Transcript Human Nature-009

Hypocrites and Backsliders010
Adam and Eve:
Part 3 - The Fall
mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur
("The world wants to be deceived, so let it be
deceived.")
Genesis 3 Exegesis
• In this case again it will be natural in some
languages to begin the speech with the word
“No!”
• Two examples of this are, “No! You-two will
not die,” and “No! That’s not true.
• You-two won’t ….”
• In one rendering the snake’s denial of the
truth of what God has said is expressed as
“God is telling a lie. You won’t die.”
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• The extended doctrine concerning death is at once
in evidence.
• God had warned the two parents that in the day
they ate of the forbidden fruit "dying they should
die."
• The penalty thus proposed was executed and
death in its three forms was imposed upon them.
• (1) Spiritual death, which is separation of soul and
spirit from God, fell upon them the moment they
sinned;
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• (2) physical death began at once its unavoidable
process of disintegration and eventual separation
of soul and spirit from the body; and
• (3) they became subject to the second death which
is the lake of fire -- the eternal separation of soul
and spirit from God.
• Of the lake of fire, it is written that it is prepared for
the devil and his angels.
• It was not prepared for human beings and they
enter it only on the ground that they repudiate God
and cast in their lot with Satan and his angels.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• v 4 dying you will not die = Eve did not use the
absolute "dying you shall die"
yet Satan did; he
gave himself away, he knew God's command and
was tempting Eve to break it.
• v 5 your eyes will be opened = (or) your (spiritual)
blindness will be taken away.
• knowing = (lit.) knowers of good and evil (using the
noun, as the Hebrew text does, emphasizes the
person rather than the ability).
• v 6 pleasant = (lit.) desirable (to the senses).
• desirable = for one's self; this Hebrew word often
has a bad sense.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• Genesis 3.5. For God knows …: this is
stated to draw the woman’s attention to the
advantage of eating the forbidden fruit.
• In this way the serpent suggests that God
has been less than honest in giving the man
and woman the complete truth of the matter.
• Instead of saving them from death, God is
preventing them from becoming like him.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• Your [plural] eyes will be opened means
“You [plural] will see things as they are”.
• The expression eyes will be opened means
“to know, understand,” but does not say what
it is they will know.
• “You [plural] will be able to know what is
good and what is bad.”
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• And you will be like God: God translates
Hebrew ’elohim, which is sometimes
rendered “gods” (kjv, neb, njb, tob) or “divine
beings” (njv).
• ’elohim is grammatically plural, as is the
participle translated “knowing.”
• Elohim is always used to describe “God”,
because there are 3 Persons -- Father, Son
and Holy Spirit, who are One in essence.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• In some languages the string of three dependent
clauses following God knows … is difficult or
unnatural, and the verse may be restructured.
• One example of such a restructuring is:
• If you-two eat the fruit of that tree, you-two will
know what things are good and what things are
bad, and you-two will become like God. God knows
that, and that’s why he has put a taboo on you-two
eating the fruit of that tree.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• Genesis 3.6.
• In this verse the woman recognizes three
advantages in the forbidden tree: the fruit is
good, the tree is beautiful, and eating would
make her wise.
• So without further discussion with the snake
she takes some fruit and eats it.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• So when the woman saw that the tree was good
for food: "So" marks the following clause as
introducing a consequence.
• The woman saw how beautiful the tree was, and
how good the fruit would be to eat.
• She thought, “How wonderful it would be to
become wise.”
• Because she was thinking this, she took some of
the fruit and ate it.
• Then she gave some to her husband, and he also
ate it.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• The tree was good for food refers to the fruit of the
tree.
• delight to the eyes is similar to “pleasant to the
sight” in v9, which is also another way of saying
“beautiful”.
• The tree was to be desired to make one wise is a
close literal translation of the Hebrew, in which was
to be desired represents a passive participle.
• “a person desires the fruit of the tree because
[eating] it makes that person become wise.”
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• neb says “tempting to contemplate,” and frcl
“and they [the fruits] gave [the person] an
urge to eat in order to acquire a broader
knowledge.”
• Wise translates a word meaning “insight,
understanding.”
• After the woman had eaten she also gave
some to her husband. Husband translates
the word for “man” in 2.23.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• Genesis 3.7.
• Then the eyes of both were opened: although Then
is the ordinary Hebrew connective, it marks an
abrupt development in events and has the sense of
“immediately, right away, just then.”
• tev makes the transition fuller, with “As soon as
….”
• A number of translations use similar expressions,
like “Straight away” and “At that moment.”
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• They knew that they were naked: knew
translates the common Hebrew verb
meaning know, but in this context the man
and the woman acquire the knowledge
instantly, and so some expression like
“realized, found out, discovered” is more
suitable.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• Verse 7 tells us their eyes were opened.
• This idiom indicates that they understood the
enormity of their action and it overwhelmed them,
for they realized they were now sinful, and
realized, with the keenest intellect man has ever
possessed, what their bodies would do in
producing a world full of sinners.
• So they covered their bodies, distressed at the
havoc which they foresaw that sin would yet wreak
on the human race (shame is not mentioned in this
chapter, it is inferred from chapter 2).
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• And they sewed fig leaves: sewed suggests
fastening things together with needle and
thread.
• It may be more appropriate to use a more
general term meaning to “fasten, attach,
hook together.”
• The fig tree grows in abundance in the lands
of the Bible and was well known to the
narrator.
• Its leaves are large compared with its fruit.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• Adam and Eve's desire to cover their nakedness
portrays their realization of the fearsome tragedy
that they had brought on their offspring.
• Sin caused them to hide from God; sin immediately
became the separator which separated from God.
• Mankind had changed forever -- he had lost his
innocence and would evermore be a sinner.
• Evil had entered man's world.
• Sinful man cannot commune with a righteous God,
so Adam and Eve had to withdraw.
• Note that Religion was their way to withdraw.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• Made themselves aprons: aprons translates
a Hebrew word also used in Isa 3.24 and
translated “belt” there by tev.
• It refers to something worn around the waist
or hips.
• The word “apron” is not really a good
translation in English, since an apron is a
partial covering that is usually worn for a
particular purpose or in particular situations,
rather than being a general item of clothing.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• In some languages it is necessary to say “a man’s
loincloth” and “a woman’s loincloth” since the
words are different.
• The exact nature of these aprons is not known,
and so it may be best to use a general term like
“covering” or “put leaves together to cover their
private parts.”
• One translation expresses the whole sentence as
“So they-two sewed together fig leaves and put
them on like a skirt to hide their bare skin.”
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• Genesis 3.8.
• And they heard the sound of the Lord God
walking in the garden:
• In some languages heard the sound …
walking is more naturally expressed as
“heard the footsteps of …” or “heard the Lord
God’s feet walking.”
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• Cool of the day is similar in sense to the
expression in Song 2.17 and 4.6, “the day
breathes.”
• Both expressions refer to the late afternoon
and early evening, when the sun has gone
down and a breeze cools the air.
• frcl is similar but retains the picture of the
breeze blowing: “That evening when a
breeze was stirring.”
• reb has “at the time of the evening breeze.”
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• The man and his wife hid themselves: some
languages require that hid themselves be
expressed as a double event, first the action
of moving and then the action of hiding; for
example, “went and hid” or “ran away and
hid.”
• From the presence of the Lord God among
the trees of the garden: from the presence is
often better translated simply as “from,” as in
tev, niv, and others.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• However, the expression in Hebrew is
literally “from the face,” and in this context
the meaning may be taken as “from his
sight.” In some languages this is naturally
expressed as “… hid, where they thought
God would not see them.”
• Among the trees may be taken as “behind
the trees” or “where they thought God could
not see them because of the trees.”
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• As Adam was already clothed in fig leaves
he was not talking of physical nakedness,
but spiritual nakedness; he was defenseless
before God, and God had already specified
the punishment for sin (2:17).
• We humans tend to focus on the cessation
of earthly life, but Psalm 23 calls that no
more than a shadow; a shadow falls on our
life and passes over, and the sun shines
again.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• Hiding themselves was not a childish act, but
rather a spiritually insightful one, for they
recognized that a Holy God could not have
communion with sinful man.
• That recognition is demonstrated in Adam's fear
(v.10), not shame, at being naked.
• The focus has shifted from the Serpent's "Elohim",
back to their "Jehovah Elohim".
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• Adam and Eve were effectively separated from
God by their sin; they knew it and they hid.
• fear cause them to shrink from God, and to hate
his appearance -- for now, "the carnal mind is
enmity against God" (Rom. 8:7).
• They realized the full horror of this separation; their
depth of perception of sin was much greater than
that of those commentators who classify their
action as childish.
• Indeed, it is only in a realization similar to Adam's
that man finds the wisdom of God (I Cor 1:23-25).
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• Genesis 3.9.
• But the Lord God called to the man and said
to him: called and said are represented as
two events.
• English “called out” (tev) may be followed by
God’s question.
• “Called out and asked him.”
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• Where are you? In this question you is
singular, since God is addressing the man.
• From Adam’s reply to God in the next verse,
it appears that he does not take Where are
you? as a question about his location but
rather as a request to explain why he is
hiding.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• Genesis 3.10.
• I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and
I was afraid: as in verse 8 it may be
necessary to say “I heard the sound of your
footsteps in the garden” or “I heard you
walking in the garden.”
• Hearing God’s sound and being naked had
caused Adam to be afraid, and as a
consequence he had hidden himself.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• I was naked: according to verse 7 Adam in verse
10 is no longer totally naked.
• Therefore, there is more to "naked" than what a
loincloth could hide.
• Some have speculated that they were "clothed" in
a righteous light that they lost when they sinned.
• Others believe that the spreading of the sinful
nature through their brain cells changed the way
they thought about nakedness.
• In either case, they knew Jehovah Elohim would
not like it!
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• Genesis 3.11.
• The man has confessed to his nakedness but has
said nothing about his disobedience. Therefore
God pursues the questioning.
• Who told you that you were naked? may have to
be expressed in the present: “… that you are
naked.”
• Some translators may have problems with the form
of this question, since it does not state directly
what God is really asking, namely, “How did you
find out that you were naked?”
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• The word told in this context actually means
“spoke to you so that you found out.”
• A restructuring used in one translation to
make the sense of this verse clearer is “God
asked him, ‘How did you know that you were
naked? Who told you? Have you eaten …?”
• Have you eaten of the tree …? is often
better translated “Did you eat the fruit of the
tree …?” or “Did you eat some of the fruit of
the tree …?”
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• Genesis 3.12.
• In his confession the man directly blames the
woman and indirectly blames God.
• The woman whom thou gavest to be with me: that
is, “the woman you put here with me.”
• (What happened to, “This is the proper step! bone
of my bone, and flesh of my flesh!”
• The man is confessing his guilt without accepting
the blame.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• Genesis 3.13. God accepts the man’s accusation
of the woman and so asks her “What is this that
you have done?” which is better rendered in
English by tev “Why did you do that?”
• In many languages there are different words for
“Why?” or different ways of expressing questions
that begin with “Why?”
• In such cases it is appropriate to use the accusing
“Why?” in this context.
• The Hebrew question may go beyond a “Why?”
question; for example, “Tell me what happened” or
“Tell me what you did.”
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• The woman said: said may be more appropriately
translated “answered” or “replied.”
• Since the woman’s reply is in fact shifting the
blame on to the snake, it will be appropriate in
some languages to put this into words; for
example, “But the woman blamed the snake, and
said … ” or “The woman said, ‘It wasn’t my fault.
The snake ….’ ”
• The serpent made me forget: Forget means
“forgetting because I was tricked, deceived,
misled.”
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• There is no indication in the Hebrew that the
serpent cast a spell, bewitched, or otherwise
clouded the woman’s mind by the use of magic.
• If the term considered in translation applies to
deception through magic powers, it will be better to
say, for example, “the serpent lied to me” or “the
serpent did not tell me the truth.”
• And I ate should be linked clearly as a
consequence of the serpent’s deceit; for example,
“so I ate the fruit,” or “that is why I ate some of the
fruit.”
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• God, who knows everything, quickly forced Adam
to face the facts (vv.9-11), and then a pathetic
scene ensued.
• Note Adam's and Eve's lack of confession; they
both tried to pass the blame.
• There is no point in wondering what would have
happened had they confessed - they did not.
• Adam tried to blame God for giving him Eve, at the
same time blaming Eve; and Eve blamed it on the
serpent.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• Pathetic but typical; have you not found
yourself doing likewise?
• It seems to be a universal human failing to
seek a scapegoat for our shortcomings.
• It is sobering to realize that we are no
different than the parents of the human race
and that man is always a pathetic sight when
he, as a sinner, tries to confront his God in
his own strength.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• The fabric of their defense was so transparently
ineffective that God did not bother to address it, but
proceeded immediately to His sentence.
• Adam and Eve were conscious of sin, of their
failure, and of the doom they had brought on the
whole human race.
• God had placed the future of man in the hands of a
perfect man; He could not have done more--it was
in the best care imaginable; yet man chose to be
independent of God.
• All the blame for sin belongs to man and absolutely
not any to God.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• This passage provides the foundation for the
doctrine of original sin, for from this point on all
human beings were born sinners.
• Our individual, personal sins are the result of that
sin nature.
• A clear way to understand this is to recognize that
as an apple tree can only bear apples, and nothing
else; likewise, a sinner can only procreate sinners.
• If I inherited life from Adam, I also inherited a sin
nature from him--since Adam's sin, life and a sin
nature have been inseparable.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• Being born a sinner brings with it the penalty
of eternal banishment, and the only way into
eternal life is through the spiritual birth that
Jesus explained to Nicodemus.
• Do you see how foundational this is to the
Gospel?
• If humanity were not automatically all lost,
then Christ would not have needed to die on
the cross; in fact could not have saved us by
doing so.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• The root of sin is selfishness.
• This can be expressed many ways, but when
distilled it comes back to Satan's five "
I wills" (Isa
14:13-14)
• Eve said: "
I will be wise, I will satisfy my appetite
(flesh), I will make something of myself."
• She put herself before God.
• That is selfishness; it is also disobedience; the
former is the root of sin, the latter the sin.
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Genesis 3 Exegesis
• Consider Adam's position: when he sinned where
was he?
• In Eden -- God's garden!
• Where could he go afterward?
• Into the world -- God's world!
• He was utterly dependent on God, yet he tried to
be independent.
• Sounds stupid does it not?
• But, if you are a progressing believer you cannot
but agree with this charge of stupidity when you
sin, for is not all sin stupid?
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