Genesis 3:8-24

1. Locate the passage

This pericope demonstrates the consequences of sin. It takes place in the garden and is the last moments for mankind in the garden.

2. Genre

The passage is a narrative. The conversations recorded are between the Lord and Adam, the Lord and the serpent, the Lord and the woman, and the Lord within the Godhead.

3. Determine the structure of the passage

4. Exegete the passage

This pericope opens with a juxtaposition contrasting what Adam and Eve “saw” (3:7) and what they “heard” (3:8). When they saw that they were naked, they clothed themselves. But, when they heard the sound of the Lord, they hid.

3:8 – They heard the sound of the Lord

• “the voice” (Hb. “qol”)

3:8 – “walking” – the word can mean, “come, go, walk”

3:8 – in the “cool” of the day – the word here is “ruach” – it can mean wind, breath, or      spirit

• It is the same word used for the Spirit of the Lord

3:8 – Adam and his wife hid themselves from

• The shame of sin and guilt

3:8 – “from the presence” (lit. “from the face”)

3:9 – “where are you?”

• You is second person singular
• God spoke to Adam first as the head of his house despite the fact that the serpent spoke first to Eve
• The Lord is not asking for information that He does not know. The question is rhetorical and designed to cause them to be confronted with their sin.

3:10 – I heard your voice

• I heard your “voice” (cf. 3:8 – “the voice of the Lord”)
  • The word should be rendered the same here and vs. 8
• Since God spoke to Adam (singular “you”), Adam answers in first person singular

3:10 – I was afraid

• The first occasion of fear in Scripture
• Because I was naked
  • Here it isn’t the physical nakedness that caused his fear, but his exposure

3:11 – Who told you … Have you eaten?

• Both rhetorical questions:
  • One does not need to be told of the sinfulness and shame of sin
  • The sin was the violation of God’s command

3:12 – the woman you gave me

• Adam manages to blame both the woman and God in the same sentence
  • You gave her to me
    1. Adam recognizes that she was a “gift” (cf. 2:22)
  • She gave it to me
• I ate – only because “You” and “she” gave

3:13 – What have you done?

• Again, the question is rhetorical

3:13 – The serpent deceived me … I ate

• Like Adam, Eve shifts the blame
• The Hebrew word is “nasha” – in most tenses of the verb it connotes being a creditor. The word suggests the idea of giving false hope

3:14 – Consequences for the serpent

• Because you have done “this”
  • Same word the Lord used in the question to the woman in vs. 13
  • “more than any beast”
    1. 3:1 – the serpent was more cunning than any beast
       • You are more cursed than any beast
    2. This is the first use of the word “curse” in Scripture
  • The serpent’s consequences
    1. Crawling on its belly – apparently prior to this the serpent was not restricted to crawling on its belly
    2. Eating of dust
    3. Enmity between the serpent and mankind
       • There is a sense of physical dislike mankind has for these reptiles
       • There is also the sense of a spiritual battle
    4. It’s ultimate destruction (see 3:15 below)
  • The consequences for the serpent seem to shift between physical consequences for the serpent and ultimate consequences for satan

3:15 – This verse is sometimes referred to as Protoevangelium

• First occasion of the Gospel in Scripture
• Between you and the woman … your seed and her seed
  • Both are progenitors of a perpetual struggle between mankind and evil
  • The struggle will continue until the offspring of the woman ultimately defeats evil (Cf. Rev. 12:9; 20:2, 7-10)
  • The “seed” of the woman ultimately foreshadows Christ (cf. Gal. 3:16; 4:4; 1 John 3:7-10)
• He shall bruise your head … you shall bruise His heel
  • The same word, “bruise” is used in both clauses
  • The victory over sin comes at a cost

3:16 – the punishment for the woman

• Child birth will be “greatly multiplied”
  • Though to this point, she has not born children
• Your desire (Cf. Gen. 4:7; Songs 7:10) will be for him
  • She acted independently of him in sin, but will be dependent on him moving forward
  • The language suggests a submission of the wife to her husband
• Rule need not connote dominance – can simply carry the idea of authority, or position, or role
  • The husband’s authority is reaffirmed in the New Testament (Col. 3:18; Eph. 5:22; 1 Pet. 3:1), but mitigated by his responsibility to love her like Christ loved the church.
  • Note that this word, “rule” is the word used of the activity of the sun by day and the moon by night (Gen. 1:16). This does not suggest importance, but function.

3:17 – Because you have heeded the voice

• “shama” – heard
• The voice (Hb. “qol”) is same word used of God in 3:8 and 3:10.
  • You listened to her voice and not Mine

3:17 – I commanded

• There is no excuse; Adam knew eating the fruit violated God’s command

3:17-19 – Consequences on Adam

• Cursed is the ground
  • His work became more difficult
  • Same word (“curse”) used of the ground as with the serpent
  • Thorns and thistles – part of the curse
• Physical death
  • A reversal of Adam’s creation from the dust of the earth (cf. 2:7)

3:20 – Adam called his wife’s name, Eve

• Adam continuing his responsibility for naming all of creation (Cf. 2:20)
• “Eve” (Hb. “chavah”) because she is the mother of “life” (“chay”)
  • A Hebrew word play on her name

3:21 – The Lord made covering

• To replace the inadequate coverings they made for themselves (3:7)
• Their clothing confirms their loss of innocence before God
• Tunics of skin
  • Their coverings made from animal skins
  • The text does not explicitly state that the skins were the result of animal sacrifice; however, that would be consistent with other uses of animal skins (Cf. Lev. 7:8)
    1. Their covering came at the sacrifice of the animal

3:22 – The Lord said

• God speaking within the Godhead (Cf. 1:26)

3:22 – the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil

• The divine privilege of knowledge gained through disobedience

3:23 – God sent him out of the garden

• They are sent out of the garden, not out of judgment, but out of grace
• This is not an act of desperation, with God hurriedly trying to get the man and woman out of the garden lest the tree give them mystical (magical) powers that He could not control.
  • Instead, this is God removing them from the presence of the Tree of Life allowing the normal cycle of aging to begin.

3:24 – He “drove” them out

• Same word used in Ex. 6:1 – Pharaoh drove the Israelites out of Egypt

3:24 – He placed cherubim

• Protecting the entrance to the garden

5. Let the structure of the text drive the sermon

• Do you know what God sounds like?
  • Key word “voice” (8, 10, 17)
  • Sin will keep you from Him
    God’s rhetorical questions highlight the devastating effects of sin
    • Where are you?
      • Sin keeps us from His presence
    • Who told you that you were naked?
      • Sin keeps us from His plan (Cf. 2:25)
    • Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you not to eat?
      • Sin keeps us from His Word
    • What have you done?
      • Sin keeps us from His Blessing
      • Judgment
        • Consequences of sin
        • Sin keeps us from His best for us
      • Division in the family
        • The woman you gave me
• Grace will Draw you to Him
  • Grace doesn’t judge us as much as our sin deserves
  • Grace takes the initiate to restore us; find us
  • Grace covers our sin
    • Sacrifice
  • Grace protects us from the folly of our own decisions (tree; leave garden)
  • Grace has provided an ultimate cure (3:15)