Genesis 3
The Temptation and the Fall
1Now the serpent was more shrewd than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?”
The Hebrew word for “serpent” is נָחָשׁ (nachash), used with a Hebrew article, meaning the serpent, the shiny one, the one who practices divination, and/or the one who observes astrological signs. This is the same Hebrew root word used for the bronze serpent in Numbers 21:9. According to Revelation 12:9, the serpent was Satan himself. Satan appeared as an angel of shiny light to Eve. He may have appeared in the image of the Shekinah Glory.
Satan had originally been created as the highest of all angels. He was the anointed cherub who covered the very throne of God in heaven. He was not satisfied with his inferior role in heaven, so he led a third of the angels in revolt against God (Revelation 12:4, 9), Satan seeks to become like God himself. Therefore, God “cast [him] to the ground” (Ezekiel 28:17), thus allowing Satan to tempt the very ones he had been created to serve.
The Hebrew word for “shrewd” is עָר֔וּם (arum), meaning subtle, crafty, shrewd, sensible, prudent, and cunning. The serpent was shrewd and cunning in a neutral sense, but Satan used this shrewdness in an evil sense.
Many liberals attempt to spiritualize this historical event by claiming that it is a myth used to make a spiritual point. However, the New Testament referred to Satan’s encounter with Adam and Eve as an actual historical fact (John 8:44; Rom. 5:12, 16:20; I Cor. 15:21; 2 Cor. 11:3–4; I Tim. 2:14).
There is a possibility that before the fall of man, some of the animals may have been able to communicate with their human masters. If this was so, then this speaking ability was removed by the curse. Another possibility is that God merely allowed Satan to use the serpent’s throat as a mouthpiece, which is similar to what God did with Balaam’s donkey. Whatever happened, Eve in her innocence was completely deceived. Adam was not deceived.
Satan spoke through the snake. He asked the first question which is recorded in the Bible. The purpose of this question was to confuse the woman and cause doubt. Satan is a liberal theologian who asks questions in order to cause doubt and destroy a person’s soul for eternity. Therefore, the content of words of theology are important, because they carry with them the power to seduce one into darkness or bring one into spiritual light. The words have no power in themselves, but their content is very powerful. Liberal theologians exist today in Christendom to act as ministers of Satan. They are sprinkled throughout the modern churches and elder boards. Much of the Christian literature and media is filled with these ministers of Satan.
2The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard;
Eve mentioned what was permitted. Since God gave this information directly to Adam, then Eve must have received the information by oral instruction from Adam.
3but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’”
Next, Eve verbalized the prohibition which was not permitted. She understood clearly what her husband had taught her. She also stated, “neither shall you touch it”. Many Bible commentators have claimed that Eve added to the Word of God. However, if this was the case, then she, not Adam, committed the first sin. It was the eating of the fruit which was the first sin. Eating of the fruit was the only prohibition that God had placed on Adam.
4The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die,
Here is the first lie recorded in the Bible. Satan was elevating his own personal opinion above that of God Himself. Satan was the first liberal theologian. This is why Jesus called Satan “the father of lies”.
There has been found two clay seals in the archaeological digs at Nineveh which seem to support the Biblical view of Adam and Eve. One shows the man and woman being tempted by the serpent. The other shows their expulsion from the garden.
5for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like divine beings who know good and evil.”
According to Isaiah 14:14, Satan said “I will make myself like the Most High”. Satan wanted to be like God. It was this desire to be like God which led him to tempt Eve. Satan desires followers who will worship him.
Satan mixed truth with error. Adam and Eve will know good and evil, but they will not be able to resist the evil. The modern believer’s only defense against the seduction of evil is the deep study of sound Bible doctrine from the entire counsel of the Word of God.
6When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
Notice that Adam was with Eve. He did not stop her. He failed to exercise his headship over his wife.
God only gave one prohibition to Adam. He was not to eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. As soon as Adam ate this forbidden fruit, then he had committed the first sin.
1 Timothy 2 states that Eve was deceived, but Adam was not. Adam sinned with full knowledge. According to Hosea 6:7, Adam had broken the Edenic covenant.
As soon as Adam ate the fruit, then It was at this point that “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin” (Romans 5:12). This means that there could have been no death in the world before man brought sin into the world. Therefore, the fossils in the earth’s crust cannot be a record of the evolution of life leading up to the development of man.
The Scriptures recorded that there was no death until Adam’s sin. Therefore, the theory of evolution is incorrect, because there was no struggle between life and death in the animal kingdom before the fall of Adam. Evolution did not create man in the image of a monkey. Man did not evolve by the death of millions of subhuman creatures.
7Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Adam and Eve now had experiential knowledge of good and evil. Their body and soul were still alive, but their spirit died. Therefore, they were no longer connected spiritually to God.
Fig trees possessed the largest leaves in the Middle East. The vital organs of Adam and Eve would now produce many evil generations of sinners, so they covered their genitals.
The Judgment Oracles of God at the Fall
8Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard.
Before the Fall, God often appeared in the Garden as either a theophany or as the Shekinah Glory. This verb is in the hithpael stem, meaning that God habitually and continually walked back and forth in the Garden every day. In Middle East culture, the breezy time of the day would be late in the afternoon.
Adam and Eve would now possess a new nature. They no longer desired to walk and fellowship with God. Instead, they desired to hide from Him. They now looked upon God as a Judge who would one day condemn them for their sins. This is the natural response of every person who is born into this satanic world system. Only the new birth conversion by the Holy Spirit can change the fallen state which is found in all of men.
9But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
God is omniscient. He knew the exact location of Adam and Eve. Before the foundations of the world were even created, God had created within Adam and Eve a free will that God knew would eventually reject him. However, God also provided a plan of salvation for fallen man. He asked the question to give Adam and Eve an opportunity to confess their sin.
10The man replied, “I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”
Adam’s nature had changed. His body and soul were still alive, but his spirit was dead. He no longer possessed the capacity to understand and seek God. He now feared God. Paul explained the personality of the natural man in Romans 3:10-11. The natural man does not understand God, nor does he seek God.
Adam had been naked before God in the past. Notice that he did not say “we”, but “I”, as he did not desire to incriminate Eve.
11And the Lord God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
God is omniscient. He already knew the answer. He was acting as prosecutor. He was also acting as Judge, giving them a chance to repent.
12The man said, “The woman whom you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.”
The sin nature changed Adam’s personality very quickly. Instead of confessing sin, Adam blamed the sin on his wife. However, after blaming his wife for his sin, he eventually confessed his own sin at the end of the sentence.
13So the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman replied, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.”
Eve placed blame upon the serpent rather than herself. According to the New Testament, Eve was deceived, but Adam was not.
14The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the wild beasts and all the living creatures of the field! On your belly you will crawl and dust you will eat all the days of your life.
Animals were created to benefit man. They were not created to cause destruction to man. Therefore, the serpent was to receive a more severe judgement for allowing Satan to use his body to destroy man.
Before the Fall, the serpent had been more like a dragon. The serpent was admired for its beauty and his wisdom. The serpent could stand upright. The serpent could even communicate with man.
All of the animal world was cursed at the fall. Death and destruction entered the world, turning the all of the animals into scavengers and killers. All of creation currently groans about this “dog- eat-dog” world, as they look forward to the future redemption when the Messiah will create a new heavens and a new earth.
The serpent was cursed even more than all of the other animals. Instead of walking upright, it would now crawl on its belly. Instead of talking to humans, it would now only hiss. Instead of being admired for its beauty, it would be despised for its ugliness. Instead of being admired for its wisdom, it would now become the dumbest of all animals. The appearance of modern snakes is a visual teaching reminder of the original curse that was placed upon this current satanic world system.
Skeptics will often attack the Bible by claiming that snakes do not eat dust. The golden rule of interpretation is to take every word of Scripture literally in its normal sense, unless the normal sense does not make sense. Like all literature, the Bible often uses figures of speech, such as similes and metaphors, to convey a literal concept. The eating of dust was a biblical metaphor for being cursed above all enemies (Isaiah 65:25, Micah 7:17, Psalm 72:9, Isaiah 49:23). Therefore, this is not a mistake. This is just an example of the skeptic being ignorant of Biblical hermeneutics and not having an understanding of Biblical metaphors that are used elsewhere in Scripture.
15And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; her offspring will attack your head, and you will attack her offspring’s heel.”
This is the first prophecy in the Bible. Prophecies are predictions of the future which are placed in writing for all to see. Prophecy is basically history written in advance. Only God knows the future, so if a book contains written prophecies that are 100% accurate, then this is a book of divine revelation. The Bible is the only book in the world that contains prophecies. The Bible contains over 2000 prophecies. About 25% of the Bible is prophecy. This is the reason why only the Bible should be considered as divine revelation.
This first prophecy is called the protoevangelium, meaning “the first gospel”, or “the first good news”. Adam and Eve had fallen. Their spirit died. All of their descendants would be born with a dead spirit. Satan took dominion over the entire earth. However, God had already planned before the foundations of the world a way of salvation.
God Himself will put hostility between Satan and womanhood. Eventually, one woman will give birth to a Messiah who will crush the head of Satan. This is the first prophecy about the Messiah. The seed comes from the man, not the woman. In this prophecy, the seed is to come is from the woman, meaning that the Messiah must be virgin born. This will be explained more extensively in Isaiah 7:14. The birth place (Bethlehem) will be prophesied in Micah 5:2.
Until the Messiah arrives, Satan will be spending his time on earth looking to destroy a virgin born baby. This is why King Herod killed all of the Bethlehem babies below two years old in the area of Bethlehem. Satan knew all three of these prophecies and acted upon them. Satan was attempting to eliminate the world of the Messiah before he could even be born.
Satan’s seed will be the Anti-messiah or the Antichrist. Just as the Messiah will be born supernaturally, so will the Antichrist be born supernaturally. Satan will be the father of the Antichrist. According to Daniel 9:26-27, the mother will be a woman Gentile of Roman origin. Satan will produce a half-human-half-demonic child, very similar to what the fallen angels produced in Genesis 6.
Satan will bruise the heel of the Messiah at the crucifixion. The Messiah will crush the head of Satan at his resurrection. After Jesus is raised from the dead, He will return a second time as Lord of lords and King of kings. At the Second Coming of Christ, the head of Satan will be crushed. This is the protoevangelium, or the first good news of the Bible.
This prophecy given before the Tower of Babel had a great influence upon all of Adam’s descendants who were scattered into all seven continents of the world. Many of the ancient legends, myths, fables, songs, astrologies, and literature are distorted but filled with tales of mighty heroes engaged in life-and-death struggles against dragons and other demonic monsters. All of these stories look forward to a supernatural Savior who would destroy the devil and reconcile man back to God.
Almost every ancient culture possessed pyramids, where the blood of innocent and righteous people were offered to appease angry gods. This is a perversion of the true gospel, where God would become a man and shed His innocent blood to appease God.
16To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your labor pains; with pain you will give birth to children. You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate you.”
Before the Fall, there was no pain in the world. After the Fall, women would experience a monthly menstrual cycle that would produce pain. Because of this monthly menstrual cycle of pain, rabbi would not allow a woman to testify in court. When a man places himself underneath the authority of a woman, then he must accept the decisions that the woman makes when she is under the influence of pain in her monthly menstrual cycle.
Before the Fall, a woman could give birth without pain. After the fall, a woman who gave birth would experience pain. Basically, the birth of a woman is bringing another new sinner into an imperfect world. However, John 16:21 states that once a woman brings a child into the world, she will experience joy.
The Hebrew word for “control” is תְּשׁוּקַת (teshukat), meaning a desire to rule. Part of the sin nature of woman is that she possesses an internal desire to rule over her husband. Ephesians 5:22-24 teaches the wife is to be submissive to her husband “in everything”. A wife with weak Bible doctrine will not be able to submit to her husband. She will follow her own human sin nature and attempt to rule over her husband. She will attempt to use sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse, verbal abuse, nagging abuse, or any other method to control her husband. The only way that a wife can submit to her husband is if she studies, understands, and obeys Bible doctrine from the entire counsel of the Word of God.
A wife who attempts to control her husband will never be happy in life, because she is out of the will of God. She is not fulfilling her divine purpose as a woman. A man who allows his wife to control him will not be happy in life either, because he is out of the will of God. He is not fulfilling his divine purpose as a man.
Most marriages end in divorce, because the husbands and wives do not understand and apply this spiritual principle of headship in their marriages. If one spouse possesses an abundance of Bible doctrine, then she will desire to live first for the kingdom of God. However, the other spouse will be more carnal and desire to live for pleasure and self-interest. Therefore, when a couple is not equally yoked in Bible doctrine, then there will be conflicts in marriage. Satan desires to keep at least one of the spouses either ignorant of the Word of God or unequally yoked, because it will be easier for him to control the entire family.
This teaching is not popular with feminists or head-strong wives, but it is what the Word of God teaches. Marriage counselors are making a fortune on these marriage counseling issues, because couples are ignorant of this Biblical doctrine. Marriage counselors spend way too much time on secular methods of psychology. These secular methods come from the satanic world system. They require multiple visits and more profit for the marriage counselors. However, they do not solve the marriage conflict. Biblical counselors should send two messages to those believers who are struggling in their marriage. First, spouses need to become equally yoked in Bible doctrine from the entire counsel of the Word of God. Second, whenever there is a disagreement, then instead of taking the issue to the marriage counselor, then the couple should apply Ephesians 5:22-24. This one application of Scripture will solve all marriage arguments.
The Hebrew word for “dominate” is מָשַׁל (mashal), meaning dominance, mastery, and lordship. It does not mean to lovingly rule. It means to rule the wife dominantly like a king. It means to rule the wife like a master would rule a slave. It means to rule like a lord would rule over his vassal. Again, this teaching is not popular with feminists and head-strong wives, but it is what the Word of God teaches on this issue.
It takes a husband with strong Bible doctrine to enforce this type of relationship, because the wife will attempt to reverse this process on her husband. It takes a wife with strong Bible doctrine to accept this position, because her carnal self will desire to rebel against her husband and even rule over him. Basically, a woman desires to rule her husband, but she will not respect a husband who allows her to do so.
If a husband is to love his wife like Christ loves the church, then he must follow this divine spiritual principle of ruling his wife like a king, a master, or a lord. The satanic world system teaches hard against this Bible doctrine and attempts to soften it and weaken it. The Bible commands both the husband and the wife to apply this doctrine. If it is not followed, then the husband, wife, and children will experience strife and unhappiness. The family will not be productive in the angelic warfare. The family will become spiritual casualties in the spiritual warfare that is continually engaging upon this earth. The family will not lose their eternal life, but they will lose rewards in heaven. When a family loses rewards in heaven, then they are not following God’s will.
Dr Arnold Fruchtenbaum’s interpretation of this verse is as follows:
He shall rule over you. This emphasizes her subjection to the husband. The husband shall rule the wife. Again, the Hebrew word for rule is mashal, and it means more than just a loving leadership; the word has the meanings of “dominance,” “mastery,” “lordship.” Therefore, Adam shall rule over her, as Cain was to rule over sin. She led her husband to sin, and she will now be mastered by him. This does not mean that before the Fall they were on a co-equal authority structure. Even before the Fall, there was subordination of the wife to the husband, as there was between the Father and the Son. The new element is that of subjection, with the man exercising lordship, mastery, dominance, etc., with her desire to rebel against it.
17But to Adam he said, “Because you obeyed your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground thanks to you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
When Adam was cursed, then everything that was under his authority was cursed as well. The labor before the fall was light and enjoyable. Now, the labor would be difficult and burdensome.
18It will produce thorns and thistles for you, but you will eat the grain of the field.
Before the curse, everything grew easily and in abundance. After the curse, thorns and thistles grew easily and in abundance.
19By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.”
The labor before the flood was without sweat and body odor. Now, when man works, his body begins to stink. Man will work himself to death. He will return to the dirt and clay in which he was originally created. Basically, God takes the dirtiest elements of the earth and forms them into a continuing species of the human race. This human race grows to populate the planet, rejecting God in the process, and worshiping Satan through creation.
20The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
Notice that Adam named his wife. The naming of a person, place, city, or river demonstrated the sovereignty of a master over his subjects. The name Eve is חַוָּ֑ה (hayah), meaning life. Although Eve was going to be the mother of all of those who would experience death, Adam demonstrated his faith in God by naming her “life”. He believed in the prophecy that a Messiah would be virgin born and he would bring eternal life to all. Since the name of Eve only possesses this meaning of “life” in Hebrew, then Hebrew must have been the original language of Adam and Eve.
21The Lord God made garments from skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
The fig leaves were a man-made covering and not acceptable to God. Instead, God would cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve with clothing of his own. He would cover them with bloody skin.
The Lord God had to kill an animal to clothe Adam and Eve. These animals were precious to Adam and Eve. They had named them and cared for them in the Garden. They had loved them with a pre-fallen divine love. Now, Adam and Eve observed death for the first time. This animal was most likely a lamb, an animal that would have been loved by Adam and Eve when they were in their innocent and sinless state. Adam and Eve learned the price of sin. This was a vivid picture of what would happen to them in the future. The blood of an animal would be required to cover their nakedness. This blood of the animals looked forward to the future atonement of Christ. John the Baptist introduced Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
The rabbis have a legend about these original coats of skins. Adam gave these coats of skins to Cain. After Cain was killed, then they became the property of Nimrod. Esau then took them from Nimrod. Then, they were later worn by Jacob at the time of Isaac’s blessing. There is no Biblical evidence for this legend, but if it is true, then this lamb skin could have been the coat of many colors.
22And the Lord God said, “Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not be allowed to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
Adam and Eve wanted to become like God, but they actually became more like Satan. They now knew good and evil, but they did not have the capacity to resist the evil. No one has the capacity to resist evil, unless it is given supernaturally. However, this is an instant by instant process. To resist evil, one must study and apply Bible doctrine at the deepest level from the entire council of the Word of God. Ephesians 6 gives instruction on this process of resisting evil with sound Bible doctrine.
If Adam and Eve continued to live in the Garden of Eden, then they would have continual access to the Tree of Life. Eating of this tree would stop the effects of aging and allow them to live in the satanic world system as a slave to Satan forever. Wars would be fought and millions would be brutally slaughtered in order to control this piece of valuable real estate. The eternal sin nature of man would eventually cause man to desire suicide in order to escape the effects of sin. However, with no death in the world, suicide would not be an option. Man would live in sin with no chance of escape.
23So the Lord God expelled him from the orchard in Eden to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken.
God removed Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. Man would have to work the land in a different location. The Garden of Eden was eventually covered and destroyed by the flood. Notice that God had to drive Adam and Eve out of the garden. They did not want to leave. They would leave the safety of the Garden and enter into an outside territory that was now full of hostile creatures and forces that their disobedience had created. Adam and Eve also lost face-to-face communication with the Shekinah Glory of God, which was the visible presence of God.
24When he drove the man out, he placed on the eastern side of the orchard in Eden angelic sentries who used the flame of a whirling sword to guard the way to the tree of life.
The Hebrew word for “placed” is שָׁכַן (shachan), which is the same Hebrew root for Shekinah. This was the visible manifestation of God’s presence on earth. God placed two guards in front of the east entrance to the Garden of Eden. The first was the Cherubim, who were the highest order of created beings. The second guard was the Shekinah Glory Himself. The Shekinah Glory appeared in the form of a flaming sword.
God originally walked as the Shekinah Glory, fellowshipping continually with Adam and Eve. Now, He was present at the Eastern entrance of the Garden of Eden as a guard to keep them away from the tree of life. He most likely remained at the eastern entrance of the Garden of Eden until the flood occurred. This means that anyone who lived before the flood could travel to this eastern entrance and visibly see the Shekinah Glory of God. He would appear as a cloud by day and a light by night. Those living before the flood had no excuse for rejecting God, because they could see His visible presence on any day or night. After the flood, the Garden of Eden disappeared.
Since the eastern entrance to the Garden of Eden possessed God’s presence, this may have been the place of sacrifice before the flood. It is interesting to note that the eastern entrance of the future Jewish temple was on the east side, where the altar was located.
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1. SAQ--What is the theme of Genesis 3?
2. How could a serpent speak audible words to Adam and Eve?
3. Who was deceived and who was not deceived by the Serpent?
4. What was the lie told to Eve?
5. How was woman cursed?
6. How was man cursed?
7. How was the serpent cursed?
8. How was Satan cursed?
9. What is the protoevangelium?
10. What is the prophecy of Genesis 3:15?
11. Explain the covering of Adam and Eve.
12. Who was guarding the Garden of Eden. Why?
13, What was laying between the cherubim?
14. What evidence of God was left for the pre-flood world?