What Went Wrong? - Systematic Anthropology

The book of Genesis is the book of “beginnings” or “firsts”. Genesis describes the beginning of time, space, matter, energy, earth, sky, land, sea, plants, animals and mankind. Genesis also tells us how good it was and what went wrong.

The Ban

God’s creation, made to be the perfect “terrarium” for mankind to thrive in, was deliberately created with a vulnerability. As true as there is light and darkness physically, God established an opportunity to display moral light and darkness by instituting a ban. Here are the exact words of the ban from Genesis Chapter 2:

16 And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”
Genesis 2:16-17

Physical laws, like those governing gravity and mass, offer principles that yield predictable outcomes for experimental trials. Likewise with moral laws, behavioral violations lead to certain predictable consequences. God established the clearest definition of a moral law possible. Right and wrong behavior are precisely spelled out, including an unambiguous consequence.

Chapter 2 of Genesis continues with a narrative on how Eve was created for Adam, Adam’s instant satisfaction with his partner and their marriage relationship. In addition, we’re told that Adam and Eve were both naked and unashamed. This will be an important detail soon.

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

Moral Experiments

Moral laws are tested in an area of our being I have termed our “future simulator”. Read the chapter on “Future Simulation” for more. Briefly, in order for a moral law to make any sense, humans have been granted the power to simulate the future. There are “slots” in our simulator for facts, there are libraries of knowledge and understanding that assist us in accurately predicting future outcomes based on variable circumstances.

Set a glass of water near the edge of a table within arm’s reach of a toddler in a high chair and our future simulators will quickly arrive at a probable future outcome (and cost consequence). The circumstances are processed with knowledge about toddlers, glass and gravity. Our future simulator will creatively and imaginatively arrive at many possible future outcomes. Automatically, those outcomes that are worth reviewing, because they meet requirements, goals or spell danger, are raised to our conscious awareness. Wisdom will insist that we avoid that future which involves broken glass and act to move the glass away from both the edge of the table and the toddler.

For Adam and Eve, merely hinting at the possibility that one might die should be enough to prevent any behavior that would test the certainty of such a consequence. The moral consequences of a violation can easily be experimented through a future simulation without actually having to break any ban. Behavioral choices that lead to deathly outcomes can be avoided.

Adam and Eve were created not as slaves to robotically obey God their creator, but were endowed with a mechanism to weigh options, simulated in their moral minds, selecting futures that best suited their interests.

Garbage-In, Garbage-Out

For a future simulator to work correctly, all the facts, knowledge and consequences must be clear. What if a fact is replaced with a lie? What if the severity of consequences are doubted? What if the knowledge needed to make accurate predictions isn’t clear? If any of these abuses occur, our future simulators will arrive at faulty outcomes.

Insights from Genesis 3 give us what we need to understand ourselves. I can’t state this more emphatically. Grasp the concepts in this chapter and you’ll be miles ahead in understanding yourself and others. Bear with me– we’re going to tackle this chapter piece by piece.

The story opens with a description of the serpent and its opening question to Eve.

Verse 1

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat of any tree in the garden?’”
Genesis 3:1

Skip This Trivia #1

Was it a serpent or a snake? The word “serpent” comes from the Greek word Herpeton (ἑρπετόν) which literally means “creeping thing”. Thus some folks have thought that this creature was actually a beast with legs. The original Hebrew uses the word Nachash (נָחָשׁ) which is most commonly translated “serpent”. Complicating the matter is the Hebrew translation into Greek which uses the Greek word Ophis (ὄφις) (not Herpeton) which is also a word primarily translated “serpent”. Another word, not actually part of this discussion you might run into is the Greek word Echidna (ἔχιδνα) which is typically translated “viper”.

Common Knowledge: This Serpent was the Most Crafty

Serpent or snake, what is important is that this creature had a known reputation for craftiness. But someone might ask, “is being crafty a good or a bad thing?” This Hebrew word translated “crafty” is rather uncommon. It is used first here, twice in the book of Job and is one of Solomon’s favorite words, used 8 more times in the book of Proverbs. In every instance where it’s used in Proverbs, the word carries a positive connotation so instead of being translated “crafty”, the word is translated “prudent”. Based on what is about to happen, “crafty” is probably a legitimate meaning. Like its other translation, crafty implies this serpent had made a plan to guarantee a future success. This serpent had a motive or agenda and was working toward a future goal.

Talking Animals

Can animals speak to humans? Nobody has ever heard an animal repeat words a human could understand (not counting the mimicking abilities of a parrot). However, my family owns a dog and clearly our dog is smart enough to make sounds in the proper volume, and in the correct context, to communicate with humans– still very, very primitive, but it is real communication. A normal voice volume “gruff” while standing near the back door is the word for “let me out”. The high-pitched “yelp”, while staring right at you with a catch-toy at your feet, unmistakably means “play with me”. The precision, syntax and grammar used by this serpent is difficult to imagine considering what we know about animals today. I believe the Bible is telling the truth. In some way, this serpent talked.

The Doubt

The serpent asked Eve a question. Before we dissect this question, let’s explore the world of doubt.

Imagine walking up to a friend and asking them, “Are you feeling well?” This is not an open-ended question such as, “How are you?” This question is a question asked with a certain sense of doubt. Your friend will most likely respond, with “Yes.” But be ready for the follow-up question, “Why do you ask?” Questions that contain a sense of doubt are actually responses to information that you accepted as almost valid, but still need to confirm the information before being totally accepted… almost like the information was tentatively accepted. The mere fact that you tentatively accepted the information, means the merit of the information was significant.

Take this example: As you approach your friend, you observe mistiness and moisture around their eyes, almost in quantity enough to form a tear and roll down their cheek. Past experience tells you this could be a sign of weeping or crying. Or it could be hay-fever or someone’s been dicing onions. It isn’t pollen season and you know your friend hasn’t been around onions– but you attempt to confirm your suspicions by asking, “Are you feeling well?” Before you even ask the question, it is apparent that you’ve made an observation and it has moved you to believe your friend isn’t well.

We need to talk about this ridiculous example too. This time, as you approach your friend, you see they are wearing a white, long-sleeved dress shirt, tie and pressed pants– the uniform of a Mormon missionary. But you know your friend is Jewish. The picture of a Mormon missionary is rejected from your mind immediately. In this case, there is absolutely no reason to confirm a doubt with a question since you never even partially accepted the deduction from your observation.

For extra credit, wander over to Luke 22:66-71 for a dialog between the Jewish leaders and the imprisoned Jesus. This same form of accepted doubt confirmation is used in that conversation also.

The crafty serpent’s question, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat of any tree in the garden?’” is an example of a question asked with a sense of doubt. Why would the serpent ask this question the way it did? The serpent likely has tentative information that must be confirmed before being totally accepted. Immediately the woman is faced with a conflict. She heard what God said and it doesn’t match what the serpent apparently heard. The way the serpent repeated what God said is just close enough to the way she remembered it, that this difference could be explained by a “verbal typo”, “memory glitch” or “brain error”. The woman naturally has reason to believe she may have incorrectly heard God, or failed to remember what He said. If the ban God gave Adam wasn’t accurately stored in her mind, it needs to be revisited and possibly corrected. The serpent has successfully changed a fact that once was clearly understood into doubted information.

This is indeed crafty. The serpent wasn’t asking this question to gain new knowledge from Eve. The serpent wasn’t building a relationship or just passing the time of day. The serpent had a motive and that motive wasn’t in Eve’s best interest– the serpent was on a mission to corrupt mankind.

Eve’s next step is to get clarification. She is apparently not going to consider this serpent’s crafty reputation as a reason not to trust it. Pro tip: If you think you may have misunderstood God, go ask God for a clarification.

Verses 2 & 3

2 The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, 3 but of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You must not eat of it or touch it, or you will die.’”
Genesis 3:2-3

Good for Eve. Not only does she repeat the memorized words from God nearly word for word, she or Adam apparently added an extra safety fence around the tree. God didn’t strictly ban touching the fruit, but from a human perspective, if you never touch it, you’ll certainly never eat it either. Some expositors make a big deal out of this augmentation, but I’m not bothered by it– this seems like a practical fence to place around the tree. It means they totally understood what was at stake here: death. Avoiding death is good.

Verses 4 & 5

4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent told her. 5 “For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:4-5

The serpent not only provides a completely contradictory claim, “You will not surely die” to overlay God’s truth, “you will die”, but also adds additional erroneous information to her knowledge set. Her future simulator is now going to be bent in a completely wrong direction since these statements are now lies. Eve, already open to any voice that may help correct her doubted statement from God, accepts the serpent’s lies as truth. Any decisions made, trading one future outcome for another, will be wrong decisions because her mind is being fed wrong information.

Another insight from the serpent’s lies is that the claim that “God knows” imputes to God an evil motive. This essentially slanders God. The serpent is insinuating that God was not telling the truth in order to prevent Adam and Eve from a future outcome that would be good for them. Any statement from any source that attempts to cast God under a shadow cannot be a true statement. God can’t be accused of any form of unrighteousness– it is impossible. This should have been a red flag immediately to Eve.

Verse 6

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Genesis 3:6

Removing just one basic fact of the ban, “you will die” and adding additional information that appealed to the desires of the soul, produced a future outcome with no negative consequences, only positive ones. Adam was with her and ate the banned fruit too.

There are many ways this story can be used to help us understand ourselves better… here are just a few:

We’re much too quick to devalue God’s words and value words we want to hear
We are deceived easily– lies are accepted as facts without any push-back
We’ll choose future outcomes which promote ourselves over those outcomes which obey and respect God

You Will Die

Adam and Eve violated the moral ban. They disobeyed God. They ate the fruit God forbade them from eating. What will be the consequence of this moral violation? The ban promised they would die.

What is Life and what Is Death?

We live in a very medically advanced world, but a spiritually ignorant one at the same time. Even with all the technological advancement, research and explosion of knowledge, life and death are only measured in terms of our convenience. I’m not trying to get too political, but when a person can be jailed for killing a wolf that is mauling their livestock, but someone else is applauded for killing their own pre-born child, you know our understanding of life and death is corrupt.

All life is from God. He prepared a universe to support it; He designed the interfaces so living beings, created in His image, could thrive, perfectly balanced physically, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally between ourselves and our creator, eternally.

In God’s “very good” creation, the harmonious relationship between all living souls and God was intended to be eternal. Physical death wasn’t in the original design. But spiritual death, an eternal separation from God when His moral standard is compromised, was. The “ban” we discussed earlier guarantees that an all-powerful God, unified within Himself by loving relationships, could demonstrate love to His creation and His creation could freely love its creator. It doesn’t seem like this is so at first, but when you finally start to understand the wisdom of God’s long-term plan, it will become clearer.

Most first-time Bible readers trip over this when they study the account of Adam’s sin and Eve’s transgression. Why didn’t Adam and Eve’s bodies just fall over dead after eating the forbidden fruit? Wasn’t death the consequence of their error? Death was the consequence, but just as there are two kinds of life (see the chapter titled Life or Life?), there are also two kinds of death (see Death or Death? for a fuller discussion of this).

Upon eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve’s spiritual life, vitalized through a living and whole relationship with God was severed. They were both instantly cut off from this life-giving flow of power and abundance. Whatever interface mechanism was present physically or spiritually in their beings to support this was broken permanently. So permanent was this fracture, all of Adam and Eve’s children, for all generations would be born with this same brokenness, right from conception.

The mankind that God created “very good” was now destined to live an earthly life without any internal, built-in, spiritual intimacy with God. This is the current state of mankind: broken, dysfunctional and cut off from God. This is the most important meaning of death. Sure, Adam and Eve were still eating and drinking, breathing and active in their custom “terrarium”, but their mortal lives were merely lives lived in a body and soul.

Remember, God has a long term plan. Being alive as a body and soul, with the cold artifacts left over from what once was an inspired mind, is still enough to recognize one’s own need for healing.

The consequences of being dead to God additionally included some unexpected side-effects. Let’s continue marching through Genesis chapter 3 and see what these side effect are.

Verse 7

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

Open Eyes

Again, think in terms of what God has already explained to us about two forms of life and the associated forms of death. Obviously, prior to their fall, Adam and Eve could see with their eyes. They observed the universe God made for them, marveled at the wonders of His creative genius, explored, discovered, studied, learned– all by using their eyes.

What can this mean then that “the eyes of both of them were opened”? I like to think of it this way: sometimes when you install a new app on your phone, a dialog pops up, asking your permission to grant authority to the app to use certain features of your phone. If you install an app that puts little cutesy bunny ears on all your selfie faces, you can bet that app is going to need authority to use your camera. If you deny the app that authority, the app is useless. If you grant authority, the app can now take pictures using the camera and modify them before they are stored.

When Adam and Eve fell, and their spirits died (being cut off from God), the apps in the soul gained authority to perceive through the eyes and modify what was seen before the data is stored. Their eyes were once the exclusive organ of the spirit and mind, but now the eyes are dedicated to the desires of the soul.

This is perhaps the most important aspect of having their eyes opened. Their corrupted souls now have a filtering effect upon all information coming into their lives. They will now only see what their soul wants (or allows) them to see.

We haven’t time for a complete study here– we’ll leave this for another chapter (see Eyes), but in the fall the eyes also became a portal to the person’s soul. Almost everyone has seen movies where actors tell a complete story of their inner disposition just through their eyes. Women feel creepy when a perverted man leers at them. Anger, love, frustration, desire all are visible through the window of the eyes which are now linked to the soul.

When I came to Christ in 1980, I happened to run into someone who had known me very well prior to when I met Jesus. Perhaps a year or more had passed when I saw him again. In the middle of our conversation, he stopped and noted, “There’s something different about your eyes… they seem brighter and clearer.” I had noticed this too, not in myself, but in the people I began to meet from church. Everyone seemed to have eyes that were loving, clean, caring and pure.

We’ve all noticed that when there is a broken relationship, one or both parties will avoid eye-contact. This can hurt because it is a common form of body language that reflects the brokenness.

Nakedness

Once Adam and Eve’s eyes were reappropriated to the soul, the soul suddenly had access to information it never had or needed to have before. Through the eyes, the soul– the manager of all body pleasures and comforts, the app platform for all social, relational and promotional programs– took offense that the body was naked. As you recall, prior to their transgression, there was no shame in being naked– but now there was shame. Shame is the emotion of guilt, and guilt is the condemnation of the conscience. Before, being naked wasn’t even an issue, but now nakedness is a serious problem.

I’ll be completely honest with you. I am still praying and studying God’s Word to discover, as an engineer, hacker, and debugger, where this fits in the scheme of things. Based on the current state of modern society, nakedness is a visual trigger that stimulates the sexual lusts. These lusts are extremely powerful to the point of being addictive and violent. I can’t help but believe this might have had something to do with Adam and Eve’s very strong reaction to discovering their own nakedness.

Added to this nakedness and shame combination is the fact that part of what the serpent told Eve was true: they now knew the difference between good and evil– that knowledge, an inner mechanism of the conscience, pricks the soul with guilt in the aftermath of evil behavior.

Adam and Eve’s decision-making process is now highly influenced by factors that would benefit the body and soul. The soul is aware of its own shortcomings and irrationally labors to conceal that guilt. You can’t hide your guilt from God, but the soul still works to cover up the evidence. This would explain the high priority the soul gave to finding clothing for their naked bodies– they wanted to conceal their guilt from God. This is insanity at its best, but such a very common behavior even today. Who hasn’t at one time or another wanted to “sweep” some embarrassing, unappealing, or reputation damaging “dirt under the rug”?

As we’ll see soon, God doesn’t take any pleasure in our dirt. God wants to look at us and see righteousness instead of filth. Covering human guilt with plant leaves isn’t sufficient to make the guilt go away. God has a plan and He Himself will provide a solution where the guilt will be completely covered and when He looks at us, He’ll see righteousness.

The Task Master

Since the soul saw nakedness and experienced such a strong negative feeling of shame over the situation, up from the soul rises a priority signal that can’t be ignored. Verse 7 tells us that the very first thing they did after their error was to cover their bodies and bring some relief to the feelings of shame they were experiencing.

Before the fall, nakedness wasn’t an issue because there was no shame. After the fall, nakedness became a top-priority problem to solve. Instead of being submitted to the mind and spirit to be scheduled for resolution, the matter was resolved immediately. In the new, corrupted scheme, where the spirit is dead and separated from God, the soul is master. Feelings now are king and the imprecise messages that rise to the mind are now commands that must be obeyed.

Adam and Eve’s Inquisition with God

Verse 8

Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
Genesis 3:8

Remember, Adam and Eve are now dysfunctional in a serious way. By observing the immediate changes to their thinking and behavior we can learn a lot about ourselves.

Verse 8 opens with Adam and Eve hearing the voice of God as He walked in the garden. The casual way this is presented leads us to believe that it was common for God to walk in the garden. It may also have been a regularly scheduled fellowship time. The phrase, “in the breeze of the day” or “in the wind of the day” could also be translated, “in the cool of the day”, perhaps at evening around dusk when the sun was setting and winds were refreshing. To the Jewish world, the evening is the start of a new day.

How did Adam and Eve respond when presented with evidence of God’s approach? They hid themselves, hiding among the trees and undergrowth of the garden. The soul once more takes charge and issues a command, “Don’t let God see us!” or perhaps, “God scares us! Do something!” Their beings are now a slave to this imbalanced soul. Logic would of course have told them that hiding was futile. Darkness may have been descending, but God sees through the night like we see through day. The mind’s logic and reason haven’t been trained to operate in this new ugly state.

Back in verse 7, Adam and Eve took immediate steps to cover their nakedness. Here in verse 8, hiding themselves from God is another futile attempt to conceal their guilt from God.

As you read the next verses, I hope you catch a glimpse of the genius of God merely from His precise and intuitive line of questioning.

Verse 9

So the LORD God called out to the man, “Where are you?”
Genesis 3:9

The Truth

Way back in verse 1 of this chapter, we discovered that the serpent was a master of veiling lies and doubts through its line of questioning. God, however, is the master of revealing truth through His line of questioning. When God asks a question, it isn’t to discover knowledge that He is lacking. There is always a greater purpose to God’s questions. God wants the question to enter our minds so that we ask ourselves (our souls) the question. Our soul’s responses to the questions God asks expose the corruption, delusion, deception and lies of our soul. When the mind is made aware of the unfaithfulness of the soul, its selfish attitude and fleshly desires, the mind gains a little control and the soul becomes tamed and disciplined. The spiritual relationship problem, being separated from God, isn’t fixed, but as the mind matures, fed by truth from God, it can take God’s reasonable advice and turn to Him for redemption.

Questions from God are the barest essence of the Holy Spirit and His work of convicting our souls of sin. Pro tip: Let the Holy Spirit’s lamp illuminate your heart through self-searching questions.

God’s question to Adam was a gift to Adam, moving him in the direction of truth. Instead of being overcome by the forces of the soul, Adam will resist, using a new force: the truth. Having a mind filled with accurate knowledge restores the mind’s strength. Creativity and imagination begin to act to improve wisdom and understanding. Moral consequences are now simulated correctly and mankind can, only to a human degree, begin to receive God’s blessing.

Where are you?

This simple question, the first of God’s question of the book of Genesis, is monumental. I’m not going to explore all the metaphysical and spiritual interpretations, but let’s just look at what I believe is the primary purpose of this question. Remember God knows where Adam is. But when Adam asks himself, “Where am I?”, the answer should enlighten him. From a purely physical perspective, Adam might respond, “I’m off the trail, behind a bush, under a tree.” But God is beginning Adam’s training in soul-searching. God’s question assists Adam in recognizing a change of spiritual life, a transition of executive authority, a realization that he is now in a different spiritual state.

“Where are you?” should have led Adam’s mind to recall that yesterday he wasn’t hiding from God in a bush. Yet today, Adam is cowering in the dark, heart racing, hoping that God wouldn’t see him.

Verse 10

“I heard Your voice in the garden,” he replied, “and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
Genesis 3:10

Adam replies quite honestly for a man whose selfish soul is now in command. Pro-tip: Always be honest with yourself and be honest especially with God.

Adam relates to God a response detailing not actually where he is, but the whole process of why he has attempted to hide himself from God. This is also a very good sign. Adam sees the deepest possible meaning of God’s question and provides clear details.

Fear

The key point of this verse is the soul’s priority message: “I was afraid”. The strongest and highest priority message from the soul is fear. When the “fear” button is pushed, a human being is sent into a state of alarm where adrenaline is injected into the bloodstream, where all mental processing is set aside to focus on life-saving, self-preservation measures. Senses are heightened and muscles prepare to fight or run. It is almost impossible to ignore fear. Those trained to continue on task, on mission, even in the presence of fear are called brave or courageous.

We need to visit this emotion in greater detail, but for now, it is also important to note that fear isn’t all bad. The strength and power of fear can be a force that debilitates some people. But at its core, fear is there to save our lives. A fear of God isn’t as bad as it may seem. God is rightly to be feared, but He is also a bottomless source of infinite love. When combined, we have leverage to discipline the soul and move in a direction that facilitates redemption. We avoid those behaviors that act against God’s character out of fear and return to God in repentance trusting in His love.

God’s response, as usual, is again genius.

Verse 11

“Who told you that you were naked?” asked the LORD God. “Have you eaten of the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?”
Genesis 3:11

In verse 11, we get two questions for the price of one because they are closely related. The first question is again directed at Adam to help Adam understand himself and the current state he is in: “Who told you that you were naked?”

The Knowledge of Good and Evil

God already knows the answer to this simple question, but does Adam? Remember the fruit that Adam and Eve ate from was the fruit of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:17). Prior to their transgression, Adam and Eve had no knowledge of good and evil. Prior to their transgression, all they had was God’s verbal ban describing behavior that would earn them a negative consequence: death. Now that they have eaten from this forbidden fruit, they gained the knowledge of good and evil. I have no clue how this adjustment to their beings took place, but as we’ve already seen, their behavior changed drastically. Adam and Eve know of their guilt through this uncontrollable urge to hide their nakedness. They know they are NOT good. They know what behavior is evil. The knowledge of what constitutes evil works its forces through the soul’s lusts and desires. The forces that oppose evil and inform the mind of right behavior is the conscience.

Those cartoon depictions of a confused mind listening to a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other aren’t far from reality.

The sooner Adam and Eve understand this new source of moral knowledge, the sooner they’ll be able to get in line with God’s plan of redemption. God asks this first question to introduce Adam to his new two-sided coin of knowledge. Adam needs help seeing his guilt is a response to knowing what is good and how far he has fallen from the righteous, holy, moral standard of God’s perfect character. Adam is now aware and responsible, within himself, to weigh choices he makes in life against the knowledge he now possess of good and evil. Adam’s ability to identify good will mature as God reveals more of Himself. Similarly, as the flesh and its lusts seek its own pleasures and comforts, the soul’s capacity for evil will also regrettably mature.

Even in this modern day, far removed from the garden, it is self-evident that exposing a child to the potential evils that the soul is capable of is considered a form of child abuse. We protect children from this exposure until that time when the mind matures with God’s truth to create at least a semblance of balance in our battle against the corruption of the soul. Children who are abused this way suffer life-long damage– another victory for the serpent.

God already knows the answer to the second question, “Have you eaten of the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?” The mere fact that Adam is aware of his nakedness is proof that he ate. Adam could have responded with a “Yes”, or “No”, but responds with a whole lot more.

Verse 12

And the man answered, “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
Genesis 3:12

If you’re a student of your own soul (or have children), you’ll recognize the almost humorous quality of this response. This is the classic response, “Yes, but…” “Yes, I ate the fruit, but your rules pale when compared to Eve’s influence!” “Yes, but I wouldn’t have eaten the fruit if You wouldn’t have given me Eve, whom you made!!”

This is a new behavior for Adam: “finger pointing” or “blame-shifting”. He is demonstrating another variation of the evil things the soul is capable of. Adam is unwilling to take responsibility for his own actions. This new behavior is the force behind delusions, rationalization and hypocrisy. Adam did something wrong, but he has an excuse. It wasn’t completely his fault– or so he thinks. Pro-tip: If you did it, own it.

Note that Adam wasn’t deceived by the serpent or by Eve. Adam didn’t have his facts turned to doubts or his information challenged. Adam ate in full knowledge that it was forbidden. This makes Adam’s act a true act of sin, whereas Eve’s failure was a transgression she was deceived into committing. I won’t spend time on this now, but note that whenever the source of sin is discussed in the Bible, Adam is the source.

Adam should have taken full responsibility for the failure– he did eat the fruit and that’s what really matters. Still, Adam accurately describes the order of events. Eve was the supplier of the fruit. She touched it. She ate it and she gave it to Adam. All true.

Verse 13

Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
“The serpent deceived me,” she replied, “and I ate.”
Genesis 3:13

God then offers Eve a new style of question. This question is asking Eve to play back the video recorder that is constantly running in our minds. We don’t need a body-cam– we have a precision instrument built-in to us taking the sounds and images from our senses and condensing the data into the key events we experience to be stored as memories. God asks for a play-back from Eve. God knows what happened. Will Eve replay the scene correctly?

Eve passes the test and even deepens the question, understanding that God was less interested in the timeline of events, but trying to discern if Eve understood the cause for the events. This is hindsight– a great tool of personal improvement. Not only can we simulate the future to weigh options and consequences, we can re-live situations and discover better solutions through the exercise. Lovely Eve has already spent a little time in reflection, walked back over the events stored in her mind and discovered the point where her decision-making skills were ruined by lies. Eve would make a great hacker, debugger and coder. Likewise, Eve wisely confesses to breaking the ban.

At the time, Eve didn’t sense that she was being deceived. At the time, Eve welcomed the enhanced knowledge, the alternate view of the facts, and the different perspective. But the serpent’s statements weren’t in any way innocent or neutral– they were deceptive. The serpent filled Eve’s head with garbage and Eve’s head came to a bogus conclusion. Accurate future simulation, especially in regards to predicting the consequences of moral choices, depends on facts and truth.

Judgments From God

Verses 14 & 15

14 So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you 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 will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Genesis 3:14-15

Against the Snake

I find it interesting that we don’t get to hear any explanations from the serpent. God jumps directly to the consequences. We’re not told of any ban in the garden that outlawed deception, but this serpent clearly used its privilege as a living being to corrupt the perfection of God’s creation. The serpent acted totally out of line with what was the unspoken standard of creation: glorify the Creator God and act in ways that reflect His character. It is quite reasonable that this serpent is condemned to suffer a lowering on the pecking order of beasts.

The mention in verse 14 that the serpent will now travel on its belly is another subtle hint that perhaps snakes, prior to the fall, once had legs. I’m not going to die on that hill, but it is a possibility. And the serpent won’t be forced to a diet completely composed of dust– this is just an expression to relate how humiliated this serpent will be from this point on.

Another insight from God’s immediate condemnation of the serpent is that in so many ways, this serpent was Satan, an already-fallen angel of the highest order, whose attitude toward God was already known. Man was yet another player in his war against God, created better than angels and likely an object of Satan’s jealousy. Knowing that God was well pleased with the mankind He created, Satan knew he could bring harm and suffering to God by corrupting the mankind God so adored.

An Inkling of Hope

Verse 15 gives us not so much a judgement against the serpent, but clearly a promise with earthly and spiritual meanings. I’ve talked to many women in my years. The number one creature considered creepy, disgusting, and horrifying by women is the snake. I have yet to hear a woman call a snake “cute”. Most women want the snake dead and as quickly as possible. So on a physical, mortal level, this enmity God seems to have placed between women and snakes is real.

What about this “seed” stuff in verse 15? Seed is Bible-speak for children or descendants. This verse predicts a male offspring of Eve. Likewise there will be an offspring of the snake too. The woman’s seed and the snake’s seed will be at war (enmity) as well. The woman’s offspring will someday will crush the head of the snake– implying that his blow will be severe enough to end in death. The snake will wound Eve’s offspring, but the injury won’t result in death. This “prophesy” is the first of many times God reveals a piece of His long-term plan. When all knit together, it is clear that God has sewn a thread of redemption from this fateful day through all the books of the Bible.

Spoiler Alert- Loosely interpreted, the seed of the snake is the devil and death itself, brought into the world when Adam and Eve believed a lie, rather than placing their trust in God when tested. Jesus is the long-awaited and promised seed of Eve who will wage war with death and defeat it. Jesus will die on the cross, but be raised to new life on the third day, thus being merely bruised, securing victory over death.

As we’ll also see in the next chapter, Satan, working in Adam and Eve’s son Cain, as the first convert to evil and the “seed” of Satan, will murder Able, the righteous son and “seed” of Adam and Eve. This is also a sad fulfillment of this prophesy given as yet another foreshadowing of what Christ will do on the Cross. Cain merely bruised Able, since, as the book of Hebrews points out, although Able is dead, yet he still speaks!

Verse 16

To the woman He said: “I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth; in pain you will bring forth children. You will desire your husband, and he will rule over you.”
Genesis 3:16

Against Eve

This verse is very straightforward, and with a little unwrapping, we can glean many very interesting insights.

Consider again, what is God’s end game here? What is God’s response to the new normal of a corrupted man and a corrupted woman living in a corrupted world? What will be God’s role now that Adam and Eve have rejected God and His participation in their lives?

Note that Eve was formed from Adam and the curses against Eve have everything to do with the original source of her life.

Firstly, the woman, for her part in bringing death into the world through her transgression will suffer severe pain in childbirth. God even says it twice, so you know it was important enough to bear repeating. Adam and Eve haven’t had any children yet. Children will be a “Genesis” first we’ll read about in the next chapter. I’ll expound on this a bit in the article titled, “Listen to God’s Advice“.

Secondly, God shares with Eve a critically important fact: The corruption of a woman’s soul, its selfish bent and dysfunction, won’t be exactly the same as her husband’s soul’s corruption. Eve will discover that built into her selfish ambition is a desire for her husband, so intense that it will seriously strain their unified relationship of “one flesh”. Eve was created in a way such that she was ‘formed’ from Adam and so her consequences concern her relationship to Adam.

Before you run off screaming, “Sexually, women are less likely to desire their husbands than men are to desire their wives– this verse is hogwash!”, let me explain this word “desire”.

Desire– Somewhat Untranslatable

Sadly, this word Teshuqah (תְּשׁוּקָה) appears only three times in the entire Old Testament Hebrew. Thus it is difficult to gather enough usages in context to give us a full sense of its meaning. But let’s try, starting with the last instance first.

The last instance where this word appears is in Song of Solomon 7:10

I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me.
Song of Solomon 7:10

The book of the Song of Solomon is a rather romantic story of prose and poetry, where words are used for their artistic and picturesque sense. I wouldn’t set up a complete doctrine based on word usage from this book. However, in this case, the word caries a sense of a man’s intense desire for a woman, a desire so passionate that the desire borders on ownership or possession: “I belong to my beloved.” In a romantic sense, this may actually play well– as long as the physical nature of the man doesn’t use this desire as an abuse of power. The entire book of the Song of Solomon is filled with a gentle passion to the relationship between this man and woman. I’m inclined to understand this word for the picture of intense desire it carries– to the point of being a gentle master, owner or possessor. This kind of ownership is a welcome, comforting, strong attraction.

Now let’s return to Genesis where we find the only other instance of this word in chapter 4 verse 7

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you refuse to do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires you, but you must master it.”
Genesis 4:7

We’ll talk in more detail about this entire story from Genesis chapter 4 later, but for now, re-read this verse and I think you’ll agree that as God speaks with Cain in a tough-love, man-to-man advice setting, God wants Cain to appreciate the danger he is in. Sin, expressed as a foreign power, is crouching, sneakily, as would someone about to do something evil, at Cain’s door, always a reference to a strategic point of control. This is a warning to Cain. God advises Cain to master this force, postured for attack, because if he fails in his defense, sin will own Cain. Thus this instance of desire again carries an intense sense of power– a desire that is motivated to control, own and possess.

As you can see, we have too few contexts to gain a full understanding of this word. However, by comparing these other two instances, it is very likely the woman’s desire in Genesis 3:16 isn’t sexual desire. We’re looking at an intense desire that wants to master, own and take control of her husband, perhaps even usurp his leadership.

Rule Over

From the man’s side of dysfunction, a strong inclination will exist to turn what should be a solemn marriage relationship into a ruler and serf relationship, where “might makes right”. Men will use their strength advantage to relate to women through physical harm, fear and oppression. For a woman, this is really bad news. “Power corrupts…” as they say. Women, who in the original, pre-fall setting would have found fulfillment under the gentle security of the man’s strength, will instead be constantly tempted to master and control her husband, while her husband will be tempted to overpower the woman to gain a forced compliance, fear and respect. God’s judgment for Eve’s part in the fall has made marriage a battlefield in war.

Before you start to think Eve got the short end of the stick, read what Adam deserves for his part in the fall.

Verses 17 through 19

17 And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree from which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it will yield you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground— because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 3:17-19

Against Adam

God is a fair judge. When dealing with Adam, He makes it clear what behaviors led to the consequences Adam is about to suffer.
Adam isn’t chided for falling for the deception of the serpent. Adam listened to the voice of his wife. This isn’t a bad thing unless her voice directs you to violate God’s clear and detailed ban.

Adam is responsible for the curse upon the ground. Adam was formed from the ground and his consequences are concerned with his relationship to the ground. The result of this curse is that food, which until this point Adam was able to easily gather from what grew abundantly in the garden, would now have to be cultivated. Food needed to sustain their lives will no longer grow without hard work. Further, thorns and thistles will impede his work, making survival a daily effort.

Lastly and most importantly, Adam would die, not only spiritually, separated from the abundance of eternal life in God, but also physically as his body aged and would return to the ground. Adam was created with all the facilities and interfaces to enjoy fellowship with God eternally– but that was all thrown away in one regrettable moment.

God never wished death to Adam. God’s love for Adam never waned in all this judgement. I’m sure not only was this the worst day Adam and Eve ever experienced, it was probably the worst day for God too. I’m not sure I could compose a plan for humanity that took into account the necessity to express the justice, righteousness and holiness of God, like firing a cannon, point-blank, at God’s greatest creation achievement. Keep in mind that God could never demonstrate his kindness, love and mercy to robots, programmed for thoughtless obedience.

Insight of the Teeniest Nature

Before we leave the topic of judgements against Adam and Eve, it is worthwhile to point out that in the new context of life in a corrupted world, work and the pains we suffer and endure to survive are actually good for us. There is a maturing and strengthening that takes place when we pit ourselves against the harsher elements of a fallen world. What we might see as a curse, is in fact a blessing in disguise– a built-in way to form a resistance against our inner fallen nature.

People that use the challenges of life, like child-bearing or earning a living, gain power to resist sin and find God in the character of the world that hasn’t been damaged by sin. God is still glorified in His creation, now we just need to work in it. When we apply our struggles toward growth, there is nothing lost in the long run. What we gain by years of education from the school of hard knocks isn’t wasted because it is building us up to be better people. We still need a Savior to restore our relationship with God, but until that time, we can actually find contentment when we cooperate with this necessary judgment from our Just and Loving God.

We’re almost done with chapter 3 of Genesis… just a few more verses and then we’ll review what we have learned about what went wrong.

Sunset on the Worst Day Ever

Verse 20

And Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
Genesis 3:20

Despite the new reality of spiritual death, soul dysfunction, marital war, sweaty labor and finite lifespans, Adam and Eve were to become the lords of a huge world. Adam gave Eve a name that suited her worth– the first woman to bear living children, new souls not formed from dust, but from unity in a marriage, a miracle still experienced to this very day.

Being a mother on the changed earth is now a big commitment. The pain in childbirth would make every child a sacrifice. It is only right that Eve be honored this way.

Verse 21

21 And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
Genesis 3:21

Eating animals won’t be allowed on earth until after the worldwide flood of further judgement described in Genesis chapters 6 through 9, yet God is sacrificing an animal for Adam and Eve here in verse 21, not for food but for a covering for sin. Remember, Adam and Eve’s souls have a particularly strong fear of being naked, especially being naked before God. There is a huge aversion to letting others, especially God see their shame and guilt. Here is the love of God, already on the move in their lives. Truly, God is the lover of men’s souls. God understands the fear man experiences and kindly shows Adam and Eve how to escape that fear, using clothing from an animal whose life was sacrificed to provide it. God Himself provided the sacrifice, performed the sacrifice and produced the covering. Take note of this.

This is another one of those bits and pieces that when all woven together form the thread of redemption, the theme of God’s Word. This simple, harsh and necessary offering is a foreshadowing of what God will eventually do to put an end of the soul’s fear of death completely when the Lamb of God gives His life to cover our shame and nakedness so that we can stand without fear before God.

Verses 22 Through 24

22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. And now, lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever…” 23 Therefore the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 So He drove out the man and stationed cherubim on the east side of the Garden of Eden, along with a whirling sword of flame to guard the way to the tree of life.
Genesis 3:21-24

Verses 22 through 24 describe a conversation God has with Himself (read chapter titled The Trinity for a deeper dive into this oddity). God is concerned that because of man’s new fallen state, if for some reason man were to eat of the tree of life, man would somehow become an eternal being, but locked into a state of eternal separation from God. This is not a pleasant thought for God, so God prevents man from becoming permanently unredeemable. Again, this is a move that was planned and understood by God from the beginning, but by sharing the rationale behind His decisions and actions, we learn again how much God cares and how He is working the plan to bring man into a relationship with Himself once more.

Wrap Up

This is the chapter that I wish every person on this planet were required to read and understand.

Adam and Eve’s huge mistake was catalyzed by doubt, deception and lies. We are creatures responsible for our moral decisions. Our future simulations must be guarded and fed by truth which comes only from God.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, immediately their living, righteous spirits, vitalized by God, died, resulting in a separation from God. Their living, loving, fellowship with God ended. All generations from this point on are also unable to enjoy the original life-giving, built-in relationship God intended.
The fruit they ate worked as advertised: Adam and Eve now are imbued with a knowledge of good and evil. The soul is the corrupted avenue where evil influences the mind and the trained conscience is the avenue where good influences the mind.
In the absence of a living, vital relationship with God, the soul, now corrupted and focused intensely on its own needs at all expense, became the sly master of our beings.
The soul, quickly demonstrated its power, control and influence by behaving in dysfunctional ways, showing an intense fear and shame before God.
God, broken-hearted, but not surprised, from the very moment of their fall, began executing a plan that included a show of love and patience.
But at the same time, God’s justice, as certain as any of the immutable laws of the physical universe, instituted broad changes to the lying serpent, Eve and Adam, in righteous equity, with consequences suitable to the crime they had committed. For Adam and Eve and all of life, aging is now a highway toward physical death, the just penalty for sin.

When the mind, even in its crippled state, even when unfueled by a living spirit, is fed truth from God, it gains the power to master and suppress the wildly undisciplined soul, with all its fleshly desires and lusts. God’s truth, the sword of the Holy Spirit, can convict the soul of its error and lead the heart to repent before God, begging for mercy and forgiveness. Our beings can be set free from the tyranny of the soul.

People living today, really aren’t living, they are just sustaining their souls as long as they can before mortality catches up to them. After mortal death, God will hold another judgement day for the seed of Adam and Eve, and this will be the test: God will say, “I offered you a sacrifice, able to clothe your nakedness and free you from the bondage of fear and death. His name is Jesus. Did you put on the clothes He offered? Did you appreciate the life He gave? Did you want a restored relationship with Me? Nobody comes to Me except through Jesus…”

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