Genesis 3:1-7

I.                Genesis 3:1-24 The Fall

A.    Infliction of death upon mankind Genesis 3:1-5

1.     Genesis 3:1 – Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.  And he said unto the woman, “Yea, hath God said, ‘Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

a.      Serpent - נחש nachash,Strong’s #H5175 (masculine noun) snake or serpent it is from the root Strong’s #H5172 נחש nachash, (verb) meaning to practice divination, divine, observe signs, learn by experience, diligently observe, practice fortunetelling, take as an omen or to shine.  (Same root as copper or brass)

·       נחש nachash is interchangeable with שרף seraph for according to Numbers 21:8 God commanded moses to make a fiery serpent (שרף seraph) And then in verse 9 Moses obeyed and made a serpent (נחש nachash).

·       This word שרף seraph is also refers to majestic beings with 6 wings

·       Isaiah 6:2 - Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

·       Therefore if Seraph refers to a supernatural being , that would lead us to the understanding that Nachash could also refer to a supernatural being here and not a mere snake.

·       “Have we not, in this, a clear intimation that it was not a snake, but a glorious shining being, apparently an angel, to whom Eve paid such great deference, acknowledging him as one who seemed to possess superior knowledge, and who was evidently a being of superior (not of an inferior) order?”  E.W. Bullinger

b.     Subtil – ערום `aruwm,  wise in a good sense as well as bad

c.      What does “beasts” include?  Would it include man?

·       Beasts – חי chay , (adjective, feminine noun, masculine noun) meaning  living, alive, living creature

d.     Obviously this is not a mere snake as we know snakes do not have the required organs to speak, this is in fact the “old serpent” referenced in Revelation 20:2 “…that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan…”

e.      Satan has many names throughout scripture (ie serpent, dragon, satan, Lucifer, angel of light, prince of the air, king of Tyre, etc.)

f.       When Satan is referred as one name or another does that mean he is physically that being or does it merely the capacity or role in which he is operating at that time?

g.      First words recorded of Satan in scripture are of him initiating his deception by rightly quoting God in that God did say that man could partake of every tree OF THE GARDEN; However, as we will see there is a distinction made and the tree of knowledge of good and evil is NOT OF THE GARDEN.  He is using this as a means to justify partaking of the TKGE without mentioning the distinction that the TKGE is not of the garden.

2.     Genesis 3:2 – And the woman said unto the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

a.      Misquoting of 2:16 in that the word “freely” is omitted, which is the emphatic

b.     She also misquotes God in that he says in they may freely eat of EVERY tree OF THE GARDEN.

c.      If the woman is misquoting God’s Word, does this reflect a sense of under appreciation of the importance to which this Word should be held.

d.     The woman is clever enough to differentiate the approved vs. the forbidden.

3.     Genesis 3:3 – 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.’”

a.      Here the woman rightly makes the distinction that this tree is clearly not of the garden, but in the MIDST of the garden

b.     We know from 2:9 that there were two trees (tree of life and tree of knowledge of good & evil) in the midst of the garden yet the woman makes no indication as to which of the two she is referring

c.      The phrase “…neither shall ye touch it…” is not part of the original command of God to the man in 2:17, therefore this was either:

·       Instructions from God not written

·       Instructions from the man to the woman

·       Inference made by the woman

d.     Omission of the emphatic “surely” which is what the serpent includes, but then contradicts in the next verse.

e.     In the midst - תוך tavek – (masculine noun) midst, middle, from among

·       The word “amongst” used in 3:8 to describe God is this same word תוך tavek

4.     Genesis 3:4 - And the serpent said unto the woman, “Ye shall not surely die:

a.      Note here Satan is not disputing the woman, but God Himself in that the woman omits “surely” but Satan includes it thus disputing God from 2:17

5.     Genesis 3:5 - 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.”

a.      More truth veiling the lie

B.    Eating of the forbidden Tree of Knowledge Genesis 3:6

1.     Genesis 3:6 – And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

a.      I John 2:16 – 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.

·       Tree was good for food = Lust of the flesh

·       Pleasant to the eyes = Lust of the eyes

·       Desired to make one wise = Pride of life

b.     She gave to her husband…WHO WAS WITH HER

2.     Matthew 4:1-10 – Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.  And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered.  And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.  Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in [their] hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.  Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.  Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.  Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

a.      Satan employs the same strategy on Christ.  The temptations themselves are not the fruit, but merely a means to the end of getting one to take the “fruit”

·       “Command these stones be made bread” – Lust of the flesh

·       “If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down…” – Pride of life

·       “sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world” – Lust of the eyes

b.     After the woman was tempted and she fell to these temptations she took and “ate” the “fruit”

c.      What was the “fruit” that Satan wanted Christ to “take and eat”?

·       “…fall down and worship me…”

·       Christ did NOT take and eat of this fruit

·       Satan did not stand a chance…why? Because Jesus knew that the “fruit” from the Father was better than anything Satan could provide

·       Why does God hate sin? Because what we are really saying when we sin is that the “fruit” of this world is better than the “fruit” of the Father.

d.     So what was the “fruit” that the woman took and ate? Not sure, but 99.9999% sure it wasn’t an apple.  There was likely an actual physical "fruit" of some kind, what that might have been is a bit of a mystery, but the real "fruit" was a conscience decision to choose Satan over the Father. 

C.    Effect of the disobedient act Genesis 3:7

1.     Genesis 3:7 – And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

a.      Were their eyes closed up to this point?  Obviously the verse is not talking about the natural eyes, but a deeper revelation of knowledge.

b.     Does food give us knowledge?  Does one get smarter simply by eating? Of course not, but we all assume that this is speaking of natural eating.  How do we gain knowledge? Eating with our mind, information has to get to the brain in order to gain knowledge, the only knowledge we gain through physically eating is consistency and taste which can help in learning, but as far as good and evil how do we learn about that? Not by eating

c.      Very interesting verse, they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil so now they knew they were naked.  Surely they would have known they were naked before they ate, so this indicates a very different revelation of knowledge…shame.

d.     What is our natural reaction when we do something that we know we weren’t supposed to do?

·       To hide it

·       To fix it

·       Try to correct the mistake

e.      Knowing our own tendencies as humans, if we ate something we weren’t supposed to eat what do you think your reaction would be?

·       Spit it out

·       Wipe your mouth

·       Hide your face

f.       Why would the man and woman react by covering their genitals?  Does this seem like a logical reaction?

g.      Covering ones genitals after an act of disobedience would lead one to the conclusion that somehow the genitals were involved in the act.

h.      If the “fruit” was in fact a literal/physical fruit could it have had hallucinogenic or mind altering properties which would have opened the mind allowing the deceiver to inject other suggestive behavior? Lets take a look at the naturally growing Peyote:

·       Peyote is used world wide to initiate various transcendental practices.  It has a long history among Native Americans.

·       Psychodelic effects from Peyote can last between 10 and 12 hours and is said to trigger spiritual type experiences accompanied with both visual and auditory effects.

·       Peyote “buttons” have been radioactive carbon dated to between 3780 and 3660 BC

·       Could this “fruit” from the TKGE been something similar to Peyote?

i.       Let’s discuss further the opening of their eyes:

·       Eyes - עין `ayin, (masculine and feminine noun) 1) eye: physical eye; as showing mental qualities; of mental and spiritual faculties. 2) spring or fountain

·       The human body has a gland in the center of the brain called the pineal gland.  This gland is commonly referred to as the “third eye”.   It has also been referred to as the “seat of the soul” as the ancients believed it to have mystical powers.

·       The pineal gland has some important functions; it is the center for the production of the hormone melatonin. Melatonin regulates several daily body rhythms (circadian rhythms). Melatonin is released in the dark. Melatonin regulates the day/night sleep patterns, hunger and sexual desire.  It has been scientifically proven that exposure to long-term light will shrink the pineal gland and limit the production of melatonin.

·       The pineal gland calcifies with age and melatonin production correspondingly decreases. This decline in melatonin has been suggested to be a trigger for the aging process.

·       The development of the pineal gland is important to many mystic religions including Hinduism by chanting and creating vibrations this supposedly modulates pineal activity.  This resonance can be induced in the pineal gland using electric, magnetic, or sound energy, resynchronizing both hemispheres of the brain, resulting in a chain of synergetic harmony that releases Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a psychedelic.

·       Reptiles have this gland as well, only the pineal is close to the skin and does not interact with the eyes to register day/night cycles. In these animals, the pineal gland is the master clock.

·       Could the opening of the “eyes” be a reference to the pineal gland and could the “fruit” have been a mind-altering drug that “opened their minds” to the suggestions of the serpent?

Genesis 2:21-25

R.      Chapter 2:21 – And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh thereof;

·       First recorded surgery, an amputation

·       Why would God do this rather than form the woman from the dust, just like Adam?  See v. 23

·       Indicates here that Adam was indeed a flesh body, so that flesh did exist before the fall (but it was not yet corrupted)

·       Why would God use a rib versus any other bone, what is the significance of the rib?

o      What is the function of the rib cage?

-         Protection of vital organs namely the heart

-        Does this somehow imply man’s new vulnerability as symbolically there is now less protection surrounding his heart?

o      The ribs are pretty much the middle of the body, seems to signify the equality of man and woman and the bond of their partnership.

-         If God would have chosen the foot bone or the skull to create woman it may have signified inequality.

-        My children made an observation that seems to be most logical, Adam could spare a rib, but not a skull or any other bone because all of the other ones have a more essential function.

S.    Chapter 2:22 – And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from the man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man.

·       How did God make an adult woman out of a much smaller rib? Probably the same way he creates a living child from a microscopic fertilized egg, possibly some kind of accelerated cell division?

T.     Chapter 2:23 – And Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

·       Answer to question above as to why God wouldn’t create woman from the dust just like He did the man, because He wanted them to be of one flesh.

·       Man - איש 'iysh

o      There are 5 principle Hebrew words for “man” or “men” and are as follows (from Appendix 14 of Companion Bible, E.W. Bullinger):

o אדם 'adam – denotes man or mankind, with the article it means “the man Adam”

o איש 'iysh – male or husband, a man in contrast with a woman (when God is spoken of as a man this is the type used) אשה 'ishshah is the feminine and means woman and is used here in 2:23

o אנוש 'enowsh – Always used in a bad sense such as morally depraved or physically frail

o גבור gibbowr – Identifies man with respect to physical strength, opposite of the physically frail meaning in (3)

o מת math – a plural means to discern adults from children or males from females

U.   Chapter 2:24 – Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

·       Quoted by the Messiah in Matthew 19:5, by Paul in I Corinthians 6:16 & Ephesians 5:31

·       According to H.C. Leupold this verse is often construed as being spoken by Adam, but actually should be a parenthetical remark by the author as Adam obviously would not have left his father and mother.

·       Becoming one flesh – identifies the importance of the bond of marriage and that it is a sanctified institution between man and woman.

V.    Chapter 2:25 – And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

·       Very similar to babies who dart away as soon as that diaper is off, carefree, no guilt, no shame, pure freedom

·       Naked - ערום `arowm – (adjective) - naked, bare

o      Subtil - ערום `aruwm – (adjective) - subtle, shrewd, crafty, sly, sensible  (Notice these words are Hebrew Homonyms, meaning they are spelled identically but have a different meaning; therefore, translaters would have to make a judgment on which word should be used)

No indication of God speaking to the woman regarding the trees in the garden, should we assume this responsibility was left to the man?

Genesis 2:12-20

I.    Chapter 2:12 – And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

·       More clues to help us potentially identify this region

·       Bdellium - An aromatic gum resin similar to myrrh, produced by certain Asian and African shrubs or trees of the genus

J.      Chapter 2:13 – And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.

·       Gihon – “bursting forth” mentioned 5 other times in scripture, all referencing geography. Identified as modern day Kerkah (ancient Khoaspes) a river in Khūzestān Province, that rises in the Zagros Mountains, and passes north of Shush (ancient Susa), eventually falling into the Tigris just below its confluence with the Euphrates.

·       Ethiopia – Not the African Cush, but the Akkadian city of Kas

K.    Chapter 2:14 – And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria.  And the fourth river is Euphrates.

·       Hiddekel – Akkadian word for Tigris, meaning the “encircling”

·       Akkadia - The Akkadian Empire was an empire centered in the city of Akkad (Sumerian: Agade) and its surrounding region in Mesopotamia. The Akkadian state was the predecessor of the later empires of Babylonia and Assyria; formed following centuries of Akkadian cultural synergy with Sumerians, it reached the height of its power between the 24th and 22nd centuries BC. (Liverani, Mario, Akkad: The First World Empire)

·       Assyria – should read “city of Assur”, which is the primitive capital of Assyria

·       Euphrates – The Greek Euphrates from the Persian Ufratu – “the river”

L.     Chapter 2:15 – And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.)

·       End of the parenthetical

·       Why did God put the man in the garden?

·       To dress it and keep it (have dominion over it?)

·       This man Adam (who is the son of God) was placed in the garden as a servant

o      Keep – keep safe, preserve

·       John 19:41 – Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.

o      Is this possibly a foreshadowing of Christ having dominion over the garden of the grave and therefore preserving mankind from death?

M.   Chapter 2:16 – And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

·       Allows the man to “eat” from every tree in the garden including the tree of life

·       Death was not yet introduced into this world, so was “eating” required to sustain life or was something else meant by “eating”

·       Eat = אכל 'akal- (verb) - to eat, devour, burn up, feed, consume

·       Lets get back to this one

N.    Chapter 2:17 – But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

·       Forbids the man from eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil

·       Why? Because “in the day” you “eat” you will die

·       So God was doing this for the sake of the man in that He was saving him from certain death by preventing him from eating of this tree

·       Was it physical “fruit” that this tree produced or something else? Was it something that could be physically consumed?

o      Does the act of physically eating give us knowledge or wisdom?

o      The act of seeing can be compared to eating for example we have a well known periodical called the Reader’s Digest

o      We gain knowledge from seeing, reading or experiencing with other senses

·       Why would God have allowed the man to even have access to something that was harmful to him? This is man’s purpose as outlined in the prior chapter.

O.    Chapter 2:18 – And the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.”

·       God recognizes the man’s need for companionship

·       He determines it here and completes it in v. 22 after the animals are named.

P.     Chapter 2:19 – And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

·       Were fowl formed from the ground or the waters as in 1:20?

o       If we read 1:22, "And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth." This verse makes it clear that the fowl were not created for or came out of the water, and that the fowl would indeed multiply upon the earth which is evident today.

o      Robert Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) printed in 1898 translates v. 20 as follows: “...Let the waters teem with the teeming living creature, and fowl let fly on the earth on the face of the expanse of the heavens..." This translation rightly indicates that the verse does not necessarily state where these creatures were created but where they exist. The seas would contain the sea creatures and the sky would likewise contain the fowl.

·       So did God form the animals before or after he formed the man?

o      The text of Genesis 2:19 merely suggests that the animals were formed before being brought to man; it says nothing about the relative origins of man and beast in terms of chronology.

·       This passage seems to portray how much God just wants to spend time with us, wants to know our thoughts, wants to see how we react to His creatures and His creation.  This sets man apart from the other creatures in that God enjoys spending His time with us in a deeper more personal way.

·       Obviously through this process Adam would have noticed that all of the other creatures had a mate, yet he was alone.

·       Adam named “every living creature” See next verse…

Q.    Chapter 2:20 – And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

·       Did Adam have to learn a language or was he built with a language “pre-loaded” into his brain? 

·       The National Science Foundation’s (aptly named “Tree of Life” project) estimates that there could be anywhere from 5 million to 100 million species on the planet, but science has only identified about 2 million.  Of that Vertebrates: ~3% of all known species: Reptiles: 7,984 species, Amphibians: 5,400 species, Birds: 9,000-10,000 species, Mammals: 4,475-5,000 species and Finned Fishes: 23,500 species

·       This creates a reconciliation problem in that according to this verse Adam named ALL of the animals BEFORE Eve was formed

·       There are only 86,400 seconds in a 24 hour day, so if Adam only named the identified species of approximately 2 M at 1 second per name it would have taken a little over 23 days.

·       The problem is that Eve wasn’t created until Adam named all of the species and in Chapter 1:27 we see that on the 6^th day God created both male and female.

·       So here are some possible solutions to this riddle:

o      The “days” referenced in Chapter 1 are not literal days but an unknown span of time

o      The male and female created in 1:27 are not the same as Adam and later Eve referenced in chapter 2, thus Adam was “formed” sometime after the initial creation of man and woman

o      Adam didn’t really name all of the animals just a fraction of them and we are missing some sort of figurative speech (thus all cattle, fowl of the air and every beast of the field do not necessarily make up all SPECIES) Mammals, Birds and Reptiles are approximately 23,000 species, so if Adam were to name all of these at 1 second each it would take ~6.5 hours.

o      God enabled Adam to name the animals at an incredible rate of speed that we cannot comprehend

o      This is somehow analogous to all of mankind naming the species down through the years and going forward and not necessarily limited to the confines of this 6^th day.

o      When God created man He considered that as creating both male and female simultaneously since He created “one flesh” which is subsequently referred to as the union between man and woman.

o      Can we somehow test any of these theories?