Genesis 3:8 Fear
8 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.
8 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.
Fear seized them immediately upon their eating the forbidden fruit
What was the cause and occasion of their fear
And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking
This signals that the writer wants the reader to picture God as a human being
anthropomorphism
present in the garden of Eden
This is the first theophany in the OT
an appearance of God to human beings in a manner that can be processed by the human senses.
The men have broken away from God
but God will not and cannot leave them alone
He comes to them as one man to another
God conversed with the first man in a visible shape,
as the Father and Instructor of His children
He did not adopt this mode for the first time after the fall
employed it as far back as the period when He brought the beasts to Adam
and gave him the woman to be his wife
This human mode of intercourse between man and God is not a mere figure of speech
but a reality, having its foundation in the nature of humanity
in the fact that man was created in the image of God
The anthropomorphies of God have their real foundation in the divine condescension
culminated in the incarnation of God in Christ
not that corporeality, or a bodily shape, is an essential characteristic of God
God having given man a bodily shape
when He created him in His own image
revealed Himself in a manner suited to his bodily senses
that He might thus preserve him in living communion with Himself
The divine Being appeared in the same manner as formerly
walking
not running hastily, as one impelled by the influence of angry feelings
not the voice of God speaking or calling, but the sound of God walking
It was the approach of the Judge that put them into a fright
In the cool of the day
yet he came in such a manner as made it formidable only to guilty consciences
towards the evening, when a cooling wind generally blows
He appeared to them now (it should seem) in no other similitude than that in which they had seen him when he put them into paradise
he came to convince and humble them
not to amaze and terrify them
He came into the garden, not descending immediately from heaven in their view
as afterwards on mount Sinai
making either thick darkness his pavilion or the flaming fire his chariot
but he came into the garden, as one that was still willing to be familiar with them
He came walking, not running, not riding upon the wings of the wind
but walking deliberately, as one slow to anger, teaching us
when we are ever so much provoked, not to be hot nor hasty
but to speak and act considerately and not rashly
He came in the cool of the day, not in the night
when all fears are doubly fearful
nor in the heat of day
for he came not in the heat of his anger
Nor did he come suddenly upon them
but they heard
at some distance, giving them notice of his coming
probably it was a still small voice
hid themselves amongst the trees of the garden
Shame, remorse, fear
a sense of guilt
feelings to which they had hitherto been strangers
disordered their minds and led them to shun Him
God does not track down this wayward couple
He simply walks in the garden in the cool of the day
Hearing his sound, they hide from him
Before they had sinned
they would have run to meet him
with a humble joy welcomed his gracious visits
But, now
that it was otherwise
God had become a terror to them
they had become a terror to themselves, and were full of confusion
Their own consciences accused them
Their fig-leaves failed them
How foolish to think of eluding His notice
This is as foolish as Jonah who thought he could actually run from the presence of the Lord.
Revelation 6:16
16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb
The folly of sinners, to think it either possible or desirable to hide themselves from God
can they conceal themselves from the Father of lights?
Will they withdraw themselves from the fountain of life
who alone can give help and happiness
fear that attends sin
as yet they knew not of any mediator between them and an angry God
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him
Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.