Genesis 3

Genesis now turns to the break between God and humanity.

1 Now the serpent was more shrewd than any of the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard; 3 but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die, 5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like divine beings who know good and evil.”

God had told Adam, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 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.” (Genesis 2:16-17, NIV) Now Satan, speaking through the serpent, tempts the woman to disobey this command. Actually the text does not mention Satan but simply says “the serpent” spoke to the woman. But we may safely assume that Satan was behind whatever exactly was going on here. In verse 1 the serpent “spoke as though an incredible rumour had reached it” (H. L. Ellison).

Of course, God had said no such thing. But this ‘big lie’ seems to have put the woman on the defensive. In answering the serpent she adds the prohibition, “you must not touch it”. God did not say that either. Where the woman got this from is unknown. Regardless of where it came from, there is a lesson for us here. Whenever God gives us a command — such as to not eat from a certain tree — it is understandable and even commendable for us to go above and beyond strict obedience out of our love for Him and our desire to please Him. In this case, we might decide that not only will we not even touch the tree, we will not even go near it. The problem with what the woman does here — and with what we sometimes do — is that she is creating a new command all by herself and then attributing it to God. Perhaps Adam told her this.  Either way, this is problematic because — whether in the Garden of Eden or in our world today — adding to God’s requirements betrays a lack of understanding of what God has said to us and doubt as to God’s perfect goodness. There is a world of difference between, on the one hand, voluntarily going beyond strict obedience out of love, and on the other hand, forcing ourselves and others to follow more rules out of a misguided desire to appease God or earn His favor.

6 When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. (NET Bible)

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. 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.” (ESV)

God was not asking those questions because He did not know where the man and woman were or did not know what was going on. He asked them rhetorically, the way any parent might ask a child something in order to get him or her to acknowledge wrongdoing.

But the man and woman each simply attempted to transfer responsibility to someone else. The man tried to kill two birds with one stone, blaming God and the woman at the same time (“The woman whom you gave to be with me…”)! The woman blamed the serpent. No doubt it played a role, but she had to cooperate with what the serpent was trying to do to her.

That was it. No acceptance of responsibility, no admission of wrongdoing. There is an almost defiant tone to their response to God. There is no indication that they are sorry about what has happened, that they won’t do it again, that they want another chance, that they desire reconciliation or would like things to return to the way they were before they disobeyed God.

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.”

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 for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.”

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.” (ESV)

Verse 15 alludes to the long conflict between the people of God and the evil one which was to be recounted through the Old Testament and which has gone on up to the present day as the Church has born witness to Jesus’ victory over sin and death.

The man’s and woman’s rebellion against a righteous God could not be without consequences. The fellowship — the close relationship — which they had enjoyed with God, was broken. Death — spiritual separation from God as well as physical demise — sprang into the picture. In addition, God’s judgments appear to have been designed to strike at the pride of the man and woman. To the degree that the man took pride in his domination over the natural world, he would be humiliated by the rebellion of the soil; it is now only with great work and effort that a living can be extracted from the earth. The woman may have taken pride in the fact that children had to come through her and in her ability to bear them and nurture them, but childbearing would now be painful.

In addition, she would have a desire for her husband which he would exploit to dominate her. Sin brought about a power struggle between men and women which has resulted in the relegation of women to a subordinate status in society through most of history. It has also resulted in many broken marriages. But husbands and wives who are believers in Christ are called and enabled to set this conflict aside and live in harmony and mutual self-sacrifice.

20 The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. 21 The LORD God made garments from skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. 22 And the LORD God said, “Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not be allowed to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the LORD God expelled him from the orchard in Eden to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken. 24 When he drove the man out, he placed on the eastern side of the orchard in Eden angelic sentries who used the flame of a whirling sword to guard the way to the tree of life.

Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden of Eden, but all of us, their descendants, have experienced the consequences of that first rebellion against God. Our fellowship with Him was broken, we became like God in terms of knowing good and evil, and we came under a death sentence. Since we had become unfit to be with God, and had already taken from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God made sure to bar us from the tree of life. We cannot escape death or be with God. At least, not without a miracle from Him.

In verse 21 it says God clothed them. God still cared for them. Things could never again be the same as they were before between them and God. But God still loved them, would still provide for them. He was not about to turn His back on them and forget them. God was not finished with His creation yet. He already knew what He was going to do to make it possible for them and their descendants to someday be saved from death, eat from the tree of life, and become what He originally intended.

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