Genesis 3.8-13-The Lord's Interrogation of Adam

Thursday August 25, 2005

Genesis: Genesis 3:8-13-The Lord’s Interrogation of Adam

Lesson # 16

Turn in your Bibles to Genesis 3:1.

Genesis 3:1, “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’?”

Genesis 3:2, “The woman said to the serpent, ‘From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat.’”

Genesis 3:3, “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.’”

Genesis 3:4, “The serpent said to the woman, ‘You surely will not die!’”

Genesis 3:5, “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.”

Genesis 3:6, “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.”

Genesis 3:7, “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.”

Genesis 3:8, “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.”

The sound of the Lord God walking in the garden is a theophany, which is a theological term used to refer to either a visible or auditory manifestation of the Son of God before His incarnation in Bethlehem (Gen. 32:29-30; Ex. 3:2; 19:18-20; Josh. 5:13-15; Dan. 3:26).

The manner in which it is stated that the Lord God came walking in the garden in the cool of the day indicates that this was a normal event, perhaps a daily appointment time at which the Lord met with Adam and his wife for fellowship.

“Sound” is the noun qol (lw|{q) (pronounced: kole), which when used in relation to a living being means, “voice,” thus, Adam and his wife heard the Lord voice of the preincarnate Christ.

“Walking” is the verb halakh (El^h*) (pronounced: haw-lak), which is in the hithpael (reflexive) form indicating that the preincarnate Christ was “walking about” the garden at the end of the day.

“Cool of the day” refers to the end of the day at sunset when temperatures fall.

Adam and his wife hid in fear since according to Genesis 2:17, the Lord had warned Adam that if he disobeyed His command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, then he would surely die.

Genesis 2:17, “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

When the Lord said to Adam that he would “surely die” if he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the Lord meant that he would enter into “real spiritual death,” which is separation from God.

When the Lord says you shall surely die He does “not” mean he would die physically since Adam lived to be 930 years old according to Genesis 5:5.

The fact that Adam and his wife died spiritually and were separated from the Lord is illustrated in Genesis 3:6-8.

The fact that Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden demonstrates that sin not only results in loss of fellowship with the Lord but also guilt and fear.

Adam and his wife’s actions after disobeying the Lord are an implicit admission of guilt.

Genesis 3:9, “Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’”

The Lord knew that Adam and his wife had disobeyed Him since He is omniscient meaning He knows perfectly, eternally and simultaneously all that is knowable, both the actual and the possible and thus has all knowledge of every event in human and angel history.

The Lord asked Adam where He was because He wanted Adam to confess his guilt and to make Adam aware of his need for forgiveness and a Savior.

The fact that the Lord asked Adam where he was even though He knew what Adam had done and could have thrown him into the lake of fire demonstrates that the Lord is manifesting His love and mercy and grace.

God permitted Adam to rebel and disobey Him, like He did with Satan in order that He might manifest His great grace and love for both men and angels.

If Adam and Satan never rebelled against God, angels and men would never know the depths of God’s grace and love for them since grace is for the undeserving and His love is able to love those who are His enemies.

The fall of Adam and the fall of Satan gave God an opportunity to treat both men and angels in grace and love so that they might have a reason to love and obey Him and not because they have to avoid being punished, even though a holy God has every right to demand obedience from His creatures and punish them for disobedience.

God who is holy and cannot tolerate sin is justified in throwing His creatures into the lake of fire for rebelling against Him but also God, who as to His nature, is love, did everything He could to prevent any of His creatures from going to the lake of fire forever and ever for their rebellion against Him.

The fact that God did not immediately deposit Satan and Adam in the lake of fire for their disobedience is incontrovertible evidence that God loves His creatures and desires none of them to go to the lake of fire.

The fact that God the Father sent His Son into the world to become a human being to satisfy His righteous demands that the sin of angels and men be judged is also incontrovertible evidence that God loves His creatures.

Notice that the Lord initiated a reconciliation by seeking out Adam and his wife and not vice versa, which is a demonstration of God’s love.

Romans 3:11, “THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD.”

The Lord not only sought out the first two sinners in the human race but He seeks out the entire human race without exception and distinction since He desires all men to be saved (John 3:16-18; 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9).

Genesis 3:10, “He said, ‘I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.’”

Adam, like all sinners, is fearful being in the presence of God since he stands guilty and condemned before an infinitely holy God.

Adam, like all sinners, is estranged from God and seeks to avoid contact with Him.

This is the natural result of spiritual death.

Adam response that he hid himself because he was naked was a lie but rather he hid himself because he felt guilty that he disobeyed the Lord’s prohibition.

Therefore, Adam is not being honest with the Lord who because He is omniscient can see right through his lie.

The fact that Adam does not come clean with the Lord and confess that he disobeyed results in a guilty conscience.

The application for us as believers is that we must confess our sins so that we might not be wracked with guilt that is the natural result of sin.

Psalm 32:5, “I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD’; And You forgave the guilt of my sin.”

Genesis 3:11, “And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’”

The divine interrogation continues in order to bring Adam to an admission of guilt so that he might be restored to fellowship.

Proverbs 28:13, “He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.”

The Lord’s first question is designed to draw attention to the fact that something must have happened to make Adam aware of his nakedness and that he must have done something to make him aware of his nakedness.

As soon as Adam’s thoughts have been led to see that this admission is inevitable, the Lord’s next question is a direct one designed to drive Adam to still a more inescapable admission of his guilt.

The Lord’s is convicting Adam of his guilt in order that he might see his need of a Savior and forgiveness.

Genesis 3:12, “The man said, ‘The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.’”

Adam’s fallen state due to his sin and disobedience further manifests itself in his making excuses and blaming the Lord for giving him his wife.

By blaming the Lord for giving him his wife, Adam is accusing the Lord of tempting him to sin, which is impossible since God cannot be tempted by evil because He is holy.

James 1:13, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.”

James 1:14, “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.”

James 1:15, “Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”

By blaming the Lord for giving him his wife, Adam is not taking responsibility for his actions.

Adam cannot justify his sin by blaming the Lord for giving him his wife since Adam made the decision to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

He could have said no to his wife but instead he went along with her in her sin.

Once Adam recognized his wife as a great blessing but now, after disobeying the Lord, he considers her a curse.

Adam’s excuse is so lame that the Lord doesn’t even dignified it with a response.

Proverbs 26:4, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will also be like him.”

Genesis 3:13, “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.’”

Just like Adam, his wife failed to take responsibility for her actions and instead blamed the serpent for deceiving her.

Just like Adam, his wife could have rejected eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil but instead she chose to disobey.

Unlike Adam though, his wife did not attempt to deny that she had sinned but in fact admitted her guilt to the Lord.

The Lord does not question the devil who used the serpent to disguise himself since according to Matthew 25:41, the devil has already been convicted of his rebellion.

Furthermore, the Lord does not question Satan since this temptation of Adam and his wife was a part of his appeal trial where Satan was attempting to justify his rebellion and independence from God.

In his appeal trial, Satan is attempting to demonstrate that God does not love His creatures and that he is justified in living independently of God and that disobedience to God is a viable and justified alternative to being obedient to God.

By getting Adam and his wife to sin against God, then Satan would have witnesses that support his argument.

Satan does not believe that God loves His creatures since God sentenced him to the lake of fire forever for his rebellion and by getting Adam and his wife to sin against God, Satan presumptuously and erroneously believes that he will have demonstrated this to be the case.

But, Satan’s plan backfires on him since the fall of Adam and his wife provided God an opportunity to demonstrate a side of Himself that would never be revealed if Satan and Adam had never sinned, namely, His love, which is able to love His enemies and do good to those who are unworthy and undeserving.