Disobedience in the Garden (2:25-3:7)
| 25And the man and his wife were both naked and were not embarrassed or ashamed in each other's presence. |
We are now faced with a word play. In the start of the story we have the word arom (to be naked 2:25) but later in the story we have the word erom (3:7) And, in 3:1, a form of the word arum is translated “crafty.”
II. The first use of the word arom in 2:25 tells us about the innocent state of the Adam and Eve and how unprepared they were for the coming of the evil one. They were not battled hardened but totally and completely innocent.
III. The difference between arom in 2:25 and erom in 3:7 is found by comparing the word erom to Deut. 28:48, where this term is Israel’s condition for being disobedient. Here is the idea. The effect of the fall was not so much as to allow man and woman to know that they were naked, but the message is also that they are now under God’s judgment.
Question: Does the realization of Adam and Eve that they were naked imply that we live in a moral universe?
The Tempter 3:1
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?
I. A small detail here. The serpent was “crafty.” arum
A. This is a word often used for wisdom. It occurs 8 times in proverbs and Job.
B. Man’s act of disobedience was not so much a wicked thing but one of folly. At the heart of the matter, man wanted to be like God.
C. The forbidden tree of the knowledge “of good and evil.”
1. The woman ate of it because she wanted “wisdom” v.6.
2. But the wisdom of the ‘serpent’ leads to a curse, v.14 (arur)
D. Notice, that the serpent is said to be one of the “wild animals” that the Lord God had made (cf. 1:25; 2:19).
1. The point the author is making I think is that the serpent was not a supernatural being but actually a “serpent.”
The
Temptation 3: 2-7
| 2And
the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit from the trees of
the garden,3Except the fruit from the tree which is in the middle of
the garden. God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you
touch it, lest you die.4But the serpent said to the woman, You shall
not surely die, 5For 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. 6And 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. 7Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves apron-like girdles. |
A. The center of the story. What is knowledge of “good and evil?”
B. What is God keeping from man and woman (v.5)?
C. In chapters one and two, God said that He gave man and woman everything that was “Good," they had all they needed.
D. The snake is now saying that is not so. God held some things back!
2. But, there is as hint that the ‘woman’ had already assumed the role of God. “The woman said, that the tree was good,” even before she ate the fruit!
A. It is at this point that the author now brings us “wisdom.”
B. Thus, the temptation is not presented as rebellion against God directly, but as a pursuit of wisdom by woman apart from God.
C. “She took some of it and gave to her husband." Now, the man and woman are like God in respect to knowing good and evil (v.5).
D. With their new knowledge of good and evil, now they know they are aware of their nakedness (v.7).
E. Then, they try to cover their shame.
II. The Judgment (3:8-20)
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.
A. The judgment scene opens with ‘qol’ a sound. This one is the Lord coming.
B. As used in the OT, especially in Deut. Qul does not mean simply a sound hitting our ears, but rather to ‘hear’ is to ‘obey.’ The Lord is coming to summon them to obedience.
C. The time “the cool of the day” translation is actually “in the wind of the day.” I think God is showing up in anger and judgment (see Job 38:1).
D. “They fled to the trees.” Notice the central role of trees in the creation story. Tree linked to punishment of death (Deut. 21:22-23). Later, the tree is a gift of life (Gal. 3:13).
III. The Trial 3: 9-13
9Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"10He said, "I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself."
11And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"
12The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate."13Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
A. The only words before judgment “where are you?” v.9
B. Notice the questions. “Who told you that you were naked?” “Have you eaten from the tree?” “What is this you have done?”
C. The word “naked” is used in vs.7, 10,11 with all of its meanings. The author of the text allows man to convict himself.
D. Let's blame the woman (v.12) and God, it is your fault also.
E. Remember 2:18, that it was not good for man to be alone. Now, since God has made a sustainer (woman) man is now claiming that what God has done is not good.
Some Notes on Above
V. 12---gave by me she gave me____The repeated verb catches the way the man passes the buck, not only blaming woman for giving him the fruit but blaming God for giving him the woman.
IV. The Verdict
14The LORD God said to the serpent,
"Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you will go,
And dust you will eat
All the days of your life; 15And I will put (enmity Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel." 16To the woman He said,
"I will greatly multiply
Your pain in childbirth,
In pain you will bring forth children;
Yet your desire will be for your husband,
And he will rule over you."
| 17Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; |
In toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life.
18"Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
And you will eat the plants of the field;
19By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread,
Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return."20Now the man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
Notes again
v.15 - It is here (Enmity, division) that the split between man and animals first takes place. We now move from a peaceful situation to hostility.
V. 15 - boot-bite - The Hebrew uses what appears to be homonyms, the first meaning to trample, the second a hissing sound just before the snake bites.
I. The Snake, the Woman, and the Man (14-20).
A. The Snake
1. Once called “crafty” in now “cursed.”
2. Cursed above all other animals (must crawl, eat dust) v.14 3. The “seed” of the snake was cursed as is the “seed” of the woman.
B. The enmity is first between the woman and the snake.
C. Second, the enmity is between her seed and the snake’s seed.
D. In the final analysis, the seed of the woman will crush the head of Satan.
E. The seed of the snake and the seed of the woman stand for all humanity.
F. Read Romans 16:20 to see the fulfillment of this. Also Rev.12:9.
II. V. 16–The Judgment defined.
A. It is to be first to her sons and then to her husband.
B. As punishment, her husband will now rule over her.
C. As punishment, there will now be pain in child birth.
D. If we compare this text with chapter one (v.28) what the woman was once to do as a blessing, now is a curse.
III. V. 17 -20 — As man’s judgment, the good land of chapters 1-2 is now cursed.
A. There is a theme of “eating.”
1. “You are free to eat” 2:16.
2. “All was good to eat” 1:31.
3. It is eating that brings them down.
4. In verse 17, eating will only be by pain.
5. The description of the land in v.19 is the reverse of the land in chapters 1-2.
6. As verse 18 shows the reversal of the land, verse 19 shows the reversal of man.
7. This is an important point in the sacrifice of the “Red Heifer.” V.20 There is a connection between adamah and adam. The ground is cursed for Adam. In Numbers 19, we find a way to remove that curse.
I. Protection 3:21
21The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
A. God is no longer resting as in Chapter 2. He now enters into judgment and then care.
B. Animals must have been killed to make the skins.
C. To be naked in the presence of God is not good. See Ex. 28:42. It is a lasting ordinance (Ex. 28:43).
II.
Exile 22-24
|
22Then
the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us,
knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and
take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"--
23therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to
cultivate the ground from which he was taken.
|
A. 22-23 The verdict of death is now brought against the man and the woman.
B. Man wanted to “be like God” but the goal was undesirable
C. In 2:15, we find that man was put in the garden to worship and for ‘obedience.’
D. Verse 24. This is typology for the later Tabernacle at Sinai, when through the law and the Torah God will restore his relationship with His people.
Home
Index
on John
by Lane Rogers