Genesis
3:1-23 Part 5
Genesis 3 is the account of the fall of man
and as such it provides numerous lessons for us.
3:1 The serpent or Satan as we discover has numerous
names, each depicting a portion of his persona. He is called serpent, liar, father
of lies, deceiver, Satan, destroyer, thief, arch angel, murderer, Lucifer, tempter,
devil, and a host of other names.
He is a created being of the
angelic realm, Ezekiel 28:11-19. He was found to be in Eden, the garden of God
vs. 14; on the holy mountain vs.15; was perfect from the day he was created
until iniquity [lawlessness] was found in him. His heart was lifted up [pride]
because of his beauty, and was very wise vs.17.
By all accounts he is a
treacherous and worthy adversary; worthy in the sense of one not to be taken
lightly or for granted. It was of this
adversary by whom Eve was deceived and persuaded to partake of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil, and giving to Adam to eat also. As with the Tree of
Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, we are not told the physical
characteristics, he is only described as a serpent, which, once again, is
descriptive of his persona. Hence Satan is most often portrayed as a snake.
Snakes are very cunning, and subtle, deceiving even the best of his prey.
Notice how he, Satan, starts
with the woman with his evil subtlety. The term subtil depicts his cunningness, deceitfulness, ruthlessness, and
craftiness; and will stop at nothing to achieve his self-centered ambitions as
depicted in Isaiah 14:12-20.
Satan’s 5 ambitions [I wills] Isaiah 14:13-14:
·
I will ascend into heaven
·
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God
·
I will sit upon the mount of the congregation
in the sides of the north
·
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds
·
I will be like the most high
To this day Satan is still
attempting to satisfy his vile contemptuousness. He just doesn’t get it.
Everything he tempts you and me with is a ploy to accomplish his diabolical
plot. In reality his ploys have nothing to do with exalting you and me-it’s all
about him Satan; and his diabolical plan to ascend to God’s throne
Isa.14:13-14. In the process his plots will ultimately destroy us. However, as
Ezekiel 28: 11-19 states, he will eventually receive his dues.
The
later part of 3:1 does not imply that Satan was made a beast of the field
rather it is a comparison to the beast of the field. As we have already
established Satan to be created as an angelic being, serpent being the description of his persona.
The
dialog between the serpent and the woman
Next we are to understand
that he first attacks the woman instead of the man, as a result a dialog occurs
between the serpent and the woman.[vs.1-6] There are several speculations as to
why he does this:
·
One such speculation is that she was not
present when God told Adam not to eat of the forbidden fruit. However, in her
dialog with Satan she indicates that she knew of God’s edict.
·
Another is because of her weakness as a
female. I dismiss this because nowhere in the text is I there any indication of
her weakness.
No matter the reason we are told the serpent approached
her first. She gave argument that the serpent was incorrect in his statement,
to which the serpent countered that partaking would make them as gods who knew
good and evil [the difference from right or wrong]. Satan’s ploy was to
convince the woman that God was trying to withhold a really good thing from
them.
Vs.7 Enlightenment: their eyes being opened for the first
time does not imply that they were physically blind; rather that their eyes on
understanding were opened Eph. 1:18; Lu. 24:45; Mk.8; 18; Eph. 1:18. It is one
things to read the words off the page and quite another to understand that
which you have read. Many can read and quote Scripture but haven’t a clue as to
what it means. those are they that can be easily duped and swayed by heresey. They
knew of the consequences, but now they truly understood the fullness of their
evil deed. They had been duped! Have you ever been duped? It was not of God.
When God
tells you or I something, we need to be extra careful not to allow the
adversary to read something else into
it. There was a prophet who was instructed to travel a specific route home, but
got sidetracked by another prophet who
instructed him in a shortcut, which ended by the man being slain by a lion.
Again, Samuel, the prophet, instructed King Saul to slay all the inhabitants
including the king and animals, however, Saul disobeyed, taking the king
captive, and keeping alive certain livestock as an offering to God. As a result
the kingdom was taken from him, he and his sons were slain, and the kingdom was
given to David. Samuel’s profound statement—“We ought to obey God rather than
men”.
Vs.7 Cover-up: as a direct result of their sin they
attempted to cover up their nakedness. Before the sin they had no concept of
awareness of their nakedness and accepted one another’s bodies without problem.
However, their meager cover-up attempts fell short.
Aprons
and fig leaves typify man’s futile attempts to cover his own
misdeeds. Only God’s remedy is sufficient. It is interesting that God allowed
them to stand in His presence for an unspecified period of time, experiencing
their nakedness, before He clothed them (vs.21). For what purpose I ask myself?
Perhaps for the express reason of allowing the fullness of their sinfulness to
sink in, in other words to experience due guilt. I think sometimes I experience the nakedness
of my sin that I might fully grasp the seriousness of disobedience.
Vs8. This is the first biblical reference to man’s relationship
to his Creator God. Man walks and communes with God in a very close
relationship, one that God seeks to restore with every man through the shed
blood of Jesus. It is not the same kind
of relationship the animal kingdom shares with their Master. Human relationship
with God is on an intimate level. Relationship and communion with God is
severed: our original parents had a unique relationship with their creator God;
they walked and talked with God in the cool of the garden. That is what God
desires of each of us. He desires our fellowship, companionship, and communion.
It is restored only through the blood of Jesus on Calvary’s cruel cross.
As the
direct result of disobedience they hid from their intimate Creator God.
Dialog
with God
Vs.9-13 Records man’s dialog with God. When we sin the
first thing we have a tendency to do is to:
·
Cover our sin
·
Hide from God
·
Attempt to blame someone else, even a loved
one, instead of taking ownership.
·
Though the blaming is truth, yet know one
confesses their own guilt.
Pronouncement
of Judgment and Curse
Vs.14-19 God pronounces sin’s penalty:
·
First to the serpent. Cursed more than all
cattle and beast of the field. [cattle and beast are cursed, but the serpent
has a greater curse.]
·
To crawl on the belly and eat of the dust of
the earth; many use this to prove that the serpent is a snake as a result Satan
is most often depicted as such.
·
There is to be enmity [hostility, hatred]
between the serpent and the woman, and the serpent’s offspring and the woman’s
offspring. Matthew Henry states that the serpent often bruises man’s heel but
can go no higher, whereas man will eventually bruise to serpent’s head
(paraphrased). This, of course, is referring to Christ’s ultimate victory over
Satan at Calvary, whereas Satan reveled in the fact that Jesus was crucified,
but the victory came when Jesus arose from the grave thus defeating the death
penalty forever, for you and me.
Vs.16 The woman is cursed with
pain and suffering in childbirth, and she is relegated to be under submission
to her husband. 1Tim. 2:15 Amp. “Nevertheless (the sentence put upon women [of
pain in motherhood] does not hinder their [souls’] salvation), and they will be
saved [eternally] if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with
self-control; [saved indeed] through the Child-bearing, that is by the birth of
the [divine] Child”.
There is a reprieve to the curse placed on women in
Gen. 3:16, under condition of continued faith, love, holiness, and sobriety. Many
are they [mane and female] who follow Christ only in good times but forsake Him
when times are bad.
Vs.17-19 Adam’s turn for
God’s chastisement: because he listened to his wife and ate of the forbidden
fruit. She was deceived, but Adam was not. Adam is cursed or sentenced, not
because he was deceived, but because he knew what he was doing and did it anyway.
Remember the serpent attacked the woman not the man.
Now the
ground is cursed and now thorns, weeds and thistles are introduced for the
first time. God also apparently changes Adam’s diet to eat the herbs of the
field. [Speculation, as animals are not mentioned as part of his diet.
Now, for the
first time he is to experience sweat and is sentenced a lifetime of hard labor.
By the way all this is passed upon you and I today. That’s why women suffer in
childbirth and we all labor so hard to make ends meet and why we hate work so.
We do so until the day we die. Even so called retirement is a struggle for most
of us.
Vs.20. Adam named his wife Eve because she is the mother
of all living [human beings]. Some would call “mother earth” as if “she” was
the mother of all living, but it is a misnomer.
God’s sacrifice
Vs.21 This is first record on God reaching out to fallen
mankind to restore him to fellowship. The coats
of skins is a type of Christ shedding His innocent blood for sinful man.
This also is a temporary covering which, as the sacrifices in the Law of Moses
served only as a covering for sin until the Messiah would come. Heb.
9:11-15010:1-10. The coats of skins
is a clear indicator of something innocent dying for the guilty; therefore a
picture of the pre-incarnate Christ.
Vs.22 The serpent speaks only half truth. Here God
declares that man is become as one of us. This statement has often been
misinterpreted as being three Gods; however it refers to the triune God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Refer back to 1:26 Let us make man in our image, is once again referring to the unity
of the triune God and not to plural Gods or gods as some assert. 1John: 7-8
“For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the
Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in
earth, the Spirit, the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.”
These passages refer not to three gods, but One with three distinct functions,
yet As One.
Because
on man’s disobedience he is cast out of God’s garden that the opportunity to
also eat of the tree of life come upon him that he may live forever in
wickedness without hope of redemption, thus forever sealing man’s fate and
fulfilling Satan’s vain imagination of succeeding to the throne of God.
What
a mighty God we serve!
Vs.23-24 The sentence passed is not executed and man is
exiled from paradise. Cherubims [angels of war or guardian angels] are placed
at the East of the garden with a flaming sword. Its mandate is to keep anyone
from eating of the tree of life and living forever. Notice in later chapters
that no man has ever lived 1000 years or more.. The longest man to live was
Methuselah who lived 969 years. The longer man inhabits earth the shorter his
days become, due to sickness and disease brought in by the curse on man’s sin.
none of us are immune to sin’s curse of sickness and disease, though many may
escape some physically deadly illness.
Faith
Building Practice and Review
1. List
5 names of the serpent.
2. What
do they represent?
3. Why
is Satan referred to as a worthy adversary?
4. What
are his 5 ambitions?
5. How
were they thwarted?
6. Why
did the serpent attack the woman instead of the man?
7. Why
is it so important to obey God’s commands?
8. Why
was Adam included in the curse?
9. What
was his curse?
10. What
is the significance of the coats of
skins?
11. How
much truth does Satan need to speak to subvert us?
12. Why
was it so important to guard Eden with angels?
13. Why has
no man lived past 1000 years?
14. Who
lived the longest?
15. How
long did he or she live?
