Genesis 3
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’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 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.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 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.”
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. 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.
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. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
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?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
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.”
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.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[a] and hers;
he will crush[b] your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
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.”
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.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
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.”
20 Adam[c] named his wife Eve,[d] because she would become the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 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.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Footnotes
- Genesis 3:15 Or seed
- Genesis 3:15 Or strike
- Genesis 3:20 Or The man
- Genesis 3:20 Eve probably means living.
- Genesis 3:24 Or placed in front
“Did God Really Say?”
Genesis 3:1-4
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’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 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.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.
The serpent starts by questioning what God had said and then, contradicting it. Notice also that Eve quotes God incorrectly. She says that God said not to touch the tree, but He never commanded that. He simply said not to eat from it. (Compare Genesis 2:17 to 3:3.)
This reminds me how modern society questions the validity of God's Word and even contradicts it in almost every matter.
Our only defense against the world's way of thinking is to know the Scripture for ourselves.
If Eve had been grounded in what God actually said, rather than merely what she thought He said, perhaps she wouldn't have been so easy to persuade.
The Second Sin
Genesis 3:8-13
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. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
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?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
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.”
Sin alienates us from God and from others. Note how Adam and Eve hid from God and blamed each other for their mistake. Sin reverses the intended order of things. We should be in a loving relationship with God and others, not hiding from, blaming, being in enmity with, or feeling shame in regard to God and other people.
When have you tried to blame others, or blame circumstances, instead of owning up to your own mistakes?
When we do sin, there is only one way to put things back as they should be. We need to admit our sin and ask for forgiveness.
“Because You Listened…”
Genesis 3:17
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…,’
In verse 17, God makes it clear that Adam is being punished because he listened to Eve instead of to God. This shows us the need to reject peer pressure, even as adults, and to live to please God rather than people. It shows the need to reject other people's ideas and advice when they contradict God's known will, just as Adam should have done with Eve.
Who has your ear? What person do you listen to most in your life? When you have a decision to make, do you go to them before you go to God?
Remember that every person is fallible, despite their intentions, and that only God will lead us right every time. Go to Him first and reject any suggestions that contradict what you feel He's telling you either in Scripture or in prayer.
Skin Covers Sin
Genesis 3:21
The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
God made garments of skin to cover Adam and Eve's nakedness. They didn't make the garments; God did.
Where do you think those garments of skin came from?
Garments of skin come from animals. God put animals to death in order to make those skins that covered Adam and Eve's shame in their nakedness. And these garments of skin show us a very important point. They show us how seriously our holy God takes sin. He takes it deathly seriously. It's so serious that it cannot be glossed over or ignored. It can't be smoothed over with a simple apology. It takes death to bring about forgiveness.
Only God could cover Adam and Eve's sin, and He did so by means of sacrifice.
In the same way, God sent Christ to be our sacrifice to cover our sin once and for all. We didn't decide to have Christ come for us; God did. God knew we couldn't cover our own sin and shame. We couldn't do anything to make up for our selfish (sinful) attitudes and actions. He had to do it for us, and He did it by means of the ultimate sacrifice.
The Tree of Life
Genesis 3:22-24
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.”23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 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.
God put up a barrier between humanity and the Tree of Life. Why did He do this? He says that if humans were to reach out their hand and eat from it, they would live forever. But doesn't God want us to live forever? Doesn't He want us to have eternal life?
As God makes clear in the coming of Christ, He does want us to have eternal life, but it can't come by our own doing. In our sinful state, we can't reach out our hand and take from the Tree of Life. Eternal life is something God has to give us and lead us toward.
He leads us to the Tree of Life and eternity by guiding us into His wisdom (Proverbs 3) and through belief in His Son (Revelation 22).
We will eat from the Tree of Life, but it will not be because of our strength or actions. We can't reach out our hand and take it for ourselves. It will come only as a gift from God and from what He has done for us by teaching us and sending Christ to take away the barriers between our sinfulness and God's holiness.
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