Genesis 3:1-7
Genesis 1 focuses on the creation and order of heaven and earth which displays God’s glory and wonder and is followed with Genesis 2 which looks into greater detail of the making of our first parents Adam and Eve, which displayed the way the world was supposed to be before sin and death entered in. Chapter 3 is the fall, and it is where sin, death and Satan all come into action. Our life will make a lot more sense once we see where this originated and began. It is one of the most important sections of the Bible and if this is not understood the rest of Scripture will not make any sense. Pastor-Teacher John MacArthur correctly adds, “If you do not understand the origin of sin and its impact based on Genesis chapter 3, then
For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The serpent, under the domain of Adam and Eve, doesn’t come as frightening or scary but “crafty.” The serpent asked Eve while she was alone “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (3.1). God actually said, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (2:16-17). The serpent twists and manipulates the Word of God. The serpent is trying to change the Word of God. Instead of just walking away, Eve had a conversation with the serpent. “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die’’ (3:2-3). Eve distorts the God’s Word, and man is not supposed to add to or take away from the Word of God. “God promised that death would follow disobedience; Eve implied only that death might follow.” The serpent then follows Eve and directly contradicts the Word of God by saying “You will not surely die” (3:4). The serpent exploits Eve’s doubt by denying the penalty of death and by making her believe that she can become God like. Everything that was created by God was good, so the true wasn’t inherently bad. Eve is prideful and disobedient to the Word of God. She had faith in herself and no faith in God, and the serpent told Eve “you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (3:5). However, Adam and Eve’s were opened and they did see something and it was their
The creation story in Genesis refers to a serpent classically interpreted as an evil entity. If we consider God’s warning that eating fruit from a certain tree would result in death the same day and that the record indicates that the only two humans on the planet did not, we must reconsider the role of the serpent and reevaluate the roles of good and evil and how they apply to ...
Where Genesis I describes a more ordered creation - the manifestation of a more primitive cultural influence than was responsible for the multi-layered creation in Genesis II - the second creation story focuses less on an etiological justification for the physical world and examines the ramifications of humankind's existence and relationship with God. Instead of Genesis I's simple and repetitive refrains of "and God saw that it was good" (Gen 1:12, 18, 21, 25), Genesis II features a more stylistically advanced look at "the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens" (Gen 2:4). While both stories represent different versions of the same Biblical event, Genesis II is significantly more complex than its predecessor and serves both to quantify the relationship between God and his creations and lay the foundation for the evolving story of humankind as well.
Now, to the untrained eye, it may be possible to interpret the aforementioned text as having certain "scheisty" tendencies coming from both the serpent and, believe it or not, God himself. As possible as it may seem, the main theme of the passages of Genesis are not trying to show God as being greedy with the knowledge of good and evil. It isn't like God was worried that Adam and Eve would gain knowledge that would empower them and make them as gods. That is almost preposterous to think that God, the almighty creator of heaven and earth, would be worried about two mortals obtaining a little bit of information. In all actuality, that idea is incredibly far from the truth. God gave Adam and Eve the world, literally. This perfect world, a "heaven on earth", was just given to them out of the goodness of his heart. All they had to do was look over God's creations and enjoy true eternal bliss. As a matter of fact, the only rule that God gave to Adam and Eve was to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. All they had to do to live in the eternal paradise, with all the cookies and milk they could stomach, was to follow that one freakin' rule. Acknowledging the fact that the serpent (a.k.a. Satan Incarnate) did do its part in persuading Eve to eat the fruit and to give the fruit to her husband. Even still, Eve should have realized that she was risking eternal happiness for the words of a snake.
According to Genesis Chapter Three, I am faced with many opinions and conclusions. I draw the conclusion that from d...
This change in language from praising Eve that ‘all higher knowledge in her presence falls’ (Milton 8.551) to degrading her to ‘sweet compliance’ Anderson calls this the ‘language of subordination’ (Anderson 141). Therefore one can conclude that Adam and Eve’s equality only works if she is compliant and subordinate to him. Arguably, this gap in gender equality causes Eve to assert her individuality by separating herself from Adam by eating the apple. Eve’s desire to separate herself from Adam can be seen when she suggests they work apart. Adam immediately rejects the idea, he states that ‘the wife where danger or dishonour lurks safest and seemliest by her husband stays who guards her’ (Milton 9.267-269). The use of ‘lurks’ implies hidden dangers that only Adam can be aware of; Eve is vulnerable without him. This statement by Adam is detached, he refers to Eve as ‘the wife’ this creates a disapproving tone and portrays Adam as a leader dictating rules. He dictates to Eve what she can and can’t do. This embodies the patriarchal ideals of the time. Adam exerts his role as protector, it tells Eve she is inferior and denies her of her
Most importantly, Genesis offers teachings on the natural world, human identity, human relationships, and civilization. Natural World In regards to the natural world, Genesis 1-3 tells of how God created the world, the creation of man, and the fall of man. The Earth was dark and without form, then God spoke everything into existence. Relationships play a major role in humans’ lives on a day-to-day basis.
As the story shows, Adam and Eve while in the Garden had everything they would ever need. When Eve let the serpent talk her out of listening to God, we see the punishment sequence take place. They both were banished from the Garden, in which Adam had to work on cursed land, where it would be hard to grow food and take care of the family. Eve was punished my having the pains of child birth and the role of the mother. The punishments that God gives both Adam and Eve are equal and because they did not obey God’s command they would have to suffer outside of the Garden and therefore have a harder life. This part of the story explains why it is important to do the right thing, so in the end things do not get harder for
and evil. Eve did not know the serpent could be Satan incarnate, nor did she
And He [God] said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
All in all the actions of Eve were neither good nor evil, but instead necessary. Through her actions she brought to light the evils of the world, and as a result man is able to appreciate that which is good. Moreover one cannot blame Eve for what she did because although as we have seen God did instill upon mankind free will, he used his threats as a means of manipulating this gift. Although there were many trees in the Garden of Eden, having the tree of knowledge of good and evil forbidden created mystery for Eve, and therefore drew her to it over the tree of life. And once both Adam and Eve choose with their own free will to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil immortality is no longer an option. Now that man is knowledgeable enough to appreciate immortality, God removes it as an choice. In a way this story shows us the flaws of both man and God. Man in that he is tempted by that which is forbidden and does not always respect the orders of those in a position of authority; And God is shown to be somewhat devious and perhaps even malicious at times.
When they are questioned by the Lord God, Adam puts the blame on Eve and hence Eve goes ahead to blame the serpent. This thus depicts what happens in the world today. We as human beings do not take responsibility of our own problems. After the fall of Adam, we have always put the blame on anything and anyone for all our shortcomings we always avoid the responsibility of our problems but we normally go ahead to find a way out of the consequences thereafter (Cassuto,
Around 1400 B.C. Exodus was written in Hebrew. The Exodus, which is one of the books in the Old Testament, are rules, similar to Hammurabi Code placed by God for the descendants of Abram. This literature gives insight into the structure of the Jewish community, which includes the hierarchy of their community as well as the roles important in this community. Scholars can further understand the Hebrew community by reading Genesis. Genesis consists of religious stories that talks about how farming, slavery, and the world came into being. But overall, scholars can see a society very much center on religion.
Since dawn, Satan, now in the form of a snake, has been searching for the two people that represented the future of all mankind. Satan is looking for mankind to destroy them just for revenge, to get back at God. Satan is full of envy and thirst for revenge. Obviously he would want to find the weaker person first, Eve. Satan would like to find Eve by herself, but he didn 't think it was likely. But Satan actually found Eve all by herself working. Satan in the form of a snake approached Eve and complimented her. Of course Eve was amazed and flattered. She was not amazed because of the compliments he gave her. Eve was amazed on how the snake (Satan) was talking. She thought animals couldn 't talk but Satan told her he how he was dumb as the other animals but as he ate the apple from the tree he became smarter. He was able to think high thoughts, and speak. Satan was slick and Eve was naive. When Satan was telling her about this tree she thought he was talking about a random tree, not being the tree of knowledge. Satan took her to the “tree”. Eve told him she could have saved him the trouble. She told Satan “But of this Tree we may not taste nor touch; God so commanded” (Book IX, lines 651-652). Eve tried to be smart and tell him how they couldn 't eat from the tree of knowledge because God told them not to. She knew it was trouble if she did. She had no freedom to eat from the tree nor touch
Eve’s actions are a result of her going against what she knows to be right, not her lack of knowledge. In Book 9 of Paradise Lost, Eve knows she is not suppose to eat the apple, and Milton confirms this point by stating that God “Forbids us then to taste, but his forbidding / Commends thee more, while it infers the good” ( lines 753-754). Even though Satan’s persuasion of an immature Eve may have been the reason she was brought to the apple, it was her disregard of the rules that caused her to actually eat the apple. The same scenario would not have occurred if Adam had been the one enticed by the serpent, and him and Eve are both equally new to the world. Adam would not have been convinced to commit the sin because he is also aware that it would go against God’s orders.
3.1-5). God’s forbin law stated that, “Ye [Adam and Eve] shall not eat of it [the tree of good and evil], neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die (Gen. 3.3).” With the law in the forefront of Eve’s mind, Satan still deceived the women into eating the forbidden fruit by saying, “ye eat...then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil (Bowers 273 & Gen. 3.6).” Satan's deceptive nature convinced Eve to eat from the restricted tree, leading to her own, Adam’s and mankind’s separation from God (Bowers 265). This disobedience presented sin to the world and strengthened Satan's goal to, “wage by force or guile eternal war (Milton 309).” Although the Serpent destroyed the perfect relationship between God and man, by causing Eve to sin, both accounts of the fall gives mankind future hope of redemption (Rosenblatt 28 &