genesis

Genesis is probably my favourite Bible book, and chapter three, for me, is the best chapter in it. Why? Surely chapter three tells of everything going wrong, how can I say it is the best chapter? Because even though ‘everything goes

wrong’, at the same time we see God’s compassion, love, forgiveness and care for the first time in the Bible. And we see the first glimpses of Jesus and what he will do for us. Let’s go through it together.

Did God really say?

That first temptation was so subtle, so crafty. God had said “You can eat anything from any tree, but just don’t eat from this one tree”. The tempter uses clever words to ask “Did God really say ‘you must not eat from any tree’?” He wanted the woman to doubt God’s Word.

Now, we know from later in the Bible that God’s Word is Jesus. God speaks to us through Jesus, When we meet Jesus it is the Word of God we are meeting. The serpent (the book of Revelation identifies him as Satan) wants the woman (not yet called Eve) to doubt God. Actually she passes this first test quite well. She quotes God’s Word, she knows what He says on the matter and she gets it right. Well, almost. She added the words “You must not touch it”. God hadn’t said that. Probably she and her husband had added it in to make sure they didn’t get to handling the fruit and putting themselves in a position where they might eat it. That would have been wise. Sometimes, however, adding in extra rules makes serving God more and more onerous.... some branches of Christianity (and the Judaism of Jesus’ day) are so full of rules it is hard to keep sight of God.

Having tried the subtle approach, the devil now simply disagrees with God. He puts an alternative viewpoint. He sows doubts into the woman’s mind, maybe God is deceiving her, maybe God is keeping her from the best. He doesn’t want her to be like God herself...and she could be if her eyes are opened as the serpent suggests!

That is all he does. he disappears at that point, going off into the long grass to see what will happen perhaps. Maybe all this has taken a few days of suggestion and discussion, maybe it happens as fast as it reads. Whatever, he has done his work and leaves the woman’s own imagination to do the rest. She starts to wander over and to look at the fruit and to think. “This fruit looks good” she says. The eyes can deceive. God had clearly said this fruit is bad. She is starting to let her physical side rule her, instead of her spiritual side. Rather than knowing Jesus, the Word of God, and trusting what He says, she is ignoring Him and letting her appetite take over.

She also saw that the fruit was ‘desirable for gaining wisdom’. She didn’t see that with her eyes, she saw that because by now she is believing what the serpent had said. The only way she knew it was possible to gain wisdom from eating this fruit, was because the serpent had said so. And he was lying. We know that because God said eating the fruit would give ‘knowledge of good and evil’, not wisdom. eating the fruit would separate her from God, the source of wisdom. it would not give her wisdom, but remove it. Knowledge and wisdom are not the same thing. She knewWisdom would stop her from eating it, wisdom would enable her to use the knowledge she had sensibly.

But she was not believing god and His word, she was now believing the devil. She knew the fruit would give her wisdom. False knowledge, lies, but she believed it. So she took some and ate it. And then went one step further. Having chosen for herself to disobey God, she encouraged her husband to do the same. She became the tempter. No need for the devil now, human beings were doing his work for him. He could lie back and smile.

But before we blame her completely, just look at what it says about her husband, He was with her. I don’t think that is just a statement of position, but one of relationship. He was choosing to be with her rather than with God. He now has to choose between the two. He can’t have both, for the woman has separated herself from God. He chooses his wife, and rejects God.

How long had he been ‘with her’? Was he there when the serpent was tempting her, letting her hear the doubts and not saying anything to reinforce the word of God? He had heard God directly say “don’t eat from this tree”. She only knew because he had told her himself. It was his responsibility to keep her focussed on God and keep her in line. He failed. He didn’t even try.

Was he there when she went to the tree and looked at it? Why didn’t he remind her of God’s love and pull her away? Was he there when she picked the fruit? Did he want it as much as she did... was he choosing to reject God at the same time as she?

The Cover Up

Their world changed, all creation suffered (see Romans 8) and suddenly they could see things they hadn’t before. this wasn’t wisdom though, wisdom brings life and freedom as you will see in Proverbs. This was the devil’s false wisdom, ‘dark knowledge’. Their eyes were opened to the knowledge of good and evil. They now knew what it ws like to disobey God, and they were flooded with ideas and thoughts they had never had before.

The first one was shame. they realised they were naked, exposed. This became for all time focussed on their bodies, but was actually about their spirituality. Doubtless they had lustful thoughts, which is why they covered up their physical selves at this point. But it is the desire and need to hide things from each other which is important. They were no longer innocent. They had to hide from God, instead of run to meet Him as they had done before.

So God calls “Where are you?” God knows everything, so why did He ask? Because a question invites a response, and a good response restores and builds relationship. God was giving them an opportunity to start to restore that relationship. This question was not about geography Where are you? but about relationship. The answer He wanted was the truth “We are separated from you”.

The man knew that, but didn’t answer it. The question he answered was not Where are you but Why aren’t you with me? He answers the Why question with an excuse. Why always gives opportunity for excuses. God does not ask them why, and neither does He ask us why. Ever. At the same time He doesn’t answer that question when we ask it of Him, either.

The excuse was that he was naked, so he had to hide from God. What he should have said was “God, I have disobeyed you and I am separated from you because of that”.

God gives him another chance to start to restore the relationship. He asks him what have you done? Actually, because He knows the answer, He makes it even blunter have you eaten....(that which) I commanded you not to eat?. The man doesn’t answer that. He answers another why question why have you eaten....(that which) I commanded you not to eat?. He starts to blame others. He blames the woman, and then horror of horrors he blames God himself!! “The woman you put here with me”. “Don’t blame me God. I was doing alright. Then you made this woman and put her here with me and she led me astray. If you hadn’t made her, I wouldn’t have done it”.

(The man didn’t answer the “who told you you were naked question” either, because he knew no-one had. He knew he had discovered that for himself once he had disobeyed).

The man has now totally blown his opportunity to get right with God again. Not only has he refused to admit he has deliberately disobeyed, but he has also blamed God for the sin. He has fallen from a position of friendship with God and close co-operation, to one where He has refused to accept responsibility and placed himself above God, as God’s accuser and judge. Since that is an impossible place to be, it shows the depth of deceit he is now immersed in.

So God turns to the woman. He gives her a chance too. He asks her WHAT? and she too answers WHY?. She doesn’t blame God, she blames the devil. Humans have been doing one or other of those ever since. Blaming either God or the devil for all their shortcomings and mistakes, refusing to take responsibility for their own actions. Yet everytime God asks us “What?” He is giving us then opportunity to say “I disobeyed you, I am sorry” and to restore the relationship. Everytime we answer “Why?” we are building the wall that separates us from Him even higher.

God does not ask the serpent anything. He is beyond redemption, only judgement awaits. Whether or not serpents had legs before this is open for speculation, whether it was an animal possessed by the devil, or simply the way the devil chose to appear is not clear; but the serpent/snake would be a cursed creature from this point on. By implication, so would the devil.

And now we get the first prophecy in the Bible. The first glimpse of the coming Messiah. One of the woman’s (eventual) offspring would crush the serpent’s head, even though the serpent had struck him too. But that would be many years in the future.

The chance of immediate restoration past, the woman and the man are also judged. The woman would give birth painfully, as all human women have done ever since. For the man, gone was the rich easy provision of food in the garden. Now there would be hard work to get the ground to produce food good to eat.

Then the ultimate decree, the fulfillment of God’s earlier words “if you eat from this tree....you will die”. Man and woman, and all who follow, will fall and decompose and become dust.

It did not seem such a big deal, one small fruit. But it was not just one small fruit, it was disobedience to God, rejection of the Word of God who is also the Author and giver of Life (Hebrews chapter 1). The consequences of rejecting life can only ever be death. And the consequences of one action ripple on through the ages. All die. All women give birth painfully, all farming is hard work. There is no paradise anymore.

All our sins also ripple out with consequences spreading further and further. It is hard to see it so clearly, because there are so many people committing so many sins that the ripples are all confused. But as long as we go on answering “Why?” and not “What?” we are not going to be able to be restored to full fellowship with God.

Father’s Love

Despite all this, God does not give up on them. He provides for them before they are sent on their way out of paradise. It is, infact, God’s love that compels Him to separate them from the tree of Life. For, if they had lived for ever in a sinful world it would have been a life of sorrow and torment without end.

Instead He provides a way of return to Paradise, where there is no sin, for all. That Way is the Cross, which though cruel and terrible is the only means to undo the effects of that day in the Garden.

In Eden, Adam and Eve said “Not what God wants, what we want”. In another Garden, thousands of years later, Jesus said “Not my will, but Yours Father” and went on to unravel the consequences of human sin. At the end of Revelation, God gives the Tree of Life and Paradise back to human beings.

Will Adam and Eve be there? Only if they learnt to answer “What? ” not “Why?”