Genesis 3:14

_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:_ Unto the serpent. The guilt of the several accomplices in the first act of disobedience having been clearly established, and no just plea being put forward in arrest of punishment, the Righteous Judge proceeded to pass sentence on each of the criminals in succession;-and beginning with the serpent, who being the prime instigator of the rebellion, was to receive no dispensation of mercy, to enjoy no prospect of mitigation, He pronounces upon him the doom of deep and hopeless degradation. THE LORD GOD SAID, CURSED ART THOU ABOVE ALL CATTLE, [Hebrew, _ HABªHEEMAAH_ (H929), the singular of behemoth, a word which is used to designate the larger class of pachyderms and rumin...

14._And the Lord God said unto the serpent_. He does not interrogate the serpent as he had done the man and the woman; because, in the animal itself there was no sense of sin, and because, to the devil he would hold out no hope of pardon. He might truly, by his own authority, have pronounced sentence against Adam and Eve, though unheard. Why then does he call them to undergo examination, except that he has a care for their salvation? This doctrine is to be applied to our benefit. There would be no need of any trial of the cause, or of any solemn form of judgment, in order to condemn us; wherefore, while God insists upon extorting a confession from us, he acts rather as a physician than as a judge. There is the same reason why the Lords before he imposes punishment on man, begins with the serpent. For corrective punishments (as we shall see) are of a different kind, and are inflicted with...

14,15 God passes sentence; and he begins where the sin began, with the serpent. The devil's instruments must share in the devil's punishments. Under the cover of the serpent, the devil is sentenced to be degraded and accursed of God; detested and abhorred of all mankind: also to be destroyed and ruined at last by the great Redeemer, signified by the breaking of his head. War is proclaimed between the Seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. It is the fruit of this enmity, that there is a continual warfare between grace and corruption, in the hearts of God's people. Satan, by their corruptions, buffets them, sifts them, and seeks to devour them. Heaven and hell can never be reconciled, nor light and darkness; no more can Satan and a sanctified soul. Also, there is a continual struggle between the wicked and the godly in this world. A gracious promise is here made of Christ, as the...

Verse Genesis 3:14. _AND THE LORD GOD SAID UNTO THE SERPENT_] The _tempter_ is not asked _why he deceived the woman_; he cannot roll the blame on any other; _self-tempted he fell_, and it is natural for him, such is his enmity, to deceive and destroy all he can. His fault admits of no excuse, and therefore God begins to pronounce sentence on _him_ first. And here we must consider a twofold sentence, one on _Satan_ and the other on the _agent_ he employed. The _nachash_, whom I suppose to have been at the head of all the inferior animals, and in a sort of society and intimacy with man, is to be greatly degraded, entirely banished from human society, and deprived of the gift of speech. _Cursed art thou above all_ _cattle, and above every beast of the field _- thou shalt be considered the most contemptible of animals; upon thy belly shalt...

- XVI. The Judgment 15. שׁוּף _shûp_ “bruise, wound.” τηρεῖν (=τερεῖν?) _tērein_ ἐκτρίβειν _ektribein_ Job 9:17, καταπατεῖν _katapatein_ Psalms 139:11, συντρίβειν _suntribein_ Romans 16:2. 16. תשׁוּקה _t__e__shûqâh_ “desire, inclination.”...

EXPOSITION GENESIS 3:8 AND THEY HEARD THE VOICE OF THE LORD GOD. Either (1) the noise of his footsteps (cf. Le Genesis 26:33; Numbers 16:34; 2 Samuel 5:24; Knobel, Delitzsch, Keil, Kalisch, Macdonald); or (2) the thunder that accompanied his approach (cf. Exodus 9:23; Job 37:4, Job 37:5;...

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 man's; and the punishing the instrument as well as the principal, the more discovers God's detestation of the act for which they are punished, as appears in other instances, Exodus 21:28. Nor could it have been agreeable to the justice of God, to punish the instrument and let the principal go free; and therefore the following sentence must be considered as respecting them both: and it must be observed, that no pains is taken to convince Satan of his sin, or any time spent in reasoning and debating with him about it, he being an hardened apostate spirit, and doomed to everlasting destruction,...

Genesis 3:1. _Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?_ He began with a question. How much of evil begins with questioning! The serpent does not dare to state a lie, but he suggests one: «Has God refused you all the fruit of these many trees that grow in the garden?» Genesis 3:2. _And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 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._ Eve had begun to feel the fascination of the evil one, for she softened down the word of God. The Lord had said concerning th

AND THE LORD GOD SAID The Adamic Covenant conditions the life of fallen man -- conditions which must remain till, in the kingdom age, "the creation also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God" (Romans 8:21). The elements of the Adamic Covenant are: (1) The serpent, Satan's tool, is cursed (Genesis 3:14), and becomes God's illustration in nature of the effects of sin -- from the most beautiful and subtle of creatures to a loathsome reptile! The deepest mystery of the atonement is intimated here. Christ, "made sin for us," in bearing our judgment, is typified by the brazen serpent; (Numbers 21:5); ...

CHAPTER 3 The Fall of Man _ 1. The serpent and the woman (Genesis 3:1)_ 2. The fall and the immediate results (Genesis 3:6) 3. Jehovah Elohim questions Adam (Genesis 3:8) 4. His question to the woman (Genesis 3:13) 5. The curse upon the serpent (Genesis 3:14) 6. The first prophecy (Genesis 3:15) 7. The sentence upon the woman (Genesis 3:16)