Verse 1 Now the serpent was more
The word translated as “subtil” can also mean prudent, sensible, shrewd, sly or crafty. The Hebrew word translated as “serpent” only means serpent or snake. Since this critter, or beast as it is called in this verse, was living in the garden with Adam and Eve during a time that God had declared all of His creation to be “good”, it would make sense that it was not interacting with Eve in a crafty or sly manner. After all, sin had not entered the world yet, so crafty and sly would not have been a human or animal characteristic. So what made this particular snake suddenly begin questioning Eve and tempting her with philosophical questions which she was not prepared to deal with? It would seem that Satan entered this snake and used it to confuse Eve. She would have known that snakes were very sensible and prudent and therefore it got her attention. Notice that the snake talked with Eve, and in the following verses, Eve talked with the snake. Notice also that Eve was not surprised that the snake talked. Perhaps when sin entered the world and separated man from God, it also separated man from being able to communicate verbally with the animals.
Application: The Christian believer today needs to be aware that there are pastors, teachers and evangelists calling themselves Christians that are as subtil as the snake in Genesis 3 because they are serving the Devil and presenting themselves as part of the Church body. Never accept religious arguments or scriptural interpretations from a person because he/she acts the part of a believer and seems to be sensible and prudent. Always search the scriptures for yourself so that you will not be confused or deceived. If you believe that the LORD has told you or promised you something, do not let another person tempt you into doubting what you believe to be true. All it takes is for the little questions, “Did God really say that?” or “Are you sure God is telling you. . .?” to start a Christian believer down the path of doubt and indecision.
Verses 2-3 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 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 not sinned yet, so she did not know how to lie. She told the truth. It appears that she believed what she was telling the serpent. Again, she was not surprised at the content of the conversation in that the snake was speaking about God who was the Creator of both of them, and that it was asking what seemed at the time to be a question of curiosity. Eve was not to know that she was talking to an evil spirit. Notice that Eve did not seem confused about the instructions she and Adam had received from God.
Application: God has given the believer everything he/she needs to live the Christian life both here on Earth and in Heaven. He has given His instructions in His Word, the Bible (basic instructions before leaving earth). There is no confusion. There is no excuse. If the believer follows His commandments, he will live righteously here on Earth and live forever in Heaven. If the believer fails to follow His commandments, he will sin and possibly lose his spiritual place in God’s kingdom and suffer the consequences of life after death in Hell.
Verses 4-5 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Here can be seen one of the lies of the Devil. You can be like God. He was convincing Eve that what she believed was not true. His argument was that after all, God is love and would not punish her with death. He just doesn’t want her to have the wisdom and knowledge of the world outside of her protective garden. If she disobeys God and eats what she has been told not to eat, she will be able to be a god like Him and so all will be well. What does she have to lose? It is a win, win situation. And if she samples evil, she will know good. She will have a balance in her life.
Verse 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for
As stated before, the book of Genesis is about beginnings, and this verse records the first sinful act that occurred on Earth. It records the first act of rebellion against the authority of the Creator of everything, the Almighty. The verse above states, “And when the woman saw. . .” It is not known if Eve was anywhere near the tree in the midst of the garden when she was talking to the serpent, and it is not known how much time passed before she went to the tree to check it out. It can be considered that the phrase above is indicating that Eve had to make an effort to actually go and see the tree. It was a decision that she made even though she knew the rules very well and shared them with the serpent. Eve looked at the tree, really saw it in a different manner after talking with the snake, liked what she saw, decided she wanted to be wise, and ate it.
Application: Like Eve, a believer has to make a decision to sin and disobey God’s commandments. Sin doesn’t just happen because the “Devil made me do it.” The Devil did not make Eve sin. He just put doubt in her mind and enticed her with promises of wisdom and godhood. Today, Satan still operates in the same manner by tempting believers to doubt God and His word and by enticing believers with false promises, with things that truly are too good to be true.
1 John 2:16-17 says, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” This verse sums up the plan of attack that the Devil uses to confuse believers. He uses the same plan over and over again because it works. There is no need to change a plan that works. The Devil appealed to the lust of the flesh in that the tree was good for food. He appealed to the lust of the eyes in that the tree and the fruit were pleasant to look at. And he appealed to the pride of life in that the tree would make a person wise. Look at Matthew chapter 4 to see how Satan operated when tempting Jesus in the wilderness after a forty day fast. The plan was the same then and it is the same today. Notice how Jesus handled the situation.
Application: The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:45 in a comparison between Adam and Jesus, “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” The tempting of both Adam in the Old Testament and of Jesus in the New Testament is recorded in the scriptures to show believers how the enemy works so that, being forewarned, the Christian believer can resist the temptation. Take James 4:7 seriously when it says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Verse 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked
Once sin was experienced by this couple, guilt and shame became part of their lives. One can only imagine that their thoughts which had been pure and lovely and good were now confused with thoughts that they were never intended to have because they now knew what was evil.
Verse 8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid
Guilt and shame leads to hiding from the one who can forgive and take the guilt and shame away. Sin separates a person from a righteous LORD. A wedge is driven between God and that person which has to be broken down by true repentance on the part of the sinner and then by acceptance of the forgiveness offered by God.
Application: When a believer sins, running away from Jesus is the worst thing that can be done. Seek His presence through prayer and Bible study and ask Him to forgive the sin. Then never fall into that sin again. All will be well and the relationship between Jesus and the believer will be restored.
Verse 9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
Application: We have such a loving God who seeks after us when we go astray and who calls to us to return to His presence and provision. What a blessing!
Verse 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was
Why does this scripture focus on the nakedness of Adam and Eve? Could it be that when they understood good and evil the only thing that they became aware of in the protected environment of the garden was the physical differences between the two of them? After all, there were no other people around at that time to demonstrate sinful behaviors such as lying, stealing, bearing false witness, murdering, coveting, etc. These sins would come later and be recorded in the book of Genesis. So perhaps the only focus they had at that time was the evil that could occur and that has occurred ever since the introduction of sin into the world in the realm of sexual behavior. Just a thought.
Verses 11-12 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou
God already knew the answers to the questions He was asking. He was giving Adam and Eve the opportunity to own their mistake and admit their disobedience. Instead of a simple affirmative answer and taking responsibility for his actions, Adam chose to blame Eve. Furthermore, he was actually blaming God for his sin because it was God who gave Eve to him in the first place.
Application: Today in society we see a failure of people to take responsibility for their actions and the consequences of their actions. The student who fails an exam because of lack of disciplined study blames the teacher. The driver who experiences a car crash blames the other driver or the road conditions even though he was texting at the time and not paying attention. The girl who becomes pregnant blames the boyfriend even though she willingly participated in the intimacy that was offered. You get the picture. Most negative things that happen to us in life are because of choices and actions we make. Blaming other people or things does not change the consequences of our bad choices. The believer can avoid much heartache and pain by simply living life for Jesus and obeying the commandments given by God. His commandments are not meant to make us miserable, but are meant to protect us in a wicked and fallen world.
Verse 13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast
It seems that Eve followed Adam’s example and chose to blame the serpent rather than herself for her sin.
Verses 14-15 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
God is a god of judgement. Even though He loves His people and His creation, His sinless and pure nature cannot allow sin to go unpunished. Here the serpent is punished for its part in the rebellion against God. It is feasible that, at the beginning, snakes were created with legs of some kind and that after sin entered the world, they lost their ability to walk and therefore had to slither on the ground. We really don’t know if this was the case. But we do know that snakes today are not viewed by most people with warm appreciation, but are sources of fear and dislike. They still carry the curse put on them by God.
Verse 15 contains the word, “enmity,” which can be translated as “hatred.” There are two prophecies here. The physical prophecy is that God will put a hatred of snakes in women and girls. This can easily be seen just by observing the responses of most woman and girls when viewing snakes at the local pet store or at the zoo. The spiritual prophecy is that there will be hatred between Satan and mankind and between the people serving Satan and the people serving God. This can be seen throughout history as the Devil has afflicted God’s people and as the persecution of believers continues today around the world.
Application: When people willfully sin, it allows the powers of darkness to enter into their lives. Willful sinning attracts devils. It also affects other people and animals just as this first sin by Adam and Eve affected the whole world. Sin and rebellion hurts both the man or woman committing it and others who are in the man or woman’s sphere of influence. And of course, it hurts God. Think about what you are doing before you choose to do it.
Verse 16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in
This word translated as “sorrow” only occurs three times in the King James Bible and can be also translated as pain, labour, hardship, and toil. The word “conception” refers to pregnancy. The word “desire” occurs three times and also translates as longing, craving of man for woman and of woman for man, and of a beast to devour. It appears that before sin became part of Adam and Eve’s life, their relationship was one of equality and the process of procreation was to be pure, lovely and without pain or sorrow. But a holy God punishes sin, and Eve’s punishment has been passed on to all women and will continue until the end of this world. The birth process is always painful and often medically complicated, and relationships between men and woman are usually full of complications and disappointments as seen today in the high rate of divorce.
Application: For some time now the so called woman’s movement has attempted to make women equal to or superior to men. However, it can never succeed because of the curse God placed on Eve and therefore on all women because of the sin of disobedience. Only when a man and a woman surrender their will to the LORD and trust their relationship to Him can there be a renewed peace and harmony. The presence of His Spirit in their lives produces the kind of love God intended each person to have for each other.
Verses 17-19 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast
How much time is spent by the homeowner attempting to cultivate a vegetable or flower garden without weeds? It always seems that the weeds are winning the battle. That is because of the curse God placed upon the ground due to Adam’s sin. Weed infestation will always exist as long as there is time and life continues. Before the advent of corporation farms and grocery stores, people who raised their own food could attest to the fact that it is hard, physical work with plenty of sweat. For many people today who live and work in cities and suburbs, farming is a foreign concept and therefore realizing the severity of this curse may be harder for them to do. But in today’s high tech world, people are now facing health issues due to the way food is grown, harvested and processed. The use of pesticides and weed killers is creating a toxic food product that is proving to affect the human body in negative ways. In an effort to avoid the curse, people have allowed growing practices such as using genetically modified seeds and manipulating the genetic makeup of fruits and vegetables for greater yields and pest resistance.
Application: When God curses something, it is unavoidable. The Christian believer’s job is to accept the punishment and work with it. Buying organically grown foods or growing a vegetable garden in the back yard will help to keep the believer healthier and, at the same time remind him/her of the first people and their disobedience to our great God. It needs to be noted that Adam was punished because of his participation in the sin of disobedience. Many churches teach and many people believe that Eve was the sinner and poor Adam was a victim of her enticement. If this was the case, a righteous judge, God, would not have convicted Adam. Note that Adam also received a death sentence. He was the one made from the dust of the Earth. Eve was made from Adam’s rib. As a result of Adam’s sin, physical death entered the world and people have been dying ever since. God expects obedience from all believers and will not hesitate to judge any disobedience and punish the offender as necessary. Why? Because He is our loving Father and is training us for eternity in Heaven.
Verse 20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
Names in the Bible have significance. In the not too distant past, parents would choose a name for their baby based on the meaning of that name. Today, this practice is not seen as often as it once was. The name Eve means life or living. It is through Eve that life continued upon the Earth and she has passed her genetic code to all people that have ever lived and who will be living in the future.
Verse 21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
This short little verse is the first verse in the Bible to point to the practice of animal sacrifice for the remission of sin. It also is pointing, more importantly, to the sacrifice of the LORD Jesus Christ at Calvary that covered our sin with His shed blood. Sin can only be dealt with through the shedding of blood. God had to kill an animal that He had created and that was good and innocent of any wrong doing in order to cover the bodies of Adam and Eve. Likewise, God had to allow His son, Jesus, who was good and innocent to be killed so that all people could have forgiveness of sin through His shed blood.
Verses 22-24 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live
We do not know who God was speaking to when He stated that “man is become as one of us.” However, we can imagine that He may have been talking to His angelic beings. They were created before the Earth and would have seen the rebellion of Lucifer/Satan and the third of the angels and would have seen this evil first hand. He may also have been talking to Jesus who was with Him and who created all things according to the New Testament. Regardless, Adam and Eve were tainted now by the presence of sin and could not be allowed to live forever by eating of the tree of life that was in the Garden. Can you imagine what it would be like to live with very evil people that produced evil offspring and who never died? So to prevent this from happening, God sent the two people He loved away from the Garden and out into the cursed world and protected the Garden with His angels. Now Adam would no longer have food to eat provided by God with no effort on his part. He would have to work the soil and grow his own. Life would become difficult for him and for his wife and family. And in the process of time, Adam and those that he would love would be taken in physical death from the Earth leaving behind sorrow and mourning.
Application: Today, all of mankind has to face the death of a loved one or of themselves. But the truly converted Christian believer has hope in that he/she knows that the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus has provided a way for sin to be forgiven and therefore each believer will pass at the time of death from this world into Heaven for eternity to be reunited with all the believers that have died from all the ages. Take comfort in this truth and rejoice.