Genesis 3:11-13 It Ain't My Fault
11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 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.”
We have here the offenders found guilty by their own confession
yet endeavouring to excuse and extenuate their fault
They could not confess and justify what they had done
they confess and palliate it
their confession was extorted from them
Though God knows all our sins, yet he will know them from us
requires from us an ingenuous confession of them
not that he may be informed
but that we may be humbled
Who told you that you were naked?
God asks not because He lacks information
but to elicit a confession
That God appears so soon after the transgression suggests that He already knew what happened
at the time he actually thought more of his nakedness and shame than of his transgression of the divine command
his consciousness of the effects of his sin was keener than his sense of the sin itself
To awaken the latter God said
Who told you that you were naked
Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?
God reminds him of the command he had given him
Sin appears most plain and most sinful in the glass of the commandment
therefore God here sets it before Adam
The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.
Adam tries to pass responsibility to his wife—and perhaps even to God
He could not deny that he had, but sought to excuse himself by saying
that the woman whom God gave to be with him had given him of the tree
He blames God
As the woman had been given him for his companion and help
he blames his spouse and God
Adam refuses to admit that even complicity is a way of being involved in wrongdoing
“I only took what she gave me!”
13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?
Adam charges that the Lord “gave” the woman to him
and in turn she “gave” him the fruit
The implication is inescapable
God ultimately is responsible for the success of the tempter and Adam’s demise
When the woman was questioned, she pleaded as her excuse, that the serpent had beguiled her
Eve is not any better than her husband
She, too, looks for a scapegoat
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Just as Adam tries to pass the blame to Eve, now Eve blames the serpent
cajoled by flattering lies
unlike the man she can rightly claim to be the “victim” of deception
Also she stops short of attributing the snake’s wily deed to God as Adam has insinuated
In offering these excuses, neither of them denied the fact
What Adam and Eve have in common is their refusal to accept personal responsibility for their actions.
But the fault in both was, that they did not at once smite upon their breasts
“It is so still; the sinner first of all endeavours to throw the blame upon others as tempters
and then upon circumstances which God has ordained
This sin of the first pair was heinous and aggravated
it was not simply eating an apple
but a love of self
dishonor to God
ingratitude to a benefactor
disobedience to the best of Masters
a preference of the creature to the Creator
The result is that the authority of God has been successfully undermined
first through trickery and then through willful rebellion
In eating forbidden fruit, we have offended a great and gracious God
broken a just and righteous law
violated a sacred and most solemn covenant
and wronged our own precious souls by forfeiting God’s favour and exposing ourselves to his wrath and curse
Satan’s subtlety drew us into sin
yet it will not justify us in sin
though he is the tempter, we are the sinners