- Who is the serpent?
- This is a case where a literal interpretation does not follow our hermeneutical rule of common sense. There are two cases in the bible, of an animal talking, and the scripture clearly communicates in the other case that God allows it to talk. That other case is Balaam and his donkey
- Possible, a pre-fall condition, but unlikely since no mention is made
- It was a literal snake, and Satan spoke through the snake
- It was Satan described here as a snake, and also in many other passages fo scripture
- Crafty (Heb aruwm /aw.room/) does not mean wicked as much as wise (Constable)
- Eve's sin was folly -- she already had all the good she needed but wanted more
- Serpent
- Isa 27:1 (ESV) In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.
- Rev 20:2 (ESV) And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,
- Rev 12:9 (ESV) And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world— he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
- What is Satan's tactic?
- He questions God' word -- But how does he? He repeats it, almost word for word (2:16-17 with slight change)
- Jesus describes Satan as a liar
- He questions whether God even said something?
- In other words, does absolute morality really exist
- Has God really said
- He offers the idea of being our own God -- "you will be like God"
- The woman relays God's command, although not perfectly
- She calls it the tree in the middle of the garden (there were two)
- She leaves out "certainly" or "surely"
- And, she says you can't touch it
- How did the woman know God's command?
- Adam must have told her (is it possible she perverted or misquoted God's command)
- Adam, probably added the "don't even touch it" to the command
- Incidentally, Adam is there, but doesn't say anything
- This is the first case of Legalism, adding rules to the word of God
- Satan's reply could be considered partially true, why?
- You won't die for touching it
- You will die (spiritually, and later physically) for eating it
- This is actually the first doctrine denied by Satan in scripture -- that sin results in death (separation from God)
- The lie that you will not die from sin is still Satan's most aggressive argument today
- But Satan goes beyond "denying God's word," what else does he say?
- He adds some secret info
- This is where we get the Greek work "gnostic"
- One of Satan's major tools today is to suggest that there is "secret" knowledge out there: gnostic gospels, letters, etc
- Today, there is a whole realm of Gnosticism, which suggests that God has held out and there is secret knowledge out there
- In the end, the only secret they find out is that they are naked
- Sailhammer observes that Satan's claim directly contradicted the main point of chapters 1 and 2, namely that God would provide what is good for man
- What three reasons do the scriptures give for the woman eating the fruit
- Good for food -- (lust of the flesh)
- Pleasing to the eye (It has always looked good, but now for some reason, the woman experiences a sense of need or expectation, maybe even disappointment) -- (lust of the eyes)
- Desirable for gaining wisdom -- (pride in possessions -- she would be like God). NOTE: they are already made in the image of God
- Where is Adam during the discussion between the serpent and Eve?
- He is standing right next to her (3:6) -- The overwhelming evidence is that Adam was with her. She did not seek him out, he was there. Adam was not deceived, he sinned willingly. It is called Adam's sin [look at the Hebrew words]
- He never intervenes
- He never corrects the serpent
- He takes no action to protect his wife
- Scriptures almost uniformly attribute the sin as the sin of Adam
- Implication, Eve was deceived (1 Tim 2:14), but Adam sinned with his eyes wide open (6b)
- Adam sinned in a number of ways
- He didn't protect his wife
- He (possible) did not communicate God's command well
- Eve's sin was a sin of initiative and Adam's sin was a sin of acquiescence (Hamilton)
- “It is interesting to observe that when this sin is referred to throughout Scripture, it is not referred to as the sin of Eve—but rather as the sin of Adam! The phrase in verse 6, ‘with her,’ seems to suggest that Adam was at Eve’s side when she was tempted by Satan. As God’s theocratic administrator, and as the appointed head of the family, it was Adam’s responsibility to safeguard Eve and to assure that she remained in submission to the command of God. But Adam failed in his God-given responsibility and permitted Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit.”(Pentecost)
- What is the result of their action?
- Eyes opened -- they lose their creature holiness
- They realize their naked -- they experience shame
- They make clothes (out of leaves) -- they experience separation
- Why did they need to make clothes?
- To cover their shame (their new knowledge implied their disobedience)
- APPLICATION:
- Man's first response to sin is to cover up (or the evidence)
- Second is to hide from God
- Third response is to blame someone else (still true today -- it is always someone else's fault, far be it from us that we should sin or fail)
- Why leaves?
- The leaves are a very poor substitute for clothing, and reveal their fear
- The making of clothes is man's first attempt to deal with sin with his own effort (and we are still doing that today)
- Where is God prior to these verses?
- He is spirit and he is everywhere
- So why does God used a "theophany?"
- Emphasizes the relational aspect of walking with God that is broken
- Why does God call out "where are you?"
- Emphasizes the effect of sin in separating us from God
- God does not ask questions to gain information. The question is always for the hearer's sake
- Sin always results in alienation
- theologically (between God and man),
- sociologically (between man and man),
- psychologically (between man and himself),
- and ecologically (between man and nature). (Oz Guiness)
- APPLICATION:
- This is one of the pivotal chapters in the bible, if not the most
- It does not explain the origin of sin, but it does explain the root of sin -- Man's determination to be independent of God -- to be his own god
- We learn that man is not created with sin, it was a choice (Eve was deceived, but Adam sinned)
- This is also called "the rebellion" and it explains everything that is happening in life today
- The reason people hate God's word is because we are rebelling against God's rule
- Throughout history, there are times where the rebellion is outright and loud: Sodom, Judges, the Northern Kingdom, Rome, the pagan cultures of southern Europe, and today
- These are very direct questions from God, and the answers are already known by God -- why does God ask?
- The questions are for our benefit
- The questions were to get Adam and Eve to think, even respond correctly
- What does verse 9 suggest from the all-knowing God?
- Adam was to blame
- Adam had special responsibility (which is another reason I believe "with her" means he was to blame)
- What is Adam's response to God's questions?
- Indirectly, Adam blames God for making Eve
- NOTE: Interesting that what Adam had viewed as a good gift from God, he now blames as a bad gift from God
- Adam blames Eve which is very hypocritical, since by God's very questions to Adam, Adam was there
- How does Eve respond?
- She blames the serpent
- She recognizes that the serpent deceived her
- God does not ask the serpent a question
- The punishment of the Serpent
- If literal, the snake may have had legs
- Isa 65:25 talks about snakes eating dust in the millennium (yet future literal)
- Most likely, it is directed at Satan specifically
- What does the punishment then is the case of it being Satan?
- Crawl on his belly is also an allusion for being the lowest of the low
- Eating dust is an allusion for defeat (still true today and also idioms today)
- Using our principle of hermeneutics, the literal does not make sense. The metaphorical fits better -- the woman in a metaphorical sense is a nation or religion (we see that in Revelation -- Genesis begins the use of the term woman to refer to a religion, or nation and the last book clearly uses the term as well)
- Enmity between true faith in God and those who do not believe in God
- Enmity between the nation that believes in God (Israel) and other nations
- Ultimately while Satan will nip at man's heels causing him to stumble (see Hebrews), the last man, Jesus, would crush him
- What is the punishment for the woman?
- Pain in childbirth
- Some have suggested pain as a result of childbirth (you suffer for your children your whole life)
- The sentence of the woman (Gen 3:16) consists of three parts: the former two regard her as a mother, the last as a wife. Sorrow is to be multiplied in her pregnancy, and is also to accompany the bearing of children. This sorrow seems to extend to all the mother's pains and anxieties concerning her offspring. With what solicitude she would long for a manifestation of right feeling toward the merciful God in her children, similar to what she had experienced in her own breast! What unutterable bitterness of spirit would she feel when the fruits of disobedience would discover themselves in her little ones, and in some of them, perhaps, gather strength from year to year! (from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
- There are some issues around the relationship with the man (see Constable 3 views)
- Some suggest an almost morbid attachment to a man
- Also, while being under the authority of a man, she will try to exert her rulership
- Basically, submission will be a major problem between husband and wife (from both sides)
- What is the reason for Adam's punishment?
- His lack of leadership
- It is not that he listened to his wife -- read carefully the statement -- it is because he listened to his wife to disobey God
- What is the punishment for man?
- The ground is cursed
- Work will have weeds (it will be frustrating)
- Work will involve sweat (it will be hard and time-consuming)
- Work is necessary to survive (it loses some of the joy of the original creation)
- There is overlap between the man and woman
- Both will suffer to see their children make wrong choices
- Both will sweat and struggle to survive
- Both will spiritually and physically die (unless they have faith)
- APPLICATION:
- Don't play with the words of God to justify sin. Don't blame others for your own sin. Repent immediately and always
- The final punishment?
- Man cannot eat of the tree of life and live forever
- We were designed to live forever in our physical bodies
- This is why I wonder if our eternal bodies will also need the tree of life or will it just be those with physical bodies
- Verse 22 (and the whole of the chapter) shows that man’s happiness (good) does not consist in his being like God as much as it depends on his being with God (cf. Ps. 16:11).221 “Like one of us” may mean like heavenly beings (God and the angels; cf. 1:26). (Wenham -- Constable, T. (2003). Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Ge 3:22). Galaxie Software.)
Review:
He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" 2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" 4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 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."
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Genesis 3:9–13 (ESV) —
9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was
afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said,
“Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I
commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman
whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have
done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Genesis 3:14–15 (ESV) —
14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
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.”
Revelation 12:1–6 (ESV) — 1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman
clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of
twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains
and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign
appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten
horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept
down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon
stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her
child he might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male
child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child
was caught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled
into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to
be nourished for 1,260 days.
Genesis 3:16 (ESV) —
16 To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in
childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
but he shall rule over you.”
Genesis 3:17–19 (ESV) —
17 And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice
of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your
life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 3:20–24 (ESV) —
20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all
living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife
garments of skins and clothed them.
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. 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.
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