apple trees, pear trees, peach trees - all kinds of them! It was an actual paradise!

But this wasn’t all that man had to look at! Notice how God described his creation of man - the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. God had carefully formed the man the way a potter shapes his vessels, and even more specially breathed life into his nostrils - unlike what he had done with the animals - these humans would even have a soul and a conscience. These words denote to us that God took special care and thought into his creation of man. Adam and Eve could be happy with the way they were created - they weren’t lacking anything. When put side by side - they made the perfect couple! On top of this, he made them perfectly holy - right in line with what God wanted. Their will was the same as God’s.