INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 3 In this chapter an account is given of the temptation of our first parents, of the instrument of it, and of their fall into it, and of the effect of it, Genesis 3:1 their summons upon it to appear before God, against whom they had sinned, Genesis 3:8 their examination by h... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THE SERPENT WAS MORE SUBTLE THAN ANY BEAST OF THE FIELD, WHICH THE LORD GOD HAD MADE,.... Many instances are given of the subtlety of serpents, in hiding their heads when struck at, rolling themselves up, stopping their ear at the voice of the charmer, putting off their skin, lying in sand of th... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE WOMAN SAID UNTO THE SERPENT,.... Or to him that spoke in the serpent, which she might take to be a messenger from heaven, a holy angel: had she known who it was, she might be chargeable with imprudence in giving an answer, and carrying on a conversation with him; and yet even supposing this,... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT OF THE FRUIT OF THE TREE, WHICH IS IN THE MIDST OF THE GARDEN,.... This tree stood near the tree of life, as is highly probable, since that is described in the same situation, Genesis 2:9 she does not give it any name, which perhaps was not as yet given it; or she was not acquainted with it, its... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SERPENT SAID UNTO THE WOMAN,.... In reply to her answer: YE SHALL NOT SURELY DIE; in direct contradiction to the divine threatening, and which he would insinuate was a mere threatening, and which God never intended to put in execution; so that they had nothing to fear from that, God would n... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR GOD DOTH KNOW,.... Or "but k God doth know", who knows all things, and has foreknowledge of all future events; he foreknows what will be the consequence of this event, eating the fruit of this tree, that it would be so far from issuing in death, which he has threatened, that the effect of it wou... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THE WOMAN SAW THAT THE TREE WAS GOOD FOR FOOD,.... She being near the tree, and perhaps just at it when the serpent first attacked her; wherefore looking more wishfully at it, she could discern nothing in the fruit of the tree which showed it to be bad, and unfit to be eaten, or why it shou... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE EYES OF THEM BOTH WERE OPENED,.... Not of their bodies, but of their minds; not so as to have an advanced knowledge of things pleasant, profitable, and useful, as was promised and expected, but of things very disagreeable and distressing. Their eyes were opened to see that they had been dece... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY HEARD THE VOICE OF THE LORD GOD,.... Which they had heard before, and knew, though perhaps now in another tone, and very terrible, which before was mild and gentle, pleasant and delightful: some by it understand a clap of thunder, sometimes called the voice of the Lord, Psalms 29:3 and the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD GOD CALLED UNTO ADAM,.... The Jerusalem Targum is, the Word of the Lord God, the second Person in the Trinity; and this is the voice he is said to have heard before: AND SAID UNTO HIM, WHERE [ART] THOU? which is said, not as ignorant of the place where he was, nor of what he had done,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID, I HEARD THY VOICE IN THE GARDEN,.... The voice of thy Word, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan: this was not the true cause of his hiding himself; he had heard his voice in the garden before, when it did not strike him with terror, but gave him pleasure; AND I WAS AFRAID, BECAUSE I... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID,.... The Lord God, or the Word of the Lord; WHO TOLD THEE THAT THOU [WAST] NAKED? or showed it to thee; by what means hast thou got knowledge of it? what hast thou done that thou perceivest it, so as to cause shame and fear? man was made naked, and so he continued, and he must be sensib... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE MAN SAID,.... Not being able any longer to conceal the truth, though he shifts off the blame as much as possible from himself: THE WOMAN WHOM THOU GAVEST TO BE WITH ME: to be his wife and his companion, to be an help meet unto him, and share with him in the blessings of paradise, to assist... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD GOD SAID UNTO THE WOMAN,.... Who was first in the transgression, and drew her husband into it, and upon whom he seemingly casts the blame of his eating the forbidden fruit: WHAT IS THIS THAT THOU HAST DONE? dost thou know how great an offence thou hast committed in breaking a command o... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD GOD SAID UNTO THE SERPENT,.... And to the devil in it; for what follows may be applied to both; literally to the serpent, and mystically to Satan; both are punished, and that very justly, the serpent in being the instrument Satan made use of, and is cursed for his sake, as the earth for... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL PUT ENMITY BETWEEN THEE AND THE WOMAN,.... Between whom there had been so much familiarity, not only while they had the preceding discourse together, but before; for it is conjectured by some y, that she took a particular liking to that creature, and was delighted with it, and laid it per... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO THE WOMAN HE SAID,.... The woman receives her sentence next to the serpent, and before the man, because she was first and more deeply in the transgression, and was the means of drawing her husband into it. I WILL GREATLY MULTIPLY THY SORROW AND THY CONCEPTION, or "thy sorrow of thy conception... [ Continue Reading ]
AND UNTO ADAM HE SAID,.... Last of all, being the last that sinned, but not to be excused: BECAUSE THOU HAST HEARKENED UNTO THE VOICE OF THY WIFE; which was not only mean but sinful, since it was opposite to the voice of God, which he ought to have hearkened to God is to be hearkened to and obeyed... [ Continue Reading ]
THORNS ALSO AND THISTLES SHALL IT BRING FORTH TO THEE,.... Not for his advantage, but to give him more trouble, and cause him more fatigue and sorrow to root them up: these include all sorts of noxious herbs and plants, and troublesome weeds, which added to man's labour to pluck up, that those more... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE SWEAT OF THY FACE SHALT THOU EAT BREAD,.... Or "of thy nose" f, sweat appearing first and chiefly on the forehead, from whence it trickles down by the nose in persons employed in hard labour; and here it takes in all the labour used in cultivating the earth for the production of herbs, and pa... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ADAM CALLED HIS WIFE'S NAME EVE,.... Whom he had before named "Ishah", a woman, because taken from him the man, Genesis 2:23 and now gives her a new name upon this scene of things, which had taken place; which is derived not from "Chavah", to "show forth", to "declare"; as if she was called so,... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO ADAM ALSO, AND TO HIS WIFE,.... Besides the kind intimation of grace and favour to them, another token of God's good will towards them was shown, in that whereas they were naked and ashamed, DID THE LORD GOD MAKE COATS OF SKINS, AND CLOTHED THEM; not that before this they were only bone and fl... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD GOD SAID,.... The Word of the Lord God, as the Jerusalem Targum; not to the ministering angels, as the Targum of Jonathan but within himself, or to the other two divine Persons: BEHOLD, THE MAN IS BECOME AS ONE OF US, TO KNOW GOOD AND EVIL; which is generally understood as an irony or... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE THE LORD GOD SENT HIM FORTH FROM THE GARDEN OF EDEN,.... Gave him orders to depart immediately; sent or put him away as a man does his wife, when he divorces her; or as a prince banishes a rebellious subject: for how long Adam was in the garden Psalms 49:12, however, he did not send him t... [ Continue Reading ]
SO HE DROVE OUT THE MAN,.... Being unwilling to go out upon the orders given, some degree of force was used, or power exerted, in some way or other, to oblige him to depart; the word it is expressed by is used of divorces: there was a conjugal relation between God and man, the covenant between them... [ Continue Reading ]