In the second chapter of Genesis, verse 15 reads, "The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 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 die."
It is important to note that God gave the commandment to Adam, not Eve. AFTER this God says that it is not good that man should be alone and decides to make a helper for him, in verse 21, when God creates Eve.
"21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; 22 and the rib which the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." 24 Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed."
Adam understood how important the commandment was because he shared it with Eve, as evidenced by Eve's conversation with the serpent at the tree in Genesis 3:
"1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden'?" 2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" 4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 So 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 to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons."
Here I speculate that after Eve took a bite, her eyes were opened and she knew she was up the creek. Just as misery loves company, she got Adam to take a bite.
There are two points I would like to make here: 1) That they had no business being next to the tree in the first place, and 2) Eve didn't have to go looking for Adam... he was right there.
6 comments:
I like to explain the whole serpent episode to my daughter as that evil voice within you that persuades you to do wrong (lie, steal, cheat, etc.)
Earlier in the book of Genesis, after God creates Eve, we are given an allusion that God is Adams mother AND father:
Genesis 2:24, "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh."
This is but one of many yin/yang principles illustrated in the first book of the Bible. Others are: heaven and earth, day/light and dark/night, good and evil, and this interesting passage -
Genesis 2:27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."
When I ask my daughter where God lives, and she answers that He lives in heaven, I remind her that Jesus said that the kingdom of Heaven is within you. So God lives within us.
Jesus says in John 10 that sheep know their master's voice. If God lives within us, then we must choose to hear His voice, or that of Satan, which is also within us, as evidenced when Jesus rebuked Satan speaking through Peter.
This is how I explain it to her. Am I wrong?
Original sin, as I understand it, is turning away from God. Not keeping the first commandment (in both contexts).
God's first commandment was not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God's first commandment of the Ten Commandments is "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
Adam broke both of them.
By listening to and following Eve instead of God, Adam made Eve his god.
That's not a set-up?
God Himself says, "Therefore shall a man leave his mother and father and cleave unto his wife..."
What did God expect?
Interesting that woman was taken OUT OF man only for him to try and get back IN her...
Adam had it easy. He didn't have to work for anything so he took it for granted. He couldn't fully appreciate or even love God - he wasn't that much different from a spoiled teenager who gets everything and doesn't appreciate any of it - until its gone.
He was all googly eyed over Eve, he forgot which side his bread was buttered on. If he had thought about it, God MADE Eve. If Eve went down for the count, God could have made another...
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