Genesis 3:1-7, 14-19 Notes

EW Commentary Gen 3:1-7 Man's Temptation and Fall

A. The temptation from the serpent.   1.  3:1 The serpent begins his temptation.

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"

1. The serpent: The text here does not, by itself alone, clearly identify the serpent as Satan, but the rest of the Bible makes it clear this is Satan appearing as a serpent.
   i. In Ezekiel 28:13-19 tells us that Satan was in Eden. Many other passages associate a serpent or a snake-like creature with Satan (such as Job 26:13 and Isaiah 51:9). Revelation 12:9 and 20:2 speak of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan.
   ii. The representation of Satan as a serpent makes the idea of Moses saving Israel by lifting up a bronze serpent all the more provocative (Numbers 21:8-9), especially when Jesus identifies Himself with that very serpent (John 3:14). This is because, in this picture, the serpent (a personification of sin and rebellion) is made of bronze (a metal associated with judgment, since it is made with fire). The lifting of a bronze serpent is the lifting up of sin judged, in the form of a cross.
   iii. Ezekiel 28 tells us Satan, before his fall, was an angel of the highest rank and prominence, even something of a leader of worship in heaven. Isaiah 14 tells us Satan's fall had to do with his desire to be equal to or greater than God, to set his will against God's will.
   iv. We may not understand everything involved in the way Satan used the body of a serpent, but we can know it was true and this is no mere fable. "It is idle to call the narrative of the Fall a mere allegory; one had better say at once that he does not believe the Book... There was a real serpent, as there was a real paradise; there was a real Adam and Eve, who stood at the head of our race, and they really sinned, and our race is really fallen. Believe this" (Spurgeon).
2. The serpent was more cunning than any beast: Satan's effectiveness is often found in His cunning, crafty ways. We can't outsmart Satan, but we can overcome him with the power of Jesus.
   i. It was the craftiness of Satan that made him successful against Eve: as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness (2 Corinthians 11:3).
   ii. "Man has, perhaps, far more cunning than any mere creature... but Satan has more of cunning within him than any other creature that the Lord God hath made, man included." (Spurgeon)
3.  And he said to the woman: Apparently, before the curse pronounced in Genesis 3:14-15, the serpent was different than what we know today as a serpent. This creature didn't start as a snake as we know it, it became one.
   ii. "In all probability the reptile called the serpent was a nobler creature before the Fall than now. The words of our text, so far as they literally concern the serpent, threaten that a change would be wrought in him. It has been a sort of speculative opinion that the creature either had wings, or was able to move without creeping upon the earth as it now does." (Spurgeon)
   ii. Demonic spirits evidently have the ability, under certain circumstances, to indwell human or animal bodies (Luke 8:33). On this occasion, Satan chose to indwell the body of a pre-curse serpent. "An immaterial spirit must be invisible; and therefore he must embody himself in some way or other before he can be seen. That Satan has power to enter into living bodies is clear, for he did so upon a very large scale with regard to men in the days of Christ... Being compelled to have an embodiment, the master evil spirit perceived the serpent to be at that time among the most subtle of all creatures; and therefore he entered into the serpent as feeling that he would be most at home in that animal" (Spurgeon).
   iii. Poole says the woman wasn't surprised at the serpent's speaking because Adam and Eve had free conversation with angelic beings that often appeared in the form of men. If this is true, it wasn't so strange to Eve that an angelic being might appear to her in the form of a beautiful pre-curse serpent.
   iv. Perhaps Satan made the voice supernaturally seem to come forth from the serpent, or perhaps Satan communicated this to Eve in her thoughts. What Satan said is more important than how he said it.
4. To the woman: Satan brought his temptation against the woman because he perceived she was more vulnerable to attack. This is because she did not receive the command to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil directly from God but through Adam (Genesis 2:15-17).
   i. Perhaps Satan knew by observation Adam didn't do an effective job of communicating to Eve what the LORD told him. This failure on Adam's part made Eve more vulnerable to temptation.
   ii. Satan will often attack a chain at its weakest link, so he gets at Adam by tempting Eve. The stronger ones in a "chain" must expect an attack against weaker links and support them against those attacks.
   iii. It was also in God's plan to allow Satan to tempt Eve this way. If Adam would have sinned first, and if he had then given the fruit to Eve, she might have a partial excuse before God: "I was simply obeying the head of our home. When he gave me the fruit, I ate of it."
5. Has God indeed said: Satan's first attack was leveled against the Word of God. If he could make Eve confused about what God said, or to doubt what God said, then his battle was partially won.
   i. From the beginning, Satan has tried to undermine God's people by undermining God's Word. He can undermine just as effectively by getting us to neglect God's Word as by getting us to doubt it.
6. Has God indeed said, "You shall not eat of every tree of the garden"? Satan took God's positive command in Genesis 2:16-17 (Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat) and rephrased it in a purely negative way: "God won't let you eat of every tree."

  2. (3:2-3) Eve's reply to the serpent.

2 The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'"

1. And the woman said to the serpent: Eve's first mistake was in even carrying on a discussion with the serpent. We are called to talk to the devil, but never to have a discussion with him. We simply and strongly tell him, "The Lord rebuke you!" (Jude 9).
2. We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: Eve's knowledge of what she should not do is partially correct, but what she doesn't seem to know makes her all the more vulnerable to deception.
   i. Eve does not seem to know the name of this tree; she only calls it the tree in the midst of the garden, instead of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17).
   ii. Eve misquoted God's command to Adam. Her words, you shall not eat it and lest you die are close enough, but she added to the command and put words in God's mouth when she said, nor shall you touch it. Of course, it was a good idea to completely avoid the temptation; no good could come from massaging the fruit you're not supposed to eat. But it is a dangerous thing to teach the doctrines of man as if they are the commandments of God (Matthew 15:9).
   ii. Clarke on nor shall you touch it: "Some Jewish writers... state that as soon as the woman had asserted this, the serpent pushed her against the tree and said, 'See, you have touched it, and are still alive; you may therefore safely eat of the fruit, for surely you shall not die.'"
3. God has said: Eve's ignorance of exactly what God said was really Adam's responsibility. He did a poor job of relating to his wife the word God gave him.
   i. We can almost picture Adam telling Eve, "See that tree in the middle of the garden? Don't touch it or God says we'll die!" While this is better than saying nothing, what Adam didn't explain made a vulnerable place where Satan could attack.
4. Lest you die: This may seem like a small thing to hinge the destiny of the human race and all creation on. But the tree was nothing more than a restraint on Adam and Eve. It reminded them they were not God, that God had a legitimate claim to their obedience, and that they were responsible to Him.

3. (3:4-5) Satan's direct challenge to God's Word.  

4 The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! 5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

1. You will not surely die: Satan effectively laid the groundwork. He drew Eve into a discussion with him and planted the seed of doubt about God's Word, and he exposed Eve's incomplete understanding of God's Word. Now he moves in for the kill, with an outright contradiction of what God said.
   i. Satan can only effectively work when he has established a foothold. No one falls like Adam and Eve will fall, "all of a sudden." A foundation has been laid.
   ii. This is why we are called to never give place to the devil (Ephesians 4:27). This shows how remarkable it is that Jesus could say, "Satan has nothing in Me" (John 14:30).
2. You will not surely die: Satan first wanted Eve to forget all about what God said about the consequences of sin. When we know and remember the consequences of sin, we are more likely to give up the passing pleasures of sin (Hebrews 11:25).
   i. In Satan's direct challenge, he tries to get Eve to doubt the goodness of God. If God lies to her, how can He be good?
   ii. In Satan's direct challenge, he tries to get Eve to doubt the badness of sin. If this fruit is something good for her, why doesn't God want her to have it?
   iii. Satan wants us to see sin as something good that a bad God doesn't want us to have. His main lie to us is "sin is not bad, and God is not good."
   iv. "Satan and the flesh will present a thousand reasons to show how good it would be to disobey His command." (Barnhouse)
3.  In the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened: Satan's temptation was all the more powerful because there was truth in it. It was true your eyes will be opened, and this was fulfilled (Genesis 3:7). But their eyes were instantly opened to their own sin and rebellion.
   i. It is as if a deaf person was promised to be able to hear again, but all they could hear was screaming.
   ii. Their eyes were opened, they did know good and evil, but not as gods. A complete lie is rarely effective in temptation. If Satan doesn't couple it with some truth, there is little power in his temptation.
4. You will be like God, knowing good and evil: The final enticement was the most powerful because it was how Satan himself fell, wanting to be equal with God. Eve tried to become a god by rebelling against God.
   i. Jewish rabbis embellished on Satan's temptation to Eve: "Nothing but malice has prompted God's command, because as soon as you eat of it, you will be as God. As He creates and destroys worlds, so will you have the power to create and destroy. As He does kill and revive, so will you have the power to kill and revive. God Himself ate first of the fruit of the tree, and then He created the world. Therefore, He forbids you to eat of it, lest you create other worlds... Hurry now and eat the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden, and become independent of God, lest He bring forth still other creatures that will rule over you" (Ginzberg).
   ii. The goal of becoming God is the center of so many non-Christian religions, including Mormonism. But in our desire to be gods, we become like Satan. It was Satan who said, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God... I will be like the Most High (Isaiah 14:13-14). In contrast, we should be like Jesus, who came as a servant (Matthew 20:28).
   iii. The New Age movement and the desire to be "god" are just as strong as ever. According to a 1992 survey, as many as 12 million Americans can be considered active participants in the New Age movement, and another 30 million are avidly interested. If all these people were brought together in a church-like organization, it would be the third largest religious denomination in America. More than 90% of the subscribers to New Age Magazine are college graduates, compared to half the general population.
   iv. In 1995, New Age influence made it all the way to the White House. New Age author Marianne Williamson (author of A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles), guru to many of Hollywood's spiritual seekers, spent a night at the White House as the personal guest of Hillary Clinton. Anthony Robbins, motivational guru and king of late-night infomercials, consulted with President Clinton at Camp David. Robbins is also recognized as a leader in the New Age movement.

B. The sin of Adam and Eve and the fall of the human race.  

4. (3:6) Adam and Eve both disobey God in their own way.

6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

1. So when the woman saw: Eve surrendered to this temptation in exactly the way John describes in 1 John 2:16. First, she gave in to the lust of the flesh (saw that it was good for food), then she gave in to the lust of the eyes (pleasant to the eyes), then she gave in to the pride of life (desirable to make one wise).
   i. Jesus was tempted in the same three-fold way: an appeal to the physical appetites, an appeal to covetous and emotional desires, and an appeal to pride (Matthew 4:1-11).
2. The woman saw that the tree was good for food: Eve's perceptions were partially true and partially false. The tree was not really good for food, though Eve was deceived into thinking it was so. The fruit probably was pleasant to the eyes, though that shouldn't mean much. And it was only true in Eve's mind that the tree was desirable to make one wise.
   i. We can see the precise truth of Paul's statement in 1 Timothy 2:14, that Eve was deceived when she sinned. In her mind, she thought she was doing something good for herself.
3. She took of its fruit and ate: Satan could tempt Eve, but she didn't have to take it. The taking was all her doing. Satan couldn't cram the fruit down her throat. Eve was responsible. She couldn't rightly say, "the devil made me do it."
   i. As with every temptation, God had made for Eve a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). She could have simply run from Satan and the tree, but Eve didn't take God's way of escape.
4. She also gave to her husband with her: Not only did Eve sin, but also she became the agent of temptation for Adam. But when Adam ate, he was not deceived as Eve was. Adam sinned with his eyes wide open, in open rebellion against God.
   i. Therefore, it is Adam and not Eve who bears the responsibility for the fall of the human race and for the introduction of death into the created order (Romans 5:12, 1 Corinthians 15:22). Eve was tricked into sinning; Adam knew exactly what he was doing (1 Timothy 2:14).
   ii. Many have speculated that Adam sinned because he didn't want Eve to be alone in the fall, and he ate of the fruit out of a romantic impulse. This may well be true, but it makes Adam's sin not one bit less rebellious. Rebellion against God is not "better" when motivated by a romantic impulse.
   iii. "Take and eat" will one day become verbs of salvation, but only after Jesus had lived in the world of Adam's curse and surrendered to death.

  5. (3:7) The nakedness of Adam and Eve.

7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

1. Then the eyes of both of them were opened: Seemingly, it was only after the sin of Adam that they knew of their sinful state. They knew they were naked, in the sense of having their shame exposed to all creation.
2. They knew that they were naked: Both Psalm 104:2 and Matthew 17:2 suggest that light can be a garment for the righteous. It may be that Adam and Eve were previously clothed in God's glorious light, and the immediate loss of this covering of light left them feeling exposed and naked.
   i. "It is more than probable that they were clothed in light before the fall, and when they sinned the light went out." (Barnhouse)
3. The eyes of both of them were opened: The way they saw themselves changed, but also the way they saw the entire world was now different. After the fall, everything looked worse.
   i. When Adam and Eve saw their nakedness and felt terrible about it, it didn't feel good but it was good. It is good to feel guilty when you have done something wrong, and having no sense of guilt or shame is worse.
4. They sewed fig leaves together: Their own attempt to cover themselves took much ingenuity, but not much wisdom. Fig leaves have something of a prickly quality, which would make for some pretty itchy coverings.
   i. Every attempt to cover our own nakedness before God is just as foolish. We need to let Jesus cover us (Revelation 3:5, 18), and put on Jesus Himself as our covering garment (Galatians 3:27). God has a covering for His people (Isaiah 61:10), and the exhortation from Jesus is for us: Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame (Revelation 16:15).
   ii. Obviously, they covered their genital areas. In virtually all cultures, adults cover their genital areas, even though other parts of the human body may be more or less exposed from culture to culture.
   iii. This is not because there is something intrinsically unclean in our sexuality, but because we have both received our fallenness and pass it on genetically through sexual reproduction. Because of this, God has implanted it in the minds of men that more modesty is appropriate for these areas of our body.

 D. The curse and its aftermath.

1. (3:14-15) God's curse upon the serpent.

14 The Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel." 

1. And the LORD God said to the serpent: When God spoke to Adam and to Eve, He questioned each of them. God didn't ask Satan (the being animating the serpent) any questions because there was nothing to teach him.
   i. "The Lord God did not ask the serpent anything, for he knew that he was a liar, but he at once pronounced sentence upon him." (Spurgeon)
2. You are cursed more than all cattle: The first part of the curse is directed at the animal that Satan used to bring the temptation. God commanded the serpent to slither on the ground instead of walking on legs like any other animal.
   i. "The creature that tempted Eve became a serpent as a result of God's judgment on it, and it went slithering away into the bushes." (Boice).
   ii. Adam and Eve must have been terrified as this once-beautiful creature called a serpent was transformed into the creeping, slithering, hissing snake we know today. They must have thought, "It's our turn next!"
   iii. I will put enmity between you and the woman: In addition, there is a natural aversion between mankind and serpents, especially on the part of women.
3. On your belly you shall go: Whatever noble bearing the creation known as the serpent had before the fall and the curse, that nobility was gone. Now the creature Satan used to tempt Eve would be a low, groveling creature.
   i. "Beings engaged in evil designs have no other way of going, but with tricks, devices, concealments, double meanings. When men deny the Scriptures and the truth of God, they always go to work in an underhand, mean, and serpentine style: 'Upon thy belly shalt thou go.' If guilty man begins to plot for his own advantage, scheme for his own glory, and aim at perverting the truth, you will notice that he never takes a bold, open, manly stand, but he dodges, he conceals, he twists and shifts: 'Upon thy belly shalt thou go.' Sin is a mean and despicable thing. The greatest potentate of evil was here doomed to cringe and crawl, and his seed have never forgotten their father's posture." (Spurgeon)
4. You shall eat dust all the days of your life: This was true of the serpent as an animal, but it is also true of Satan. To eat dust has the idea of total defeat (Isaiah 65:25, Micah 7:17). God's judgment on Satan is for him to always know defeat. He will always reach for victory but always fall short of it.
   i. Satan was, in his own thinking, majestic and triumphant over Jesus on the cross, but he failed. In attacking Jesus, Satan made his own doom certain.
   ii. In Jesus, we share in the victory over Satan: And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly (Romans 16:20).
5. Enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed: The second part of the curse is directed against Satan himself. God placed a natural animosity between Satan and mankind. Enmity has the idea of ill will, hatred, and a mutual antagonism. Satan's hatred of Eve was nothing new; it was already present - but now man will, generally speaking, have antagonism towards Satan.
   i. The friendship Eve and the serpent seemed to enjoy earlier in the chapter is finished. There is now a natural fear of Satan in the heart of man.
   ii. If we are born naturally rebellious against God, we are also born cautious and afraid of Satan. One must be hardened to willingly and knowingly serve Satan. Instinctively, we don't serve God or Satan; we serve ourselves (which is fine with Satan).
6. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel: In this, God prophesies the doom of Satan, showing that the real battle is between Satan and the Seed of the Woman.
   i. There is no doubt this is a prophecy of Jesus' ultimate defeat of Satan. God announced that Satan would wound the Messiah (you shall bruise His heel), but the Messiah would crush Satan with a mortal wound (He shall bruise your head). It was as if God could not wait to announce His plan of salvation, to bring deliverance through the one known as the Seed of the woman.
   ii. The heel is the part within the serpent's reach. Jesus, in taking on humanity, brought Himself near to Satan's domain so Satan could strike Him. "That bruised heel is painful enough. Behold our Lord in his human nature sore bruised: he was betrayed, bound, accused, buffeted, scourged, spit upon. He was nailed to the cross; he hung there in thirst and fever, and darkness and desertion" (Spurgeon).
   iii. This prophecy also gives the first hint of the virgin birth, declaring the Messiah - the Deliverer - would be the Seed of the Woman, but not of the man.
   iv. Genesis 3:15 has been called the proto-evangelium, the first gospel. Martin Luther said of this verse: "This text embraces and comprehends within itself everything noble and glorious that is to be found anywhere in the Scriptures" (Leupold).
   v. "This is the first gospel sermon that was ever delivered upon the surface of this earth. It was a memorable discourse indeed, with Jehovah himself for the preacher, and the whole human race and the prince of darkness for the audience." (Spurgeon)
7. He shall bruise your head: For God to see the defeat of Satan at Satan's first flush of victory shows God knew what He was doing all along. God's plan wasn't defeated when Adam and Eve sinned because God's plan was to bring forth something greater than man in the innocence of Eden. God wanted more than innocent man; His plan is to bring forth redeemed man.
   i. Redeemed man - this being who is greater than innocent man - is only possible because man had something to be redeemed from.

  2. (3:16) God's curse upon the woman.

To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you."

1. I will greatly multiply your sorrow: God first cursed the woman with multiplied sorrow. Men and women have each known sorrow throughout history, yet the unique sorrow of women is well known.
   i. Under Jesus, some of the effects of the curse are relieved, and it has been the Christianizing of society that brought rights and dignity to women.
   ii. "It is difficult for women in Christian lands to realize the miseries of their hundreds of millions of sisters in pagan lands, where the lot of women is little above that of cattle. Where the gospel has gone, the load has been lifted, and woman in Christ has become the reflection of the redeemed Church, the bride of
2. Your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children: The first curse upon women is a broad one. It has the idea that women would experience pain in regard to their children in general, not just in the act of giving birth. God ordained that the pain with which women bring children into this world be an example of the pain they experience more generally in life.
   i. It has been observed that women bring forth children with more pain than just about any other creature.
3. Your desire shall be for your husband: This is true of women in a way that it is not true for men. Barnhouse explained: "This verse will be understood better when it is realized that the desire of man toward his wife alone is solely by God's grace and not by nature."
4. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you: The idea is to contrast the woman's desire and the husband's rule over her. This speaks of an inherent challenge in embracing the husband's role as leader of the home and family.
   i. This same word for desire is used in Genesis 4:7 of the desire of sin to master over Cain. Because of the curse, Eve would have to fight a desire to master her husband, a desire that works against God's ordained order for the home.
   ii. The principle of Adam's headship as a husband was established before the fall (see Genesis 2:18 and 2:22). Now the curse on Eve makes it much harder for her to submit and flow with God's institution of male headship in the home.
   iii. "As a result of the fall, man no longer rules easily; he must fight from his headship. Sin has corrupted both the willing submission of the wife and the loving headship of the husband. The woman's desire is to control her husband (to usurp his divinely appointed headship), and he must master her, if he can. So the rule of love founded in paradise is replaced by struggle, tyranny and domination." ( Boice)

3. (17-19) God's curse upon the man.

17 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.  18 "Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; 19 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return."

1. Because you have heeded the voice of your wife: It wasn't just as if Adam took Eve's advice. He chose to be with Eve instead of obeying God. There is a sense in which idolatry of Eve was an aspect of Adam's disobedience against God.
2. Cursed is the ground: Because of Adam, there is a curse upon all creation. Before the curse on man, the ground only produced good. After the curse, it still produced good, but thorns and thistles will come faster and easier than good fruit.
   i. The curse promised thorns and thistles, and we remember that Jesus was crowned with thorns (Matthew 27:29). In this vivid way, Jesus bore the curse for us. "This curse of the earth was on his head, and wounded him full sore. Was he crowned with thorns, and do you wonder that they grow up around your feet? Rather bless him that ever he should have consecrated the thorns by wearing them for his diadem" (Spurgeon).
3. In toil you shall eat of it: Adam worked before the curse, but it was all joy. Now work has a cursed element to it, with pain and weariness a part of work. Is there not a time of hard service for man on earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hired man? Like a servant who earnestly desires the shade, and like a hired man who eagerly looks for his wages (Job 7:1-2).
   i. "Although the sentence took away from Adam the luscious fruits of paradise, yet it secured him a livelihood. He was to live; the ground was to bring forth enough of the herb of the field for him to continue to exist. Albeit that henceforth all he ate was to be with the sweat of his face, yet still he was to have enough to eat, and he was to live on." (Spurgeon)
4. Dust you are, and to dust you shall return: The final curse upon man promised there would be an end of his toil and labor on the earth - but it was an end of death, not an end of deliverance.
   i. The curse of death shows that the result of Adam's sin extended to the entire human race. Because of Adam:
   • Sin entered the world (Romans 5:12).
   • Death came to all mankind (Romans 5:15, 1 Corinthians 15:22).
   • Death reigned over man and creation (Romans 5:17)
   • All men were condemned (Romans 5:18).
   • All men were made sinners (Romans 5:19).
   ii. The principle of Gal 3:13 is established as we consider that Jesus bore each aspect of the curse upon Adam and Eve in its totality: Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.
   • Sin brought pain to childbirth, and no one knew more pain than Jesus did when He, through His suffering, brought many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10).
   • Sin brought conflict, and Jesus endured great conflict to bring our salvation (Hebrews 12:3).
   • Thorns came with sin and the fall, and Jesus endured a crown of thorns to bring our salvation (John 19:2).
   • Sin brought sweat, and Jesus sweat, great drops of blood to win our salvation (Luke 22:44).
   • Sin brought sorrow, and Jesus became a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, to save us (Isa 53:3).
   • Sin brought death, and Jesus tasted death for everyone that we might be saved (Hebrews 2:9). 

Gen. 3:1-8, 14-19 - T. CONSTABLE EXPOSITION

The temptation of Eve 3:1-5

v. 1:  Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"

Who was the tempter? Among evangelicals there are two major views regarding the identity of the serpent.

 

1. It was a literal snake.

1. Moses called it a beast of the field (Genesis 3:1).
2. Though snakes do not speak, Satan could have spoken through a snake. He did this through demoniacs in Jesus' day. Also, a spirit being spoke through Balaam's donkey (Numbers 22:21-30).
3. God judged a snake in this case (Genesis 3:14).

2. It was Satan himself described here as a snake.

1. God called Satan a serpent elsewhere in Scripture (e.g., Revelation 20:2).
2. Satan can and does speak as recorded elsewhere in Scripture (e.g., Job 1).
3. What he said here is in character for Satan who is the "father of lies" (John 8:44).
   • Probably the tempter was Satan who possessed and controlled a literal snake. Temptation came to Eve disguised, unexpectedly, and from a subordinate, as is still often true. The pattern of temptation observable here is one Satan has used often and still uses (cf. the temptations of Achan, David, and Jesus Christ).
   • Satan's first step was to plant a seed of doubt in Eve's mind concerning God's ways (Genesis 3:1-3). The key phrase is "from any" (Genesis 3:1). Satan focused Eve's attention on God's one prohibition. He suggested that  
   • God did not really want what was best for Adam and Eve but rather was withholding something from them that was essentially good. He hinted that God's line of protection was actually a line that He drew because He was selfish. Satan still tempts women to believe that God's role for them is primarily for His benefit rather than for their welfare. [Note: Family Life . . ., p. 99.]
   • The Hebrew word translated "crafty" ('arum) does not mean wicked as much as wise. Eve's sin was not so much an act of great wickedness as it was an act of great folly. She already had all the good she needed, but she wanted more. She wanted to glorify self, not God.

Note:  As in chapters 1 and 2, the word of the Lord is very important in chapter 3. Here Adam and Eve doubted God's integrity. This pericope also has something to teach about the acquisition of wisdom. Chapter 2 anticipated God's gift of the Promised Land to the original readers, and chapter 3 anticipates their exile from it. [Note: Idem, "Genesis," pp. 48-49.]

vv.2-3:  2 The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'"- Eve was vulnerable to this suggestion because she distorted the word of God. She added to it "or touch it" (Genesis 3:3).  "In her reply to [the serpent's] question, she perverted and misquoted three times the divine law to which she and Adam were subject: (1) She disparaged her privileges by misquoting the terms of the Divine permission as to the other trees. (2) She overstated the restrictions by misquoting the Divine prohibition. (3) She underrated her obligations by misquoting the Divine penalty." [Note: W.H. Griffith Thomas, Genesis: A Devotional Commentary, p. 48.]
• God reveals His character through His word. When we do not retain His word precisely, a distorted concept of God is often the result. This led Eve to doubt God's goodness.
• The serpent's claim directly contradicted the main point of chapters 1 and 2, namely, that God would provide what is good for mankind.  "It is because 'Yahweh Elohim' expresses so strongly the basic OT convictions about God's being both creator and Israel's covenant partner that the serpent and the woman avoid the term in their discussion. The god they are talking about is malevolent, secretive, and concerned to restrict man: his character is so different from that of Yahweh Elohim that the narrative pointedly avoids the name in the dialogue of Genesis 3:1-5." [Note: Wenham, p. 57.]
• One natural tendency that we have when we do not understand or recall God's word precisely is to make it more restrictive than He does. This is what Eve did. This is a form of legalism.

vv. 4-5: 4 The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! 5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." - The second step in Satan's temptation was to deny God's word. In denying it he imputed motives to God that were not consistent with God's character.
• God's true motive was the welfare of man, but the serpent implied it was God's welfare at man's expense. This added suggestion seemed consistent with what the serpent had already implied about God's motives in Genesis 3:1. Having entertained a doubt concerning God's word, Eve was ready to accept a denial of His word.
• What the serpent said about Eve being as God was a half-truth. Ironically she was already as God having been made in His image (Genesis 1:26). She did become like God, or divine beings (Heb. 'elohim), in that she obtained a greater knowledge of good and evil by eating of the tree. However, she became less like God because she was no longer innocent of sin. Her relationship with God suffered. Though she remained like God she could no longer enjoy unhindered fellowship with God (Genesis 3:24). The consequent separation from God is the essence of death (Genesis 2:17).
• The first doctrine Satan denied in Scripture was that sin results in death (separation from God), or, we could say, the doctrine that God will not punish sin. This is still the truth he tries hardest to get people to disbelieve.

The Fall 3:6-8

V. 6: When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. - Having succumbed to temptation Eve disobeyed God's will. Whereas the serpent initiated the first two steps, he let Eve's natural desires (her flesh) carry her into his trap. All three avenues of fleshly temptation are present in Genesis 3:6.

1. She saw that the tree was "good for food" (the lust of the flesh: the desire to do something contrary to God's will, i.e., eat the tasty fruit).
2. It was a "delight to the eyes" (the lust of the eyes: the desire to have something apart from God's will, i.e., possess the beautiful fruit).
3. It was "desirable to make one wise" (the pride of life: the desire to be something apart from God's will, i.e., as wise as God, or gods). It was the quest for wisdom that led Eve to disobey God. [Note: Sailhamer, "Genesis," p. 51.]
   • Eve saw, coveted, and took the fruit (cf. Joshua 7:21; 2 Samuel 11:2-4). We perceive, then lust, then act. "We have already noted . . . how the scenes themselves are arranged in a concentric palistrophic pattern (ABCDCBA). Within this central scene, the same device is used; the midpoint 'and he ate' employs the key verb of this tale-'eat.' On either side we have the woman's hopes of eating, 'good to eat,' 'delight to the eyes,' 'giving insight,' balanced by its effects, 'eyes opened,' 'knowing they were nude,' 'hiding in the trees.' These contrasts are deliberately drawn." [Note: Wenham, p. 75.]
   • "The proposition that an adult can gaze at anything is ludicrous and naive, for gazing is too often followed by desiring and sinning." [Note: Davis, p. 90. Cf. 9:20-27.]
   • In view of Jesus' statement that a lustful look is as sinful as an overt act of sin (Matthew 5:27-28), did Eve commit the first sin when she desired the forbidden fruit? Sinful desires are sinful, but temptations are not sins until we respond by giving in to them. Eve did this when she ate the fruit. Until she did that, she was only experiencing temptation.
   • "Here is the essence of covetousness. It is the attitude that says I need something I do not now have in order to be happy." [Note: Hamilton, p. 190.]
   • "What Adam and Eve sought from the tree of knowledge was not philosophical or scientific knowledge desired by the Greeks, but practical knowledge that would give them blessing and fulfillment." [Note: K. Armstrong, In the Beginning, p. 27.]
   • Ignorance or disregard of God's word makes one very vulnerable to temptation (Psalms 119:11). These conditions produce distrust, dissatisfaction, and finally disobedience. Failure to appreciate God's goodness leads to distrust of His goodness. God's prohibitions as well as His provisions are for our good.
   • "The root of sin should be understood. The foundation of all sin lies in man's desire of self-assertion and his determination to be independent of God. Adam and Eve chafed under the restriction laid upon them by the command of God, and it was in opposition to this that they asserted themselves, and thereby fell. Man does not like to be dependent upon another, and subject to commands upon another, and subject to commands from without. He desires to go his own way, to be his own master; and as a consequence he sins, and becomes 'lord of himself, that heritage of woe.'" [Note: Thomas, p. 49. Cf. Waltke, Genesis, p. 103.] God has always asked people to believe and trust His word that His will for us will result in our blessing.
   • However, Satan has always urged us to have experiences that will convince us that we can obtain even greater blessings. He says, "Try it; you'll like it!" But God says, "Trust me, and you'll live." Satan's appeal to get us to experience something to assure ourselves of its goodness directly contradicts God's will for us. It is the way of sight rather than the way of faith.

Note:  In this section the relationship that God had established with man, which is the focus of the creation story, is broken. We can gain great insight into human nature from this story. Adam and Eve's behavior as recorded here has been repeated by every one of their descendants.
• "It is hardly too much to say that this chapter is the pivot of the Bible . . . . With the exception of the fact of Creation, we have here the record of the most important and far-reaching event in the world's history-the entrance of sin." [Note: Thomas, p. 46.]
• ". . . Genesis does not explain the origins of evil; rather, the biblical account, if anything, says where evil does not have its source. Evil was not inherent in man nor can it be said that sin was the consequence of divine entrapment. The tempter stands outside the human pair and stands opposed to God's word." [Note: Mathews, p. 226.]

v. 7:  Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. -  The separation that sin produces in man's relationship with God stands out clearly in these verses. Their new knowledge that the serpent promised would make them as God actually taught them that they were no longer even like each other. They were ashamed of their nakedness and sewed fig leaves together to hide their differences from each other (Genesis 3:7). [Note: Sailhamer, "Genesis," p. 52.] Perhaps they chose fig leaves because fig leaves are large and strong.
• The "cool" of the day is literally the "wind" of the day. God came to Adam and Eve in this wind. He came in a wind earlier in Creation (Genesis 1:2) and later to Job (Job 38:1), Israel (Exodus 20:18-21; cf. Deuteronomy 5:25), and Elijah (1 Kings 19:11).
• "A more complete transformation could not be imagined. The trust of innocence is replaced by the fear of guilt. The trees that God created for man to look at (Genesis 2:9) are now his hiding place to prevent God seeing him." [Note: Wenham, p. 76.]

NOTE:  Genesis 3:7 marks the beginning of the second dispensation, the dispensation of conscience (or moral responsibility). Adam and Eve had failed in their responsibility under the dispensation of innocence; they were now sinners. They had rebelled against a specific command of God (Genesis 2:16-17), and this rebellion marked a transition from theoretical to experiential knowledge of good and evil. Their new responsibility now became to do all known good, to abstain from all known evil, and to approach God through blood sacrifice, which anticipated the sacrifice of Christ. As a period of testing for humanity, the dispensation of conscience ended with the Flood. However people continued to be morally responsible to God as He added further revelation of Himself and His will in succeeding ages (cf. Acts 14:14-16; Romans 2:15; 2 Cor 4:2). Eve did not die at once physically, but she did die at once spiritually. She experienced alienation in her relationship with God. Death means separation in the Bible, never annihilation. Sin always results in alienation: theologically (between God and man), sociologically (between man and man), psychologically (between man and himself), and ecologically (between man and nature). We might also add, sexually (between men and women) and maritally (between husbands and wives).

Three kinds of death appear in Scripture: physical-separation of the body and soul (the material and immaterial parts of the person), spiritual-separation of the person and God, and eternal-permanent separation of the person and God.

The Apostle Paul wrote that Eve was deceived (1 Timothy 2:14). This does not mean that women are by nature more easily subject to deception than men.

"There is nothing in Scripture to suggest that the woman was inferior to the man in any way or more susceptible to temptation than he was." [Note: Susan Foh, Women and the Word of God, p. 63.]

"The tempter addresses himself to the woman, probably not because she is more open to temptation and prone to sin, for that is hardly the conception of the Old Testament elsewhere. The reason may have lain in this, that the woman had not personally received the prohibition from God, as Adam had." [Note: Gerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology, p. 45.]

She may have received God's word through Adam. Perhaps Satan appealed to Eve because she was not only under God's authority but also under her husband's authority and, therefore, more inclined to think God was withholding something from her.

"It is interesting to observe that when this sin is referred to throughout Scripture, it is not referred to as the sin of Eve-but rather as the sin of Adam! The phrase in Genesis 3:6, 'with her,' seems to suggest that Adam was at Eve's side when she was tempted by Satan. As God's theocratic administrator, and as the appointed head of the family, it was Adam's responsibility to safeguard Eve and to assure that she remained in submission to the command of God. But Adam failed in his God-given responsibility and permitted Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit." [Note: Pentecost, p. 37.]

Adam, however, was not deceived (1 Timothy 2:14). He sinned with his eyes wide open (Genesis 3:6 b). Eve's was a sin of initiative whereas Adam's was one of acquiescence. [Note: Hamilton, p. 191.] Too much aggressiveness by a woman and too much passivity by a man still are tendencies of the respective sexes. Death "passed unto all men" (Romans 5:12) when Adam sinned because Adam, not Eve, was the head of the human race under God's administration (cf. Genesis 3:18-23). [Note: See Jimmy A. Milliken, "The Origin of Death," Mid-American Theological Journal 7:2 (Winter 1983):17-22.]

Some commentators have interpreted eating the forbidden fruit as a euphemism for having sexual intercourse. [Note: E.g., E. A. Speiser, Genesis, p. 26.] They say that the original sin was a sexual sin. However the text makes such an interpretation impossible. Eve sinned first (Genesis 3:6), she sinned alone (Genesis 3:6), and God had previously approved sex (Genesis 1:28).

"Adam and Eve's nakedness (Genesis 2:25) does not idealize nudity but shows why human beings must wear clothes. With the Fall came a tragic loss of innocence (together with resulting shame). When people's minds are enlightened by the gospel, they understand their moral frailty and practice customs of dress that shield them against sexual temptation." [Note: Waltke, Genesis, p. 103.]

 

APPLICATION:  The timeless lesson of these verses is that victory over temptation to violate God's good will depends on a thorough knowledge of God's word and unwavering confidence in God's goodness. As Israel faced temptations to depart from God's revealed will from the pagans she encountered, this record would have provided a resource for remaining faithful, as it does for us today. Often these temptations attract because they promise superior blessing and fulfillment, even divinity. Therefore, knowing God's word is extremely important (cf. Deuteronomy 6:5-9; Deuteronomy 6:13-25; Psalms 119:9-16). Satan tempted Jesus similarly to the way he tempted Eve. However, Jesus overcame victoriously by accurately using the word of God to remain faithful to the will of God. True wisdom comes by obeying, not disobeying, God's word.

Effects on the serpent 3:14-15

vv. 14-15: The Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel." - God's judgment on each trespasser (the snake, the woman, and the man) involved both a life function and a relationship. [Note: J. T. Walsh, "Genesis 2:4b-3:24: A Synchronic Approach," Journal of Biblical Literature 96 (1977):168.] In each case the punishment corresponded to the nature of the crime.
• "Curses are uttered against the serpent and the ground, but not against the man and woman, implying that the blessing has not been utterly lost. It is not until human murder, a transgression against the imago Dei, that a person (Cain) receives the divine curse . . ." [Note: Mathews, p. 243.]

1. The snake had been crafty (Heb. 'arum), but now it was cursed (Heb. 'arur). It had to move on its belly (Genesis 3:14). Some commentators take this literally and conclude that the snake had legs before God cursed it. [Note: E.g., Josephus, 1:1:50.] Others take it figuratively as a reference to the resultant despised condition of the snake. [Note: E.g., Leupold, Exposition of Genesis , 1:162; Kidner, p. 70; Mathews, p. 244.]
2. It would eat dust (Genesis 3:14). Since snakes do not literally feed on dust, many interpreters take this statement figuratively. Eating dust is an expression used in other ancient Near Eastern writings to describe the lowest of all forms of life. In the Bible it also describes humiliation and total defeat (cf. Psalms 44:25; Psalms 72:9; Isaiah 25:12; Isaiah 49:23; Isaiah 65:25; Micah 7:17).
   • God revealed later through Isaiah that serpents will eat dust during the Millennium (Isaiah 65:25). Presently snakes eat plants and animals. Perhaps God will yet fulfill this part of what He predicted here in Genesis concerning snakes in the millennial kingdom. This is a literal interpretation. If this is correct, then perhaps we should also take the former part of the curse literally, namely, that snakes did not travel on their bellies before the Fall. Alternatively Isaiah may have meant that serpents will be harmless after God lifts the curse on creation in the Millennium.
3. There would be antagonism between the serpent and human beings (Genesis 3:15 a). This obviously exists between snakes and people, but God's intention in this verse seems to include the person behind the snake (Satan) as well as, and even more than, the snake itself. ". . . the seed of the serpent refers to natural humanity whom he has led into rebellion against God. Humanity is now divided into two communities: the elect, who love God, and the reprobate, who love self (John 8:31-32; John 8:44; 1 John 3:8). Each of the characters of Genesis will be either of the seed of the woman that reproduces her spiritual propensity, or of the seed of the Serpent that reproduces his unbelief." [Note: Waltke, Genesis, pp. 93-94. Cf. p. 46.]
4. Man would eventually destroy the serpent, though the serpent would wound man (Genesis 3:15 b). This is a prophecy of the victory of the ultimate "Seed" of the woman (Messiah) over Satan (cf. Revelation 19:1-5; Galatians 3:16; Galatians 3:19; Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8). [Note: See John Sailhamer, "The Messiah and the Hebrew Bible," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 44:1 (March 2001):5-23.] Most interpreters have recognized this verse as the first biblical promise of the provision of salvation (the protoevangelium or "first gospel"). [Note: See John C. Jeske, "The Gospel Adam and Eve Heard: Genesis 3:15" Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly 81:3 (Summer 1984):182-84; and Walter C. Kaiser Jr., "The Promise Theme and the Theology of Rest," Bibliotheca Sacra 130:518 (April-June 1973):135-50.] The rest of the book, in fact the whole Old Testament, proceeds to point ahead to that seed.

• "The snake, for the author, is representative of someone or something else. The snake is represented by his 'seed.' When that 'seed' is crushed, the head of the snake is crushed. Consequently more is at stake in this brief passage than the reader is at first aware of. A program is set forth. A plot is established that will take the author far beyond this or that snake and his 'seed.' It is what the snake and His 'seed' represent that lies at the center of the author's focus. With that 'one' lies the 'enmity' that must be crushed." [Note: Sailhamer, "Genesis," p. 55. See also Mathews, pp. 246-48.]

• "The text in context provides an outline that is correct and clear in pattern but not complete in all details. Numerous questions are left unanswered. When Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead, the details of the climax were filled in and specified, but the text does not demand to be reinterpreted. Nor does it demand interpretation in a way not suggested in context." [Note: Elliott E. Johnson, "Premillennialism Introduced: Hermeneutics," in A Case for Premillennialism: A New Consensus, p. 22. See also Darrell L. Bock, "Interpreting the Bible-How Texts Speak to Us," in Progressive Dispensationalism,]

• God cursed all animals and the whole creation because of the Fall (Romans 8:20), but He made the snake the most despicable of all the animals for its part in the Fall.

• "Words possess power. God's words of blessing and of curse are most powerful. They determine our lives." [Note: Pamela J. Scalise, "The Significance of Curses and Blessings," Biblical Illustrator 13:1 (Fall 1986):59.]

 

NOTE-The judgment of the guilty 3:14-21:  As the result of man's disobedience to God, the creation suffered a curse and began to deteriorate. Evolution teaches that man is improving his condition through self-effort. The Bible teaches that man is destroying his condition through sin. Having been thrice blessed by God (Genesis 1:22; Genesis 1:28; Genesis 2:3) the creation now experienced a triple curse (Gen 3:14; Gen 3:17; Gen 4:11).

"In the Bible, to curse means to invoke God's judgment on someone, usually for some particular offense."

Nevertheless God also began recreation with the promise of the seed, the land, the dominion, and the rest for trust in His powerful word.

• Genesis 3:14-19 reveal the terms of the second major biblical covenant, the Adamic Covenant. Here God specified the conditions under which fallen man was to live (until God lifts His curse on creation in the messianic kingdom; Romans 8:21). The elements of this covenant can be summarized as follows. God cursed the serpent (Genesis 3:14) but promised a redeemer (Genesis 3:15). He changed the status of the woman in three respects: she would experience multiplied conception, sorrow and pain in motherhood, and continuing headship by the man (Genesis 3:16). God also changed Adam and Eve's light workload in Eden to burdensome labor and inevitable sorrow because of His curse on the earth (Genesis 3:17-19). Finally, He promised certain physical death for Adam and all his descendents (Genesis 3:19).

Effects on women 3:16

v. 16: 16 To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.

1. Eve would experience increased pain in bearing children. There evidently would have been some pain in the process of bearing children before the Fall, but Eve and her daughters would experience increased pain. The text does not say that God promised more conception as well as more pain. [Note: Cf. Schaeffer, p. 93.] "Pain" and "childbirth" is probably another hendiadys in the Hebrew text meaning pregnancy pain.
2. Women's desire would be for their husbands. There have been several different interpretations of what the woman's "desire" would be:.
   • The phrase "your desire will be for your husband" means that a woman's desire would be subject to her husband's desire. "Her desire, whatever it may be, will not be her own. She cannot do what she wishes, for her husband rules over her like a despot and whatever she wishes is subject to his will." [Note: E. J. Young, Genesis 3, p. 127. Cf. John Calvin, Genesis, p. 172.]
   • The woman will have a great longing, yearning, and psychological dependence on her husband. "This yearning is morbid. It is not merely sexual yearning. It includes the attraction that woman experiences for man which she cannot root from her nature. Independent feminists may seek to banish it, but it persists in cropping out." [Note: Leupold, 1:172. Cf. Gini Andrews, Your Half of the Apple, p. 51.]
   • The woman will desire to dominate the relationship with her husband. This view rests on the parallel Hebrew construction in Genesis 4:7. This view seems best to me.

Note:  The 'curse' here describes the beginning of the battle of the sexes. After the Fall, the husband no longer rules easily; he must fight for his headship. The woman's desire is to control her husband (to usurp his divinely appointed headship), and he must master her, if he can. Sin had corrupted both the willing submission of the wife and the loving headship of the husband. And so the rule of love founded in paradise is replaced by struggle, tyranny, domination, and manipulation." [Note: Foh, p. 69. See also her article, "What is the Woman's Desire?" Westminster Theological Journal 37:3

• The woman would continue to desire to have sexual relations with her husband even though after the Fall she experienced increased pain in childbearing.

• The woman's desire for the man and his rule over her are not the punishment but the conditions in which the woman will suffer punishment. . . . It may be concluded that, in spite of the Fall, the woman will have a longing for intimacy with man involving more than sexual intimacy. . . . [Note: Irving Busenitz, "Woman's Desire for Man: Genesis 3:16 Reconsidered," Grace Theological Journal 7:2 (Fall 1986):203, 206-8. Cf. Song of Solomon 7:10.]  This view takes this statement of God as a blessing rather than a curse.

Effects on humanity generally 3:17-19

v. 17-19: 17 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. 18 "Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; 19 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return."

1. Adam would have to toil hard to obtain a living from the ground (Genesis 3:17-18). Adam already had received the privilege of enjoying the garden (Genesis 2:15), but this did not require strenuous toil. "As for the man, his punishment consists in the hardship and skimpiness of his livelihood, which he now must seek for himself. The woman's punishment struck at the deepest root of her being as wife and mother, the man's strikes at the innermost nerve of his life: his work, his activity, and provision for sustenance." [Note: von Rad, pp. 93-94.]
   • These punishments represent retaliatory justice. Adam and Eve sinned by eating; they would suffer in order to eat. She manipulated her husband; she would be mastered by her husband. The serpent destroyed the human race; he will be destroyed." [Note: Ross, "Genesis," p. 33.]
   • In drawing a contrast between the condition of the land before and after the Fall, the author shows that the present condition of the land was not the way it was intended to be. Rather, the state of the land was the result of human rebellion. In so doing, the author has paved the way for a central motif in the structure of biblical eschatology, the hope of a 'new heaven and a new earth' (cf. Isaiah 65:17: [sic] Romans 8:22-24; Revelation 21:1)." [Note: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., p. 109.]
2. He would return to dust when he died (Genesis 3:19). Rather than living forever experiencing physical immortality, people would now die physically and experience physical mortality.
   • Genesis 3:19 does not attribute the cause of death to the original composition of the human body, so that man would ultimately have died anyway, but states merely one of the consequences of death: Since the human body was formed from the dust of the earth, it shall, upon death, be resolved to earth again."
   • Genesis 3:18 shows the reversal of the land's condition before and after the Fall. Genesis 3:19 shows the same for man's condition.
   • Adam and Eve failed . . . to observe the restrictions of the Edenic covenant [Genesis 1:26-31; Genesis 2:16-17]. Innocence was lost and conscience was born. . . .
   • Having failed under the Edenic covenant, human beings were then faced with the provisions of the Adamic covenant [Genesis 3:14-19]. That covenant was unconditional in the sense that Adam and Eve's descendants would be unable by human effort to escape the consequences of sin. . . .
   • A ray of light is provided, however, in the Adamic covenant because God promised that a redeemer would come [Genesis 3:15]. . . . This is the introduction of the great theme of grace and redemption found in the Scriptures. . . .
   • Unless tempered by the grace of God and changed by subsequent promises, people continue to the present time to labor under the provisions of the Adamic covenant." [Note: Walvoord, p. 188.]

 Gen. 3:1-7, 14-19 - EXTRA COMMENTARY

Genesis 3:1 "Now the serpent was more subtile 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?"

"The serpent": The word means "snake." The apostle John identified this creature as Satan (Rev. 12:9; 20:2), as did Paul (2 Cor. 11:3). The serpent, a manifestation of Satan, appears for the first time before the fall of man.

The rebellion of Satan, therefore, had occurred sometime after 1:31 (when everything in creation was good), but before 3:1.

 See (Ezek. 28:11-15) for a possible description of Satan's dazzling beauty and (Isaiah 14:13-14), for Satan's motivation to challenge God's authority (1 John 3:8). Satan, being a fallen angel and, thus, a supernatural spirit, had possessed the body of a snake in its pre-Fall form (3:14 for post-Fall form).

The serpent was a creature made by God but used by Satan (John 8:44); 1 John 3:8; Revelation 12:9; 20:2).

"More subtle" (so delicate or precise as to be difficult to analyze or describe): Subtlety is a positive virtue when rendered "prudent" (Prov. 12:16, 23; 14:8, 15, 18; 22:3). It is negative when rendered "crafty" (2:25; Job 5:12; 15:5). In the prologue of Proverbs (1:4), one of the goals of the book is to "give subtilty [subtlety] to the simple" (Matthew 10:16).

"Unto the woman": She was the object of his attack, being the weaker one and needing the protection of her husband. He found her alone and unprotected by Adam's experience and counsel. 2 Tim. 3:6. Though sinless, she was temptable and seducible.

"Yea, hath God said": In effect Satan said, "is it true that He has restricted you from the delights of this place? This is not like one who is truly good and kind. There must be some mistake." He insinuated doubt as to her understanding of God's will, appearing as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14), to lead her to the supposed true interpretation.

She received him without fear or surprise, but as some credible messenger from heaven with the true understanding, because of his cunning.

More contemporarily: "Has God indeed said?" It emphasizes his amazement that God would restrict man's freedom of choice in the garden. Satan centers on a restriction, casting doubt on God's Word, and not emphasizing the fact that God said in 2:16 they might "freely eat" of all the trees.

This temptation, that Eve had, was like many temptations today. You will notice that the serpent did not just come right out and say that God didn't say, or that He did. He just put a question in her mind. You see, God really did not tell Eve not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He told Adam not to eat of the tree.

Eve's information was second hand from Adam, nevertheless, she was aware that they were not to eat of this tree. Most temptation comes in a very tricky way, as Eve's did.

There are some writers that do not believe this was an actual serpent, but the punishment God puts on the serpent would be of no effect if he were not truly a snake.

People who try to do sneaky underhanded things are commonly known as a "snake in the grass", reaching right back to this Scripture where the serpent first got Eve to questioning this statement of God. (Beware of those who are encouraging you to question your relationship with God, or with your church). That is just a clever way to plant doubt.

Verse 2 tells us for sure that the woman knew the restrictions in the garden, even though she did not have firsthand Knowledge.

 Verses 2-3: In her answer, Eve extolled the great liberty that they had; with only one exception, they could eat all the fruit.

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

Eve's reply reveals her carelessness with the wording of 2:16, as she belittles the privileges of God by leaving out the word that conveys the sense of "freely eat" and leaves out the word "all".

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."

"Not ... touch it": An addition to the original prohibition as recorded (Gen. 2:17). Adam may have so instructed her for her protection.

"Neither shall ye touch it": By adding to His command, Eve exaggerates the limitations God had set forth. Or it may just express the idea of consumption, with a parallel phrase used euphemistically of "touching a woman" (in Genesis 20:6; 26:29; Ruth 2:9 and proverbs 6:29).

The "lest ye die" reveals Eve's third error, toning down the penalty and certainty of death for eating. "Lest" expresses a fear of possibly dying when God had already expressed the certainty of it in 2:17 (thou shalt surely die)!

From the above words, we know that Eve knew the location of the tree. She changed (added to), the caution of God (neither shall ye touch it). Her first mistake was listening, and then entering into conversation with him (the serpent).

So many of our problems in our church could be stopped, if we did not enter into conversation with those who are opposed to the church.

The devil has always been sneaky, and his tactics have not changed. The best thing we can do is recognize the enemy and stay away. DO NOT enter into conversation. We have everything to lose and nothing to gain.

Verses 4-5: "Not surly die": Satan, emboldened by her openness to him, spoke this direct lie. This lie actually led her and Adam to spiritual death (separation from God). So Satan, is called a liar and murderer from the beginning (John 8:44).

His lies always promise great benefits (as in verse 5). Eve experienced this result, she and Adam did know good and evil; but by personal corruption, they did not know as God knows in perfect holiness.

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

Here Satan blatantly denies God with the same strong Hebrew expression God used (in 2:17).

Once the serpent had her listening, then he called God a liar (indirectly of course). The devil is the liar, and always has been. God is truth.

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."

It was technically true that their "eyes" would be "opened" (verses 7 and 22). But the problem was that their eyes were opened to behold all things in the light of their own sinfulness.

"As gods" is better translated "as God," which was true in that they would have a fixed moral nature like they knew evil, but were unable to resist it. There has always been the temptation to be like God. Here it suggests God is holding something back from Adam and Eve.

Again, he came to Eve with a half-truth. Surely her eyes would will be opened, but how horrible an opening. He was thrown out of heaven himself for wanting to be God. The flesh desires power and authority; the flesh must be controlled by the spirit, so as not to sin. Many false teachers today again are saying that man will become God. This has never been true. God alone is God.

Secular humanism in our schools is teaching our children that they are their own god. Satan is bringing a half-truth through our schools and many of our churches today, and we, like Eve, are falling for it. She looked, she saw, she desired. She had lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and worst of all, a desire to be as God.

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 of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."

"Good ... pleasant ... desired": She decided that Satan was telling the truth and she had misunderstood God, but she didn't know what she was doing. It was not overt rebellion against God, but seduction and deception to make her believe her act was the right thing to do (verse 13). The New Testament confirms that Eve was deceived (2 Cor. 11:3; 1 Tim. 2:14; Rev. 12:9).

"Did eat": A direct transgression with deception (see notes on 1 Tim. 2:13-14).

"When the woman saw": This was an evaluation process of the mind, for the tree "was good for food" (an appeal to appetite, or "lust of the flesh"); it was "pleasant to the eyes" (the same root word used in Exodus 20 in the law against coveting, as "lust of the eyes"); and it was "to be desired to make one wise" (the verb for desired is used in the law in Deut. 5 for coveting, and appeals to "pride of life," 1 John 2:16).

"With her" may imply that the man was near all the time.

You see the lust of her eyes when she looked, the lust of appetite, (she ate), the lust for worldly wisdom (make one wise). She was not satisfied to just ruin her standing with God; she included her husband as well.

Isn't that just the way of the sinner today, not satisfied to fall themselves, trying to drag someone else down with them.

Adam had the choice (he did not have to eat the fruit just because his wife did). He knew the prohibition God had made; he ate the fruit anyway.

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."

"Opened ... knew ...sewed": The innocence noted in 2:25 had been replaced by guilt and shame (verses 8-10), and from then on, they had to rely on their conscience to distinguish between good and their newly acquired capacity to see and know evil.

The sense of guilt is immediate (2:25), and they attempt to make themselves presentable, to cover up their nakedness (verse 21).

As I said before, (part of what the serpent said was true) their eyes were opened to realize the terrible sin they had committed. They suddenly were not innocent (they had sinned). The first awful thing that they discovered, was that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves to cover their nakedness, as we are about to see.

Genesis 3:14 "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:"

"Unto the serpent": The cattle and all the rest of creation were cursed (see Rom. 8:20-23; Jer. 12:4), as a result of Adam and Eve's eating. But the serpent was uniquely cursed by being made to slither on its belly.

It probably had legs before this curse. Now snakes represent all that is odious, disgusting, and low. They are branded with infamy and avoided with fear (Isa. 65:25; Mica 7:17).

(Jeremiah 12:4 and Romans 8:20), indicate that the whole animal kingdom was affected by the Fall and the Edenic curse. The serpent's mobilization may have been changed, and figuratively he was to eat "dust," (idiomatic for subservience), which conveys the idea of being cursed. Isaiah 65:25 indicates the effects will remain in the Millennium.

You see, God did not give the serpent a chance to explain. The serpent, the spirit of Lucifer, had already fallen and been cursed. There was an additional curse pronounced here. (Many believe the serpent went upright before this curse was pronounced). He would now crawl on his belly and eat dirt all the days of his life, (lower than all the others in the animal kingdom). Satan as well as the serpent, was to be bound earthly.

Genesis 3:15 "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."

After cursing the physical serpent, God turned to the spiritual serpent, the lying seducer, Satan and cursed him.

"Shall bruise thy head ... shall bruise his heal": This "first gospel" is prophetic of the struggle and its outcome between "your seed" (Satan and unbelievers, who are called the Devil's children in John 8:44), and her seed (Christ, a descendant of Eve, and those in Him), which began in the garden.

In the midst of the curse passage, a message of hope shone forth, the woman's offspring "seed" called "it", is Christ, who will one day defeat the Serpent. Satan could only "bruise" Christ's heel (cause Him to suffer), while Christ will bruise Satan's head (destroy him with a fatal blow).

"It" [or He,"] "shall bruise" [literally "crush'] "thy head, but thou shalt bruise his heal" refers to Christ's bruising on the cross, which led to the eventual crushing of Satan and his kingdom.

Paul, in a passage strongly reminiscent of Genesis 3, encouraged the believers in Rome, "And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet" (Rom. 16:20). Believers should recognize that they participate in the crushing of Satan because, along with their Savior and because of His finished work on the cross, they also are of the woman's seed.                       

For more on the destruction of Satan (see Heb. 2:14-15; Rev. 20:10).

This verse has long been recognized as the first messianic prophecy of the Bible. Thus, it also contains the first glimpse of the gospel (protoevangelium). It reveals three essential truths:

(1) That Satan is the enemy of the human race, explaining why God put "enmity" [related to the word enemy] "between thee" [Satan] and "the woman";

(2) That He would place a spiritual barrier between "thy seed" (Satan's people), and "her seed" (God's people); and

(3) That the representative seed of the woman (i.e., a human being: Christ), would deliver the deathblow to Satan, but in so doing would be bruised Himself.

Adamic Covenant: The dispensation of conscience was based on Adam's limited experience with good and evil. He should have remembered the positive results of obedience and the disastrous consequences of disobedience. The Adamic covenant was introduced at the beginning of this period.

Under the covenant, the serpent was cursed (verse 14); God promised redemption through the seed of the woman (verse 15); the woman experienced multiplied sorrow and pain in childbearing (verse 16); the earth was cursed (verses 17-18); sorrow, pain, and physical death became part of the experience of life, and labor became burdensome (verse 19).

Man failed under this covenant, degenerating to the point where people did only evil continually (6:5), until God judged them with the Flood (9:12).

This is one of the most important verses in the Bible. This is the promise of Jesus Christ as destroyer of the devil. The very first verse said that the serpent, or Satan, would be the natural enemy of mankind.

This statement truly means Satan is our enemy, but also that the snake is the natural enemy as well. The statement, "between thy seed and her seed" indicated that the enemy of Satan (Jesus), will be of the woman and not of the man. The devil, Satan, or his demons truly do nip at the heels of the Christian, but through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, we can stomp on his head.

Genesis 3:16 "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire [shall be] to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."

"Pain in childbirth": This is a constant reminder that a woman gave birth to sin in the human race and passes it on to all her children. She can be delivered from this curse by raising godly children, as indicated (in 1 Tim. 2:15; see note there).

"Thy sorrow and thy conception": The word for sorrow means "birth pangs" and sounds like the Hebrew word for tree, which is a reminder of the source of this pain in the sin involving the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It also looks forward to the Crucifixion when the curse ultimately will be hung on a tree.

"Thy desire" has been variously interpreted:

(1) A physical desire strong enough to compensate for the pain of childbirth;

(2) Her natural desire to submit to her husband's leadership; or

(3) Perhaps a desire "against" her husband in not being willing to submit to him because of her fallen sinful nature (Eph. 5:22; 1 Tim. 3:4, 11).

"Thy desire ... he shall rule": Just as the woman and her seed will engage in a war with the serpent, i.e., Satan and his seed (verse 15), because of sin and the curse, the man and the woman will face struggles in their own relationship. Sin has turned the harmonious system of God-ordained roles into distasteful struggles of self-will.

Lifelong companions, husbands and wives, will need God's help in getting along as a result. The woman's desire will be to lord it over her husband, but the husband will rule by divine design (Eph. 5:22-25).

This interpretation of the curse is based upon the identical Hebrew words and grammar being used in 4:7 (see note there), to show the conflict man will have with sin as it seeks to rule him.

As we said before, the sin of each one was an individual act, and the punishment also is individual. We too, will be judged individually. We shall stand before Jesus, one at a time. We will stand or fall on our own belief in Him. Not what our parents believe, or not what our husband or wife believe, but on what we believe. God has no grandchildren, just children.

In verse 16, God established the order in the family here on earth. A husband should rule over his wife in the flesh. As I said before, we are all responsible to God for our spirits. this Scripture, (that woman shall suffer in childbirth as her punishment for leading her husband into sin), has to do with the flesh, not the spirit.

God did not curse the woman or the man in the judgment that He spoke on them. He would provide restoration for them through the Savior, Jesus Christ. They would each be allowed to accept that salvation.

Christianity places woman on the same level with man as regarding the gospels.

Galatians 3:28 "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."

Also, we read the wife is in subjection to the husband in the flesh.

Ephesians 5:22-23 "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord." "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body."

These Scriptures are trying to help us understand how Jesus is the husband of the church. He is the groom; we are the bride of Christ, if we are believers in him, both male and female.

Genesis 3:17 "And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed [is] the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat [of] it all the days of thy life;"

"Because thou hast hearkened": The reason given for the curse on the ground and human death is that man turned his back on the voice of God, to follow his wife in eating that from which God had ordered him to abstain.

The woman sinned because she acted independently of her husband, disdaining his leadership, counsel and protection. The man sinned because he abandoned his leadership and followed the wishes of his wife. In both cases, God's intended roles were reversed.

Adam "obeyed" the voice of Eve and not God (2:17), which was the first marital role reversal.

"Sorrow" is the same word applied to the woman in verse 16. Thus, they shared equally in their punishment.

God was displeased with Adam because he listened to Eve, instead of Him.

God will not allow us to put anything, or anyone, ahead of His commands to us. The favorite excuse of many women for not coming to church is, "My husband wouldn't bring me". Come without him, if you must. He may soon come, too.

In His punishment for Adam, He cursed the ground (not Adam). The ground even today produces only what man works and gets from it. Before, it voluntarily grew. It produces the amount man puts out in effort to make it produce now.

Genesis 3:18 "Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;"

In verse 17 God said" "Cursed is the ground for thy sake": God cursed the object of man's labor and made it reluctantly, yet richly, yield his food through hard work.

Genesis 3:19 "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou [art], and unto dust shalt thou return."

"Return unto the ground": I.e. to die (2:7). Man, by sin, became mortal. Although he did not die the moment he ate (by God's mercy), he was changed immediately and became liable to all the sufferings and miseries of life, to death, and to the pains of hell forever.

Adam lived 930 years (Gen. 5:5).

In these verses above, God told man, that through much opposition from the earthly things, shall he earn a living. I believe it also means that the devil will oppose him on every side, trying to alienate him from God.

The story of the thorns and thistles growing together with the wheat until the end showed that a man will be surrounded in this world by people controlled by Satan. We will have to grow with the Lord in spite of their trying to choke off Christianity.

Man's body truly will return to the earth, because it is of the earth. The spirit of man will not return to the earth, but will be with Jesus in heaven (if we choose to believe in Jesus). God has reminded man of his humble beginning. Just through belief in the Lord Jesus Christ can mankind rise above this humble beginning.

 Gen. 3:1-7. 14-19 - Bible Ref

CONTEXT:  Genesis 3 tells the story of paradise lost by the willfulness of human sin. Humanity was originally given every perfect thing they could need or want, and virtually no restrictions. Despite that, Adam and Eve needed only a bit of prompting from a talking serpent to disobey their Creator. Immediately overcome by shame and quickly cursed by God, the painful story of human history begins with their exit from the Garden of Eden.  Genesis 3:1-7 tells the story of Satan's temptation of mankind, the first human sin and the immediate consequences which followed. Created sinless, ''very good,'' and placed into a perfect environment by a fair and loving Creator, Adam and Eve choose to sin anyway. They earn spiritual death and separation from God, as well as lives punctuated by pain, conflict, and frustration, ending in physical death. This is followed by God's response to human sin, tailored to each of the parties involved. The following chapter will tell the story of the beginning of human life apart from God and the garden.  Genesis 3:8-24 describes the consequences of man's rebellion against God. After falling to temptation, humans are ashamed and foolishly attempt to hide from God. When confronted with their sin, the man and woman confess, but also attempt to shift the blame to others. Adam even blames God. In response, God issues three individual ''curses'' which affect humanity to this day. Mankind can no longer stay in the ''very good'' garden, and is banished. Even so, God continues to provide for His creation.

v. 1: Now the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, 'Has God really said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?' - The previous two chapters described God's creation of the universe and how fully He provided for the first two human beings. Genesis chapter 3 turns to describing how they became separated from God.
• In this verse, a new character is introduced: the serpent. Who is he, and where did he come from? We have no reason to assume that animals possessed the power of speech and reason at this time. Still, some commentators remark that the woman-later named Eve-seems oddly unsurprised when the serpent speaks to her. Others point out that many conversations recorded in the Bible appear to be summaries, not word-for-word transcripts. The actual discussion might well have taken longer than what's recorded here.
• We're told the serpent is the most crafty or shrewd of all the wild animals. This is from the Hebrew term ā'rum, which also means to be "sly." The term, itself, is not necessarily negative, but, as with any gift or ability, how one chooses to use it makes the difference between sin and righteousness. In this case, the serpent uses "craftiness" in order to ruin mankind. After the fall God specifically curses the serpent (Gen 3:14-15).
• Not all Bible scholars agree, but most understand this speaking serpent to be Satan himself. As a result, conservative Bible teachers generally hold one of two interpretations. First, that Satan possessed and spoke through a serpent created by God. Second, that Satan took on the form of a serpent for the purpose of tempting the woman to sin. That seems consistent with what we know of Satan from other passages in the Bible. First of all, Satan and the other demons are spiritual beings, not physical, but with the ability to take control of both people (Luke 22:3) and animals (Mark 5:11-13). Jesus describes Satan as the Father of lies (John 8:44), and Genesis 3 describes the first recorded lies to be heard on earth. Finally, Revelation refers to Satan as a dragon, the "ancient serpent" or "serpent of old" (Revelation 12:9; 20:2).
•  His first recorded words to the woman challenge God's commands with a simple question, casting doubt on God's words. The serpent seems to either misstate or question God's restrictions about what she and the man could eat: "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"  It will become clear the serpent knows exactly what God had commanded. His intent is to provoke Eve to judge God's fairness.

v. 2: The woman said to the serpent, 'From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; - In the previous verse, the crafty serpent-most likely Satan in control of an animal, or taking on an animal form-began his temptation of the first woman. This conversation is his attempt to convince her to disobey God. He starts with a question he knows the answer to, one apparently intended to draw her into judging God's character. This begins by encouraging her to consider, or even to doubt, God's command: Did God really say you can't eat from any tree in the garden?
•  Vv. 2 and 3 describe the woman's response. She immediately corrects the serpent: "We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden." This part of the response is all well and good. Her answer is correct, but getting her to talk is part of the Devil's trap. The end of her response, in the following verse, shows the woman doesn't have a clear understanding of God's command.

v. 3: "but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'?' - In v. 1, the serpent questions the commands of God by asking the woman a slanted question: Did God really say you could not eat fruit from any tree in the garden? In verse 2, she begins to answer, and at first her answer seems solid. She correctly responds that no, they could eat fruit from trees in the garden. She then concludes her answer with God's actual restriction. However, she doesn't seem to quote it exactly right. This reflects just enough doubt over God's words to give Satan an opportunity.
•  Here's what God said to Adam about what not to eat in Genesis 2:16-17: "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."
• The woman, either by accident or out of sincerity, added an extra layer to God's statement. The restriction that they were not even allowed to touch the tree wasn't part of God's actual command. Either Eve, as the woman would later be known, did not fully understand the command, she misremembered it, or she intentionally misquoted it in an effort to be more emphatic.
• Instead of bolstering her willingness to obey, this addition to the words of God actually makes Satan's strategy more effective. In the context of this conversation, her error makes God appear even more restrictive than He is. The serpent will quickly zero in on the issue of God's character, His honesty, and His fairness.

v. 4: "The serpent said to the woman, 'You certainly will not die! - After drawing the woman, later named Eve, into a conversation about God's restrictions for their food, the serpent now flatly contradicts God. This creature-Satan in a serpent's form-rejects God's warning that the humans would die if they ate fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
• This conversation serves as a prototype for temptation to sin. The serpent's strategy begins with starting a conversation about it, then subtly questioning the fairness of the command, then candidly calling God a liar. To this day, every temptation to sin is, at some level, a question of God's character using that same path: Did God really make that statement...is God really telling the truth...should I trust what He says...don't I actually know better...shouldn't I choose my own way? These are the questions, and the path of pride and sin, through which the serpent will lead Eve.
• One key aspect of the serpent's strategy, of course, is that he never fully lies. Compelling deception is always built on half-truths about God's intentions and restrictions. As we'll soon see, Adam and Eve did not instantly die physically after eating fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. However, they did die as a result of their decision, both spiritually and physically. They began the "slow dying" of the aging process and they immediately lost their deep connection to God. They became spiritually separated from the source of all life. In the New Testament, Paul will describe this as being dead in our sins, the state of spiritual death each of us continues to be born into (Ephesians 2:1-2)

v. 5: "For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil.'" - Here the serpent continues his deception of the first woman. His goal is to convince her to disobey God by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. In the previous verse, he flatly called God a liar for His warning that Adam and Eve would die if they ate the fruit from that tree. Now Satan reveals what he wants Eve to believe: that God's true motive for His rule is selfishness. According to the Devil, God just wants to scare them away so they don't become like Him. God is competitive and jealous. He can't be trusted to give commands for their good.
• In fact, the serpent says, eating that fruit will open their eyes. They'll finally see the world as it really is, knowing all things: "good and evil," just like God. As in the previous verse, this deception contains a partial truth. Looking ahead a few verses, we see that mankind's eyes are opened. They do come to know good and evil. But that knowledge brings them neither God's power, nor His wisdom, nor His ability to love. Knowledge without corresponding maturity brings perversion. Humanity is not equipped for this knowledge, and so it brings them shame, fear, and pain. They come to know good by abandoning it. They gain the knowledge of evil by committing it for the first time in human history.
• The power in the serpent's temptation was his attack on God's character and motivations: Don't obey God because He is neither good nor loving nor trustworthy. The Devil says God wants to rob us of experiencing true power, from gaining full understanding. This assumes that mankind is in a position to judge the character of God. That lie continues to drive humans toward sin and away from the good God who loves us.

v. 6: "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate." - One could argue these are the most tragic words in human history. Sin enters into the world, into God's "very good" creation, for the first time. Verses 1 through 5 describe the temptation to sin, but it's not until the moment described here that the line is crossed. Satan has encouraged the first woman to doubt the words of God and the goodness of God. He has tempted her to place herself above God as a moral judge.
• The verse reveals Eve's three motivations for crossing that line: The tree's fruit could satisfy her body's appetite for food, the tree was visually attractive, and the tree could make her wise. Those motivations line up closely with the Apostle John's description of the things which still drive the world as we know it today: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16).
• In response, Eve takes the fruit, eats it, gives some to Adam, and he eats also. The mention of Adam is a bit abrupt in the context of the story, as is his willingness to follow Eve's lead. Does the Bible's statement that "her husband, who was with her" mean Adam has been present for the entire conversation? If so, why did he remain silent? Why didn't he jump in and stop it? If he has come into the picture later, why wouldn't he question her choice, or resist?
• In any case, Adam's sin is no less than Eve's. In fact, according to the Bible, it's Adam's sin which causes the fall of man (Romans 5:12). Some people willingly engage with temptation and dive into sin; some let others make that decision for them. Some follow the crowd instead of standing up for what they know is right.  Both humans are guilty, as will become clear in the following verses.

v. 7: "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves waist coverings." - In the previous verse, the first woman crossed the line from engaging with temptation to willfully disobeying God's command. She is followed soon after by the first man, Adam. This is literally ancient history, but it's still heartbreaking. Part of the reason it resonates so painfully is that we've all had the experience of engaging with and falling to temptation. Adam and Eve started the ball rolling, but all of us who have lived have kept it going (Romans 3:23).
• Within the context of the story, the immediate consequence of their sin is unexpected and also tragic. Just as the serpent said, their eyes were opened. They now understood many things, including both good and evil. But this wasn't the wisdom either was hoping for.
• Genesis 2:25 tells us pointedly that before their sin, Adam and Eve were both naked and unashamed. They were truly innocent, so their nudity was sinless and free of shame. Now, instantly, they are aware and ashamed. Though they'd never worn clothes before, the knowledge of good and evil creates a fearful urge to cover themselves, to hide from each other, to mistrust the other person's motives and thoughts, and to protect themselves.  This was just the beginning, though. The consequences for their sinful rebellion would be deeply devastating for them and for all of us to follow.

v. 15: "And I will make enemies Of you and the woman, And of your offspring and her Descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise Him on the heel.'" - In direct response to the serpent's deception and Adam's and Eve's disobedience, God pronounces curses on each of them, as well as on the generations to follow.
• In the previous verse, God began his curse on both the serpent and on Satan, who took the serpent's form or body. In this verse, the curse is focused entirely on Satan. God promises to make enemies of Satan and the woman. In fact, their offspring-or "seed"-will remain enemies throughout all generations.
• Eve's offspring, of course, includes all of humanity, born one generation after another up to the present day. But who is Satan's offspring? It's unlikely this refers to actual biological children of the Devil. Satan's offspring may include all of the fallen angels, demons, who will follow him. It definitely includes those humans who will come to believe and practice his lies.
• Jesus, calling out the Jewish religious leaders in John 8:44, said this: "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."
• God's final curse or oracle to the serpent was that the offspring of the woman will crush, or bruise, Satan's head, and Satan would strike or bruise his heel. Many Bible scholars see this as a reference to Christ, the Son of God, and also the ultimate member of Eve's offspring. Satan would damage Christ, but He would have the ultimate victory on behalf of humanity. Those in Christ will celebrate the victory with Him for eternity.
• The bottom line of God's curse on Satan is this: He has been the enemy of humanity since the beginning. He can never be trusted. As Peter wrote, he continues to hunt and seek to devour humans to this very day (1 Peter 5:8), though he won't be allowed to do so forever.

v. 16: "To the woman He said, 'I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you shall deliver children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.' - In direct response to the serpent's deception and Adam's and Eve's disobedience, God pronounces curses on each of them, as well as on the generations to follow. Here, God turns to the woman who was deceived and willfully ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. His oracle or curse for her has to do with her relationships and family life. Having children may bring her great joy, but bearing and giving birth to them would require severe pain. More children would always bring more pain.
• The marriage relationship would now be strained instead of simply being the source of love, comfort, and belonging the woman would desire. It's unclear exactly how the second part of the curse about husbands and wives should be read. Scholars have offered various interpretations of this subtle Hebrew phrasing. Most interpret this to mean that the woman would desire to be in control of her husband, but he would be the master. Others see this as implying that the woman's desire for her husband would be frustrated by his role as an authority in her life.
• Male headship in the marriage relationship is not part of the curse and this idea is not implied here. On the contrary, God's response to this incident proves that Adam's role as leader and protector was intended before sin entered the world. The New Testament makes clear that God's design for human marriage, with husband as the self-sacrificing head, is meant to be a beautiful picture of Christ and the church. Paul even quotes Genesis 2:24 when he paints that picture in Ephesians 5:22-33.
• Instead, it seems this curse involves conflict over the God-given marriage roles. Adam and Eve both failed to uphold God's intended pattern of spiritual leadership, and it caused the greatest disaster in history. This is especially felt in our individual lives as each spouse fails to live up to God's design for selfless love and respect between husbands and wives.

v. 17: "Then to Adam He said, 'Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; With hard labor you shall eat from it All the days of your life." - After pronouncing curses on the serpent/Satan in response to his deception and on Eve in response to her sinful choice, God now turns to Adam. Compared to the punishments given to Eve and the serpent, this curse is longer and more detailed.
• Adam's sin was not, simplistically speaking, that of listening to his wife. Taking godly counsel is always a good thing (Proverbs 15:22). Instead, Adam sinned by not standing up and speaking the truth to his wife when she invited him to participate in her sin. And, judging by the description of Eve's conversation with the serpent, for failing to protect and lead her as he should. God makes clear that Adam was independently responsible for his choice to eat from the tree. He wouldn't be allowed to get away with passing the blame to her or anyone else.
• As with Eve, Adam's curse is one of hardship in doing the necessary work of life, in doing something that would otherwise have brought great joy and meaning to his existence. Instead of easily producing crops as seeds were planted, as had been the case in the garden up to this point, the ground would be cursed. Adam will suffer great pain in getting the ground to yield edible crops in doing his daily work. And this curse will afflict him all the days of his life.
• It's interesting to notice that Eve's curse involved pain and struggle in her family relationships, while Adam's involves pain and frustration in his working life.

v. 18: "Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; Yet you shall eat the plants of the field;" - This verse continues God's curse on Adam for his sin. Adam disobeyed the command not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And, he failed to guide and protect His wife according to God's original plan. This remark from God to Adam has to be read along with the previous two verses to be fully understood.
• God has pronounced that Adam's lifelong work of getting food from the ground would now bring him great pain and frustration. The ground itself would be cursed. Part of that curse, revealed here, includes thorns and thistles coming up with the crops, making it more difficult to sustain and harvest them. Rather than the earth being a cooperative partner, it would now be an uncontrolled landscape.
• However frustrating it becomes, though, Adam and all of his offspring would not be able to quit the work. They would need to eat the plants of the field in order to live, so the painful work must continue.

v. 19: "By the sweat of your face You shall eat bread, Until you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.'" - This verse concludes God's curse on Adam for his sin, and it has a devastating ring of finality. In the previous two verses, God revealed that Adam's working life in the fields would be marked by pain and frustration. The ground itself would be cursed, making it difficult to get the crops they would need to live.
• Now God concludes by saying that instead of work being a joyful source of purpose and meaning in Adam's life, it would be a lifelong source of necessary frustration. It would be hard and sweaty. And it would end in Adam's eventual death. God, who formed Adam out of the dust of the ground, announces that Adam will one day die and return to dust. Death would be the final consequence of Adam's choice to sin, just as God had warned when giving the command.
• It's true that Adam did not stop breathing on the day he ate of the tree, but death entered into his life on that day. In modern language, we sometimes refer metaphorically to a person with a fatal injury or disease as "already dead." Adam's heart may have continued to beat for many years, but the poison which killed him entered his body when he sinned.
• In addition to being separated from God's presence in a spiritual death, every day of Adam's life from this moment on would be marked by an awareness that he would one day die. That's the curse all humans have lived under ever since. For those in Christ, though, the curse of death will be overcome (Ephesians 2:1-10).