Genesis - Week Seven

Introduction

This study should address...

What does the Bible say?

What does the Bible Mean?

How can we apply that to our lives

Legend

Important

Questions

References

Personal Thoughts

Chapter 3

Verses 8-13

Genesis 3:8–13 ESV

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. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

What sticks out about these verses?

“And they heard the sound…among the trees of the garden”

Anthropomorphic depiction of God “walking” in the Garden

Could also be the first theophany (appearance of God where Humans can see)

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 3

at the windy time of day Translating this phrase is difficult. The Hebrew term used here, ruach, is normally translated “spirit” or “wind” (see note on 1:2), but is often translated here as “cool.” This may mean that it is intended to evoke the unmistakable power of God’s presence.

This is supported by an interpretive clue that may be found in the word “day” (yom). Akkadian has an equivalent word, umu. Aside from meaning “day,” umu can also mean “storm.” This clue indicates that the phrase here should possibly be understood as Adam and Eve hearing God coming “in the wind of the storm.”

They felt their shame and hid from God, something that happens to me often

The world became divided leading to shame, even internally the man was ashamed

Shame and depression and negative internal feelings are now a part of this world

They can be caused by our personal sin, but they are also simply results of the disordered creation and sin of the world

“But the Lord God called … ‘Where are you?’”

“Man” and “You” are both singular showing that God was confronting Adam specifically as he was head of the relationship

Their sin had driven them away from God and yet God seeks them

God is aware of what has transpired but uses this question to make Adam aware of his lostness

“And he said … ‘…and I ate’”

Adam was afraid due to the shame of appearing naked before God

This reveals his guilt

God again asks a question not to gain knowledge, but to allow Adam a confession

Initially, Adam confesses to shame, but not to his sin

Adam shifts blame to Eve who shifts blame to the Serpent

Satan can tempt us to sin, but we are the agents that commit sin

Thus, we do carry guilt for our sins

Adam even finds fault with God as God provided this “helper” that led him to sin; however, Adam still carries the guilt for his sin despite his wife’s temptation

We can have a tendency to do this

James 1:13–15 “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”

There is no true confession or penitence from Adam or Eve

The Garden which was a place of freedom between Man and Woman and God, now has become man’s prison. They hide behind the trees they were gifted from their creator whom they once desired to commune with

In one act, the whole scene has changed

How can you relate to this sequence of events?

Verses 14-19

Genesis 3:14–19 ESV

The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

What are the implications of this curse? All creation? Origin of all death and pain?

Overall the curse represents a disruption in all natural relationships

“The Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field”

Does this imply that all the livestock and beasts were cursed?

The fact that it is unclear how the serpent is more cursed than all other beasts supports a view that the serpent was not an ordinary snake and perhaps not a snake at all.

“on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life”

The language does indicate that these conditions were new

Some would say this is where serpents lost their legs and became snakes as we know

To me, this makes very little sense as to why God would curse all literal snakes for the actions of Satan

I think a better explanation is that the serpent as the representation of God’s enemy has been cast out, to the ground, and is in a way defeated

The dust makes very little sense when applied to literal snakes

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 3

dust you shall eat Ancient Near Eastern texts, such as the Akkadian work Descent of Ishtar, depict serpents as inhabitants of the underworld that feed on dust and clay

“I will put enmity between you and the woman…and you shall bruise his heel”

The word hostility here refers to hostility, not fear

therefore, this is not an explanation for a primal fear of snakes

This instead is a prophecy of the combat between the Jesus/children of God and Satan/evildoers.

This inevitably ends with the serpent’s head being crushed

The wounds of the snake are greater than that of the woman

Bruising of the heel probably refers to the crucifixion

John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Offspring can be interpreted to be singular or plural

Romans 16:20 “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

The original Protoevangelium or pronouncement of the gospel

Perhaps this is directed partially towards the woman due to Jesus’s virgin birth

“To the woman he said, I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing in pain you shall bring forth children.”

Same word for pain here and in V. 17

Both original tasks given to Adam and Eve (childbearing and working the ground) have become more difficult

I think this does imply that pain was involved in child birth prior to the curse

The woman was given greater difficulty in child bearing but also the promise of offspring that will defeat the serpent.

Matthew Poole’s Commentary on the Holy Bible, Volumes 1–3 Chapter 3

Aristotle, in his Histor. Animal. 7, 9, observes, that women bring forth young with more pain than any other creatures

“Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you”

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 3

The Hebrew word used here, teshuqah, occurs elsewhere only twice (4:7;

Genesis 4:7 “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.””

Can also be translated “shall be toward”

The Lexham English Bible Chapter 3

And to your husband shall be your desire.

Essentially, either way the desire is to conquer or control the other. So when using towards, the meaning is that woman's desire is to conquer man. When using against, it implies the same disunity between man and woman.

Man’s original wise headship has become more tyrannical in nature

A proper punishment considering her previous lack of respect in Adam’s headship by leading him to sin?

“And to Adam he said…and to dust you shall return”

Genesis 5:29 “and called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.””

Romans 8:20–22 “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”

The ground was cursed but not life with disease or death

The requirements of human survival will be more difficult to obtain than previously

Work which was given as a Godly task has been made more difficult and toilsome

Perhaps this difficulty only comes from Adam’s being removed from the garden, where this was easier

The cursed ground breaks the once harmonious relationship between man and nature

I don’t see this as a creation of thorns and thistles but just them being brought against Adam now

Adam will now experience death and be returned to dust

Another instance where I think we know that man doesn’t literally return to dust when he dies, so was he literally made from dust

Overall, I don’t see as the origin of pain, non-human death, thorns, or all natural evil. I think Adam and Eve were cursed by being removed from the Garden which causes the difficulty in work. Eve’s previous pain in childbirth was multiplied. We know that other animals generally experience less pain in childbirth, so I would say it’s fair to say that human pain was multiplied. Though the curses on Adam and Eve are specified to Adam and Eve not all of humankind. The difficult part is what does it mean that the ground was cursed. I think this generally speaks to a disunity between man and nature caused by sin just as their is a disunity between man and woman.

“The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living”

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 3

Eve’s name in Hebrew, chawwah, is related to the Hebrew verb chayah, which may be translated “to live.” This is wordplay—Eve is described as the mother of all life.

ESV Church History Study Bible Notes: Voices from the Past, Wisdom for the Present Chapter 3

It is evident from this passage that Adam, by receiving the Holy Spirit, was wonderfully enlightened, and that he believed and understood the word spoken by God concerning the seed of the woman, which should bruise the head of the serpent; and that he therefore wished to signal his faith, and to adorn it by the name which he gave his wife, the name the like of which he had not given to any other creature. (Martin Luther, Luther on the Creation: A Critical and Devotional Commentary on Genesis)

Matthew Henry - “Adam probably had regard to the blessing of a Redeemer, the promised Seed, in calling his wife Eve, or life; for He should be the life of all believers, and in Him all the families of the earth should be blessed.”

Adam shows his dominion by naming his wife

The word for “living” never means just humans, but either all life or all animal life

Thus, not a fool proof support for sole progenitorship

This can also be satisfied by a genealogical ancestor

Or this could even refer to Eve as the one who would bring forth Jesus

Or symbolic/allegorical role as mother

Or ancient genetic ancestor

“And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them”

God still cares for humans and despite their shame he provides for them

The Spurgeon Study Bible: Notes Chapter 3

Some creature had to die in order to provide them with garments, and we know who died in order that we might be robed in his spotless righteousness. The Lamb of God has made for us a garment that covers our nakedness so that we are not afraid to stand even before the bar of God.

“Then the Lord God said…to guard the way to the tree of life”

“the man” in Hebrew can be understood to include Eve

There is a plural here that could show the Trinity or more likely the Divine Council

It is clear from these verses that the tree of life is the source of man’s immortality

Thus being cut off from this tree causes them death

Unclear if they had already taken of the tree, if it was one time, or required regular partaking

God starts a sentence that is not finished, perhaps an unbearable thought

Interesting, maybe an anachronism

The priestly status of Adam and Eve as keepers of the garden has been removed from them and given to the Cherubim

Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 3

The Hebrew term used here is plural. The noun comes from the Akkadian term karub, which refers to a divine throne guardian. These guardians are often depicted in sculptures as sphinx-like—having the body of a lion and the head of a man. They are commonly depicted as guarding the throne of a deity. This fits the context, as the cherubim are placed as guardians of Eden, God’s dwelling place (see note on 2:8).

This is the only reference to a flaming, turning sword but it matches usual Yahweh imagery

Jesus provides a new way to that tree of life

General References and Sources

Study Bibles

ESV Study Bible

ESV Church History Study Bible

ESV Literary Study Bible

Spurgeon Study Bible

Faithlife Study Bible

Commentaries

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary

Matthew Poole’s Commentary

Dennis Prager’s Rational Bible on Genesis

David Atkinson, The Message of Genesis 1-11

John Davis, Paradise to Prison

Church History

Augustine, City of God

Augustine, Confessions

Aquinas, Summa Theologica