THE FALL
GENESIS 3:1-24
The narrative of the
temptation and the fall into sin is foundational to the rest of the Bible. If the Bible is a book of Redemption, then
the origin of that redemptive message is found in this chapter.
|
Genesis 2 |
“They were not ashamed” |
|
Genesis 3 |
“I was ashamed and I hid
myself” |
|
Genesis 4 |
“Adam knew his wife” |
Thus, while there is the fall
in chapter 3, there is also a promise of future restoration through the “seed
of the woman.”
The
events that we have seen in the first two chapters of Genesis have been bright
and cheerful and full of hope. Man is
presented as the ruler of his world, second only to his Creator. He is holy and without sin, standing on earth
as the very image of God. His
environment is a delight and his relationship with his God and with his wife is
perfect.
As
we come to Genesis 3 and 4, there will be a drastic change. The story will be black and bleak, full of
sin and jealousy and death. The earth
will be cursed. Loving relationships
will be replaced by guilt and murder.
What
will shine forth in the darkness of these two chapters will be the grace of
God. It will be manifested in a way that
is even greater than that which is found in the creation accounts.
|
Genesis 3:1-6 |
Genesis 3:7-24 |
|
Events leading up to the
fall • Serpent introduced • Temptation • Sin |
Results of the Fall • God’s pointed questions • Curse of sin • Banishment from the garden |
In
the first section, the serpent is the prominent figure. In the second section, it is the Lord who
becomes the prominent figure.
THE
CRAFTINESS OF THE SERPENT
Now
the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had
made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from
any tree of the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1).
Genesis
2 closes with the man and the woman in the garden. At the beginning of this chapter, we are
introduced to a new character. It is the
serpent.
When
we read that the serpent was more crafty, we ought to realize that, at
the very least, there is a play on words here. It is seen in the word translated
“crafty.” The Hebrew word can be
translated two different ways.
1. It can refer to the quality of being prudent or crafty.
• Proverbs
12:16. A fool's vexation is known at once, But a prudent man conceals
dishonor.
• Proverbs
12:23. A prudent man conceals knowledge, But the heart of fools proclaims
folly.
2. This same word can refer to nakedness.
• Job
24:7. They spend the night naked, without clothing, And have no
covering against the cold.
• Job
24:10. They cause the poor to go about naked without clothing, And
they take away the sheaves from the hungry.
• Job
26:6. Naked is Sheol before Him And Abaddon has no covering.
• Ecclesiastes
5:15. As he had come naked from his mother's womb, so will he return
as he came. He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry
in his hand.
This
is the same word that was used in Genesis 2:25 to describe Adam and Eve as they
were naked and unashamed in the Garden.
Their nakedness was a sign of their innocence while the craftiness of
the serpent suggests to us a motive that was not innocent.
Rabbinic
legend has it that the serpent originally walked erect and that it was not
until God’s curse on this animal in Genesis 3:14 that it was reduced to moving
upon its belly. There is nothing in the
Bible to specifically state such a position and therefore such an
interpretation is reduced to mere speculation.
On
the other hand, the description of the serpent is seen in contrast to the
beasts of the field. He was more crafty
than any beast of the field.
Furthermore, this particular serpent had the power of speech. This brings us to a dilemma: Snakes cannot
talk.
I
believe that the actions of this serpent reflect a supernatural situation —
that Satan was the cause of the speech of the serpent. He often works through intermediate
agents. He uses fallen angels and he
uses human agents and he is able to use animals. One example of demon possession in animals is
seen in Matthew 8:28-32 where Jesus cast out a group of demons and allowed them
to enter a heard of pigs. In this case,
Satan seems to have chosen the serpent as his tool. The fact that Satan was the real power behind
the serpent is attested in the book of Revelation where Satan is described as the
devil and Satan (Revelation 12:9).
The
striking thing about this is not that the serpent could speak, but that the
woman showed no surprise at the serpent’s linguistic ability. While some have speculated that certain animals
had the power of speech prior to the fall, it is more natural to conclude that
the woman, in her innocence, did not know that all animals were incapable of
speech and therefore was not alarmed at the serpent’s ability.
THE
TEMPTATION
Now
the serpent was more crafty than any east of the field which the Lord God had
made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed,
has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
And
the woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we
may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst
of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you
die.’”
And
the serpent said to the woman, “You surely shall not die! 5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your
eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
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 desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit
and ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
Then
the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and
they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. (Genesis
3:1-7).
The
Lord had given some very specific instructions regarding their behavior in the
Garden. There was a single prohibition
given.
And
the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “from any tree of the garden you may
eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.”
(Genesis 2:16-17).
This
condition gave man the freedom to choose for God or against God. He could obey and
|
An epidemic is often best understood by tracing all
cases back to the first. -- Larry
Crabb |
live
or he could disobey and die.
There
are several things which we ought to note from this temptation.
1. First of all, notice that the temptation came from an
outside source.
There was nothing within them to tempt
themselves. Allow me to let you in on a
secret. I don’t need an outside source
to tempt me to sin. And neither do you. I have something within me that like sin -
that finds sin fun. It isn’t that the
“devil made me do it.” It is that I
WANTED to do it.
We call this a sin nature. It is an orientation to sin. But Adam and Eve were not created in this
way. They had no orientation to sin. They had the ability to choose not to
sin. And so, their choice to sin was all
the more despicable.
2. The temptation began by questioning and misdirection: And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God
said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
The serpent did not begin the conversation with an
immediate denial of what God had said.
Instead, he merely posed the question of what God had said. He did this by means of a deliberate misquote
of the words of God. He asked, “Is it
true that God will not let you eat from ANY of the trees of the garden?” The question is designed to make the woman
focus upon that particular tree that was forbidden.
Satan’s tactics have not changed. He continues to draw your attention to that
which is forbidden. In so doing, he
draws your attention away from that which God has given you.
It is also notable that the serpent refers to God by
His title (Elohim) rather than by His name (Yahweh). The emphasis is upon God’s position rather
than upon the relationship with His creatures.
3. The temptation proceeded with a misunderstanding of the
danger: And the woman said to the
serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from
the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You
shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.’” (3:3-4).
In repeating the prohibition, the woman says that they
are not permitted either to eat or even to touch the forbidden fruit. Yet when the prohibition is initially given
in Generis 2:16-17, there is no mention of a prohibition against touching the
fruit. It is only eating the fruit that
is forbidden.
This may reflect a misunderstanding on the part of the
woman. She may have thought there was
something physically poisonous about the fruit.
This created a conflict in her mind when she looked at the tree and it
looked good.
4. The woman looked at the tree and it looked good -- she saw
that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and
that the tree was desirable to make one wise (3:6).
If you let your life be driven by what looks good, you
will doom your life to an existence of sin and misery. We are never called to follow that which
looks good. We are called to follow that
which IS good.
There are three areas of impact that are mentioned in
light of this temptation. These three
areas correspond to three types of temptation outline in 1 John 2:16. For all that is in the world, the lust of
the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from
the Father, but is from the world. (1 John 2:16).
|
The tree was... |
Good... |
Delight... |
Desirable... |
|
for food |
to the eyes |
to make one wise |
|
|
The lust of the flesh |
The lust of the eyes |
The boastful pride of life |
5. A surface reading of the passage seems to indicate that the
Serpent initially told the truth.
Their eyes WERE opened. They DID come to and experiential
understanding of good and evil. And most
importantly, they didn’t die! Or did they?
If we may read between the lines, then let me suggest
that a death DID take place on that day.
It was a spiritual death. Their
ability to freely communicate with God was disrupted. This is seen in their reaction to the
presence of God.
And
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. (Genesis 3:8).
Have you ever walked into a room and turned on the
lights and seen a big cockroach? What
does it do? It scurries out of the
light. It hates the light. It tries to hide from the light. Adam and Eve tried to do the same thing.
And
this is judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the
darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil.
For
everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest
his deeds should be exposed. (John 3:19-20).
It’s easy to be dirty in the dark. It doesn’t show. But put a bright light on dirt and everyone
can see it.
So it is with sin.
Sin doesn’t look so bad when you get away from the presence of the
Lord. But when HE comes, sin looks
awful. That is why pagans don’t like to
be around Christians. It makes them feel
strangely uncomfortable.
QUESTIONS
OF CONDEMNATION
The
coming of the Lord is not with lightning or peals of thunder. Instead we read that And they heard the
sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day (Genesis
3:8). Yet this had been enough for the
man and the woman to hide themselves. It
is now that the voice of God calls for them.
1. The God who Calls: Then
the Lord God called to the man; and said to him, “Where are you?” (Genesis
3:9).
There is something winsome about the picture that we
see here of God calling for man as he hides in the garden. It isn’t merely a game of spiritual hide
& seek. It isn’t thank God did not
know where Adam and Eve were hiding.
God’s questions are designed to force Adam to come to terms with his
sin.
We often make the mistake of thinking that our prayers
of confession are for God’s sake. That
is far too limited a view of God. He
wants us to confess our sins for OUR sake.
There is something about prayer and confession that is healing to our
own dislocated souls.
2. Two Confessions.
And
he said, “I heard the sound of Thee in the garden, and I was afraid because I
was naked; so I hid myself.”
And
He said, “Who told you that you were naked?
Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?
(Genesis 3:10-11).
The truth comes out.
It is that both Adam and Eve had felt the shame of their nakedness. Where there had before been no shame, now
guilt came and brought with it shame.
It is not that guilt is necessarily bad. Guilt is a proper thing to experience if you
are guilty. When someone is guilty and
does not experience the accompanying feelings of guilt, we say that such a one
is pathological. This is the kind of
person who can commit murders and never feel anything.
When you are guilty, the first step in resolving your
situation is to face your guilt and admit that you are guilty. We call this confession. It involves seeing the reality of your guilt
admitting that you are guilty. It is
only when we have come to this point that we will be ready to go to the next
step of resolving that which has made us guilty in the first place.
a. The man’s confession:
And He said, “The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me from
the tree, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:12).
As confessions go, this one is barely adequate. The man enters into what we call the “blame
game.” He seems to hint that a part of
the reason for his sin is because of the actions of others. He blames the woman. She is the one who gave him the forbidden
fruit. Furthermore, she is the woman
whom THOU gavest to be with me. This
suggests that he is also trying to place a portion of the blame on God who gave
the woman in the first place.
b. The woman’s confession:
Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have
done?” And the woman said, “The serpent
deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:13).
Just as the man placed the blame upon the woman, so
she also followed his example and placed her blame upon the serpent. The man did not claim deception, but she
does. She states that the serpent
deceived her.
|
The man blames... |
→ |
The woman who blames... |
→ |
The Serpent |
By contrast, we are reminded of Jesus who offered no
retort or defense when He was falsely accused.
In silence, He bore the guilt and the sin that belonged to us so that we
could be credited, not with blame, but with His perfect righteousness.
THE
PROPHECY OF THE SEED
The
first prophecy of a coming Messiah was not made to either the man or the woman,
but to the serpent.
And
the Lord 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 shall
you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life (Genesis 3:14).
The
serpent is cursed in a greater way than all cattle or beasts of the field. All of the creation will come under a curse,
but the curse against the serpent will be of a greater nature. His will be a special curse. Keil and Delitzsche point out that the
punishment of the serpent corresponded to the crime. It had exalted itself
above the man; therefore upon its belly it should go, and dust it should eat
all the days of its life. [1]
Warren
Gage points out that this punishment upon both the serpent and the woman and
the man each carry a sort of retributive irony. [2]
|
Examples
of retributive irony |
|
|
The Serpent that had been
more crafty than any beast of the field... |
...is now made lower than
all of the other animals. |
|
Satan bruises Christ on the
heel... |
...in the process is
bruised on the head. |
|
The woman who desires to
rule over her husband... |
...finds that it is he who
shall rule over her. |
|
Man made of dust who would
rise to be like God... |
...is returned to dust
again |
Nor
are these the only examples of such irony to be found in the Pentateuch. They are seen in the way Jacob lied to his
father by wearing the skin of a goat, only to have his sons lie to him when
they brought the coat of Joseph stained with the blood of a goat. They are seen in the brothers who sell Joseph
into slavery, only to find themselves bowing down before him at a later
date. They are seen in the pharaoh who
orders newborn Jewish males to be throne into the Nile, only to have his own
armies drowned in the
The
nature of the snake will henceforth serve as a symbol. It shall slide along the ground as the lowest
of all possible creatures. That does not
necessitate us concluding that the serpent originally walked with legs, though
this is the interpretation that was regularly given by the rabbis. What it means is that when you look at a
snake, you will be reminded that there is a curse upon those who set themselves
against the Lord and that there is coming a day when all of the Lord’s enemies
will be brought low.
The
Lord begins by speaking to the serpent.
But it seems evident that there comes a time when He is not just talking
about snakes, but is addressing the real power behind the serpent - the Devil.
“And
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.”
(Genesis 3:15).
The
is perhaps the most important verse in the entire Old Testament. It sets forth the pattern and the message of
the rest of the Bible. The first
prophecy of a coming Messiah was not made to either the man or the woman, but
to the serpent.
This
passage goes on to speak of the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent
which have Messianic implications, but first it speaks of the serpent and the
woman. Does this mean that women do not like snakes? No.
The conjunction between these two phrases can take the role of
definition. Thus we could understand
this to say:
“And
I will put enmity between you and the woman, EVEN between your seed and her
seed...”
Viewed
this way, this passage is not saying something between women versus snakes or
even between women and Satan, but instead these two parties are seen in their
representation of the seed that follows:
|
“I Will Put Enmity...” |
||
|
The Serpent |
Between |
The Woman |
|
His Seed |
|
Her Seed |
|
Shall be bruised on the
head |
|
Shall be bruised on the
heel. |
This
is the beginning of a spiritual war. The
initial antagonists of this war are a serpent versus a woman. The war extends to their progeny. And their progeny includes everyone that
exists.
You
may not have realized it, but you were born onto a battlefield. There is a cosmic conflict going on. Things are not the way they were supposed to
be. This world does not work the way in
which it was originally designed. Bad
things happen on a battlefield and had things are happening in the world.
The
good news is that we know the end of the story.
It is foretold in the prophecy of this verse. There are two bruisings that take place in
this verse. These affect different
portions of the body and they affect two different subjects.
|
The Seed of the Serpent |
The Seed of the Woman |
|
Points to Satan |
Points to Jesus Christ |
|
He receives a wound to the
head -- this is a fatal wound. |
He receives a wound to the
heel -- painful but not lasting. |
|
He was fatally bruised for
all eternity. |
He was temporarily bruised
while on the cross. |
Though
this ultimately points to Satan and to Jesus Christ, this is also the story of
the entire human race. All people are in
either one of two groups. They are
following one of two seeds.
The
seed of the serpent is Satan. He is the
way of rebellion against God. He is the
voice of independence. The seed of the
woman is Jesus. He is the One whose
“heel” was crushed by Satan.
But
He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our
iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His
scourging we are healed.
All
of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but
the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. (Isaiah 53:5-6).
When
Jesus died upon the cross, it was no mere human death that He died. His death was special. It was special because it also involved a
spiritual death. He was judged by God as
if He were a guilty sinner. Our sins
were laid upon Him.
This
verse provides the theme of the rest of Genesis. This will be a book about two seeds:
Genesis
is a book about two seeds. God initially
created all life to reproduce after its kind. But man rebelled and sinned
against God. And so, a promise was
given. It was a promise of TWO SEEDS.
The
promise is found in Genesis 3:15. The
first seed was to be the seed of the serpent.
It was the seed of rebellion. It
was the seed of sin. It was made up of
all who walked in the way of Adam in turning against God.
But
there is also a second seed promised. It
is the seed of the woman. This second
seed is set over against the first seed.
The two seeds are at war with one another. And God has decreed that the second seed
shall ultimately win.
From
our vantage point, we know that this second seed is ultimately fulfilled in
Jesus Christ - the One who was bruised for our iniquities as He crushed
underfoot the Serpent's Head.
The
rest of Genesis is the story of these two seeds. First we read of Cain and Abel. Although they are brothers descended from the
same father and mother, Cain shows himself to be of the spiritual seed of the
serpent by murdering his brother. But
God replaces murdered Abel with Seth.
We
see the genealogy of each. Cain’s seed
leads us to Lamech - a man who is willing not only to murder a man, but to
compose a song in which he boasts of his deed. Seth's seed leads us to Enoch
who walks with God, and from there to Noah who is spared the destruction of the
Flood.
But
the story does not stop there. Noah has
three sons. And one of them performs an
evil deed which demonstrates that he is of the spiritual seed of the serpent. He and his descendants through
The
Babel Rebellion is an account of men trying to make a SHEM for themselves (Shem
is the Hebrew word for “name”). They are
dispersed among the nations.
But
one is called out to be a blessing to the nations. His name is Abraham. He has two sons. One is seen to be the seed of the serpent - he
is cast out. The other is of the spiritual seed of God. He is Isaac.
Isaac
also has two sons. They are twins. But one is of the spiritual seed of the
serpent. Esau does not hold the
blessings of God in high esteem. Jacob,
on the other hand, shows himself to be of the seed of the woman.
Jacob
has 12 sons. Only one of them shows from
the outset that he is of the seed of the woman.
The others are rebellious. Two of
them murder the inhabitants of a town.
Another is involved in a sexual scandal.
They sell their younger brother into slavery. But the Lord uses this to His own ends. And all of the brothers are redeemed in
As
Moses writes the book of Genesis, the children of
Genesis
will be a book about a line of children.
Thus, a key word in Genesis will be “generations.”
• The
Hebrew word for “generations” is toledoth.
• It
is taken from the root word yalad, "to give birth."
Each
new generation will determine which seed it is.
Will it continue in the covenant relation to God and show itself to be a
part of the promised seed? Or will it
turn from God to join and be a part of the seed of the serpent?
THE
CURSE ON THE WOMAN
To the woman He said,
"I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth,
In pain you shall bring forth children;
Yet your desire shall be for your husband,
And he shall rule over you." (Genesis 3:16).
There
are two parts of this promise. They are
presented in two parallel couplets. The
first part involves the pain of childbirth.
The woman had been designed to bear children -- that had been a part of
the divine decree in chapter 1. But now
there is added to this a new aspect. The
bearing of children would be accompanied by undue pain.
Notice
that the first couplet contains Hebrew parallelism. It is synonymous parallelism so that the
second line repeats the idea of the first line, albeit with different words.
"I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth,
In pain you shall bring forth children.
The
second line is merely repeating the idea of the first line. When we come to the second couplet, there is
also Hebrew parallelism at work.
Yet your desire shall be for your husband,
And he shall rule over you."
This
time, it is not synonymous parallelism.
Instead I want to suggest that this is antithetical parallelism. Instead of repeating the same idea, the
second line of the couplet states the opposite side of the same truth.
The
woman had been involved in the temptation.
She had been tempted by the serpent and she had then given the forbidden
fruit to Adam. In so doing, she had
exercised a form of rulership over her husband.
That is going to change. Instead
of her being permitted to continue to exercise such a role, it is the husband
who shall rule over her.
|
The Woman |
The Man |
|
She exercised leadership in
the temptation by giving the fruit to the man |
He exercised submission in
the temptation by accepting that which was given him |
|
She shall be ruled by her
husband |
He shall exercise dominion
over her |
Even
though the place of the woman is relegated to one of submission as well as of
pain in childbirth, the truth is that women throughout history have generally
desired both a husband as well as children.
History
bears out the fact that man in general has subjugated and ruled over woman with
little regard for her own personal feelings and needs. In non-Christian religions and cultures, such
subjugation and humiliation has been universal.
It
is only as Biblical principles are applied to the marriage relationship that
this cursing can be turned into blessing and that the woman finds herself in a
role that brings her highest happiness and fulfillment.
THE
CURSE ON THE MAN
17 Then 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'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you shall eat of it All
the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And
you shall eat the plants of the field; 19 By the sweat of your
face You shall eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you
were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return." (Genesis
3:17-19).
The
Lord turns now to Adam. He has gone from
the serpent to the woman and finally to the man. As President Harry Truman said, “The buck
stops here.”
There
is a threefold curse given in these verses:
1. The Ground is Cursed.
The earth had been described as “very good” in the
first chapter of Genesis, but this now changes.
That which had been created now enters a process of degeneration and
de-evolution.
2. Man is to Experience Endless, Unproductive, Toil.
He will spend his life in a struggle against the
earth, trying to force from its resisting nature a living. It will involve a continuing struggle and
will culminate in man’s demise.
3. Man is to Experience Death.
Though Adam is going to live a very long life, the end
will be inevitable. It will result in
death. This process begins
immediately. There is a sense in which
the seeds of each person’s death is born in them. Apart from the intervention of God, death is
certain.
It
is popular these days to describe death as merely a natural part of life and a
portion of the beautiful circle of life.
People who say this have not seen much of death. I have and I can assure you that death is
neither beautiful or natural. It is ugly
and unnatural.
The
good news of the gospel is that it will not stay that way. The ground that was cursed with thorns was
redeemed by the One who wore upon His head a crown of thorns. He has purchased the redemption price and
there is coming a day when that redemption will be an observed reality and when
the curse will be overturned in a visible way.
20 For the
creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who
subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from
its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and
suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. (Romans 8:20-21).
Just
as Eve was told that she would experience the pains of childbirth, so also the
entire creation continues to experience the same birth pangs. The world suffers with Eve today, but there
is coming a day when the suffering will give way to the birth of a new heavens
and a new earth.
It
is in light of this promise that the woman is given a name pointing to this
promise of life.
THE
NAMING OF EVE
Now
the man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all the
living. (Genesis 3:20).
The naming of Eve comes on the heels of
the pronouncements of the Lord. He had
pronounced both a series of curses as well as the seeds of a promise that would
lead to eventual salvation from that curse.
With the curse had come death; but the promise leads to a new life. As if on cue, Adam names his wife Eve, which
means “living.” It seems as though he
understands that it is through her that will come all life.
We have already noted the retributive
irony in the curses that were meted out.
There is also a redemptive irony at work in the case of the woman. She who was the means of the temptation that
brought death into the world will become the mother of all living.
|
Examples of redemptive
irony |
|
|
The woman who was tempted
to sin... |
...becomes the mother of
all living. |
|
The weak... |
...will conquer the strong |
|
The God-man will die on a
cross... |
...to bring life to many. |
A
COVERING PROVIDED
And
the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
(Genesis 3:21).
|
Next
the Lord makes garments of skin in order to clothe and hide the nakedness of
Adam and Eve. Though it is not mentioned
in the passage, the fact that these garments were garments of skin is in itself
suggestive. It suggests that there was
the death of an animal. One of the
animals that had been created by God was taken and slain and its skin was taken
in order to be used as clothing for Adam and Eve.
If
it is true that there had not yet been any death in the world, then this action
would have shocked Adam and Eve to the core.
They had heard the warning that eating of the forbidden fruit would
result in their death. They had eaten
and judgment had been pronounced and now it was time for death to take
place. But instead of them experiencing
death, it is an innocent animal that is taken and is put to death. The animal had not sinned. It was dying, not because it had done
anything wrong, but because Adam and Eve had done something wrong. It died the death they deserved to die.
This
is a picture of what Christ did on our behalf.
He is our innocent substitute. He
died in our place the death we deserved.
His righteousness is credited to us so that we are clothed in His
righteousness.
BANISHMENT
FROM THE GARDEN
22 Then
the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing
good and evil; and now, lest he stretch out his hand, and take also from the
tree of life, and eat, and live forever "-- 23
therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the
ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the
This
is a familiar passage to us, but did you ever wonder if it had a special
significance to the Israelites in the wilderness? After all, they were the original recipients
of the book of Genesis. It was written
to THEM just the way that Galatians was written to the Galatians or Romans was
written to the believers in
Notice
the parallels between Adam and the people of
|
Adam |
The People of |
|
He has been banished from
the garden. |
They have departed from the
" |
|
Adam leaves the garden by
the eastern route. |
The Israelites also leave |
Indeed,
there seems to be a predilection for the idea of the "east", for that
was the direction of the Garden (Genesis 2:8), it was the direction of Nod
(Genesis 4:16) and it was the direction of the
Now,
as the Israelites are encamped in the Wilderness, the presence of the Lord is
seen in the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night as it hovers over the
Tabernacle. The tents of Moses and
Aaron and the sons of Aaron (the priests) were pitched on the east side of the
entrance of the Tabernacle (Numbers 3:38).
• To
the east of the Tent of Meeting is a FLAMING altar. It “guards” the entrance to the Tent. Only after a lamb has been slain and its
blood applied to the altar can the worshipers enter within.
• Before
the Tabernacle was the Laver of Water - it was called the SEA (could this
relate to the rivers which flowed out of
• When
the priest entered into the Tabernacle, the light within the Tent was provided
by a lampstand which was crafted into the image of a TREE with six branches
going out of it (Exodus 37:17-22).
• Within
the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant, topped by the Mercy Seat and
overshadowed with two CHERUBIM of gold, one at each end of the Mercy seat.
What
is the point of all of this? What is the
lesson that the Israelites learned from these images? I believe that it was that the God who had
cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden was now offering a way of return - a way
that was made through the sacrifice of an innocent substitute.
The
New Jerusalem is described in terms of a Garden, the Tree of Life, a river
flowing through it, and the presence of God, no longer guarded by cherubim, but
open to fellowship with His restored bride.
Verse
24 tells us that at the east of the
That
which was lost in the fall will one day be recovered. There will come a day when we will again come
into the presence of the Lord. Yet the
salvation that God provides is more than a mere recovery of lost ground. It does more than to reverse the effects of
sin. It transforms the work of sin and
changes it into something grand and glorious.
Instead of nakedness, we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Instead of a garden, we are given a city that
is also a paradise.
Return to Stevenson Bible Study Page
[1] Keil & Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old
Testament, Volume 1: Pentateuch. Electronic Edition STEP Files, Findex.com.
2000.
[2] The Gospel of Genesis: Studies in Protology
and Eschatology.
[3]
Warren Gage reflects further on this theme as he points out: Likewise the Philistines make sport with Samson
in the temple (Judg 16:30), the wicked prepare a pit for David (Ps 9:15‑16),
Hamon prepares a gallows for Merdecai (Esth 7:10), and Satan erects a cross for
Christ (1 Cor 2:8). Ibid..Page 46.