Genesis 3:6-8

 

Steps to Sin

  1. Question God’s Word
  2. Modify God’s Word
  3. Deny God’s Word
  4. Disobey God’s Word
  5. Be Destroyed by God’s Word

3:6

The fruit had three attractions:

  1. Good for Food
  2. Pleasing to the eye
  3. Desirable for gaining Wisdom – the term “wisdom” implies sight, insight and success.

 

“Wisdom” is the strongest draw to the tree.

The woman thought she needed something else to be happy.

This was the original marketing scheme and the first advertising campaign.

The marketing plan in the garden focused on two attitudes:

  1. Coveting - The woman experienced the attitude of coveting -  she needed something else to be happy and complete.
  2. Pride – The Word of God is abandoned for personal thoughts, conclusions and desires.
    1. Proverbs 11:2 says that disgrace comes with pride but that wisdom comes from humility. “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”

 

First John 2:16 warns of the attraction of the world.

James 1:14-15 warns that desires lead to sin and then to death.

 

The first four words of the eight written in Hebrew describing this sin are:

“and she took”           wattiqqah

            “of its fruit”                  mippiryo

            “and she ate”             wattok al

            “and she gave”          wattitten

 

The woman “took”, “ate”, “gave”.

The woman does not try to tempt the man

The woman gave and the man took

The man does not challenge her actions or question the ethics

 

Romans 5:12

 

2 Corinthians 11:3               

1 Timothy 2:14

 

Adam’s Sin Affects Us in 2 Ways:

1)     Imputed Sin

a.      Impute means to attribute or ascribe or count something to someone

b.      Adam was the head, the leader, the representative of the human race

c.      Answer for imputed sin is imputed righteousness: Romans 5:15-19

2)     Inherited Sin

a.      We are born into a sinful state

b.      Sin Nature

c.      Ephesians 2:1-3

d.      Psalms 51:5

e.      Result is Total Depravity – Man is as bad off as he can be, but not always as bad as he can be.

f.        Answer for Inherited Sin or the Sin Nature is Romans 6:6-7 and Galatians 5:24

 

3:7

  1. Their eyes opened
  2. They “realized” (literally “they knew” from Hebrew “yd”) they were naked
  3. They sewed fig leaves
    1. Fig leaves are the largest leaf in the land of Israel
  4. They made coverings

 

The Man and Woman become:

  1. Self-atoning
  2. Self-protecting

 

Result of Sin:

1)     Guilt and Shame – immediate

2)     Broken Fellowship with each other

3)     Broken Fellowship with God

a.      They heard but did not respond

b.      They Hid from God

c.      They were afraid of God

4)  Blame Others, Make Excuses and Not Confess Sin or Repent

 

3:8

“Walking” is “mithallek” and the Hithpael suggests a habitual actions.  God would have come everyday to the garden in the evening to walk with the Man and the Woman.

 

“in the cool of the day” is the Hebrew phrase “wind (“ruah”) of the day. 

A good and typical translation is “at the time of the evening breeze” which means “in the evening when the breeze had cooled the day” and is contrasted to the hot part of the day or “the heat of the day” (Gen. 18:1).

But the idea of “wind” and the coming of the Lord leads us to consider these verses:

1)     Exodus 19:14

2)     Deuteronomy 4:9-14

3)     First Kings 19:11

4)     Job 38:1

5)     Ezekiel 1:4

6)     Revelation 4:5

 

The “sound” of the Lord’s coming is common in the Pentateuch: Dt. 5:25; 18:16

The Hebrew word for “sound” is “qol”

Deuteronomy 8:20 adds the prep. “b” or “be qol” to say “hear/obey”

This is also seen in Dt. 13:18 and 15:5.

The “sound” can refer to the word of God and his expected obedience

 

To “walk with God” in Genesis refers to righteous conduct of men like Enoch, Noah and Abraham.

Adam and Eve can not walk with God.  They hide from God.

Their attempt to “be like God” left them running and hiding from God.  They are now far from being like God.

 

Trees are important through out this story and the Bible:

1)     Ch. 1 & 2 – Trees equal God’s bounty and Provision

2)     Ch. 3 – The Tree incites man against God

3)     Ch. 3 - Man and woman Hide in the trees

4)     Ch. 3 - Man is driven from the trees and bared from the Tree of Life

5)     Also:

                                                              i.      Dt. 21:22-23 – Tree is a place of death and curse

                                                            ii.      Gal. 3:13 – A tree removes the curse

                                                          iii.      1 Peter 2:24 – Jesus removed Sins in his body on a tree

                                                           iv.      Revelation 22:2 – Tree of Life is on both sides of the river of life