Genesis 3:8-24, The Curse and The Seed
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Alright so tonight we continue to look back to our beginnings, In the book of beginnings, Genesis. Last time we looked at the fall of Man, through Eve’s being deceived by the serpent and then Adam’s disobedience.
We discussed how it was that Eve was deceived but Adam knew what he was doing when he chose to take of the forbidden fruit.
So tonight, we will look at the repercussions of the fall that haunt us to this day and ultimately sent Jesus to the cross.
So let’s read our text and get into it, beginning from Gen 3:1 for context, and picking up in verse 8 with our teaching;
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”
4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
8 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.
9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from 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 from the tree, and I ate.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you will go,
And dust you will eat
All the days of your life;
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
16 To the woman He said,
“I will greatly multiply
Your pain in childbirth,
In pain you will bring forth children;
Yet your desire will be for your husband,
And he will rule over you.”
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;
Cursed is the ground because of you;
In toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life.
18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
And you will eat the plants of the field;
19 By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread,
Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.”
20 Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—
23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.
24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
Last session we left off with Adam and Eve making Fig Leaf “loin coverings” for themselves after realizing that the were naked. Nearly every, if not all, cultures have an innate need to cover their loins. This is a left over vestige of the fall itself.
Now in Verse 8 -9;
8 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.
9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
Every child knows that feeling, they have disobeyed and feel shame. Adam and Eve both for the first time are not happy to see God. Its seems that perhaps God would have regularly walk with them in the garden. They would spend time together, fellowship together, enjoy each others company.
What a thought that is to realize the Creator of the Universe enjoys your friendship. Adam knew this in a way that no other will ever know on this Earth. But now God is the last person they want to see.
So what do they do? They try to hide. Imagine trying to hide from God. The bible tells us regarding the Eyes of the LORD.
9 “For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars.”
Proverbs 5:21 (NASB95)
21 For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord,
And He watches all his paths.
Proverbs 15:3 (NASB95)
3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place,
Watching the evil and the good.
So it is profoundly foolish to think we can hide from God but, interestingly; that’s exactly what we all do, when we have disobeyed. But in contrast, notice verse 9, it displays the very heart of God.
9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
You see it is the Love of the Father that causes Him to search for us. It’s not the other way around. If you are in Christ it is not because you found Him, it’s because He sought you out first.
44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
you might also recall the parable of the prodigal son when he decided to come home,
Notice the action of the Father here;
Luke 15:20 (NASB95)
20 “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
Now, back to our text; God has just asked Adam, where are you?
10 He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from 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 from the tree, and I ate.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
So here we seeing the beginnings of our Sin Nature. When we Sin we naturally try to avoid responsibility or to blame someone else. Here Adam blames Eve and Eve blames the serpent.
Buy the Word tells us to confess our Sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Confess is an interesting word in the Greek, homologeō, it comes from two words, homo - same, and logeo - word, or the the same words. So confession means in essence to “say it as it is”, the same way that God sees it.
It is interesting that our flesh bristles against confession. We have created a whole vocabulary to avoid confession, adultery has become an affairs, homosexuality has become gay, and so on.
So the promise is if we would confess our sin He is Faithful and Righteous to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Now let’s look at the results of the fall. He pronounces four curses, on the Serpent, and the then the Woman, and then Adam, and finally on the Earth itself. First God deals directly with the Serpent.
14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you will go,
And dust you will eat
All the days of your life;
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
We don’t know exactly what form the Serpent had in the garden. The ancient Chinese saw him as a winged being but scripture does not lay that out. What we do know is what he would become. The form of a snake always on the ground.
Verse 15 is perhaps the most important of the story of redemption. There are three important parts to this curse.
There will be enmity between the serpent and the woman. Enmity is not a word we use a lot today. It is the Hebrew word 'êḇâ meaning hostility or hatred. The woman here is not just Eve, but women and in type Israel. The why question is answered by from the woman from whom would come the Messiah. Thus we have seen a supernatural antisemitism through out the ages. From Pharaoh ordering the death of baby boys at the time of Moses, to Haman in Esther's time, to Herod ordering the death of baby boys at the time Christ, to Hitler. It continues today. Satan hates the Jews.
Notice the next line as it is very curious. And between your seed and her seed; When did a woman have seed? A woman has eggs the male provides the seed. Yet here we are given a prophetic picture all the way back to the beginning, the seed of the serpent being the AC and the Seed of the woman being Yeshua Hamasshiak, Jesus the Messiah.
The third part is the end of the matter. The serpent will hurt Jesus at the cross but through the cross the serpents head was crushed. So the promise, Jesus wins..
Now, we move to the second part of the curse. In order of appearance, the woman.
16 To the woman He said,
“I will greatly multiply
Your pain in childbirth,
In pain you will bring forth children;
Yet your desire will be for your husband,
And he will rule over you.”
This has two parts, first;
Pain greatly multiplied. One wonders what would have been had there been no fall but there was. So only you ladies know.
The second part plays itself out in every family and we will see it’s more complicated than you might think at first reading. From David Guzic, commentary
Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you: The idea is to contrast the woman’s desire and the husband’s rule over her. This speaks of an inherent challenge in embracing the husband’s role as leader of the home and family.
i. This same word for desire is used in Genesis 4:7 of the desire of sin to master over Cain. Because of the curse, Eve would have to fight a desire to master her husband, a desire that works against God’s ordained order for the home.
ii. The principle of Adam’s headship as a husband was established before the fall (see Genesis 2:18 and 2:22). Now the curse on Eve makes it much harder for her to submit and flow with God’s institution of male headship in the home.
iii. “As a result of the fall, man no longer rules easily; he must fight from his headship. Sin has corrupted both the willing submission of the wife and the loving headship of the husband. The woman’s desire is to control her husband (to usurp his divinely appointed headship), and he must master her, if he can. So the rule of love founded in paradise is replaced by struggle, tyranny and domination.” (Susan T. Foh, cited in Boice)
Thirdly, God pronounces the curse on the man and from this curse comes the fourth curse upon the Earth.
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;
Cursed is the ground because of you;
In toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life.
18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
And you will eat the plants of the field;
19 By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread,
Till you return to the ground,
Because from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.”
It sounds humorous in the sense that Adam was cursed because he listened to and heeded the voice of his wife. But in far more important sense he choose his wife over God. Whenever we choose anything or anyone over God we are in idolatry.
The curse is twofold,
The ground is cursed because of him.
Life will be hard. By the sweat of your face and In toil - the Hebrew word means, pain, labour, hardship, sorrow, toil. Again we wonder what it would have been like without the fall. All we know is life after the fall.
Now with the curse on Adam the earth is affected;
18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;
And you will eat the plants of the field;
Here again, we see precious Jesus, wearing on His head the curse, a crown of thorns. Wow, when we sing Jesus paid it all, we have no idea of just how much that was.
Now we are given more detail as to what happened post fall.
20 Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
Re verse 20 - Interestingly the Geneticists have traced our RNA ( which comes maternally) back to one single source. Just like it says.
Here in verse 21, it wasn’t that God was upgrading them out of fig leafs, He established the sacrifice of the innocent animal to cover sin. As opposed to mans efforts to cover his own sins. It seems that Adam passed this knowledge on to his children as we will see this in the next chapter with Cain and Abel.
We close out with Adam being driven out of the garden;
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—
23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.
24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
God had a plan, so he made sure that Adam would have no access to the the tree of life, (God intensely drove him out) and if he would eat of it would life in an eternal state of sin. So He set Cherubim to guard the tree.
Prayer