FRAMEWORKS:
Genesis 3: The Fall
v.1-5
Satan tempts Eve
v.6,7
Both Adam & Eve disobey God
v.8-11
They Encounter God
v.12-13
They both make excuses
v.14-19
Imposed Consequences of their Disobedience
v.20,21
New Approaches to Life
v.22-24
Banishment
v.1-5
Satan tempts Eve
v.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'?”
v.2,3
The
woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in
the garden, 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.'”
v.4
“You
will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.
v.5
“For
God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened,
and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
[Notes:
The ‘serpent' is subsequently revealed as the Devil,
Satan, the accuser. [see Rev 12:9] Eve clearly remembers the instructions
given to Adam. Satan challenges whether they would die and proposes
an alternative – self-enlightenment. That latter part was true
but of course he did not spell out the consequences. Temptation
usually forgets there are always consequences - see Gal 6:7]
v.6,7
Both Adam & Eve disobey God
v.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.
v.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.
[Notes:
Adam and Eve were clearly together; she has the thoughts
and he fails to check her and goes along with her and eats of
the forbidden tree. Having done it, they suddenly realised that
something has changed, they are self-conscious and guilty and
feel the need to cover themselves, to hide themselves, so take
leaves and sewed them into clothing [self-effort covering]
v.8-11
They Encounter God
v.8
Then
the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was
walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from
the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
v.9
But
the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
v.10
He
answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because
I was naked; so I hid.”
v.11
And
he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from
the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
[Notes:
It appears clear that God was appearing in human form
in the Garden and whether he was singing or simply making noise
moving through undergrowth, they hear him coming. Their immediate
instinct is to hide, they feel guilty. God who knows everything,
calls to them to reveal themselves. Adam confesses he was afraid
because he was naked. This is more likely to suggest this
guilt-shame-defensiveness need to cover up and God challenges
him as to what has happened.]
v.12-13
They both make excuses
v.12
The
man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit
from the tree, and I ate it.”
v.13
Then
the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The
woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
[Notes:
The ‘blame game' ensues. Adam obliquely blames God for
giving him the woman and now she is the one who led him astray.
She blames the serpent for deceiving her.
It
is a truth that Satan is a created being but it didn't take much
for both Adam and Eve to use their free will to disobey God. This
act is referred to as original sin. It is a truth that we all
have free will and it doesn't take much for us to ‘do wrong'.
We would define sin as self-centred godlessness resulting in wrong.
In this original instance both humans a) sought their own pleasure
and additional knowledge [self-centred] and b) disregarded what
God had said [godless]. Excuses or blame count for nothing before
God; we are all held responsible for our own decisions and actions.]
v.14-19
Imposed Consequences of their Disobedience
v.14,15
For the Serpent
v.14
So
the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all
the days of your life.
v.15
And
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between
your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you
will strike his heel.”
v.16
For Eve
v.16
To
the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very
severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
v.17-19
For Adam
v.17
To
Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit
from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from
it,' “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful
toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.
v.18
It
will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat
the plants of the field.
v.19
By
the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return
to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you
are and to dust you will return.”
[Notes:
We have suggested 'Imposed' consequences because they
are not necessarily [although some could be] consequences that
flow automatically from the sin, but are imposed by God. A curse
is a divine decree for bad, an imposed judgment.]
v.20,21
New Approaches to Life
v.20
Adam
named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all
the living.
v.21
The
Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed
them.
[Notes:
The Hebrew word for Eve means ‘life' or ‘living'. Commentators
often point out that for the couple to be clothed by God animals
had to be killed. Possibly a subtle glance to the future when
animal sacrifices would provide ‘covering' that comes by the sacrifice
being seen as stand-in for taking punishment of the individual's
sin, in a sense providing protection from punishment.]
v.22-24
Banishment
v.22
And
the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing
good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and
take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever.”
v.23
So
the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the
ground from which he had been taken.
v.24
After
he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden
of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to
guard the way to the tree of life.
[Notes:
Mankind now knew [by experience] the difference between
good and evil. They would also be able to work out that to defeat
the judgment of death for their disobedience they could eat of
the other special tree, the tree of life, and so, despite their
sin, have eternal life. One might suggest that beings that exercised
their free will for evil, if allowed to live for ever could wind
up utterly destroying the earth and each other. Limiting the length
of life would, therefore, limit in a small measure the damaging
effects of unrestrained mankind. Death is a way, therefore of
saving the world and giving the next generation the opportunity
to make a better job of it than the previous one.
NB.
Many of these inferences that have been made in this chapter are
purely that – inferences – because often reasoning has not been
made clear. The simplest and shortest conclusion is that when
mankind exercises its freewill for bad, bad consequences follow.
It is the way God has designed mankind. Perhaps the simplest example
that can be given is in respect of eating. Gluttony produces obesity
and obesity a variety of other, even life-threatening, ailments.
Someone has said that God gave mankind exactly what we wanted,
freedom of life without Him, but the trouble is that God, by His
very presence, is a life-bringer and where He is absent that life-bringing
power is limited, and thus life is a struggle.]
Lessons
or Challenges to Ponder from Genesis Chapter 3
1.
People may speculate whether this chapter is exact reality or
a parable, but behind both is an explanation why we are like we
are – with potential greatness but also with potential evil –
we have free will which we exercise every hour of the waking day,
which enables as to choose God's will or our will.
2.
Both choices have consequences that flow from them. (Gal 6:7).
The wrongs, the pains, the anguishes, the hurts, the violence
that we can see across the globe every minute, ever hour and every
day of human life comes from choices.
3.
When God put them ‘out of the garden' it was not the end of His
dealings with mankind, but it did mean He would appear at a distance
until you went looking for Him or He went looking for you for
a specific reason, as becomes clear in later chapters.
Design
Criteria
1.
Divided by main sub-headings which are also listed at the
top.
2.
Notes after each section reiterate the content of what has
just been read, or expand or clarify it. For this particular
chapter we felt additional explanations would be helpful
for the reader at the end of the chapter.
3.
In v.14-19 we added supplementary subheadings for additional
clarification.
4.
For this particular book we tried adding lessons or challenges
that come out of the chapter, at the end of it.
5.
Note also the colour coding we use to distinguish headings,
notes etc. from the blue text. |