ADAM AND EVE, PART TWO.
Reading: Genesis 3:1-5.
1. THE TEMPTATION, VERSES 1-5.
Verse 1.
“Now the serpent was more subtle (and) crafty than any living creature of the field which the Lord God had made. And he (Satan) said to the woman, Can it really be that God has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the garden?”
“The serpent."
The fall of man was effected by the seductions of a serpent. That it was a real serpent is evident from the plain and artless style of the history and from the many references made to it in the New Testament. But the material serpent was the instrument or tool of a higher agent, Satan or the devil, to whom the sacred writers apply from this incident the reproachful name of “the dragon, that old serpent” Revelation 20:2.
Though Moses makes no mention of this wicked spirit, giving only the history of the visible world, yet in the fuller discoveries of the Gospel, it is distinctly guilty that Satan was the author of the plot (John 8:44; 2 Corinthians 11:3; 1 John 3:8; 1 Timothy 2:14; Revelation 20:2).
“More subtitle.”
Serpents are well-known for wisdom, Matthew 10:16 “Behold, I am sending you out like sheep in the midst of wolves; be wary (and) wise as serpents, and be innocent (harmless, guileless, and without falsity) as doves.” But these reptiles were at first, probably, far superior in beauty as well as in wisdom to what they are in their present state.
“He said.”
There being in the pure souls of the first pair no principle of evil to work upon, a solicitation to sin could come only from “without,” as in the parallel case of Jesus Christ (Matthew 4:3); and as the tempter could not assume the human form, there being only Adam and Eve in the world, the agency of an inferior creature had to be employed.
The serpent seemed the fittest for the vile purpose; and the devil was allowed by Him who permitted the trial, to bring clear sounds from its mouth.
“Unto the woman.”
The object of attack, from his knowledge of her weakness, of her having been but a short time in the world, her limited experience of the devil, and, above all, her being alone, unprotected by the presence and counsels of her husband. Though sinless and holy, she was a free agent, accountable to be tempted and seduced.
“Yea, hath God said?”
Is it true that He has restricted you in using the fruits of this delightful place? This is not like one so good and kind. Surely there is some mistake. He suggested a doubt as to her sense of the divine will and appeared as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), offering to lead her to the true interpretation.
It was evidently from her regarding him as specially sent on that errand, that, instead of being startled by the reptile's speaking, she received him as a heavenly messenger.
Verse 2.
“And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat the fruit from the trees of the garden.”
“The woman said, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden.”
In her answer, Eve celebrated the large extent of liberty they enjoyed in ranging at will amongst all the trees, one only excepted, with respect to which, she declared there was no doubt, either of the ban or the penalty.
But there is reason to think that she had already received a harmful impression; for in using the words “lest you die,” instead of “you shall surely die” Genesis 2:17, she spoke as if the tree had been forbidden because of some poisonous quality of its fruit. The tempter, perceiving this, became bolder in his assertions.
Verse 4.
“But the serpent said to the woman, you shall not surely die.”
“You shall not surely die.”
He proceeded, not only to assure her of perfect impunity, but to promise great benefits from partaking of it.
Verse 5.
“For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil (and) blessing and calamity.”
“Your eyes shall be opened.”
His words meant more than met the ear. In one sense her eyes were opened; for she acquired a direful experience of “good and evil,” of the happiness of a holy, and the misery of a sinful, condition. But he carefully concealed this result from Eve.
Who, fired with an open-handed desire for knowledge, thought only of rising to the rank and rights of her angelic visits?
2. THE FALL, VERSES 6-9.
Verse 6.
“And when the woman saw that the tree was good (suitable, pleasant) for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate.”
“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food.”
Her imagination and feelings were completely won; and the fall of Eve was soon followed by that of Adam. The history of every temptation, and of every sin, is the same; the outward object of attraction, the inward turmoil of mind, the increase and triumph of passionate desire; ending in the ruin, slavery, and damage of the soul (James 1:15; 1 John 2:16).
Verse 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.”
“They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden.”
The divine Being appeared in the same manner as formerly, uttering the well-known tones of kindness, walking in some visible form (not running hastily, as one impelled by the influence of angry feelings). How beautifully expressive are these words of the familiar and lofty manner in which He had up till then held communication with the first pair.
“In the cool of the day.”
Literally, “the breeze of the day,” the evening.
“Hid themselves amongst the trees of the garden.”
Shame, remorse, fear, a sense of guilt, feelings to which they had until then not seen, now strangers their minds and led them to shun God.
3. THE EXAMINATION, VERSES 10-13.
Verse 10.
“He said, I heard the sound of You (walking) in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
“Afraid, because . . . naked.”
Apparently, a confession, the language of sorrow; but it was shifty, no signs of true humility and repentance, each tries to throw the blame on another.
Verse 12.
“And the man said, the woman whom You gave to be with me--she gave me (fruit) from the tree, and I ate.”
“The woman . . . gave me.”
He blames God. As the woman had been given him for his companion and help, he had eaten of the tree from love to her; and perceiving she was ruined, was determined not to survive her.
Verse 13.
“And the Lord God said to the woman, what is this you have done? And the woman said, the serpent beguiled (cheated, outwitted, and deceived) me, and I ate.”
“Beguiled.”
Persuaded by flattering lies. This sin of the first pair was dreadful and bothered. It was not simply eating an apple, but a love of self, dishonour to God, ungratefulness to a benefactor, disobedience to the best of Masters, a preference of the creature to the Creator.
4. THE SENTENCE, VERSES 14-24.
Verse 14.
“And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed above all (domestic) animals and above every (wild) living thing of the field; upon your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust (and what it contains) all the days of your life.”
“And the Lord God said unto the serpent.”
The Judge pronounces a doom: first, on the material serpent, which is cursed above all creatures.
From being a model of grace and elegance in form, it has become the type of all that is odious, disgusting, and low or the curse has converted its natural condition into a punishment; it is now branded with a bad name and avoided with horror; next, on the spiritual serpent, the seducer. Already fallen, he was to be still more degraded and his power wholly destroyed by the offspring of those he had deceived.
Verse 15.
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her Offspring; He will bruise (and) tread your head underfoot, and you will lie in wait (and) bruise His heel.”
“Your seed.”
Not only evil spirits, but wicked men.
“Seed of the woman.”
The Messiah or His Church.
“I will put enmity between thee and the woman.”
God can only be said to do so by leaving “the serpent and his seed to the influence of their own corruption; and by those measures which, pursued for the salvation of men, fill Satan and his angels with envy and rage.”
“You shall bruise his heel.”
The serpent wounds the heel that crushes him; and so Satan would be permitted to afflict the humanity of Christ and bring suffering and persecution on His people.
“It shall bruise your head.”
The serpent's poison is lodged in its head; and a bruise on that part is fatal. Thus, fatal shall be the stroke which Satan shall receive from Christ, though it is probable he did not at first understand the nature and extent of his doom.
Verse 16.
“To the woman He said, I will greatly multiply your grief (and) your suffering in pregnancy (and) the pangs of childbearing; with spasms of distress you will bring forth children. Yet your desire (and) craving will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
“To the woman He said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow.”
She was doomed as a wife and mother to suffer pain of body and distress of mind. From being the help meet of man and the partner of his affections Genesis 2:18, 23, her condition would henceforth be that of humble subjection.
Verses 17-18.
“And to Adam He said, Because you have listened {and} given heed to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it, the ground is under a curse because of you; in sorrow {and} toil shall you eat (of the fruits) of it all the days of your life.
Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field.”
“To Adam he said.”
Made to gain his livelihood by tilling the ground; but what before his fall he did with ease and pleasure, was not to be accomplished after it without painful and unrelenting effort
Verse 19.
“In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you shall return.”
“Till thou return unto the ground.”
Man became mortal; although he did not die the moment he ate the forbidden fruit, his body underwent a change, and that would lead to dissolution; the union subsisting between his soul and God having already been dissolved, he had become liable to all the miseries of this life and to the pains of hell for ever. What a mournful chapter this is in the history of man! It gives the only true account of the origin of all the physical and moral evils that are in the world; upholds the moral character of God; shows that man, made upright, fell from not being able to resist a slight temptation; and becoming guilty and miserable, plunged all his posterity into the same abyss (Ro 5:12). How astonishing the grace which at that moment gave promise of a Saviour and conferred on her who had the disgrace of introducing sin the future honour of introducing that Deliverer (1Ti 2:15).
Verse 20.
“The man called his wife's name Eve (life spring), because she was the mother of all the living.”
Adam called his wife's name Eve -- probably in reference to her being a mother of the promised Saviour, as well as of all mankind.
Verse 21.
“For Adam also and for his wife the Lord God made long coats (tunics) of skins and clothed them.”
God made coats of skins -- taught them to make these for themselves. This implies the institution of animal sacrifice, which was undoubtedly of divine appointment, and instruction in the only acceptable mode of worship for sinful creatures, through faith in a Redeemer (Heb 9:22).
Verse 22.
“And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of Us (the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), to know (how to distinguish between) good and evil (and) blessing and calamity; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
And God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us -- not spoken in irony as is generally supposed, but in deep compassion. The words should be rendered, "Behold, what has become [by sin] of the man who was as one of us"! Formed, at first, in our image to know good and evil -- how sad his condition now.
And now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life -- This tree being a pledge of that immortal life with which obedience should be rewarded, man lost, on his fall, all claim to this tree; and therefore, that he might not eat of it or delude himself with the idea that eating of it would restore what he had forfeited, the Lord sent him forth from the garden.
Notes for Verse 24
Verse 24.
“So (God) drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden the cherubim and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep (and) guard the way to the tree of life."
Placed . . . cherubim -- The passage should be rendered thus: "And he dwelt between the cherubim at the East of the Garden of Eden and a fierce fire, or Shekinah, unfolding itself to preserve the way of the tree of life." This was the mode of worship now established to show God's anger at sin and teach the mediation of a promised Saviour as the way of life, as well as of access to God. They were the same figures as were afterwards in the tabernacle and temple; and now, as then, God said, "I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim’s" (Ex 25:22).
