Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return— The plain inference to be drawn from this part of the sentence is, that the human body would have been preserved from decay and death, immortal and incorruptible, had man persevered in innocence.
REFLECTIONS.—Our first parents wanted to be wiser, wanted to see more, and now they are gratified. But oh, what a sight! How preferable had blindness been to such a discovery!
1. They saw their own nakedness; not only of their bodies, but of their souls. The robe of innocence was rent; the image of God was defaced; their minds now a scene of disturbance; their happiness departed; their misery come upon them; all was lost, and dark despair; and dread of deserved punishment overwhelmed them. Observe, (1.) How dreadful a thing is sin: it smiles in the face, but it leaves behind the poison of a serpent: O that we felt its evil more, and, from the fear of its consequences, kept from the jaws of the destroyer! (2.) How shameful. It must cover us with confusion, either in time or eternity. Happy they, who, by real repentance, have taken shame to themselves here before God and man, and, through the Blood of Jesus, have their iniquity pardoned and their sin covered!
2. They sought to conceal it; and the methods they took shewed how improved they were in wisdom. Strange folly, to think that fig-leaves could hide their shame: it was a poor covering respecting themselves: it was useless respecting God. How like are we! (1.) We think all is well, if we can hide our shame from each other, and save our credit among men! But shall not the day come, when it shall be laid open before an assembled world? (2.) How apt are we to fly to excuses, instead of humbling ourselves under conscious guilt!
Guilt and fear are inseparable. They no sooner hear the voice of God, than that which was before their delight and joy, becomes their horror and confusion. It is probable that the second Divine Person sometimes appeared to them in Eden, as he afterwards designed to appear in the world to suffer, viz. in a human form: and this might tempt them to think it was probable enough, that as, he appeared like them in person, they might become like him in power. But now their presumptuous hopes are at an end, and they seek the thickest covert to be hid from his eye. Their own consciences become accusers, and they have already the sentence of death in themselves: now they began to discover the lie of the tempter; their godhead is debased into the lowest wretchedness, their promised power into abject weakness, and their proud wisdom into senseless folly. Reader, stop, and learn!