Read Genesis 3
The other
day someone asked me what I was doing for the fall. I thought they meant the fall of
civilization, so I started telling them how much ammunition and toilet paper I
had stored. They meant fall as a season.
Oh, well, to me the season doesn’t change much as far as what I do,
other than when we get to winter, I don’t get to walk into the office much.
To me, I don’t
care who breaks out the pumpkin spice or when they do it. It’s not going in my
coffee.
Today we
will look at what has been labeled the fall of humankind—subtitled Sin
Entered the Word, but there was no fall or sin without God already having a plan of redemption for our shortcomings.
We know the
story. Here is the truncated version.
And the
story of the fall begins with enter the snake. We don’t know if it enters stage left or stage right, but the serpent is surely center stage at the
beginning of this chapter.
And it was
not just a serpent. It was crafty,
skilled in argument and deception, and it talked.
We don’t get
any chit-chat to begin this conversation.
The serpent gets down to business.
He said to
the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the
garden’?”
Perhaps the
serpent knew what God had said to Adam.
Maybe it heard a conversation between Adam and Eve as they were
discussing what they would have for dinner. In any case, the serpent knew of
the one thing that God had told Adam not to do. The serpent apparently also
knew that God had told Adam that he could eat from any tree in the garden. He just skipped over the single exception as
he posed his question.
The snake
didn’t say, go ahead. It’s ok.
The serpent let Eve do the deceiving herself.
“Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The thought,
the idea, and the doubt were not placed in Eve’s mind. It was enticed out of her mind.
Look at the
question. Did God say this?
The answer
should have been yes we could eat from any tree except that one right
there and that should have ended the conversation. God said it. I believe it.
Hit the road, Jack. Adam and I
are having avocados for dinner.
But, the
woman chose to converse with the serpent.
There was something to this line of conversation that interested her.
The woman
said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God
did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the
garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
We should
remember that God gave instructions about this tree to Adam while Eve was still a rib. Adam obviously felt inclined to
share this divine prohibition with Eve.
That was
surely a good idea. We are talking about 50% of the people in this story who didn’t
know of the prohibition; but where did the part about not even touching the
tree come from? Did Adam add that
part? Did Eve convince Adam that they needed
extra safeguards? Were Adam and Eve the authors of the first OSHA manual?
Were the
first two people that God created the very first Pharisees? Did they add their own rules to God’s one and
only prohibition?
The
serpent’s question asked, “Did God really say that?” The direct answer would have been, “God said
we can’t eat from that tree or we will die.”
The
conversation continued, “But surely you won’t die.” It’s a statement in the form of a
question. Remember that the sender of a
message can imply but only the receiver can infer.
An aside
would have been appropriate at this point in the story so Eve could share her
thoughts with posterity.
Would I
die? What is death? Why am I even
standing near this tree that God put off limits and we added the prohibition
about touching it? Should I not trust in the Lord more than my own
understanding?
The serpent
continued. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened,
and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
As much as
we don’t like the serpent in this story, what he said was accurate.
And so, we
come to the intersection of trust and obedience to God and Eve’s own
understanding.
When the
woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye,
and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave
some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
The PowerPoint
slide looked like this:
· It’s pleasing to the eye
· It has the added benefit of gaining
wisdom
Those first
two were characteristics of every tree that God gave them for food—pleasing to
the eye and good for food. So far, so good, right?
In 2022, you
would also have to listen to 2 minutes of possible side effects after the 15-second commercial. What am I talking
about? Possible side effects include:
· You and the serpent will be eternal
enemies
· Women will have real pain in
childbirth
· Your husband will rule over you
· The man must work to produce food now
· There will be thorns and thistles
among your crops
· You will work your whole life just to
decompose and make more dirt when you are done
· OBTW—you will be evicted from
paradise
There was no
commercial at that time, just the prohibitive command from God. Eve ate the
fruit from the tree and then gave some to Adam and he ate it. Their eyes were
opened and they noticed that they were naked.
Consider the
thought process of the woman and the man.
The woman goes through her analysis and eats the fruit. She then offers some to the man and he is
like, “Yeah, ok,” and eats it.
Enter the
Lord God walking in the cool of the day.
These two naked people in their makeshift clothing hid among the
trees. Their first response to having
disobeyed God was to hide from him
God played
along. “Where are you?”
Imagine God
walking along and he says, “Marco.”
Adam
replied, “Polo. Oh, I can’t believe I
fell for that.” Adam and Eve were not experienced in hiding from God. They had never done it before.
In their own
understanding, Adam and Eve thought they could hide from God. OK, let’s read
the actual account.
But the Lord
God called to the man, “Where are you?”
He answered,
“I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
And he said,
“Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I
commanded you not to eat from?”
I love
Adam’s reply.
The man said,
“The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate
it.”
The woman
that you put here gave me the fruit. The
woman that you gave me. She gave it to me. That woman—yeah the one you put
here.
God turned
his attention to the woman. Adam is probably thinking that he is off the hook.
The woman
said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Remember,
the analysis that Eve went through before she ate.
· It’s good for food
· It’s pleasing to the eye
· It has the added benefit of gaining
wisdom
But she
rationalized what she did when she answered to God. There really should be an aside here for God
to tell eternity: That dog don’t hunt.
Here’s the
executive summary with which I began.
God asked
Adam if he ate from the tree that was off-limits. Adam said the woman that you put here gave me
the fruit. The woman said that the
serpent tricked me, and the serpent didn’t have a leg to stand on, or at least
he wouldn’t by the end of the chapter.
This chapter
is sometimes titled the fall of man or mankind or humankind. Some subtitles say, sin entered the world,
but we should consider that our earthly nature was already present.
Tom would
title this sin manifests itself or mankind chose its own
understanding over trusting God.
We are of the earth and of God and our earthly nature understands
us so well. Our nature which comes from
being made of the earth knows exactly how to appeal to us. It doesn’t trick us. It allows us to trick ourselves.
The words free
will are never used here or elsewhere in the Bible, but we see man’s
will surfacing in this chapter. Both
Adam and Eve chose of their own free will to disobey God.
They could
not invoke the Flip Wilson defense.
What? The Devil made me do it.
The serpent
asked the questions. Yes, he was crafty in composing his interrogatives. The serpent challenged the understanding of
these first humans, but both Adam and Eve went through their own thought
processes and made their choices.
Don’t beat
up these two people too much. I doubt
that any of us could have resisted the temptation to know something that only
God knew. At some point—some may have held out longer than others—our own
desire for understanding would have led us to take a bite of the forbidden
fruit—to disobey God.
The chapter
ends with an eviction notice for Adam and Eve and an angelic sentry posted so
no one can approach the Tree of Life. It was likely a whole detachment of
angels assigned to guard the tree. They
would be there for a good while. While God sent these two packing, he clothed
them first. He did not disown them. They
still had their orders to multiply and subdue the earth.
Do not
become discouraged or disheartened for we have the full biblical witness and we
see the tree of life available to all who follow Jesus. You just have to go from the alpha to the
omega to get that part of the story.
For now,
let’s not choose our own understanding when it conflicts with God’s
instructions. God has good plans for us.
For now,
understand that if the premise is false, then everything thereafter can be
proven to be true—at least it will appear so.
What’s that got to do with a snake in the garden?
If our
premise is contrary to God’s instructions—I’m talking the full biblical witness
again—then we can convince ourselves of anything, even the worst things.
For now, and
forever, let’s try this.
Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on
your own understanding. In all your ways
acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.
Next week
it’s sex, children, murder, and more children.
It sounds like a Netflix series but it’s chapter 4.
Amen.
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