1. Genesis 3:7-24
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Well, we are continuing today with our third study in the book of Genesis. We opened with the creation of the world and then mankind, and last time we looked at the temptation and sin of mankind.
Eve was tempted by Satan to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They had been commanded not to eat from that tree. She ate it anyway, and she offered the fruit to Adam, and he knowingly at it as well.
And to borrow from mythology, by doing so, they opened a Pandora’s box of trouble for themselves and all of humanity. By their actions, they brought a curse on all of creation.
I got to thinking about the theme for this section of Scripture, and determined that the theme is that curse.
People used to believe in curses more than they do today. Maybe that’s because many no longer believe in God, or the supernatural. The definition for curse is,
1.a solemn utterance intended to invoke a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or something.
So, to believe in curses is to believe that some force, beyond the natural, can be called into action to do harm to someone. It may be fate, or God, or the devil, or some malevolent angel, or a witch that is capable of harnessing the forces of nature, but to believe in a curse is to believe that a supernatural force is set in motion to do evil to a person, or persons.
And, like I say, many no longer believe in curses.
But the Bible, the Scripture, teaches that curses are real. Not the frivolous ideas of curses, like the curse of the werewolf, or “may the bird of paradise fly up your nose,” or the idea of karma, etc.
But the Bible teaches that there are good and evil supernatural beings, who may actively work to do evil to particular people, or to groups of people. And specifically it teaches that God “cursed” all of mankind and the world, because Adam and Eve chose sin over obedience.
After Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God pronounced a curse on them, and creation. The world would no longer be a paradise, their marriage would no longer be bliss, work would no longer pleasant and fulfilling, and most of all, man would be born to experience pain, and die.
This story reminds me of a story J. Vernon McGee told in his study of the Psalms. He told about a grandfather who took his young grandson out to help with some yard work. He instructed the child to help by pulling up bunches of weeds around the house and fence. The grandfather observed as the grandson went over to a clump of weeds, and latched on to the largest bunch he could find. He pulled on the bunch, and pulled again. But they weren’t budging. Then he leaned down, and grabbed them with his full force, dug in his heals, leaned back and pulled. And after a strenuous effort the weed gave way, and the little boy fell backward on to the ground. The grandfather called over, “are you okay?” The boy nodded. The grandfather replied, “Well that was quite a pull wasn’t it.” To which the boy replied, “Yeah, but it wouldn’t have been as hard if I hadn’t had the whole world pulling against me.”
And is an apt description of the curse after Adam and Eve’s sin. It is the beginning of all the world pulling against you. And that curse is on all of us, and is only over turned in surrendering to Christ as Savior and Lord.
Now I want to look at the curses in this chapter under two categories; the first are natural consequences of sin, the sin are specific punishments for sin.
So let’s begin with Genesis chapter 3:
6 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 some of its fruit, and ate. Then she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too. 7 Their eyes were opened, and they both knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made coverings for themselves. 8 They heard Yahweh God’s voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden.
9 Yahweh God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
11 God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Yahweh God said to the woman, “What have you done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
After they sinned, the very first result, natural consequence, of their sin was that the man and woman realized they were naked. What do you mean, they realized they were naked? Well, I don’t think it means that they were unaware that they were exposed to each other, but rather, in their innocent state, they were like the animals. Animals don’t “know” that they are unclothed. My dog sprawls out on the floor and is totally unconcerned. Horses, cows, orangutans, every animal walks around buck naked. They are unaware. And Adam and Eve were like that before sin.
But then they disobeyed, and their eyes were open. In that, Satan had told the truth, their eyes were open, but they were ashamed. They suddenly felt the need to be covered. So they sewed together fig leaves to cover themselves.
So much for the knowledge of good and evil that they desired.
So, here’s a question; Eating this tree, opened their minds, or consciences to the knowledge of good and evil---but what does that mean? How were they mentally different before they ate? What did they become aware of? There have been many proposed answers to that question. Some have said that the knowledge was sexual desire. That before they had none, and after, they desired each other. I can’t agree with that because then you have to say that God considered sexual desire evil, or at least it was not a part of His “perfect” world. But God had already said to mankind in chapter 1
28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
He had said the same thing to the animals—be fruitful and multiply. Now we can’t know for sure that Adam and Eve had had intimate relations before eating of the tree. We don’t know how long of a time elapsed from the 6th day to their sin. But we can be pretty confident that the animals began procreating almost immediately. It’s in their nature. And Adam and Eve were their caretakers, so we have to believe they saw it. My point is---they had to know about sexual relations before the fall, and I believe they themselves were intimate before the fall.
So I don’t believe that the knowledge of good and evil was sexual knowledge—God does not condemn sexual relations in the context of the marriage of one man and one woman.
Now others have said other things about the tree and it’s knowledge. But I tend to agree with some who say that what the man and woman received, was discernment. Knowing the difference between good and evil. I think that before they ate the tree, they were essentially a blank moral slate. They didn’t have the sin nature that internally drew them to do what they knew was evil. And if you look at the temptation by the serpent, that’s what you see. There is no indication that Adam or Eve ever even thought about eating of that tree until Satan came and introduced the idea. They likely walked by it every day—never even considering eating it. Why? Because God said don’t eat it---and they took that at face value---because nothing in them drew them to evil—they didn’t know. And so, in a sense, they didn’t know good either---all they knew was that God said, tend the garden, name the animals, be fruitful and multiply, and they did it—not because they knew it was good—but because God told them to.
But Satan introduced the idea that God was holding back some good thing from them. They ate the tree, suddenly realized that walking around naked was not good. Sewed themselves fig leaf shorts, and hid from God. Now they knew that what they had just done was evil.
8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.
9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
Man, where are you? What is the state of your soul? God apparently presented Himself to them in some recognizable human form—walking in the garden. He calls to them “Where are you?” not because he doesn’t know, but as a soul searching question.
Now let’s read the rest of the story.
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11 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?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
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.
14 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:
15 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.
16 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.
17 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;
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Now let’s go back.
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
Here is the second cursing effect, natural consequence, of sin. For the first time, the presence and voice of God frightens man. All through the rest of Scripture, the presence and voice of God strikes terror in the heart of man. But before sin, Adam and Eve were not afraid. It’s like the difference between a tame and wild animal. A tame animal will walk right up and eat out of the hand of a person, but the wild one has learned that there is possible danger at the hand of man. Now man, in his sinful state is acutely aware that the presence of God means judgment and condemnation.
11 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 knew the answer to that question.)
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Here’s the third cursing effect, natural consequence, of sin. Now practically anyone who teaches out of this passage is going to point this out, but it has to be said. The first thing that sinful man does when he’s committed sin is to try and hide, when found and sin exposed, his inclination is to blame someone else.
Who did he blame—the woman---“the woman gave me.” And people do the same today when they are caught in sin. They blame someone else. They blame their spouse, their kids, their boss, their employees, their circumstances, the system, or the dog. But are hard pressed to blame themselves. But ultimately who is Adam blaming? He blames God Himself. “The woman you gave me, she gave me the fruit.” God, you set me up. You put me in these circumstances. You surrounded me with these temptations. You put the tree in front of me. You made me like I am. It’s your fault.
And that “blaming” is a third natural consequence to sin. Shame, fear and accusations are natural curses that come out of sin. God had not uttered a word of condemnation or judgment against their sin, and these three were already there. Why? Because they were now under Satan’s influence. They stepped out of God’s will and protection, now they enter the dominion of Satan. In God’s kingdom there is confidence, faith, and blessing. In Satan’s there is shame, fear, and accusations. Under which dominion do you live?
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.
Again, the devil made me do it. People blame other today. People will say, “You make me happy, you make me angry, you make me sad. Don’t make me have to hurt you. Here’s a truth for you, Nobody makes you angry. You make you angry. Nobody makes you happy. You make you happy. I remember a guy in High School, friend of mine, got into a fight---I asked him, why did you get in a fight? He told me, “The guy said something about my momma. It’s his fault because he said something about my momma.” Really? That’s it.
Now those are the natural consequences of sin. Now let’s look at how God specifically cursed because of sin.
14 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:
What was the curse? Before the serpent’s curse, somehow this creature didn’t slither on its belly. And now this animal will slither on its belly. So before the curse, the serpent may have had legs, or even wings, but now he will be unique among the animals, and wriggle across the ground.
Now notice, God doesn’t ask the serpent why he did this. Why not? What I believe is the serpent is only a vessel for Satan. And Satan, before this, has led a rebellion against God, and has been cast out of heaven, to the earth. The course of Satan’s punishment has already been laid down. Satan and his demons were cast to the earth, and in the final judgment they will be cast into eternal hell—the lake of fire—to endure eternal torment.
Okay, but why does God punish the serpent if the serpent is only a vessel of Satan? Well, don’t feel sorry for the snake. Number 1; the snake is just an animal. Animals were created for God’s glory and man’s use. The snake is not suffering from a perpetual guilt complex for aiding and abetting Satan. Yea, but he has to crawl on his belly. So, cows have to regurgitate their food and re-chew it. Every animal has a design, and many of those designs we may think are unpleasant. So, why does God punish the serpent. The big answer to that, is that the serpent will be used as a symbol of evil, and Satan from this point forward. He will be the figure representing evil throughout man’s history. So God initiates that symbolism by cursing the serpent.
So that’s the first enunciatory curse that effects the physical world. But the next curse actually harms mankind. It is the curse of Eve, and womanhood, and humanity. But in this curse is also a promise.
15 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.
Let’s explain what this means. God says—I am going to put a hatred between the serpent and the woman. Okay, there is a natural aversion between women, and men, and snakes—some are poisonous, or can squeeze you to death. But God also said, I will put hatred between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. The seed of the serpent is its offspring. And “seed” is a singular noun, so it is talking about one individual.
Let’s look at that-The seed of the woman. By the way—technically, and Biblically women do not have seed. Without getting graphic—the analogy is of planting seed in a field. The female is the field, and the male provides the seed. Now we know that physiologically, women have an egg. But even that is not a seed. Any egg, human or animal has to be inseminated with a seed.
So the seed of the woman means two things—number one---she will have an offspring—a seed—this is the foreshadowing the virgin conception of Jesus Christ. A woman, will have a seed, without a man. And number two, there will be hatred between her seed—Jesus Christ, and the seed of the Serpent---the devil.
Let’s read it again,
15 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.
It shall bruise thy head—Christ will smash the head of the serpent—Satan—deal him a mortal blow, and “thou shalt bruise his heel” Satan will bite at and bruise Jesus heal—Satan will do Christ damage, but not ultimately take His life.
There is a curse for the woman and humanity, which we will get to in a second. But before the curse, God’s gives a promise of salvation. This is the promise—you two have sinned, you are cursed, you are cast out, you will die. But God will send His Savior—the one who will crush the head of this serpent who deceived you. This is the theme of Genesis. Man chose sin. God’s preparing a Savior.
16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children;
The first part of the curse of the woman is pain in childbirth. I hardly need to explain that. It is still intriguing to me how easily many animals give birth, and how difficult, by comparison, it is for women. That is the curse. All the unpleasant and painful parts of the conception process are part of the curse against women. The second part has to do with the relationship with her husband.
and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
Now what does this mean? I’ve heard it interpreted 2 ways. The first takes it as it reads; You are going to desire your husband, and you are going to desire that relationship with your husband, but instead of the emotional fulfillment you crave from him, you will instead be dominated. And this takes into account the general nature of women compared to men. The second interpretation looks at the word desire. It is the same word used later in Genesis 4:7. In that passage, God is talking to Cain. He says,
Genesis 4:7 King James Version (KJV)
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his (sins) desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
In this verse God is speaking to Cain who is angry with his brother Abel, and is being tempted by sin to hurt his brother—which he did. God speaks of sin as though it were a person. Sin is knocking on your door---it desires you—the sense is—sin desires to overcome you—but you need to rule over it.
Applying that to the statement about Eve’s curse—God would be saying---your curse is that now, instead of the perfect relationship you had with your husband—being a helper, to come alongside of him, now because of sin—your desire will be to dominate him, but he will dominate you. This describes the general state of the world, where men have dominated women.
Which is the correct interpretation as the curse of women? I have no real problem with either, because both are true. Women typically have been the ones who desired a deep love relationship with men. They want an emotional connection to a man. And in return, many have suffered the cruel desire of some men to be her overlord. On the other hand, women have also been fighting to dominate men, but still find themselves being dominated. Now I’m treading on thin ice with some of you. But before anyone jumps my case and calls me a sexist, or God a sexist, what is described here is the natural state of things, not the mandated state of things.
I’m not saying that this is a commandment of God. This is a curse—that means that God’s perfect will has been violated by sin. God made Adam and Eve to be in a partnership in the care of the garden. Adam was to lead—but it was to be a servant leader. Eve was to follow, but she was following because of love and respect. Now, because of sin—they are both corrupted. Their relationship is a battle for dominance.
Now that’s the statement to Eve, and its curse also effects Adam. Now God makes a statement to Adam.
17 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;
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
What is Adam’s curse? Sorrowful, painful, back-breaking labor required to eke out your daily sustenance. Men often find their identity in their jobs. And if a man finds a job he likes, he is extremely blessed. But I’ll tell you what I’ve told my son when he was looking for a job. He said, “I don’t want a soul-sucking job.” I said, they are all soul-sucking jobs. Even the job that you love, the career you’ve chosen, turns back into “a job” eventually. And, in general, you will get up with pain and dread in the mornings to go to work, and you will live for your days off. There’s one exception to that—jobs with eternal purpose. And my wife tells him the same thing.
Because of the feminist movement in this country, many women wanted to get out into the “man’s world” and go to work. There was a generation of women in America who stayed home, kept the house, raised the kids, cooked and cleaned, raised the garden, etc. And a generation of women came along who thought, “This work is not fulfilling.” This work is grueling. I feel empty. So they sought their fulfillment outside the home, at a job. They fought for the right to go to work. And they finally got it.
Then they went to work. And what did they discover? That jobs outside of the home are unfulfilling and grueling and empty. That’s the curse against Adam.
Adam’s work was with the soil, and growing food. And because of sin, the ground was cursed. It would no longer be easy to get things to grow. Water wouldn’t be a plentiful, so you have to go fetch it. The earth wouldn’t be as fertile, so you’ll have to compost it. Noxious weeds and thorns are going to grow and soak up the moisture and nutrients, so you’ll have to bend over and pull them. Bugs and animals are going to devour your produce, so you’ll have to pick them off, or drive them away. Labor becomes a burden.
Well, what a disheartening, discouraging conclusion to the paradise God put man in. It makes me ask the question;
Why did God put that tree there? I was looking at Answers in Genesis, somebody asked a similar question, “God said that everything that He made was good. That would include the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. How can that tree be called good, if God forbad them to eat of it, and when they did eat of it, they were cursed?
Well, I’m tempted to fall back on one of my rules of interpretation here and simply say, “I don’t know.” Really, nobody knows the mind of God. But there is something we can say in answer to the question, “Why did God put that tree in the garden?”
Because it gave mankind a choice to obey or disobey God. We were given a free will, but a free will is pointless if you cannot choose to disobey. God made us in His image, and He has free choice, so we have free choice. Now that may not be a satisfactory answer for you, and frankly, it’s not completely satisfactory to me. But with that question I want to introduce to you another principle of interpreting Scripture. That is the principle of trusting God. As you study the Word, you will encounter questions that confuse you. You will find truths that you can’t wrap your brain around. The thing to keep in mind when you do so, is that God is infinitely wiser than we are. He has a billion times a billion more information than we do. So we often have to simply trust him.
Some theologians with more degrees than me have written extensively on this issue,
But I have to tell myself that I have a tiny pea brain, and I only know a toothpick sliver of information out of multiple forests of wood. So I have to trust God.
Now this chapter concludes.
20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve (living, life); because she was the mother of all living.
21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
God replaced their fig leaves—temporary coverings with animal skins. Animal skins signified a couple of things. First, they signify a permanent solution to the problem of nakedness. Properly cared for, leather articles can last a lifetime. And second, skins come from animals, and animal had to be killed in order to provide their skins. A plant does not have to give up its life to provide leaves. But an animal has to have its blood shed, its life extinguished to provide a covering.
And so, this act is a foreshadowing of the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross of Calvary. He shed His blood to provide us with a permanent covering of our sin. The fig leaves of religion and good works were temporary and poor coverings for our nakedness in sin. Jesus death provided the enduring spiritual clothing we needed.
This is how the story concludes.
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 forever:
As I stated in a previous message; They could have lived forever—they chose knowledge instead.
23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
What does this mean, that God sent man out of the Garden lest he eat of the tree of life and live forever? Why wouldn’t God want us to live forever? Well we need to remember that man would not be living forever as he was in the Garden of Eden. If he ate of the tree of life, after his sin, he would live forever, in his cursed condition. He would live forever with increasing physical pain. He would live forever with the decaying relationships with his wife and family. He would live forever with this cursed earth. In other words, he would be condemned to an eternity of living with death.
It was a mercy that God did not let Adam and Eve live forever.
God placed angels at the entrance to Eden to prevent man from re-entering the Garden.
Where is the garden of Eden today? It is nowhere. Let’s put it this way. The only reason the Garden of Eden was special was because of the two special trees in it, and because it was the most perfect part of God’s perfect creation. Once sin brought the curse to mankind and God’s creation. Once God drove man out of the Garden, it no longer served a purpose. The tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil no longer had any power. Mankind had that knowledge. The tree of life was eventually removed by God and planted in His heavenly kingdom.
And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: ...
Without the tree of life there, there was no longer any reason for an angelic sentinel. And the Garden became subject to the same curse that the rest of the world fell under. Drought, disease, and decay.
And Eventually the world was so corrupt that God destroyed it, and the spot where the Garden of Eden was, with a worldwide flood.
So ends chapter 3 of Genesis. It’s a sad conclusion to a very hopeful story. And today we live under that same curse brought to us by Adam and Eve. We may want to cast blame on them. We may want to accuse them of ruining the world for the rest of us. But, after some consideration, we need to ask ourselves, if it were me in that Garden, would I have done anything any differently.
Or ask yourself this, how many times have I questioned the rules I’ve been given? How many times have I made uninformed decisions? How many times have I believed a lie?
How often do I run from the bad choices I’ve made? How often do I try to place the blame for those choices on someone else?
And, seeing that we are all living in this cursed world, am I still trying to sew together my own plan for covering my sin? Or have I accepted God’s sacrifice of His Son, to cover my sin?
We are Adam and Eve. So we deserve the same curse. But we are also given the same promise of a Savior.
Let us pray, Thank you Father for the blood of Jesus shed from the foundation of the world. It’s such a wonderful truth that You cursed us and then turned around and gave us Jesus to break the curse. We praise you and we thank you, in Jesus name, amen.