The scene changes and things fall apart. “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” (V1)
Whilst it doesn’t say so, there is no doubt that the serpent is Satan. We discover this from other passages of Scripture, in fact the rest of the Bible indicates this and deals with our salvation and rescue from the control of the devil – Ezekiel 28 informs us that Satan was in Eden. Revelation 12 and 20 refer to the serpent who is the Devil and Satan; Job 26 and Isaiah 51 likewise refer to a serpent and it is in connection with Satan. When we look further in the book of Numbers when the people are bitten by serpents, Moses was instructed to put a brazen serpent on a pole and when the people looked on the serpent they would be healed. This is personified in the LORD Jesus on the cross. He stated in John 3:14 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must The Son of Man be lifted up….”
The serpent was more cunning than any beast – this is a clear description of the character of Satan. He is cunning, the apostle Paul says “…. The serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness” (2 Corinthians 11:3).
He said to the woman, ‘Has God said….’ His first words are questioning God. It seems that the serpent was not as we would expect, he was probably a beautiful creature as the woman was not afraid or repulsed by it. In the Bible we read that he can appear as an angel of light or a roaring lion, thus he may have appeared as something else. Satan is a fallen angel (Isaiah 14) and people saw angels in the Bible, so the ‘serpent’ was an embodiment.
Satan was seeking to make her doubt God’s word and the woman had not received the command not to eat of the tree, so the cunning Satan attacked her rather than the man perhaps thinking that she would be easier picking. We have to remember, however, that this was all in God’s plan.
The woman replied to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” (v2,3)
Her reply wasn’t exactly correct, she misquoted God’s words given to Adam in that she added ‘nor shall you touch it’. Either Adam had misquoted it to her, or she simply added the phrase. We are told quite clearly that we must not add to nor take way from God’s word (Revelation 22:18).
The serpent’s reply (v4,5) was, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Not only is he questioning God now, but he is in effect calling God a liar. He states that they will not die. God doesn’t mean what he says, in fact it will make you like God Himself, you will know good and evil.
The woman’s first mistake was to get into discussion with Satan, she should have sent him packing, but once in discussion he sows seeds of doubt in her mind. He immediately tells her that she will not die. Satan tempts us all to believe that there is nothing wrong in doubting God and even twisting His words. God doesn’t want any of us to die but the wages of sin is death (Roman 6:23). He blinds eyes to the fact that God is holy and cannot look upon sin. That is why God sent The LORD Jesus to die for our sin.
James 4:7 tells us to, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Notice the sequence, ‘Submit to God’ it is only when we do that can we ‘resist the devil and he will flee from us.’ I suppose the woman could say that that wasn’t written then, but we certainly have no excuse. We must first submit to God before we can resist the devil.
Satan wanted her to doubt the goodness of God in the sense that He wouldn’t do anything ‘bad’ to her in that she would die.
God had said that they must not eat of the tree, and by adding the words, ‘nor shall you touch it’ the woman misquoted God, but she could have touched the tree by accident. God was not so careless and cruel. However, the penalty for eating of it was death so God’s words were clear. Satan latches on to the woman’s words and persuades her to mistrust God. He said they would be like God and know good and evil as their eyes would be opened. Their eyes were opened, and they saw things in a different light, their nakedness and they were ashamed. One writer observed that Satan urged her that they would be like gods which is what he aspired to be before he was cast out of heaven. (Isaiah 14)
What follows doesn’t make good reading (v6) – “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.”
The woman gave in to temptation – she saw that it was attractive for food, pleasant to the eye and it was able to make one wise. The looks of it I can understand but how could she see that it would make her wise? Only from what Satan had told her and she believed him. Temptation often comes in the form what we see, then it moves our mind and heart to want it, but it ends in sin. “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” (James 1:13-16)
1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that we are all tempted but God in his mercy and faithfulness always makes a way of escape. She could have said ‘No’. She didn’t have to take the fruit. Jesus was tempted by Satan, the devil, but He did not yield to it.
She gave some to her husband. She had been deceived but not Adam, he simply took what she gave to him. The pride of life was evident, and it led to a catastrophic downfall. Adam could have asked where she got it from, but he didn’t. It appears that he knew what he was doing. The Bible tells us that Adam bears the responsibility for our sin – “…. as in Adam all die in Christ shall be made alive” 1 Corinthians 15:22 and Romans 5:19 “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous”.
As a result, their eyes were opened, and they knew they were naked (v7). In their innocence there was nothing wrong with being naked but when they sinned by disobeying God, their nakedness became shameful to them. One writer said, “It is quite probable that they were clothed in light before the fall, and when they sinned the light went out.” They felt guilty and so they sought a covering and sewed fig leaves together. It is common for us to feel guilty when we’ve done something wrong and even try to hide, whether physically by running away or figuratively by trying to cover it up some way even by lying. Everything is open to God. He sees right into our hearts, and we cannot hide or hide anything from Him. He knows our thoughts even before we think them and our words before we speak.
They made coverings for themselves by sowing fig leaves together and waited, no doubt with some trepidation for God to come to them. They knew what the punishment would be, whether immediate or gradual. They had never experienced death before, so it was a new phenomenon for them.
Sure enough, God came (v8,9) – “And they heard the sound 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 among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
God communicated with them and even though it may sound like a surprise visit, I don’t think it was, rather a regular occurrence. Some say it was a pre-incarnation appearance of the LORD Jesus as the bible says that ‘no-one has seen God the Father’. He called out to Adam. God referred to them both as ‘Adam’. Genesis 5:2 tells us that when God created man, male and female, He called them Adam, man, mankind or human, depending which version you use. The woman was still apparently nameless as she was still referred to as ‘the woman’, it was not until after the curse that Adam called his wife Eve. They had hidden themselves, or so they thought. There was no question of God not knowing where they were, it was an invitation for Adam to come clean and confess what he had done. Their coverings of fig leaves were inadequate as were the foliage of the garden.
The question ‘where are you’ was not a geographical enquiry but a spiritual one as sin had come between man and God. It was not that God didn’t know where they were, or what they had done.
Adam replied, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” (v10-12)
Note that Adam was afraid, that’s what sin does. When we sin, the last person we want to see or speak to is God. His presence makes us want to hide; our conscience is pricked before a Holy God. God asks another question which He already knew the answer to about who told them about their nakedness. Again, the question was to get Adam to confess, as was the next question, ‘have you eaten from the forbidden tree’. This time Adam made an excuse, he didn’t come clean, and he passed the blame unto the woman or as Adam referred to her as ‘the woman you gave me’. Was this a suggestion that it was God’s fault for giving him the woman? Adam wasn’t man enough to own up.
Spurgeon suggested that Adam was unkind to his wife and blasphemous against God.
And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (v13) previously the LORD had addressed His words to them both, but as Adam had blamed the woman, God spoke directly to her and asked her what she had done? She truthfully answered that the serpent deceived her, and she ate. It was still sin having yielded to the temptation.
I’m afraid her excuse didn’t wash with the LORD. The command had been clear – if you eat of it, you will surely die.
The LORD God then addressed His words to the serpent. It wasn’t that He had finished speaking to the man and woman, we shall see that later, but God deals first with the serpent in v14,15, “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” God knew that the serpent was a liar and deceiver, so He didn’t have to ask what he had done. The devil is the father of lies and been a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). God cursed the serpent to going on its belly rather than walking like others which may indicate that prior to this it did walk. From a beautiful creature it became a snake-like creature. There would also be enmity between the serpent and the woman. I can’t honestly say what that means apart from maybe many women are afraid of creepy crawlies.
The serpent would eat dust all the days of its life. This speaks of the defeat of Satan which culminated at the cross. This is emphasised in the next part of the curse of enmity between the serpent’s seed and the woman’s seed speaking of the battle between mankind and Satan moving on to the serpent’s head being bruised and mankind’s foot. I don’t think that there is any doubt that this is referring to the coming Messiah, The LORD Jesus Himself. Here, right from the beginning of time, we have indication of God’s plan of salvation. This is pointing to the final defeat of Satan – the Messiah would be bruised on His heel, but Satan would be fatally bruised on his head. Not only does it point to Calvary but His prior incarnation through the seed of the woman. Genesis 3:15 has been considered as the first Gospel, the good news of salvation and rescue from sin. Spurgeon said that it was the first gospel sermon, it was preached by Jehovah and the whole human race, and the prince of darkness was His audience.
The next part of the curse is addressed to the woman (v16) “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” The woman’s sorrow would be multiplied, and conception would be painful. I only know about this from being present when my wife gave birth to our second child having missed the first as she gave birth in hospital. Her desire would be for her husband, and he would rule over her. God’s ordained order is for the man to rule his household. Much has been made of this over the years and whilst God’s order is clear for the husband to rule and the wife to submit, it also clear that this is not a ‘wrestling match’ submission where she is pinned to the floor and treated badly. In fact, the husband is given a great responsibility to love his wife as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. One couldn’t have a greater responsibility than that. All this was God’s order for the home. One writer said that Adam’s headship was established before the fall in Genesis 2, but the curse made it much harder for her to submit to male headship. He now would no longer rule easily. Someone has said, ‘Sin has corrupted both the willing submission of the wife and the loving headship of the husband.’
The LORD God then turned His attention to Adam and said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.” (v17-19)
God was saying that Adam had disobeyed and because of that the ground was cursed. You will remember that Adam was to till the ground and there were no weeds, but from now on thorns and thistles would grow and his work would be more difficult. There was no question of the ground not bringing forth good fruit, but he would have work harder (by the sweat of your face) to keep the weeds down. He was to eat of what grew and there was no question of not having enough to eat.
The LORD God continued – You came from dust, to dust you shall return. There would be an end to his life. This was the death sentence promised if he disobeyed and ate of the tree. Through Adam’s sin death passed to all (Romans 5:12-19).
However, we can rejoice that the promised Saviour has come to redeem us from the curse. He offers us salvation from it because He bore the curse for us (Galatians 3:13). Sin brought death but He died for us so that we could have eternal life through Him.
In verse 20 we have Adam naming his wife Eve because she was the mother of all living. Up to now she has been referred to as ‘woman’ and ‘wife’. God called them male and female when He created them and a helper comparable to Adam and they were referred to as mankind. It is interesting that he calls her Eve because she was the mother of all living when, so far as we know, she hadn’t borne any children yet. However, that may not be the case, but the words of The LORD when cursing her said that she would conceive, thus Adam believed God’s word.
Let’s remember that they were initially naked and then when they sinned, they covered themselves. It is evident that God now intended for them to be covered because He made tunics for them of skin and clothed them. (v21) Most commentators, far cleverer than I, believe that God had to sacrifice an animal for them to clothe them with. I have no wish to be controversial, but may I humbly suggest that if God made them in the first place from nothing and covered them in skin, He could very well have ‘made’ tunics of skin for them. I know the idea that it was shedding of blood that provided a covering and that is used to liken it to The Saviour shedding His blood to ‘cover’ us. One writer said, ‘Adam and Eve were clothed with a garment that was purchased with the life of another. We are clothed with a garment of righteousness that was purchased with the life of another, Jesus Christ.’ I stress that I fully agree with that, but must ask the question, ’Was God not able to make tunics for them out of nothing just like He created them?’ God did this in Ezekiel 37 when he covered the dry bones with skin.
In verses 22-24 we have the LORD God speaking. We are not told who to, but it seems that it was The Father speaking to the other members of the Godhead, Son and Holy Spirit, because He refers to ‘Us’. Adam and Eve had eaten of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and lest they also eat of the tree of life and live forever, the LORD God sent them out of the garden to look after the ground outside it. He placed cherubim at the east of the garden and a flaming sword to guard the tree of life.
If they had eaten of the tree of life they would have lived forever in their sin, so God was being merciful to them by preventing them.
We must be careful to note that Satan has not changed his tactics, even to this day – to doubt God’s Word, to deceive us, to encourage us to try to change God’s Word and bring destruction on us. We have seen it recently in 2023 even in the established church.
