|
|
|
|
Studies in Genesis, Penalty for Sin, Lesson IX, Genesis 3:8-21
Genesis 3:8-13, And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. 9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
We ended last week’s lesson hearing Adam respond to three questions from Adam’s creator.
God had asked these questions of Adam who came out of hiding, for now, being a sinner his natural heart led him to hide from truth, to hide from God.
This natural heart resolve, of hiding from God has continued since the Garden for we are all Adam’s children.
So God asks Adam and Eve questions for questions are so important for they are to activate that part of the mind which is given by God to think.
God of course asks the first question which is obviously needed for God does not see Adam in his normal place, a place of meeting God for their daily walk.
The question is rhetorical for God knows where Adam is hiding.
But He asks, Where art thou?
Think about this question as a question to all sinners.
Where art thou?
Do you know your state and status before God?
What a revelation this should be for it reveals to the sinner the reality of what he faces in life.
God then asks after Adam admits to being naked, Who told thee that thou wast naked?
Another penetrating question from Adam’s Maker for the answer to this question will reveal that without God all are naked, all are without the covering needed to appear before God.
And the last question, And Hast thou eaten of the tree?
In Adam’s answers to some of the questions we see Adam’s new nature take hold without any long transition.
For there is no lingering death from the innocent Adam to this dead Adam for his new sinful nature reveals him as a fitting candidate of Proverbs 16:2 which reminds us that:
All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits.
Adam lived an innocent life in the garden but now, after eating of the fruit of the forbidden tree he is able to practice good and evil.
And without God’s intervention the evil always overcomes good for the serpent will always tempt the sinner with fruit pleasant to the eyes, and good to the taste, and a fruit to make one wise to the ways of the world.
So went the world then, and so goes the world now!
So Adam, now the sinner, sees his ways clean and sees others having ways that are not.
He now has a heart that is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, so desperately wicked that it even accuses God of wickedness, blaming Him for his sin.
But God is the father and the father has two children.
Both are to be questioned for both have disobeyed, so finishing his questions with Adam He turns to Eve.
We read of this in Genesis 3:13, And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
So Eve, another one whose heart turned natural, continues the blame not seeing herself in a bad light so she too points the finger and the serpent receives the point.
He did it, he is to blame! The devil made me do it!
I was beguiled.
Look this word up in your Thesaurus and a multitude of synonyms are given.
Eve was enticed, she was lured, she was wooed and charmed, captivated, mesmerized, hypnotized and fascinated.
Watch out Eve for these words will bring upon you another to rule over you, rule by the one who blamed you for his fall.
We see then the weakness of Eve and those to follow her.
A weakness to be easily beguiled.
I’m Sorry, women of the world to make such a blanket statement but you are all children of Eve and be wary of this weakness.
And men don’t be proud for you are all children of Adam, sinners, easily drawn into wickedness.
For one thing in our modern pursuit of equality is that we are all equally sinners, for as God has declared, there is none righteous no not one and all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
So in this one thing we are indeed equals.
So now is the time for our God to show himself as a God of principle.
What has happened in this perfect place called Eden cannot be overlooked, cannot be passed over but must be judged.
Wickedness and wrongdoing have been revealed in the garden.
Therefore the guilty verdict is about to be announced and punishment is about to be executed.
The trial has concluded, the finger pointing has ended, and the verdict is in so God, the judge, addresses three culprits, the serpent, the first woman and the first man for all are guilty.
So the Bailiff commands all to rise for the judge speaks in:
Genesis 3:14-21, And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. 16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. 20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. 21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
So God addresses the serpent first for it was the serpent who initiated the wicked transaction at the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Satan had inhabited this creature and punishment is exacted against it for God changes it from an upright creature to one consigned to existence in the dust.
For upon his belly shall he go indicating that his former existence was not so.
So God curses the serpent to a crawling existence, an existence of eating the dust all the days of his life.
He had exalted himself and God had subjected him to a life of humiliation for this is a principal of God.
And because he had deceived Eve, the woman, there is to be enmity between her and all women to come.
Because of Eve’s beguilement there will be a hatred between women and serpents.
I think back many years ago when a young mother named Nancy took up a large branch and beat to death the large rattler, that poisonous snake that threatened her little ones playing in the yard.
Oh how her strength came to her as she continued to beat that serpent until no movement was assured and her little ones were safe.
She indeed was a daughter of Eve for that enmity which God implanted in the woman has been passed to all women.
But there is a greater enmity expressed here and that is the enmity between the devil and the people of God.
Jesus knew that enmity as he faced down the scribes and the Pharisees, children of the serpent, in telling them in:
John 8:44, Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Jesus was on the front lines of the battle for truth.
That battle, relative to God’s creation, had begun in the garden when the serpent questioned the truth.
Ye hast God said?
Remember the beguilement of Eve and the questioning words of this one who hates truth, who hates God.
That is the battle, the battle for truth, a battle faced by all who love God and all who love God’s word.
And lastly and most importantly God tells Eve of the conclusion of the battle for truth for He brings in this wonderful message, to this woman who had fallen and could not get up.
For God promised that her seed would: bruise thy head meaning the head of Satan, and thou shalt bruise his heel, meaning Satan would bruise the heel of the one coming from her seed.
Eve had fallen but here God brings to her mind that she will get up for one is coming who will overcome the serpent, called that old dragon, the one by whom she was beguiled.
For his head is mentioned, and the heel of the one who is coming is mentioned.
Both head and heel are bruised but in this confrontation Satan who is pictured as the head will be mortally wounded while the one coming from her seed, pictured as the heel whom we will come to know as the Messiah, will only receive pain but not a fatal wound.
How sad it is to know of Adam and Eve’s offense in bringing upon us all the judgment of death but God who is Love, does not delay.
For here in this judgment of Eve we see the promise of a coming Savior, a bruised Saviour indeed but one who will lift up the fallen, one who will turn around that which took place at the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
The Apostle Paul delighted in this promise when he wrote in:
Romans 5:14-17, Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. 15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. 17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.
So after speaking to the serpent God now speaks as to the woman’s penalty for she too has sinned, she too has been pronounced guilty by the judge of all.
Genesis 3:16, Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
Adam and Eve till the fall had lived a perfect life in the garden.
They lived in innocence and they had no children until after they were banished from Eden.
So we know not anything about child conception nor child birthing while in the garden.
Here God brings into the judgment what will take place with women as they birth children.
And one of these children will be the one whom God promised would bruise Satan’s head.
Satan will in the future bring his servant Herod to try to destroy this promised one who was born in Bethlehem with an edict that all children under two years of age be killed in hopes that this threat to Herod’s throne be stopped.
So God puts in place man’s salvation through women and Satan’s destruction through women by the birth of a child but it is to be through a painful process.
Every birthing experience, with its pain and suffering is a reminder of Eve’s fall but it is also a reminder of God’s promise of deliverance.
Every Jewish mother remembered this until Mary was chosen by God to birth His only begotten Son who came to bruise Satan’s head and to deliver us all.
and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
Here is the command to Eve to submit her desires to her husband’s will.
She had eaten of the forbidden fruit and had committed a great sin, moved by her own desire, without seeking advice from her husband, the one from whose rib she was formed.
They were one, in the garden, equals for only here in verse 16 is Adam given rule over her.
God is telling us here that Eve in considering so substantial a matter should have decided it with the counsel of God’s choice for her.
She did not and took it upon herself, and therefore was beguiled by a being far more subtle then she was.
And not only that she drew her husband to commit the same sin and therefore God chose to place her under the authority of her husband.
And as long as we are on the earth this command remains for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Paul again reminded the Ephesians in his letter chapter 5 verses 22,23, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
For both the church and the wives so need the love of both. |