Genesis 3:1. Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
He began with a question. How much of evil begins with questioning! The serpent does not dare to state a lie, but he suggests one: «Has God refused you all the fruit of these many trees that grow in the garden?»
Genesis 3:2-3. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Eve had begun to feel the fascination of the evil one, for she softened down the word of God. The Lord had said concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, «In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. A little of the spirit of doubt had crept into Eve's mind, so she answered, God hath said, «Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.»
Genesis 3:4-5. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
The serpent insinuated that God selfishly kept them back from the tree, lest they should grow too wise, and become like God himself. The evil one suggested ambition to the woman's mind, and imputed wicked designs to the ever-blessed and holy God. He did not say any more; the devil is too wise to use many words. I am afraid that the servants of God sometimes weaken the force of the truth by their verbosity, but not so did the serpent when he craftily suggested falsehoods to Mother Eve; he said enough to accomplish his evil purpose, but no more.
Genesis 3:6. And when the woman saw
Sin came into the human race by the eye; and that is the way that Christ comes in, by the eye of faith, the spiritual eye. «Look unto me, and be ye saved,» is the counterpart of this word, «When the woman saw «
Genesis 3:6. That the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
This was a distinct act of rebellion on the part of both of them. It may seem a small thing; but it meant a great deal. They had cast off their allegiance to God; they had set up on their own account; they thought they knew better than God, and they imagined they were going to be gods themselves.
Genesis 3:7. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
All they had gained by their sin was a discovery of their nakedness. Poor creatures, how the serpent laughed as his words were fulfilled, «your eyes shall be opened»! They were opened, indeed; and Adam and Eve did know good and evil. Little could they have dreamed in what a terrible sense the serpent's words would come true.
Genesis 3:8. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day:
No doubt, when they had heard the voice of the Lord before, they had run to meet him, as children do to a father when he comes home «in the cool of the day.» But now, how different is their action!
Genesis 3:8. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
What fools they were to think that they could hide themselves from God! The fig leaves were to hide their nakedness, and now the trees themselves were to hide them from God.
Genesis 3:9-11. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 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?
God comes to judge his fallen creature, yet he deals kindly with him. The Lord will have it from his own lips that he has offended; he summons no other witness.
Genesis 3:12. And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
This is a clear proof of his guilt, first, that he throws the blame on her whom be was bound to love and shield; and next, that he throws the blame on God himself: «The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree.» Ah, me, what mean creatures men are when sin comes in, and shame follows at its heels!
Genesis 3:13. 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.
How often we throw the blame of our sin on the devil, who certainly has enough to bear without the added guilt of our iniquity! What Eve said was true; but it was not a sufficient reason for her sin. She should not have been beguiled by the serpent.
Genesis 3:14-15. And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Here was the first proclamation of the gospel. Strange to say, while God pronounces a curse upon the enemy of mankind, he is uttering a blessing upon the whole of those who belong to Christ, for HE is that seed of the woman, and all that belong to him are a simple-minded, child-like people, children of the woman. Their opponents are the seed of the serpent, crafty, cunning, wise, full of deceit; and there is enmity between these two seeds. Christ is the Head of the one seed, and Satan is the head of the other; and our Lord Jesus Christ has had his heel bruised, and he suffered in that bruising of his heel; but he has broken the head of the dragon, he has crushed the power of evil, he has put his potent foot upon the old serpent's head.
Genesis 3:16-18. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
He had been accustomed to eat of the fruit of the many trees of paradise now he must come down, and eat «the herb of the field.» He is lowered from royal dainties to commoner fare.
Genesis 3:19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground;
«Thou shalt get thy life out of the ground till thou thyself shalt go into the ground.»
Genesis 3:19-21. For out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
This was a very significant gospel action. The Lord took away from Adam and Eve the withered fig-leaves; but put on them the skins of animals, to show, in symbol, that we are covered with the sacrifice of Christ. The giving up of a life yielded a better covering than the growth of nature; and so today the death of Christ yields us a better covering than we could ever find in anything that grew of our poor fallen nature. Blessed be God for thus thinking of us when providing raiment for our first parents!
Genesis 3:22. And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
That would have been a horrible thing, for man to be incapable of death, and so to continue for ever in a sinful world. It is by passing through death that we come out into the realm of perfectness.
Genesis 3:23-24. Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
«O, what a fall was there, my countrymen, Then I, and you, and all of us fell down;» while sin triumphed over us; yet even the fall by Adam's sin was not without the promise of a gracious recovery through the last Adam, the Lord from heaven. Well does Dr. Watts set forth the contrast between the fall of the angels and the fall of man,
«Down headlong from their native skies The rebel angels fell,
And thunderbolts of flaming wrath Pursued them deep to hell.»
«Down from the top of earthly bliss Rebellious man was hurl'd;
And Jesus stoop'd beneath the grave To reach a sinking world.»
He took not on him the nature of angels; but he took our nature, and died in our stead. May we trust to his death to bring us life, and thereby be saved from the consequences of the fall!