2. They have more care to save their credit before men, than to obtain their pardon from God. You will not surely die: Satan first wanted Eve to forget all about what God said about the consequences of sin. b. Satan will often attack a chain at its weakest link, so he gets at Adam by tempting Eve. The Old Testament (Genesis 3:1) The serpent begins his temptation. i. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. Demonic spirits evidently have the ability, under certain circumstances, to indwell human or animal bodies (Luke 8:33). The New Testament The serpent deceives Eve. Yet Adam is not himself cursed, as the serpent was, but only the ground for his sake. The stronger ones in a chain must expect an attack against weaker links and support them against those attacks. But in our desire to be gods, we become like Satan. God placed a natural animosity between Satan and mankind. Our good works are like monopoly money great for monopoly, but not legal tender. Here was the drawn of the gospel day: no sooner was the wound given, than the remedy was provided and revealed. Now the creature Satan used to tempt Eve would be a low, groveling creature. It is sin to exchange the truth of God for the lie (Romans 1:25). They didnt proudly show off their fig-leaf outfits; they knew their own covering was completely inadequate, and they were embarrassed before God. Individual instructors or editors may still require the use of URLs. c. The eyes of both of them were opened: The way they saw themselves changed, but also the way they saw the entire world was now different. She was not a mother at all, but as the life was to come through her by virtue of the promised seed, Adam marks his full conviction of the truth of the promise though at the time the woman had borne no children. (Spurgeon). This much was true: she had been deceived, and she did eat. War is proclaimed between the Seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. Satan ruined himself by desiring to be like the Most High, therefore he sought to infect our first parents with the same desire, that he might ruin them too. This signified the shutting out of him, and all his guilty race, from that communion with God, which was the bliss and glory of paradise. The devil implies that man is independent of God our Creator. i. a. In response, God issues three individual ''curses'' which affect humanity to this day. If all these people were brought together in a church-like organization, it would be the third largest religious denomination in America. Even so, God continues to provide for His creation. Rather bless him that ever he should have consecrated the thorns by wearing them for his diadem (Spurgeon). i. The excuses men make to cover and lessen their sins, are vain and frivolous; like the aprons of fig-leaves, they make the matter never the better: yet we are all apt to cover our transgressions as Adam. The lifting of a bronze serpent is the lifting up of sin judged, in the form of a cross. Though Adam and Eve and their descendants were prevented from eating the fruit of the tree of life (by Gods mercy), they could still come there to meet God. Pauline Epistles ii. We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, In the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, You will be like God, knowing good and evil, The woman saw that the tree was good for food, Then the eyes of both of them were opened, They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, walking in the garden in the cool of the day, I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid. Satan tempted Eve, that by her he might tempt Adam. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select a Beginning Point It is idle to call the narrative of the Fall a mere allegory; one had better say at once that he does not believe the Book There was a real serpent, as there was a real paradise; there was a real Adam and Eve, who stood at the head of our race, and they really sinned, and our race is really fallen. ii. b. In virtually all cultures, adults cover their genital areas, even though other parts of the human body may be more or less exposed from culture to culture. When men deny the Scriptures and the truth of God, they always go to work in an underhand, mean, and serpentine style: Upon thy belly shalt thou go. If guilty man begins to plot for his own advantage, scheme for his own glory, and aim at perverting the truth, you will notice that he never takes a bold, open, manly stand, but he dodges, he conceals, he twists and shifts: Upon thy belly shalt thou go. Sin is a mean and despicable thing. 1. Between you and the woman, He excused the fault by laying it on his ii. For dust you are, Take and eat will one day become verbs of salvation, but only after Jesus had lived in the world of Adams curse and surrendered to death. ii. iii. Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat? 1. Gods judgment on Satan is for him to always know defeat. Sin has corrupted both the willing submission of the wife and the loving headship of the husband. As the gospel gains ground, Satan falls. ii. As He creates and destroys worlds, so will you have the power to create and destroy. i. iii. The devil's instruments must share in the devil's punishments. Eve tried to become a god by rebelling against God. Poetical Books a. I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid: Sin made Adam afraid of Gods presence and afraid of Gods voice. Despite that, Adam and Eve needed only a bit of prompting from a talking serpent to disobey their good Creator. Johannine Writings c. And clothed them: This, together with the expression of faith in Gods promise indicated in the naming of Eve (Genesis 3:20), indicates that Adam and Eve were rescued from their sinful condition. WebGenesis 3 tells the story of paradise lost by the willfulness of human sin. CSB 19 You will eat bread by the Or, perhaps the idea focuses on mans greater knowledge (though in a bad sense) now that he has the experiential knowledge of evil. Sooner or later it will bring shame; either the shame of true repentance, which ends in glory, or that shame and everlasting contempt, to which the wicked shall rise at the great day. This is because, in this picture, the serpent (a personification of sin and rebellion) is made of bronze (a metal associated with judgment, since it is made with fire). The Gospels And the woman said to the serpent: Eves first mistake was in even carrying on a discussion with the serpent. Many other passages associate a serpent or a snake-like creature with Satan (such as Job 26:13 and Isaiah 51:9). d. You shall eat dust all the days of your life: This was true of the serpent as an animal, but it is also true of Satan. Satan's plan was to draw our first parents to sin, and so to separate between them and their God. b. Cursed is the ground: Because of Adam, there is a curse upon all creation. Are not his days also like the days of a hired man? That Satan has power to enter into living bodies is clear, for he did so upon a very large scale with regard to men in the days of Christ Being compelled to have an embodiment, the master evil spirit perceived the serpent to be at that time among the most subtle of all creatures; and therefore he entered into the serpent as feeling that he would be most at home in that animal (Spurgeon). Adam laid the blame on his wife; but though it was her fault to persuade him to eat the forbidden fruit, it was his fault to hearken to her. In toil you shall eat of it i. Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? The question was meant to express the accountability man had before God. Did sorrow come in with sin? iv. Pauline Epistles This gracious revelation of a Saviour came unasked, and unlooked for. He spoke in a taunting way. He was sent to a place of toil, not to a place of torment. And you shall eat the herb of the field. And between your seed and her Seed; 2018 David Guzik - No distribution beyond personal use without permission, The Whole Bible Therefore, it is Adam and not Eve who bears the responsibility for the fall of the human race and for the introduction of death into the created order (Romans 5:12, 1 Corinthians 15:22). Web19 sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk, Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried; you started out as dirt, you'll end up dirt." This does not mean God did not have a name for Eve, but we are told what the name is in Genesis 5:2: He called them Mankind. She was not even pregnant yet. Historical Books The question was meant to express Gods sorrow over mans lost condition. Any angel of the lowest rank could have dealt with Adam. All the days of your life. Adam sinned with his eyes wide open, in open rebellion against God. Uneasiness and weariness with labour are our just punishment, which we must patiently submit to, since they are less than our iniquity deserves. Blue Letter Bible study tools make reading, searching and studying the Bible easy and rewarding. In Satans direct challenge, he tries to get Eve to doubt the goodness of God. The serpent: The text here does not, by itself alone, clearly identify the serpent as Satan, but the rest of the Bible makes it clear this is Satan appearing as a serpent. It is his policy to send temptations by hands we do not suspect, and by those that have most influence upon us. (16-19) The first clothing of mankind. a. See here what is commonly the folly of those that have sinned. God bid man go out; told him he should no longer occupy and enjoy that garden: but man liked the place, and was unwilling to leave it, therefore God made him go out. And Christ's sufferings are continued in the sufferings of the saints for his name. i. Adam even blames God. He was nailed to the cross; he hung there in thirst and fever, and darkness and desertion (Spurgeon). i. Barnhouse explained: This verse will be understood better when it is realized that the desire of man toward his wife alone is solely by Gods grace and not by nature.. g. He shall bruise your head: For God to see the defeat of Satan at Satans first flush of victory shows God knew what He was doing all along. Because of Adam: ii. Many have speculated that Adam sinned because he didnt want Eve to be alone in the fall, and he ate of the fruit out of a romantic impulse. And you shall bruise His heel.. There is a sense in which idolatry of Eve was an aspect of Adams disobedience against God. No condition will of itself bring content, unless the mind be brought to it. Our use of these terms is not merely cultural, it is Biblical. (Genesis 3:7) The nakedness of Adam and Eve. i. The way to the tree of life was shut. a. Adam called his wifes name Eve: Up to Genesis 3:20, the woman has never been called Eve. Poetical Books i. Jesus was tempted in the same three-fold way: an appeal to the physical appetites, an appeal to covetous and emotional desires, and an appeal to pride (Matthew 4:1-11). WebGenesis 3:19 Clarke's Commentary. It would not be until the cool of the day (Genesis 3:8) when God would normally come to them. iii. iii. This same word for desire is used in Genesis 4:7 of the desire of sin to master over Cain. We are clothed with a garment of righteousness that was purchased with the life of another, Jesus Christ. God commanded the serpent to slither on the ground instead of walking on legs like any other animal. His incarnation, or coming in the flesh. Those who are willing to take the pleasure and profit of sin, are backward to take the blame and shame of it. a. Satan questioned whether it were a sin or not, to eat of this tree. He was to live; the ground was to bring forth enough of the herb of the field for him to continue to exist. Where the gospel has gone, the load has been lifted, and woman in Christ has become the reflection of the redeemed Church, the bride of Christ. (Barnhouse). Who then can say that Adam's sin had but little harm in it? General Epistles Perhaps Satan made the voice supernaturally seem to come forth from the serpent, or perhaps Satan communicated this to Eve in her thoughts. Robbins is also recognized as a leader in the New Age movement. a. Adam probably had regard to the blessing of a Redeemer, the promised Seed, in calling his wife Eve, or life; for He should be the life of all believers, and in Him all the families of the earth should be blessed. Therefore, He forbids you to eat of it, lest you create other worlds Hurry now and eat the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden, and become independent of God, lest He bring forth still other creatures that will rule over you (Ginzberg). It was the ground that was cursed due to Adam's sin, so that he had to toil by the sweat of his brow throughout this earthly life to provide what was originally bestowed in plentiful supply. Perhaps there is a note of sarcasm by God here (as Elijah used in 1 Kings 18:27), regarding Satans empty promise to become like gods. Also, there is a continual struggle between the wicked and the godly in this world. i. We need to let Jesus cover us (Revelation 3:5, 18), and put on Jesus Himself as our covering garment (Galatians 3:27). We are so used to saying Adam and Eve that we assume she already had her name.