Genesis Chapter 3

From The Open Bible Project

3:1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’”

• (a) As Satan can change himself into an angel of light, so did he abuse the wisdom of the serpent to deceive man.
• (b) God allowed Satan to make the serpent his instrument and to speak through him.

• The nature of this question may, at first glance, seem disingenuous - but it implies an awareness of something that had occurred in relation to Eve's understanding of God's command pertaining to this tree. - JM

3:2 The woman said to the serpent, “Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat,

3:3 but of the fruit of 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.’”

• (c) In doubting God’s warnings she yielded to Satan.

• Contrary to the common perspective on the innermost workings of Eve's heart and mind (as expressed in the note above), there is no suggestion in the text that Eve was doubting God, in distorting His command and adding to it, here. Rather, the possibility exists (and is even implied) that ADAM distorted God's command for what he believed was her benefit. Adam very likely thought he was improving on God's command by instructing her that she was not even to touch the fruit, thereby hedging in the actual command of God with regard to eating it. This is a common failing among mankind, thinking God's Word can be improved upon by adding to it. The Jewish religious leaders, several millennia later, did the same thing with the Mosaic Law. The process of adding to the Law of God, as expressed in His commands, ultimately distorts, corrupts and weakens it. There is no possibility of improving upon God's Word in this way. Adam sowed the seeds of doubt in Eve's mind with his casual addition of the clause involving "touching" the fruit. It's quite possible that Adam himself inadvertently touched the fruit in the process of dressing the tree (and was observed by Eve as he did so), and it's also quite possible the the serpent himself was touching it as he spoke with Eve here. - JM

3:4 The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t surely die,

• (d) This is Satan’s chiefest subtilty, to cause us not to fear God’s warnings.

• Certainly, the Deceiver's great objective was to create a rift between God and these ultimate creations of His. His motives were likely various and complex, but in the end, He desired nothing more than to achieve the downfall and destruction of the harmonious relationship they enjoyed with the Creator at this point in time. - JM

3:5 for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

• (e) As though he said, God forbids you to eat of the fruit, only because he knows that if you eat of it, you will be like him.

• Statements representing partial truth are too often deliberate distortions of the factual reality as a whole, and this case is no exception. Yes, their minds and hearts would be even more conformed to that of their Creator, but in ways they were not yet ready for (or were possibly never designed to include). Was it wrong for Eve to desire to even more perfectly represent God as one created in His image? On the face of it, this seemingly "good" desire, when pursued through impermissible means, was evil and a violation of man's relationship with God. Eve evidently coveted an illegitimate God-likeness here, and Adam did the same, previous to her temptation here, in imposing a command half of which was his. Reading between the lines, we see that God gave the original command to ADAM, and then brought him the woman (presumably to introduce her to all of the garden, its attendant responsibilities, and the commands involved with their residence therein - Gen. 2:21-25). - JM

3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.

• (f) Not so much to please his wife, as moved by ambition at her persuasion.

• What a curious conclusion to draw from the text, in the note above. What is more likely, in keeping with the scenario contained in my previous note, was that Adam was consumed by guilt in sudden recognition of the way in which he had weakened God's command in communicating it (in distorted form) to Eve as he had done. Rather than see her suffer punishment alone, over an error in judgment on his part, he partook with her, resigned to suffering the same results that she would suffer. Note that Adam appears to have been with Eve during this exchange between her and the serpent. He remained curiously silent, however, and chose not to intervene. Was he consumed by guilt at this exposure of his addition to the command of God? I believe man very likely coveted some of the glory of Eve's innocence and obedience to God's command, and chose to improve upon the command in order to share in some of that glory which was really due to God alone. Thus, it can be shown that covetousness is the true root of all evil and the sinful, rebellious, fallen human nature (or "sin nature"). It is the root and seed. Wherever "sin" - particularly open transgression of God's requirements - is found, covetousness (the illegitimate desire for that which one has no right to possess) is likewise present. - JM

3:7 The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

• (g) They began to feel their misery, but they did not seek God for a remedy.

• For whatever reason, the need to cover one's reproductive organs is directly involved with human shame, from the very beginning. Perhaps human reproduction represents the very pinnacle of the glory invested in man by God - the most glorious, God-glorifying activity man is capable of. As a result, God's displeasure and man's shortcomings where His standards are concerned, are felt most keenly in these areas. - JM

3:8 They heard the voice of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden.

• (h) The sinful conscience flees God’s presence.

• Of greatest significance here, is that God's Presence is clearly limited in space and time, in this realm. It comes and goes. One can hide oneself from it. Thus, God is not, in actuality, omnipresent, according to the revelation of His Being as found in the Scriptures. This text also reveals the need to withdraw from the Presence of God when one is in violation of His Law and requirements. - JM

3:9 Yahweh God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”

• Too often it is assumed, by most commentators and exegetes, that God was toying with man here, and that, in actuality, He had complete knowledge of his whereabouts but was prompting him to reveal himself voluntarily. The other possibility is more likely, however, particularly in view of the clear limitations in God's Presence and knowledge discussed previously. God simply did NOT know where Adam was at that moment, and was concerned, possibly even alarmed, at his absence during this important part of the day when they would routintely pass time together. - JM

3:10 The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

• (i) His hypocrisy appears in that he hid the cause of his nakedness, which was the transgression of God’s commandment.

• Man quickly learned the subtleties of partial truth statements, and the need to obscure some aspects of factual reality in certain situations. How speedily his naivete and untested innocence were shed in favor of a more sophisticated (and yet corrupted) perception of Himself and his relationship with God! - JM

3:11 God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

• Was it possible that man's understanding of himself would have evolved (or been developed) to a point that his nakedness would have been eventually apparent to him and the woman, and they would have accepted their state without shame? This is speculative, of course, but God seems to imply that this is the case, since it was clearly possible that they could have acquired this information through simply being told that they were naked.- JM

3:12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

• (k) His wickedness and lack of true repentance appears in this that he blamed God because he had given him a wife.

• Man's passing of the buck, here, is far more insidious than is suggested in the note, above. He refuses to accept responsibility for hiw own actions in corrupting the command of God, and instead tries to assign full blame to both God and Eve. - JM

3:13 Yahweh God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

• (l) Instead of confessing her sin, she increases it by accusing the serpent.

• In actual fact, her husband deceived her in relation to the actual command of God, and the serpent simply exposed this reality, tempting her to test the seemingly flawed command. - JM

3:14 Yahweh God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this, you are cursed above all livestock, and above every animal of the field. On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

• (m) He asked the reason from Adam and his wife, because he would bring them to repentance, but he does not ask the serpent, because he would show him no mercy.
• (n) As a vile and contemptible beast, (Isaiah 65:25).

• God had no reason to doubt Eve's version of what happened, and there may have been some subtle reinforcement of the factuality of her account that is not included in the text, here. Certainly, the serpent appears to have been present when God demanded a full account of what had transpired. - JM

3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”

• (o) He chiefly means Satan, by whose action and deceit the serpent deceived the woman.
• (p) That is, the power of sin and death.
• (q) Satan shall sting Christ and his members, but not overcome them.

• The foreshadowing of Christ's eventual overthrow of Satan (the serpent's seed and lineage) involving His own death, was also registered in the star constellations. This prophecy, generations later, became integral to astrological projections and distorted versions of God's promise to Eve. - JM

3:16 To the woman he said,

“I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

• (r) The Lord comforts Adam by the promise of the blessed seed, and also punishes the body for the sin which the soul should have been punished for; that the spirit having conceived hope of forgiveness might live by faith. (1 Corinthians 14:34).

• Evidently, Eve would have experienced a certain amount of pain in childbirth anyway, but the pain she would now experience would be far greater. The Hebrew involved with the statement "Your desire will be for your husband" actually suggests that her desire would be to rule over her husband, but he, instead, would seek to impose his authority upon her in their home. Thus began the great, historic, domestic conflict between man and woman - the legendary "battle of the sexes". - JM

3:17 To Adam he said,

“Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

• (s) The transgression of God’s commandment was the reason that both mankind and all other creatures were subject to the curse.

• The labour now involved in enjoying the fruits of the earth as food was vastly increased. Drudgery and slavery were now the new norm. Man became enslaved by his own creature needs, and the curse associated with his transgression of God's Law. - JM

3:18 Thorns also and thistles will it bring forth to you; and you will eat the herb of the field.

• (t) These are not the natural fruit of the earth, but proceed from the corruption of sin.

• Thorns and thistles very likely existed prior to this curse being placed on man, but the significance of this statement is that man's agricultural efforts would be hampered by these noxious weeds. - JM

3:19 By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

• Man's physical body and existence are under consideration here. Of course, man (in his very essence) is a spiritual being and exists in another, conscious form and dimension after his physical body has died and decomposed. God's statement here does not deny that reality. - JM

3:20 The man called his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

• This text clearly suggests that the entire human race descended from Adam and Eve. Scholars and commentators have long speculated that another race of beings were in existence at this time, and that Cain intermarried with this other race later, in his exile in the land of Nod (Gen. 4).

3:21 Yahweh God made coats of skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.

• (u) Or, gave them knowledge to make themselves coats.

• The cruel reality of man's shame was further enhanced by the need to kill and skin one of the marvellous creatures they cared for, in order to cover the newfound source of that shame and guilt, effectively. - JM

3:22 Yahweh God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he put forth his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever...”

• (x) By this derision by reproaches Adam’s misery, into which he was fallen by ambition.
• (y) Adam deprived of life, lost also the sign of it.

• Again, the plural pronoun is used by God in relation to Himself and His own Person. The Godhead is clearly a plurality in unity. This development was a piece of new information to God, and was discussed as such. Perhaps God had planned to eventually develop the knowledge of good and evil in man by more gentle, subtle, gradual means. His hand was forced, now, however - and He had no option but to prevent man from instantly attaining eternal, physical (and spiritual) existence - as a corrupted being - through partaking of the other great Tree. - JM

3:23 Therefore Yahweh God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.

• Man was banished from his original paradise, but did not lose, as it turns out, the need for further relationship with his Creator. - JM

3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed Cherubs at the east of the garden of Eden, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

• This description of God's security measures hint at some sort of other-worldly, highly advanced technology that could only be expressed in very primitive terms here. - JM