Genesis 3:1-6
The Temptation and Fall... [ Continue Reading ]
The Temptation and Fall... [ Continue Reading ]
Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. In Paradise man had everything that he needed for the proper development of his nature and for the fulfillment of his object in life. But now temptation came to him from outside. Just as in other parts of the Bi... [ Continue Reading ]
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. The devil had implied that God's command referred to every tree, to all trees of the garden. This appeared especially in the tone and form of questioning surprise, which was intended to excite doubt. The woman c... [ Continue Reading ]
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. By exaggerating the prohibition of God, the devil intended to shake the woman's trust in God, to create doubts in her heart concerning the truth of His wor... [ Continue Reading ]
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die;... [ Continue Reading ]
for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Not satisfied with having awakened doubt in the woman's heart, the Tempter now boldly denies the truth of the divine threat and casts suspicion upon the genuineness of th... [ Continue Reading ]
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. The evil was done; the woman's heart was turned from the Lord.... [ Continue Reading ]
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons. With their transgression, the eyes of the man and woman were indeed opened, but not in the way that they had supposed. The ignorance of primeval innocence was go... [ Continue Reading ]
The Investigation of God... [ Continue Reading ]
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. This is related to fit the human understanding, Jehovah God being represented as walking in the garden, at th... [ Continue Reading ]
And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? It was the call of anxious love as well as of stern justice. God summoned the sinners before His court. Sin is easily done, but not so easily undone, for it weighs down upon conscience as guilt before God, in spite of all attempts... [ Continue Reading ]
And he said, I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself. Fear, the consciousness of nakedness, shame: they all cried out aloud the guilt of Adam. Though Eve had been the first to sin, the Lord called Adam, because he, as the stronger vessel, was more guil... [ Continue Reading ]
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? Adam would have remained in the state of blissful innocence if he had not eaten of the forbidden fruit; he would not have known his nakedness. The fact that he was aware... [ Continue Reading ]
And the man said, The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. This excuse reveals the depravity of Adam's heart, even at this early stage. For he not only tries to place the blame upon the woman, but there is even a charge against God in the words: The woman who... [ Continue Reading ]
And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? It is a call full of reproach: Wherefore hast thou done this? What a terrible thing to do! How couldst thou be so forgetful of the command! AND THE WOMAN SAID, THE SERPENT BEGUILED ME, AND I DID EAT. There is indeed a confession... [ Continue Reading ]
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. The serpent, which had placed its cunning into the service of the devil, was the f... [ Continue Reading ]
The Curse of God... [ Continue Reading ]
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. What was a curse for the serpent and for the devil, who had used the serpent for his disguise, was a glorious, comforting promise for fallen mankind, the firs... [ Continue Reading ]
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. This was the woman's burden and punishment for her transgression. Whereas without sin the propagation of the... [ Continue Reading ]
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;... [ Continue Reading ]
thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Adam had been the stronger vessel, even before the Fall. He had had the strength to withstand the temptation; he should have held out eve... [ Continue Reading ]
And Adam called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all living. Both Adam and his wife received the first Gospel proclamation in silence; they believed the promise and arose from their fall with due repentance. This is shown even in the name which Adam applied to his wife, calling her... [ Continue Reading ]
Man Driven Out of paradise... [ Continue Reading ]
Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed them. So the first real dress of man was God's work; He authorized them, He gave them instructions, to make themselves coats of skins, which they were to wear as a covering for their nakedness and as a protection against... [ Continue Reading ]
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,... [ Continue Reading ]
therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. Here the Triune God is again shown in counsel with Himself. Man had become, in a manner of speaking, like one of the persons of the Godhead. He knew good and evil, although, unfortunately, he w... [ Continue Reading ]
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. After his expulsion, man's return into the garden was rendered impossible by the fact that God on the east side, the only accessible ent... [ Continue Reading ]