Genesis 3
The Fall of Man
1 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 surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of 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 the livestock
and all the 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 greatly increase your pains in childbearing;
with pain 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 from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,'
"Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of 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.
To me, this chapter struck me as really powerful! It really opened my eyes to God's love. In my opinion, He could've just as easily started over, and created a new man and woman, to obey His commands. But He didn't. He kept His creations, as He keeps us in His love.
ReplyDeleteAgain, I did not know that Adam named Eve. I know I learned all this when I was younger but I have forgotten these little details as I got older.
ReplyDeleteSomethings I've never noticed before:
Everyone seemed to be blaming each other, Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. No one took the blame for their own sin.
And so this is where we get labor pains from?? Because of the first sin, our consequence as women is to have pain while giving birth.
Here it is, the greatest tragedy in history!! The Fall of Man.. This is such a loaded chapter. It is the beginning of alot of things - fear, guilt, shame, and doubt, just to name a few. How tragic.. Things were perfect, God was at arms length, no worries, no cares, no hunger, no pain. In this tragic disobedience all of paradise was lost for us - don't forget, even this is our story!
ReplyDeletePay close attention to v.15 & v.21. These two verses ooze with the overwhelming love of God.
V. 15 is the first time Jesus is mentioned in the Bible. Even from the very beginning God had his plan in place.
V.21 is the first sacrifice mentioned in the Bible - and God himself makes the sacrifice. Sounds like a very popular story in the New Testament doesn't it. Perhaps a little foreshadowing of a greater sacrifice.
Thoughts after reading:
ReplyDelete3:12 "The woman you put here with me- she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it." Adam blames God and the woman (Eve) for his sin.
3:13 " The serpent deceived me, and I ate it." She also blames the serpent instead of herself.
After reading tonight, it was clear that blaming others for sin is found often in this chapter. As with many ideas, this all stems from The Fall of Man. Also, it's amazing to think how the disobedience in the beginning and God's response to it, changes human history.
Did I miss something in V. 21?
Foreshadowing- good use of academic language. I like that. : )
V 22-24 are very interesting... does anyone notice that Adam and Eve never gave any indication that they wanted to fix their relationship with God? Like Tiana said there was only blame.
ReplyDeleteAlso I thought that it was crazy how God wasn't messing around about guarding the tree of life. He sent one of the higher ranking angels on top of a flaming sword to keep everyone away. I love how God takes care of business!
Very interesting!! Look how much God pursues Adam and Eve, even though they don't ask for restoration or anything. Great point Tiana and April!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you like the scholarly words Julz!! :)
This was a crazy chapter!! I couldn't help but think what life would be life if Eve hadn't taken the fruit.
ReplyDeletethings that stuck out to me: 1) The serpent only tempted Eve once with the fruit and she gave in right away. And when she gave it to Adam he didnt question her, but just ate the fruit too!
2)Verse 14: could the serpent walk before? I got the impression that the serpent had legs before and then God took them away
3) Verse 15: completely lost me, can someone explain?
I liked verse 24 too :) God sure wasn't messing aorund!
Hey Ashley - Vs 15 is a doosey !! I'll explain it on Thursday! :)
ReplyDelete