Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The serpent is Satan. Yes, he’s a talking snake at this point. He may have even had legs, based on what happens later in this chapter. He and God, in all three parts have had a complicated relationship to say the least. Isaiah 14:12-15 in the King James Version specifically points out that Lucifer (an alias of Satan) and God had been pretty tight. Other translations don’t mention this as obviously. Here it is.
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. Isaiah 14:12-15 KJV
More on that later when we actually get to the book of Isaiah. Safe to say that now they are on the outs. Also, the first part of the book of Job is all Satan nagging the Lord to let him do stuff to Job. That must have been annoying for The Lord too. We shall find that out later as well.
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
She’s not even one bit freaked out that the snake can talk! She talks back. This was before the time where it was frowned upon for a man to even talk to a woman. Perhaps what happens in the next few verses is a reason why this rule came to be. Nobody wanted a repeat.
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
How did Satan know that God knew that? We know that God knew that because He knows absolutely everything. The two of them were on the outs. They weren’t friends anymore. Satan is a big liar. All the time. Especially when it sounds good. I’m allowed to ask questions. I don’t know everything. I don’t even have to know everything. I don’t have to have the answers right away. I’m not questioning God in a negative way. It’s just not discussed and that’s OK. You are allowed to ask questions too.
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
God doesn’t mention immediately punishing Eve for eating the fruit. Advantage being the woman. Even though it appears she was easily manipulated by words. It’s only after her attractive self gives the fruit to Adam, and he eats it, are they both punished. It’s possible that I’m reading into the situation, but it appears to me that if Adam refuses the fruit and says something like… “Hey Eve, remember God told us not to eat from that tree! Let’s not do that again.” It seems like that would have been an opportunity to redeem the situation. Maybe, maybe not. Adam didn’t do that, so we’ll never know. He liked his wife and it would have been hard for him to refuse good looking things from her.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
God totally knew where Adam was. He probably wanted to know if Adam knew where Adam was.
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
The first mention of fear in the world. For good reason too. Adam and Eve both walked with God every day. This is the first time they didn’t want to do that.
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
First, God is out there totally not being a prude at all. Second, God totally knows what Adam and Eve both did. Again, I could be reading into the situation, but it appears to me, if Adam admits eating the fruit and that he shouldn’t have done that, and asks for forgiveness, maybe the outcome could have been different for both of them. Maybe they could have gotten back to normal with God. Unfortunately, we will never know that either. We do know that Adam did say this next thing. It was a very stupid thing to say, and it would head to men saying stupid things to cover up their bad actions for the rest of time. Let’s get back to it.
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
The first ever whiny excuse. I imagine it was whiny. The first time a man ever blamed his wife for anything in the whole history of the world.
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The first time God ever had to ask this particular question. Not the last either. He totally knew what she had done. He wanted to hear it from her too.
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
The first time a woman had to actually explain how a situation went down.
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
This seems to infer that Satan wasn’t already crawling. The removal of his legs must have hurt a lot. It was a major crime on his part though, it was the first time justice had to be served. He was the first one to instigate the whole deal.
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
God already has a plan to fix this whole thing. Even before it happened, he had this plan. Spoiler alert: He’s going to send Jesus at just the right time to make everything right again. Jesus will crush Satan’s head.
16 To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
Before this moment she only had to listen to God. Also, there was no concept of pain. She was the second one to be part of the sin. Second one to get a punishment.
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
Adam is the third one to take part in the sin. Third one to get punished for it too. God is a big fan of order all the way through as we will find out more and more. He is incredibly detailed with Adan’s punishment. Probably because things were supposed to go differently and deep down at this point even Adam probably knew it. He was made in the Image of God first. Adam’s only job was to do as the was told by the Lord and he couldn’t do that. We’d like to think we’d pull it off differently, but we wouldn’t. God knows that too. None of this phased him. He wants people to actually love him back, not just be robots. This was also part of the original plan. Even though it seems like things could have gone much better with a little more cooperation. As we will see, God doesn’t full on give up on them. Even though he rightfully could. God never gives up. That’s good for you, and it’s good for me too!
20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
Adam is still trying to keep up with the rest of his responsibilities even though he messed up. Eve would try to do the same as we will see in the next chapter.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
The first time an animal had to be killed. The first time a sacrifice had to be made. One day, Jesus would come and be the perfect sacrifice for sins of all time, so that temporary animal sacrifices wouldn’t have to happen anymore. More about that whole process later.
22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
God talking to Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Pretty slick that nobody has been able to find this yet even though God gave coordinates earlier. He can make visible what He wants to make visible, and He can hide what He wants to hide.
Scripture Discussed: Genesis Chapter 3 NIV Isaiah 14:12-15 KJV.
IIWAC: Why’d You Have To Go Ruining A Good Thing?
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The serpent is Satan. Yes, he’s a talking snake at this point. He may have even had legs, based on what happens later in this chapter. He and God, in all three parts have had a complicated relationship to say the least. Isaiah 14:12-15 in the King James Version specifically points out that Lucifer (an alias of Satan) and God had been pretty tight. Other translations don’t mention this as obviously. Here it is.
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. Isaiah 14:12-15 KJV
More on that later when we actually get to the book of Isaiah. Safe to say that now they are on the outs. Also, the first part of the book of Job is all Satan nagging the Lord to let him do stuff to Job. That must have been annoying for The Lord too. We shall find that out later as well.
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
She’s not even one bit freaked out that the snake can talk! She talks back. This was before the time where it was frowned upon for a man to even talk to a woman. Perhaps what happens in the next few verses is a reason why this rule came to be. Nobody wanted a repeat.
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
How did Satan know that God knew that? We know that God knew that because He knows absolutely everything. The two of them were on the outs. They weren’t friends anymore. Satan is a big liar. All the time. Especially when it sounds good. I’m allowed to ask questions. I don’t know everything. I don’t even have to know everything. I don’t have to have the answers right away. I’m not questioning God in a negative way. It’s just not discussed and that’s OK. You are allowed to ask questions too.
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
God doesn’t mention immediately punishing Eve for eating the fruit. Advantage being the woman. Even though it appears she was easily manipulated by words. It’s only after her attractive self gives the fruit to Adam, and he eats it, are they both punished. It’s possible that I’m reading into the situation, but it appears to me that if Adam refuses the fruit and says something like… “Hey Eve, remember God told us not to eat from that tree! Let’s not do that again.” It seems like that would have been an opportunity to redeem the situation. Maybe, maybe not. Adam didn’t do that, so we’ll never know. He liked his wife and it would have been hard for him to refuse good looking things from her.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
God totally knew where Adam was. He probably wanted to know if Adam knew where Adam was.
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
The first mention of fear in the world. For good reason too. Adam and Eve both walked with God every day. This is the first time they didn’t want to do that.
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
First, God is out there totally not being a prude at all. Second, God totally knows what Adam and Eve both did. Again, I could be reading into the situation, but it appears to me, if Adam admits eating the fruit and that he shouldn’t have done that, and asks for forgiveness, maybe the outcome could have been different for both of them. Maybe they could have gotten back to normal with God. Unfortunately, we will never know that either. We do know that Adam did say this next thing. It was a very stupid thing to say, and it would head to men saying stupid things to cover up their bad actions for the rest of time. Let’s get back to it.
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
The first ever whiny excuse. I imagine it was whiny. The first time a man ever blamed his wife for anything in the whole history of the world.
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The first time God ever had to ask this particular question. Not the last either. He totally knew what she had done. He wanted to hear it from her too.
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
The first time a woman had to actually explain how a situation went down.
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
This seems to infer that Satan wasn’t already crawling. The removal of his legs must have hurt a lot. It was a major crime on his part though, it was the first time justice had to be served. He was the first one to instigate the whole deal.
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[a] and hers;
he will crush[b] your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
God already has a plan to fix this whole thing. Even before it happened, he had this plan. Spoiler alert: He’s going to send Jesus at just the right time to make everything right again. Jesus will crush Satan’s head.
16 To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
Before this moment she only had to listen to God. Also, there was no concept of pain. She was the second one to be part of the sin. Second one to get a punishment.
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
Adam is the third one to take part in the sin. Third one to get punished for it too. God is a big fan of order all the way through as we will find out more and more. He is incredibly detailed with Adan’s punishment. Probably because things were supposed to go differently and deep down at this point even Adam probably knew it. He was made in the Image of God first. Adam’s only job was to do as the was told by the Lord and he couldn’t do that. We’d like to think we’d pull it off differently, but we wouldn’t. God knows that too. None of this phased him. He wants people to actually love him back, not just be robots. This was also part of the original plan. Even though it seems like things could have gone much better with a little more cooperation. As we will see, God doesn’t full on give up on them. Even though he rightfully could. God never gives up. That’s good for you, and it’s good for me too!
20 Adam[c] named his wife Eve,[d] because she would become the mother of all the living.
Adam is still trying to keep up with the rest of his responsibilities even though he messed up. Eve would try to do the same as we will see in the next chapter.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
The first time an animal had to be killed. The first time a sacrifice had to be made. One day, Jesus would come and be the perfect sacrifice for sins of all time, so that temporary animal sacrifices wouldn’t have to happen anymore. More about that whole process later.
22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
God talking to Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Pretty slick that nobody has been able to find this yet even though God gave coordinates earlier. He can make visible what He wants to make visible, and He can hide what He wants to hide.
Scripture Discussed: Genesis Chapter 3 NIV Isaiah 14:12-15 KJV.