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How Big is God? (Part V)
Genesis 2:21-25; 3:1-24
God Makes a Woman & Sin and Reconciliation
God had said (in 1:16,17) that Adam could eat freely of every tree in the garden except one; The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam must have passed this on to Eve. But so far we have not talked about Eve.
God created a Woman
2:21 ¶ And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.
22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
23 And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man."
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
We have read that God caused animals to 'pass by Adam' for the purpose of allowing him to name them. After it was all done we read that God was also allowing Adam to relate with any one of them as a unique friend and companion, but that no such a creature was found to be suitable.
Then, in 2:21-23, after God performs a surgery on Adam, he names the new companion, 'woman', (a term simply meaning 'taken from man').
In this section of scripture there is no mention of the companion being female or that reproduction was to be encouraged. However, back in chapter one Moses said, 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Many years later, Moses uses the origin of 'the companion' to underscore the unity and permanence of a man and woman in marriage. Ge 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
When a man and a woman come together in marriage they are to consider themselves as being joined together just like Eve was to Adam before the surgery.
He mentions a man leaving his father and mother … he could also have mentioned a woman leaving her father and mother. … and being joined to their partner. The King James version says, 'leave father and mother, and cleave to his wife'. Leave and cleave. The Hebrew word means 'to cling'.
In Leviticus 1:17 the word cleave is also used. It is a totally different word in Hebrew and it means to split in two … like we would today, using a cleaver. That word cleave (split) is to find no place in a marriage. Jesus said regarding marriage in Matthew 19:6 "So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."
Ge 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Because 'shame' or embarrassment occurred if a man or a woman was seen unclad in Moses’ day, he emphasizes that this is an exception to what was thought and expected to be a universal response.
Shame, embarrassment, shyness, inhibitions … vary between people. And they vary with the times. Many people today laugh at such reactions and call it Victorian and prudish.
But why is it pointed out here that they had no shame?
For several reasons.
- They had not sinned and did not have a 'sin nature'. What is a sin nature? It refers to a tendency that a person is born with. For example … a cat has a litter of kittens. They grow. They have not made a sound yet … but when they mew instead of bark, are we surprised … disappointed? No, we do not sit around wondering what kind of sound they will make. It will be in accord with their inherited nature. By the same token … we should not be surprised when a little baby sins. That is its nature. It will happen every time. Adam and Eve, not having a sin nature would not have had sinful thoughts.
- Another reason they MIGHT not have had shame … the bodies they were given were likely similar to the bodies we will receive in the resurrection. They were not tainted with sin. The bodies were not 'dying' as ours are. They were designed to be eternal. Our future bodies are referred to in the New Testament as being 'Glorified bodies'. Romans 8:17 ¶ And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
God made man and woman – perfect. What a marriage!
Sin and reconciliation
Chapter three begins by mentioning a serpent … as being a cunning or crafty creature. Was there only one serpent at this point, or did God create a whole lot of them? We have not been told that. But what we do know is that one particular serpent approached Eve.
1 ¶ Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.
The fact that it is called cunning, crafty and sly … indicates something less than a perfect creature. What we have here is Satan, Lucifer … possessing a creature of God. Animals have no moral soul, so this does not mean that the serpent itself sinned by allowing Satan to come in.
The serpent – this creature, it is implied, walked upright. It had the ability to speak, that is, at least on this occasion. The fact of its upright appearance and ability to speak did not startle Eve or cause her to be cautious. It seems, as a matter of implication, that this likely was not the first time Adam or Eve had seen the creature. It may have been the first time it had spoken to them.
But creation at this point is still new. No doubt they were still making all kinds of discoveries. So it is possible that this was a ‘first’ and for that reason did not surprise them.
What kind of a creature it appeared to be is hard to envision. It walked upright. Adam Clarke, a Bible commentator of the 19th century, does not think it was a serpent at all. He discusses the Hebrew word … and comes out saying that this creature was an Orangutan. He says it used to walk uprightly … and after the curse, walks using its hands. Mr. Clarke goes on to say that the Hebrew scriptures which had been translated to Greek …(called the Septuagint), used the word for serpent. The new testament writers, who were more familiar with the Greek Septuagint than they were with the Hebrew language, thought that the Genesis creature was a serpent and so that is the word they used. For example John, twice in the book of Revelation says, 'That old serpent, the Devil'.
Mr. Clarke would have us believe that John should have said something more like, 'That old monkey, the Devil!'
I don't think so. Why? Because the Holy Spirit of God inspired the writing of the New Testament … and He inspired them to use the word serpent.
So Satan entered a serpent.
He begins to question Eve.
He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?" 3:1b
We have a few questions of our own … but no real answers. Like, why was she hanging around that tree to begin with? Curiosity? Or … she had to be somewhere and just happened to be near that tree? Or … maybe she was nowhere near the tree … but went over to it after the serpent talked to her? And where was Adam at this point? Was it wrong for them to be separated? No, I wouldn't think so. But it appears that Satan waited for his chance to talk to her privately.
Think about Satan for a moment. Here is a being who had experience at talking others into his way of thinking. He had convinced millions or billions of angels to join him in trying to dethrone God. That would take some convincing. He is very good at what he does.
Have you had any experiences with his methods? He begins by creating doubt and insinuating that God is holding out on them.
“Did God say you could not eat from all the trees in the garden?”
She answers, We can eat from all the trees … except one. And that one we are not even supposed to touch. (This may have come from Adam?)
3:2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,
3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’"
4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.
5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
6 ¶ So 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 to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
We say that we have inherited the 'Adamic' nature. Why do we not blame Eve? The scripture does single Eve out as a sinner.
2Corinthians 11:3 ... the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, …
But God makes a difference for those who sin knowingly. Adam sinned knowingly.
1Timothy 2:14 ... Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.
This is what was said in the Old Testament.
Nu 15:29 ‘You shall have one law for him who sins unintentionally, for him who is native-born among the children of Israel and for the stranger who dwells among them.
Nu 15:30 ¶ ‘But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the LORD, and he shall be cut off from among his people.
I am unsure whether Eve sinned 'unintentionally' or not. But the key word seems to be that she was deceived and Adam sinned intentionally.
Satan had said – “You will not surely die.” Did Eve have any idea what death was? She had never seen it. I think that she and Adam must have talked about it. They were not dumb or simple. They knew … either instinctively or by God's own elaboration, that it was ultimately the worst result that could ever happen to them. “The day you eat of it you will surely die.”
Satan lies. “You won't surely die. Your eyes will be opened … to things that God does not want you to see or know or imagine.”
“You will actually become like God … and He does not want that.”
With a little bit of thought Eve took the fruit and ate some. Then she gave some to Adam. 3:6 They 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 coverings.
Their eyes were opened. They did not drop dead.
What really happened? We will discuss this further when we get to chapter 3:22, but for now we will talk about why they did not die … or did they?
What we read is, their eyes were opened. Whether this had anything to do with their bodies no longer being 'glorified' and shining, or whether this was a different kind of 'opening of their eyes' so that they saw each other in a way that they could not have done earlier, it is hard to say. At any rate … they saw themselves unclad and as quickly as possible made garments of fig leaves.
God clearly had said, 'In the day that you eat of the fruit … you will surely die.' Whether we always understand or not, we have to say … I believe that. In some VERY REAL sense, they died that day.
We are told by God through Apostle Paul, For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 1Corinthians 15:22
Everyone who is a child of Adam … dies. Does this simply mean … that some day we all will die a physical death or is there another meaning?
Romans 7:9 can help to understand this. Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.
Paul is referring to himself. Once he was alive … and then he died. For this to be a helpful verse we need to first state the obvious. Obviously he did not die physically. He would not have been there to write the book of Romans if he had died physically. He is speaking of spiritual death.
So what killed him? It was the knowledge of right and wrong which he got by reading the law, the bible. As he read (or was read to), he discovered what sin was … and that he had already done it. Very likely he was a very young boy when he first was taught the law. At the moment in time he grasped the meaning of right and wrong, he died spiritually. The day before, not having 'the law' he was alive spiritually.
That's how we are all born. As babies we are without 'the law', without knowledge of right and wrong. Spiritually alive. If a child in that condition dies physically, they go to heaven. Why? They are alive spiritually.
By the way, this should give us some comfort when we consider the horrors of abortion. As bad as it is, these babies do not go to hell. They all are 'spiritually alive' without the law.
In our case, being gentiles, at what age do we first know right from wrong? There is no concrete answer for that. This would vary with each child.
So Adam and Eve died spiritually that day. They also died physically … that is, cell death and aging began.
Verse 8 says that they hid from God when they heard him approaching. That is what is now 'natural' for them to do.
8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
The fallen nature, which we all inherited from Adam, is one that wants to hide from God. Consider the following references:
- We wander away from God. Isaiah 53:6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
- Romans 3:10 As it is written: "There is no-one righteous, not even one;
- We force God out of our thinking. Romans 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
How big and how marvelous is God? He is big enough to seek Adam out. God 'so loved the world'. Here is the rest of the story.
9 ¶ Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and 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 that you should not eat?”
12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
13 And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 ¶ So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust 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 your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
16 ¶ To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”
17 ¶ Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.
18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”
And so the God … who knows everything, begins to ask questions. He already knew the answers. He asks …
“Where are you?”
“Who told you that you were naked?”
“Did you eat from the forbidden tree?”
“What is this that you have done?”
God's Spirit convicts regarding the same things today.
John 16:7 ¶ "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
8 "And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Look at the 'language' of the fallen nature.
- Blame-shifting.
“The woman made me do it.,”
“God, you are the One who gave me this woman.”
“The Serpent tricked me, it's not my fault!”
God is love. But being a loving God does not mean he ignores sin.
He deals with sin straight on.
“Serpent, you will crawl on the ground because you willingly complied with Satan's possession.”
“Satan – although you will bruise the heel of one of the woman's seed, you will get your head crushed.”
“Woman, you will have pain in childbirth. Your relationship with your husband will be fraught with conflict.”
“Man, providing a living for your family will be very difficult. The ground you depend on is cursed to provide much less than it could have. You will have a constant battle with thorns and thistles.”
“Your bodies will age, die and return to dust.”
Were Adam and Eve sorry for what they had done? Did they express sorrow after God spoke to them regarding their transgression?
How does a person express sorrow and regret for what they have done?
Here is a biblical example:
Job 42:6 Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.
When we call out to God … for any reason … for forgiveness or to lay before Him an urgent request, what evidence do we show for our sincerity?
Some more biblical examples:
Esther 4:1 ¶ When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city. He cried out with a loud and bitter cry.
Jeremiah 6:26 O daughter of my people, Dress in sackcloth And roll about in ashes! Make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; For the plunderer will suddenly come upon us.
Daniel 9:3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
They had no example to follow. They were the first sinners. Regardless of what our outward appearance looks like when we repent, God looks at the heart.
1Samuel 16:7 The LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
2Corinthians 7:10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
Moses interjects this statement:
20 ¶ And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
And then he goes on with God's response to Godly repentance. When Godly sorrow produces repentance – He covers our sin.
21 ¶ Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
This is a bible concept all throughout the scriptures. For example;
Psalm 32:1 ¶ «A Psalm of David. A Contemplation.» Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered.
Isa 1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.
God covers our ugly, filthy sin … with the blood of Jesus. What color was our sin? Have you ever heard the expression … ' as black as sin!'? Where do we get the idea that sin is black? Perhaps from the verse, “Men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil”. (John 3:19)
But Isaiah said that our sin is red … like scarlet, red like crimson … the same color as blood.
Ex 12:13 ‘the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
God killed an animal and with its hide made clothing for this couple. The picture is to show what it takes to cover our sin. An innocent animal died that day. An animal who had no wild nature. An animal named by Adam. The innocent died for the guilty.
This pair would be reminded each day they wore the garments made by God, that this animal died for their shame to be covered.
We too, are reminded of that at various times, but certainly at the taking of communion. We sinned and caused it to be necessary for Jesus, who knew no sin, to become our covering.
We are sinners by nature. We are sinners by choice. But our Almighty God took that risk into account when he created 'free will'.
I Peter 1:18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you
21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
Fellowship with God was lost when Adam and Eve sinned. Fellowship is restored when we walk in the light … rather than run and hide. Here a wonderful passage to close this session:
1 John 1:5 ¶ This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
8 ¶ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.