Genesis 3:17

_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;_ Unto Adam he said. The term Adam is used here as a proper name for the first time. Gesenius is of the opinion that, having almost always the prefix of the article, it is to be considered as an appellative, and equivalent to 'the human race;' yet there are exceptions (cf. Job 28:28; Job 31:33); and while, as we formerly observed, the whole tenor of the narrative in Genesis 2:1-25 points to an individual man, we find him in this verse addressed personally b

17._And unto Adam he said_. In the first place, it is to be observed, that punishment was not inflicted upon the first of our race so as to rest on those two alone, but was extended generally to all their posterity, in order that we might know that the human race was cursed in their person; we next observe, that they were subjected only to temporal punishment, that, from the moderation of the divine anger, they might entertain hope of pardon. God, by adducing the reason why he thus punishes the man, cuts off from him the occasion of murmuring. For no excuse was left to him who had obeyed his wife rather than God; yea, had despised God for the sake of his wife, placing so much confidence in the fallacies of Satan, — whose messenger and servant she was, — that he did not hesitate perfidiously to deny his Maker. But, although God deals decisively and briefly with Adam, he yet refutes the pr...

16-19 The woman, for her sin, is condemned to a state of sorrow, and of subjection; proper punishments of that sin, in which she had sought to gratify the desire of her eye, and of the flesh, and her pride. Sin brought sorrow into the world; that made the world a vale of tears. No wonder our sorrows are multiplied, when our sins are so. He shall rule over thee, is but God's command, Wives, be subject to your own husbands. If man had not sinned, he would always have ruled with wisdom and love; if the woman had not sinned, she would always have obeyed with humility and meekness. Adam laid the blame on his wife; but though it was her fault to persuade him to eat the forbidden fruit, it was his fault to hearken to her. Thus men's frivolous pleas will, in the day of God's judgment, be turned against them. God put marks of displeasure on Adam. 1. His habitation is cursed. God gave the earth t...

Verse Genesis 3:17. _UNTO ADAM HE SAID_] The man being the _last_ in the transgression is brought up _last_ to receive his sentence: _Because_ _thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife _- "thou wast not _deceived_, she only gave and counselled thee to eat; this thou shouldst have resisted;" and that he did not is the reason of his condemnation. _Cursed_ is _the ground for thy sake _- from henceforth its fertility shall be greatly impaired; _in sorrow shalt thou eat_ _of it _- be in continual perplexity concerning the seed time and the harvest, the cold and the heat, the wet and the dry. How often are all the fruits of man's toll destroyed by blasting, by mildew, by insects, wet weather, land floods, c.! Anxiety and carefulness are the labouring man's portion....

- 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 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 rather than man, and much rather than a woman; to regard the persuasion of a woman, and neglect the command of God, is a great aggravation of such neglect; see Acts 4:19 AND HAST EATEN OF THE TREE OF WHICH I COMMANDED THEE; SAYING, THOU SHALL NOT EAT OF IT; that is, had eat of the fruit of the tree which God had plainly pointed unto him, and concerning which he had given a clear and an express command not to eat of it; and had delivered it to him in the strongest manner, and had most peremptorily and strictly enjoined it, adding the threatening of death unto it; so

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

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)

Among the animals formed by Yahweh, in His first attempt to provide man with a companion, was the serpent; at that time either a quadruped or holding itself erect. It was eminent among its fellows for cleverness. In antiquity serpents were often regarded as mysteriously gifted with wisdom or cunning, sometimes as good but more often as evil. It is a mistake to think of it here as an incarnation of the devil; the ability to speak and reason is quite commonly attributed to the animals in folk-stories. Its wisdom is shown in the familiarity with the nature of the tree, its cunning in the intentional mistake it makes as to the prohibition, by which the woman is led to correct it and thus the opening for conversation is made. Craftily it contrives to instil a resentment at God's unreasonableness into the woman's mind: can it really be that God has insisted on a condition so unheard-of as this...