We will be discussing the results of rebellion against God in the garden of Eden. We will see the curse, the first sacrifice, and the guards of the garden of Eden. All this happened because of the desire of Adam and Eve to be like God.
Last time, we talked about the beginning of Genesis 3 and all the conditions that led up to what theologians call the Fall of Man. There were two trees in the garden of Eden that gave humanity its first free will choice. Adam and Eve deceived by the serpent chose to be like God and know the difference between good and evil.
As we all know, actions lead to consequences. In the second half of Genesis 3, we will now focus on those consequences that set the stage for the rest of human history. It also sets the stage for a remarkable promise.
Understanding the Curse
When we look at the curse God gave in Genesis 3, it would be our mistake to think that God cursed the serpent, the woman, and the man. It looks like that at first glance but God was actually enforcing the result of rebellion and sin against Him.
God did not want to curse His creation just like He did not want to send His Son to the Cross. But the Results and Consequences of Adam’s and Eve’s actions required He fulfill the consequences. Even today, we cannot escape the consequences of our actions
We may think we have escaped but eventually we will pay the consequences. I shouldn’t speak just a negative with “consequences.” For good behavior, there are also rewards. Both consequences and rewards of the same thing, they just due for our actions.
With the wickedness and injustice in our world today, a person may get away with consequences for quite a while. If nothing else, the Great White Throne Judgment will set the record straight, and it is final. The curse we study in this issue is not reversed until Jesus dies on the Cross. And it is not truly reversed until God creates the new heavens and new earth.
It is a curse both Christians and non-Christians live under today. Even those who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus still suffer under this curse. The only difference for Christians is that Jesus has made us new creatures in Him (2 Corinthians 5:17) and we are waiting for the day of His return when all will be permanently reversed for us in our new bodies (1 Corinthians 15:50-58; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
Please understand God did not enforce a curse only against the snake, the woman, and the man. He had to enforce the curse against all His creation. Once rebellion began, the toothpaste was out of the tube. There was no way to undo it until Christ came. When Christians suffer, it reminds us that we are still in the world, even though we are not of the world. Now, let’s get to some literary analysis of the last half of Genesis 3.
After the Fall, the Lord God deals with each individual in reverse of their accusations and blame. You will remember that God addresses Adam first, then Eve, and then the serpent for their parts in the great rebellion. Now, He first addresses the serpent, then Eve, then Adam. I don’t know the technical term for this but it is almost a chiasm.
If we would consider it a classic structure, the person at the middle of it is the serpent. He is the last accused and the first to experience enforcement of the curse. I don’t know if there is any significance to that. If you have thoughts along these lines, please comment below.
The Serpent’s Curse
Genesis 3:14-15: Then the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you from all the cattle, and from all the animals of the field, and on your belly you shall go, and of the dust you will eat all the days of your life. And enmity I will put between you and the woman, and between your seed and between her seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
This is the first part of the curse, which causes the first sacrifice and the guardians to be put into place. Remember from our last issue that “Lord God” is a combination of Yahweh and Elohim. It is the first time (Genesis 2:4 and onward) that we are seeing Yahweh in the Scriptures. God now will carry out the first consequence of the curse toward the serpent.
God will respond to each violator, “Because you did this…” That is how we know the curse is not from God but merely the consequence of their actions. God did not explain the curse that would happen to Adam and Eve. His command should have been enough. It should be enough for us today.
We are curious creatures who want to know why, but our desire to know does not inoculate us from the result of our actions. The serpent is separated out from all the land animals, here I translate it “cattle.” The serpent is also separated from the animals of the field.
Because he lured the humans to rebellion, only he among the animals would suffer the consequence of the curse. Other animals must live in this cursed creation but they were not guilty of any wrong.
My imagination carries me away when I read the account of the curse against the serpent. The curse has four parts in total. We’ve already discussed the curse proclaimed, that the serpent is separated from the other animals. The second part of the curse is that the serpent will “go on its belly.” The word used for “go” is the word “to walk.”
Why this interests my imagination is because if the curse restricted the snake to crawling on the ground, what could it do to move across the ground before? Could the serpent originally walk? I guess this gets as esoteric as our earlier conversation about whether the animals could all talk before the Fall or if only the serpent could because he was inhabited by Satan.
Still, you have to wonder what its previous abilities were that it lost as part of the curse. I wonder if there is a correlation between Satan being the most beautiful angel in heaven and losing that dignity as God’s enemy.
Going around on its belly was not the only consequence of its deception. The serpent also had to eat the dust of the earth. I would imagine it ate plants before but is now stuck eating the “dust of the earth.”
When I looked up some of the commentaries on this passage, none of them says there was a change in the way the serpent moved across the ground or in eating dust. They almost unanimously suggest that these were terms of humbling the serpent.
That makes sense in the context of the other parts of the curse. One commentator points out something I would not have thought of, that the Hebrew word for “crafty” is almost the same as the word for “banned” (Victor P. Hamilton, New International Commentary on the Old Testament, 1990). Both the serpent and the man experience the curse “all the days of their life.”
Genesis 3:15 is the first verse of the Bible that is power-packed with a promise. First, we see this enmity between the serpent and the woman today. I don’t know too many women who like being around snakes. Most women tell me snakes creep them out. They don’t want to be anywhere near them. That actually confirms the consequences of the curse.
The most extraordinary part of the curse is actually a promise. Scholars call this verse the-Proto–evangelion, the first gospel. The key to understanding this as the gospel is the word for offspring or “seed.” The “seed” is extremely significant in the Old Testament. We will see later in Abraham’s day that it is important there too.
What is important here is that the seed of the woman is the first reference to the Messiah, Jesus. He is born of the woman, and is therefore in Mary’s case God’s seed brought to fruition in her body. The seed of the serpent we understand as Satan himself.
The next sentence is the most significant, even more important than the term seed. The promise, or prophecy, is “He shall bruise your head, and you will bruise His heel.” The word “bruise” only occurs in three verses of the Old Testament. It appears here twice and once in Psalm 139:11, and Job 9:17. It is translated either “crash” or “bruise.”
Satan will take advantage of Jesus’s mission on the Cross and will think he has won the battle. He will bruise Jesus’s heel. But only for a short three days. Many scholars to not want to attribute the first gospel to this verse. They see many issues with approaching it this way.
While it may not be a verse about the prophetic nature of the Messiah Jesus and Satan, it surely is a positive note. If you were to see it as the first gospel, Jesus will bruise his head when He rises from the dead and put Satan in his place for good.
The Woman’s Curse
Genesis 3:16: To the woman, He said, “I will greatly increase your pain and your pregnancy, in pain you will bear children, and your desire will be for your husband, but he shall rule over you.”
This is the second part of the curse, which causes the first sacrifice and the guardians to be put into place. Next as we talk about the curse, the first sacrifice, and the guards, we focus in on the curse for the woman. God says He will, or must, increase her pain in pregnancy and childbirth. The word “pain” appears twice, only separated by “pregnancy” in the Hebrew text.
Even more of an emphasis is “greatly increase.” You can’t see it in English but the Hebrew text has the same word twice, always providing emphasis. That’s why translations say something like “greatly increase,” or “surely increase.” I’m sure every woman who has borne a child can attest to this.
Let’s distinguish between what the curse did and did not bring. It brought pain in pregnancy and bearing children. I cannot say much more to this as I am a man. I can’t imagine that kind of pain, and pain is what the curse brought to women.
What it did not bring was barrenness, birth defects or troubles with the result of birth, or sicknesses to the offspring. None of that can be found in this verse. Although it is a curse, there is also a positive hint in it because pregnancy will still bring children. A when was still be able to have children. There is no indication that her children will have unhealthy physical traits or characteristics.
The last phrase is interested. The phrase can be found in two versus in Genesis. The first is here of a woman desiring her husband, or many translations understand it to mean a desire is contrary to her husband. After that, “but he will rule over you.”
The second occurrence of this phrase is almost identical in Genesis 4:7. There, the same word relationship happens for Cain and sin. The word “desire” only appears in three verses. It appears here, in Genesis 4:7 as I have mentioned, and in Song of Solomon 7:11. In Song of Solomon, it speaks of positive, romantic desire.
What does this phrase mean both for the woman and for Cain? I think this phrase helps us to understand the relationship between a wife and husband and Cain and sin. It’s easier to understand the reference for Cain. Sin desires to rule over Cain. But Cain must rule over it.
I think the same relationship dynamic is what Genesis 3:16 is talking about. Because of rebellion and sin, a wife will want to rule over her husband but the husband will rule over her. Remember what it was like before the Fall. Adam and Eve were supposed to rule over creation together. That dynamic has now changed to seeking to rule over one another instead of take on life together.
The curse is the consequence of that rebellion, and it has now made what was supposed to be a powerful relationship of husband and wife subduing the earth as God’s representatives and image bearers to trying to subdue and rule over one another. How many married couples struggle with this part of the curse still today?
The Man’s Curse
Genesis 3:17-19: And to Adam, He said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and you have eaten from the tree of which I have commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground because of you. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. And thorns and thistles it will sprout for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for from it you were taken, for you are dust and to dust you will return.”
This is the third part of the curse, which causes the first sacrifice and the guardians to be put into place. This is the other place we see “because you have…” It’s interesting that he will be penalized for listening to his wife’s voice. This should not be taken that the husband should not listen to his wife. It is that in this circumstance, Adam listening to Eve led to their rebellion.
Adam is just as responsible for eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil as Eve is. Perhaps more so because he is the one charged in biblical material for bringing sin into the world. He negated his responsibility of leading in the home allowed Eve to bear.
Adam received a direct command from the Lord while Eve was probably told this command by Adam. Adam is doubly responsible because he heard it from God’s mouth. We are all responsible the moment we hear God’s Word. When we disobey the commands given to us in Scripture, we will be guilty of rebellion, breaking those commands, and they are the penalties.
God must curse the ground because of Adam’s disobedience and rebellion. This is why I say all of creation is subject to the curse. The ground is not bring forth the fruit and plenty that it did in the garden. I believe all created beings must deal with not finding the amount of food they would have in the garden.
While animals must travel until I find enough food to eat, Adam will toil in the soil with little return for his efforts. We find this trueeven with machinery, farmers and gardeners work very hard with little reward. Even after they have mastered their craft of producing beautiful flowers and the food people need, they may still have a bad harvest.
Though there are several words for “ground” in Hebrew, the word used here is adamah, very close to the word for “man” or “Adam.” This may have been a poetic choice. Other words for ground or land are the word for earth or land. But this word was chosen. It is, in a sense, ironic.
Where we expect the word “twiddle” or “work” we actually get the word “eat.” This is not by mistake. Look at Genesis 3:17-19 and notice how many times the word “eat” is used. In verse 17, first we see “because you have eaten of the tree,” then we have the negative “I commanded you to not eat.”
Then in verse 18 we have “in pain you shall eat of it,” followed by “and you shall eat of the plants.” Finally in verse 19 we see “by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread.” The one decision to eat what God said not to eat causes eating in pain for the rest of human history. Disobeying God’s word leads to a curse on what was once an enjoyable activity.
We get the idea of toiling and working the ground hard from the phrase “by the sweat of your face.” It will take such hard work that people who work the ground will do it through sweat. Another new phenomenon for Adam was the truth that God made him from the ground and now because of the curse, he would return to the ground.
God made Adam from the dust of the earth, and because of sin and the curse, death means the returning of the human body to the earth where it will decay like every other living thing after the Fall. The blessed truth and hope is that for those who believe in Jesus, their souls/spirits go to be with Jesus until they are reunited with their bodies, an eternal, immortal body.
A New Name and Sacrifice
Genesis 3:20-21: Then the man called the name of his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living. So the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skin and clothes them.
We are going through talking about the curse, the first sacrifice, and the guards. Now we come to the first sacrifice. But we must first discuss why Adam renamed his wife. Some scholars think Genesis 3:20 is either out of order or a condemnation of Eve.
It’s better to understand it as a positive note of prophetic and hopeful activity by Adam. Although they are now subject to death because of their rebellion, Adam sees his wife as able to bear children and continue the human race.
Her name, Eve, is possibly a form of Hebrew related to “to live,” or “life-giver.” Adam sees the hope for the human race through her ability to bear children. This is why he calls her the mother of all the living. It is a blessing for them to know this is not the end despite sin entering the world and death being the reality going forward.
After the establishment of the human race through Eve’s ability to bear children, we turn to one of the most interesting things we will find in Genesis 3. Back in Genesis 3:7 when their eyes were opened and they realized they were naked, they sowed fig leaves together to make a make-shift covering for themselves.
This was not good enough to clothe them. Like everything we try to do for ourselves it was not an effective covering for them. God does not take away the shame they felt about their nakedness. Instead, he does an amazing thing by making a clothing for them more suitable from animal skins.
This clothing is described in the original language as an apron that covered them. It could be worn by men or women. It was suitable to cover them. The thing that amazes me about this verse is that you must ask the question, “Where did God get animal skins to cover them?”
While some scholars are not willing to go there, I will. To get animal skins you must sacrifice an animal. The incredible point of God making a sacrifice to clothe Adam and Eve is that they would be aware that their sin cost an animal’s life. It is the beginning of sacrificing regularly to God.
From here on throughout the Bible, you will see sacrifices even before the sacrificial system God set up. The most significant sacrifices are actually done by God for us. We all know that Jesus died on the Cross as a sin sacrifice for us. But if you read too fast through these verses, you will miss the fact that God made the first sacrifice, and then the last one, for us.
God had to kill an animal to make animal skin coverings for Adam and Eve. Can you imagine if they watched Him sacrifice the animal? Then to realize how much sin cost that animal its life, and to realize sin costs death? Cain and Abel will offer God sacrifices and offerings. Noah will sacrifice to the Lord.
Who will teach them? Adam and Eve learn from God, and they will teach their children, and sacrifices will be perpetual until the law of Moses when they become an institutional fact of life. God did not remove the rebellion of Adam and Eve but He taught them what it cost.
Kicked Out Of the Garden
Genesis 3:22-24: The Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, and now lest he stretch out his hand and also take from the Tree of Life and eat, then he would live forever.” 23 So the Lord God sent him away from the garden of Eden to the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove the man out, and on the east side of the garden of Eden He placed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned back and forth to guard the way to the Tree of Life.
We’ve described the curse, the first sacrifice, and now we’ll talk about the guards. God taught Adam and Eve the great cost of their rebellion and sin. He made the first and last sacrifice for us. But there’s more to the story. While God forgives our sins, we are still responsible for the consequences.
Who is God talking to? Once again, we see the plural “us” as He is speaking to someone. The two going theories are as we describe before. God could be talking amongst the Members of the Trinity. The other option is that God is speaking to members of His divine council. My personal understanding is that He is still speaking to the divine Council as He was in Genesis 1.
No matter which way you come down on the issue of the plural pronoun, the fact is that God points out something incredible to me. The Tree of Life is what it sounds like. It is a tree that feeds you for eternity, something that gives you the ability to live forever.
Since this is the case, and Adam and Eve had become rebellious and have learned what good and evil are all about, they could no longer eat from that tree. Eating from the Tree of Life would mean the consequence for sin would not happen. They would not die even though that is what happens when you rebel against God.
God could not allow them to avoid the experience the consequence for their rebellion. That’s not how it works. There was nothing with them eating from the Tree of Life before they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But once they did, the Tree of Life was not off-limits.
I believe there is great significance to the fact that the Tree of Life does not show up again until we read about the new heavens and new earth, and the New Jerusalem, which has the Tree of Life that is for the healing of the nations. I also believe it will keep our mortal bodies immortal.
The only way we can live forever is to have our sins forgiven by God, paid for by Jesus’s sacrifice, and living for God every day. We will still experience physical death but we will not experience spiritual death. Eternal life had to come through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus for us. That’s the only way we will ever eat from the Tree of Life.
God has to ensure Adam and Eve cannot eat from the Tree of Life and live forever. The only way to do that was to restrict access to the tree by kicking him out of the garden. Even would no longer be a place for human beings. The perfect conditions of creation were now tainted by sin.
People wonder if the Garden of Eden still exists in our world today. I will reserve my answer and my thinking for that for a later volume and issue. To keep the man or any other human from getting into the garden, after driving him out of it, He set up a guard against the way to enter the garden.
Apparently, you can only enter the garden in Eden from the east side, and the road that led to the entrance of the garden must be protected. God placed cherubim on the east side of the garden blocking the way into the garden. The word for cherubim in Hebrew is plural so it could have been more than one.
The coolest part is not just the cherubim, which are protecting angels, but to place a flaming sword that flashed back and forth and all around to protect the Tree of Life from human hands. That just sounds awesome! First you have warrior angels protecting the garden. Then you have a flaming sword. Forgive me if my mind starts thinking of lightsabers.
These are the guards God put in place so that humanity would experience the full consequences of rebellion against God. Those consequences are written into the fabric of creation. When we think about the curse, the first sacrifice, and the guards, we begin to realize what we have lost because of our rebellion and sin.
The Saga Continues…
We have finally gotten through the first three chapters of Genesis and talked about everything from God, creation, and the Fall. I’m not done going through Genesis. I plan to start a new volume and talk about Genesis 4-6 from the time of Adam to the beginning of Noah’s story. That’s where we are headed next in the BIG series.
