Welcome to Reflection on Plumb. In this episode, I talk about Genesis 3 where sin enters the world through one man, Adam, and God’s response.
Genesis 3 brings us to what is called The Fall. It’s the introduction of sin into the world through that one man, called Adam. We don’t know how long Adam and Eve lived in the paradise of the Garden of Eden, but we learn here that it came to end, and how it ended.
In verse 1, we are immediately introduced to the serpent. What’s the first thing you thing of when you hear serpent? A pretty green snake, dangling from the branches of the tree from above? A lot of people have a problem with this chapter precisely because they have the same view. They dismiss this event as myth or folklore, because, seriously, who ever heard of a talking snake?
So, let’s talk about this snake for a minute. First, let it be known, that I have never had a problem with the idea of a talking snake in the Garden of Eden. Remember what I said in Genesis 1? God created. If God created the world, the universe, everything in it, than He most certainly could have created a talking snake. Quite frankly, after the sun, the moon, and the stars, oh, and man, I feel like a talking snake would be no big deal.
But what we also learn, as the chapter progresses, is that this serpent isn’t your ordinary garden variety snake. While it’s compared twice in this chapter to beasts of the field, meaning that it probably did have some sort of animal form, we also learn that this snake is also known as Satan.
This serpent has also been compared to the serpent of Revelations 12:9:
And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world--he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. (ESV)
So here’s the question. Was the serpent in the Garden of Eden actually a dragon? It would make more sense when God gives the curse: “on your belly you will go,” if the serpent were a dragon as opposed to a snake which already goes on it’s belly. And Revelations isn’t the only dragon mentioned in the Bible. Job 41 talks about Leviathan, which is described as a sea monster, but look at how else it’s described:
His sneezings flash forth light,
and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
Out of his mouth go flaming torches;
sparks of fire leap forth.
Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke,
as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
His breath kindles coals,
and a flame comes forth from his mouth. (Job 41:18-21, ESV)
I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a dragon to me.
Now I say all that, only to say, it isn’t really important as to what kind of serpent, physically, we’re talking about. At least I don’t think so. It’s the cunning part. The part that says, this is Satan. The enemy.
So Satan convinces Eve that eating the fruit of the tree will not kill her, and that she’ll be like God, knowing good and evil. And let’s face it. Who doesn’t want to be like God? I mean He has all the answers, He’s immortal, and I bet His knee doesn’t ache on a daily basis!
Now people like to blame Eve for what happened in the Garden, but throughout Scripture, it’s made clear that Adam ultimately bears the responsibility for sin and death entering the world.
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned-- (Romans 5:12, ESV)
Why does he bear responsibility? Let me speculate for a minute, and if someone has a better explanation, let me know!
First, Adam is told in Genesis 2:17 that he shall not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but it’s not until verse 22 that God makes Eve. So the question is, did God tell Eve the same thing, or was that Adam’s responsibility. Scripture doesn’t say, but she obviously knew because she told Satan in Genesis 3:3 that it was off limits.
Second, when God discovers their transgression, He confronts Adam:
Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? (Genesis 3:11, ESV)
Is Eve blameless? Of course not! But the responsibility lays at Adam’s feet, and that’s where we need to keep it as well.
So what are the consequences? Well there are four things that occur next. First, God curses Satan. I already mentioned the part about “on your belly you will go” in the earlier discussion about dragons. But the second, and more important part, at least to me, is what people have termed, The Protoevangelium or "First Gospel." It’s one verse, 15, but it’s made up of two parts. Part one says:
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring
Now I did a search on Bing and there appears to be two main thoughts about this. There are those who say “her” refers to Virgin Mary, since part two refers to her son Jesus. But there are also those who say “her” refers to Eve, and that’s the camp I fall into. As we progress through the Old Testament, we are going to discuss an ongoing struggle between fallen angels (your offspring), and mankind (her offspring).
Part two says:
he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel
This prophesies Christ's victory over Satan.
The second thing that happens is that God multiplies the woman’s pain in childbearing, and shatters the idea of harmony between husband and wife. Not only will her desires different than his, but his will be the one that wins.
The third thing that happens is that God curses the ground that Adam was taken from. Adam is told that in pain he will work the ground in order to eat from it until he returns to that ground.
As a side note, I find it interesting that in both, it is in their labor that their pains will be increased.
And finally, the fourth thing that happens is God shows compassion to Adam and Eve despite His displeasure with them. He 1shows this by doing two things. The first thing He does is clothe them with garments of skin to cover their nakedness. Prior to eating from the tree of knowledge and good and evil they had been innocent and didn’t realize they were naked, so apparently shame was also a consequence of eating from the tree.
The other thing God did was drive them out of the Garden of Eden. Now one might think, how is that compassionate? Verse 22 gives us the answer:
Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever--" (Genesis 3:22, ESV)
Now, let’s back up for a minute. One of the questions I’ve heard people ask is why did God put the two trees in the Garden if they weren’t supposed to eat from them? I’ve asked that question in the past. But I’ve come to understand, that they probably were intended to eat from the trees, both trees, but not yet. They were probably weren’t ready, and we’re not told what that timeframe was. It certainly wasn’t on the time table they chose, so instead of whatever gift the trees were supposed to bring, they suffered what was probably the opposite.
So why was it compassionate of God to send them out of the Garden? Because sin has entered the world. Adam and Eve are both fallen beings now, and if they ate of the Tree of Life, they would live forever in that fallen state. They need to die in order to be raised up later in the Resurrection when they will no longer be in their fallen state.
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[Genesis 3] And the LORD God clothed them