Genesis 3

Genesis is like a mystery book. We are gradually introduced to the main characters and learn about them. We then learn how they interact. We then go through the main plot leading up to the resolution at the end. We start with Elohim, progress to Adam and Eve and then are introduced to the bad guy – Satan. We end with the bad guy defeated, the good guy winning and everyone happy ever after.

Genesis 3 is the "seed-plot of the Bible." Here commences the great drama which is being enacted on the stage of human history has not yet completed. Here we find the Divine explanation of the present fallen and ruined condition of our race. Here we learn of the subtle devices of our enemy, the Devil. Here we behold the utter powerlessness of man to walk in the path of righteousness when divine grace is withheld from him. Here we discover the spiritual effects of sin—man seeking to flee from God. Here we discern the attitude of God toward the guilty sinner. Here we mark the universal tendency of human nature to cover its own moral shame by a device of man’s own handiwork. Here we are taught of the gracious provision which God has made to meet our great need. Here begins the stream of prophecy which runs all through the Bible. Here we learn that man cannot approach God except through a mediator.

The record of the fall of man is an refutation of the Darwinian hypothesis of evolution. Instead of teaching that man began at the bottom of the moral ladder and is now slowly but surely climbing heavenwards, it declares that man began at the top and fell to the bottom. Moreover, it emphatically repudiates the modern theory about Heredity and Environment. Philosophers have taught that all of man’s ills are solely attributable to heredity and environment. This conception is an attempt to deny that man is a fallen creature and at heart desperately wicked. We are told that if legislators will only make possible a perfect environment, man will then be able to realize his ideals and heredity will be purified. But man has already been tested under the most favorable conditions and was found wanting. Our first parents were placed in an environment which God Himself pronounced "very good." Only 1 restriction was placed upon their liberty, but they failed and fell. The trouble with man is not external but internal.

The Divine record of the fall is the only possible explanation of the present condition of the human race. It alone accounts for the presence of evil in a world made by a beneficent and perfect Creator. It affords the only adequate explanation for the universality of sin. Sin is universal because all share a common ancestry, all spring from a common stock, "In Adam all die." The Divine record of the fall alone explains the mystery of death. "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Rom. 5:12).

The effects of the fall upon man were 4-fold:
(1) The discovery that something was wrong with himself;
(2) The effort to hide his shame by a self-provided covering;
(3) Fear of God and an attempt to hide from His presence; and
(4) Instead of confessing his sin, seeking to excuse it.

The same effects are observable today the world over. The entire universe is now disrupted: Rom 8:20-22: “Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God's curse. All creation anticipates the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”

1 Now the *serpent was the shrewdest of all the creatures the LORD God had made**. "Really?" he asked the woman. "Did God really say you must not eat any of the fruit in the garden?"

* “serpent” = nachesh – shining one. Satan himself (Rev 12:9, 20:2) possessing and using the serpent’s body to deceive Eve. Per Rev 12:4,9, he led 1/3 of the angels to rebel against God, seeking to become God himself. The verb nachash always means to enchant, fascinate, bewitch; or of one having and using occult knowledge.

** “made” = “asah”

Where did Satan come from?
Where was he during creation?
What was his original position and purpose?


2 Cor 11:3 – “But I fear that somehow you will be led away from your pure and simple devotion to Christ, just as Eve was deceived by the serpent.”
2 Cor 11:14 – “But I am not surprised! Even Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light.”
Ezekiel 28:14,17 – “I ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian. You had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire. Your heart was filled with pride because of all your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings.”

Where was Adam? – He’s supposed to “guard” the garden and supposed to be the head of the woman! He failed his wife and his responsibility.

Ezekiel 28:15-19 – “You were blameless in all you did from the day you were *created until the day evil was found in you. Your great wealth filled you with violence, and you sinned. So I banished you from the mountain of God. I expelled you, O mighty guardian, from your place among the stones of fire. Your heart was filled with pride because of all your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings. You defiled your sanctuaries with your many sins and your dishonest trade. So I brought fire from within you, and it consumed you. I let it burn you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. All who knew you are appalled at your fate. You have come to a terrible end, and you are no more.”

*”created” = “bara” – created from nothing.

The Serpent of Genesis 3.
This Is Appendix 19 From The Companion Bible.

But for the figurative language of verses 14 and 15 no one would have thought of referring the third chapter of Genesis to a snake; no more than he does when reading the third chapter from the end of Revelation (chapter 20:2). Indeed, the explanation added there, that the "old serpent" is the Devil and Satan, would immediately lead one to connect the word "old" with the earlier and former mention of the serpent in Genesis 3: and the fact that it was Satan himself who tempted "the second man", "the last Adam", would force the conclusion that no other than the personal Satan could have been the tempter of "the first man, Adam".

The Hebrew word rendered "serpent" in Genesis 3:1 is Nachash (from the root Nachash, to shine, and means a shining one. Hence, in Chaldee it means brass or copper, because of its shining.

The Nachash, or serpent, who beguiled Eve (2 Corinthians 11:3) is spoken of as "an angel of light" in verse 14. Have we not, in this, a clear intimation that it was not a snake, but a glorious shining being, apparently an angel, to whom Eve paid such great deference, acknowledging him as one who seemed to possess superior knowledge, and who was evidently a being of a superior (not of an inferior) order? Moreover, in the description of Satan as "the king of Tyre" it is distinctly implied that the latter being was of a super-natural order when he is called "a cherub" (Ezekiel 28:14,16, read from verses 11-19). His presence "in Eden, the garden of 'Elohim" (verse 13, is also clearly stated, as well as his being "perfect in beauty" (verse 12) his being "perfect" in his ways from the day he was created till iniquity was found in him" (verse 15), and as being "lifted up because of his beauty" (verse 17).

These all compel the belief that Satan was the shining one (Nachash) in Genesis 3, and especially because the following words could be addressed to him: "Your heart was filled with pride because of all your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings." (verse 17).

Even supposing that these things were spoken to, and of, an exalted human being in later days (Ezekiel 28), still "the king of Tyre" is not compared to a being who was non-existent; and facts and circumstances which never happened are not introduced into the comparison.

There is more about "the king of Tyre" in Ezekiel 28:11-19 than was literally true of "the prince of Tyre" (verses 1-10). The words can be understood only of the mightiest and most exalted supernatural being that God ever created; and this for the purpose of showing how great would be his fall. The history must be true to make the prophecy of any weight.

Again, the word rendered "subtle" in Genesis 3:1 means wise, in a good sense as well as in a bad sense. In Ezekiel 28:12 we have the good sense, "Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom"; and the bad sense in verse 17, "thou hast corrupted thy wisdom" (referring of course, to his fall). So the word rendered "subtle" is rendered "prudent" in Proverbs 1:4; 8:12; 12:23; 14:8; and in a bad sense in Job 15:5.

We cannot conceive Eve as talking to a snake, but we can understand her being fascinated by one, apparently "an angel of light" (i.e. a glorious angel), and possessing superior and supernatural knowledge.

When Satan is spoken of as a "serpent", it is a figure of speech. It no more means a snake than it does when Dan is so called in Genesis 49:17; or an animal when Nero is called a "lion" (2Timothy 4:17), or when Herod is called a "fox" (Luke 13:32); or when Judah is called "a lion's whelp". It is the same figure when "doctrine" is called "leaven" (Matthew 16:6). It shows that something much more real and truer to truth is intended. If a figure of speech is thus employed, it is for the purpose of expressing the truth more impressively; and is intended to be a figure of something much more real than the letter of the word.

When it is said in verse 15, "thou shalt bruise His heel", it cannot mean His literal heel of flesh and blood, but suffering, more temporary in character. When it is said (verse 15), "He shall crush the head", it means something more than a skull of bone, and brain, and hair. It means that all Satan's plans and plots, policy and purposes, will one day be finally crushed and ended, never more to mar or to hinder the purposes of God. This will be effected when Satan shall be bruised under our feet (Romans 16:20). This, again, will not be our literal feet, but something much more real.

The bruising of Christ's heel is the most eloquent and impressive way of foretelling the most solemn events; and to point out that the effort made by Satan to evade his doom, then threatened, would become the very means of insuring its accomplishment; for it was through the death of Christ that he who had the power of death would be destroyed; and all Satan's power and policy brought to an end, and all his works destroyed (*Hebrews 2:14. **1 John 3:8. ***Rev 20:1-3,10). What literal words could portray these literal facts so wonderfully as these expressive Figures of speech?

*Hebrews 2:14 – “Because God's children are human beings--made of flesh and blood--Jesus also became flesh and blood by being born in human form. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the Devil, who had the power of death.”

**1 John 3:8 – “But when people keep on sinning, it shows they belong to the Devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy these works of the Devil.

***Rev 20:1-3,10 – “Then I saw an angel come down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand. He seized the dragon--that old serpent, the Devil, Satan--and bound him in chains for a thousand years. The angel threw him into the bottomless pit, which he then shut and locked so Satan could not deceive the nations anymore until the thousand years were finished. Afterward he would be released again for a little while... Then the Devil, who betrayed them, was thrown into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. ”

It is the same with the other Figures used in verse 14, "On thy belly shalt thou go". This Figure means infinitely more than the literal belly of the flesh and blood; just as the words "heel" and "head" do in verse 15. It paints for the eyes of our mind the picture of Satan's ultimate humiliation; for prostration was ever the most eloquent sign of subjection. When it is said "our belly cleaveth unto the ground" (Psalm 44:25), it denotes such a prolonged prostration and such a depth of submission as could never be conveyed or expressed in literal words.

So with the other prophecy, "Dust shalt thou eat". This is not true to the letter, or to fact, but it is all the more true to truth. It tells of constant continuous disappointment, failure, and mortification; as when deceitful ways are spoken of as feeding on deceitful food, which is "sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth shall be filled with gravel" (Proverbs 20:17). This does not mean literal "gravel", but something far more disagreeable. It means disappointment so great that it would gladly be exchanged for the literal "gravel". So when Christians are rebuked for "biting and devouring one another" (Galatians 3:14,15), something more heart-breaking is meant than the literal words used in the Figure.

When "His enemies shall lick the dust" (Psalm 72:9) they will not do it on their knees with their literal tongues; but they will be so prostrated and so utterly defeated, that no words could literally depict their overthrow and subjugation.

If a serpent was afterward called a nachash, it was because it was more shining than any other creature; and if it became known as "wise", it was not because of its own innate positive knowledge, but of its wisdom in hiding away from all observation; and because of its association with one of the names of Satan (that old serpent) who "beguiled Eve" (2 Corinthians 11:3,14).

It is amazing how a snake could ever be supposed to speak without the organs of speech, or that Satan should be supposed able to accomplish so great a miracle.

It only shows the power of tradition, which has, from the infancy of each one of us, put before our eyes and written on our minds the picture of a "snake" and an "apple" : the former based on a wrong interpretation, and the latter being a pure invention, about which there is not one word said in Holy Scripture.

Never was Satan's wisdom so craftily used as when he secured universal acceptance of this traditional belief: for it has succeeded in fixing the attention of mankind on the letter and the means, thus blinding the eyes to the solemn fact that the Fall of man had to do solely with the Word of God, and is centered in the sin believing Satan's lie instead of Jehovah's truth.

The temptation of "the first man Adam" began with the question "Hath God said?" The temptation of "the second man, the Lord from heaven" began with the similar question "If thou be the Son of God", when the voice of the Father had scarcely died away, which said "This IS My beloved Son".

All turned on the truth of what Jehovah had said.

The Word of God being questioned, led Eve, in her reply, (1) to omit the word "freely" (3:2, compare 2:16); then (2) to add the words "neither shalt thou touch it" (3:3, compare 2:17); and finally (3) to alter a certainty into a contingency by changing "thou SHALT SURELY die" (2:17) into "LEST ye die" (3:3).

It is not without significance that the first Ministerial words of "the second Man" were "It is written", three times repeated; and that His last Ministerial words contained a similar threefold reference to the written Word of God (John 17:8,14,17).

The former temptation succeeded because the Word of God was three times misrepresented; the latter temptation was successfully defeated because the same Word was faithfully repeated.

The history of Genesis 3 is intended to teach us the fact that Satan's sphere of activities is in the religious sphere, and not the spheres of crime or immorality; that his battlefield is not the sins arising from human depravity, but the unbelief of the human heart. We are not to look for Satan's activities today in the newspaper press, or the police courts ; but in the pulpit, and in professors' chairs. Wherever the Word of God is called in question, there we see the trail of "that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan". This is why anything against the true interests of the Word of God (as being such) finds a ready admission into the news-papers of the world, and is treated as "general literature". This is why anything in favor of its inspiration and Divine origin and its spiritual truth is rigidly excluded as being "controversial".

This is why Satan is quite content that the letter of Scripture should be accepted in Genesis 3, as he himself accepted the letter of Psalm 91:11. He himself could say "It is written" (Matthew 4:6) so long as the letter of what is "written" could be put instead of the truth that is conveyed by it; and so long as it is misquoted or misapplied.

This is his object in perpetuating the traditions of the "snake" and the "apple", because it ministers to the acceptance of his lie, the hiding of God's truth, the support of tradition, the jeers of the infidel, the opposition of the critics, and the stumbling of the weak in faith.

Lucifer

Isa 14:4 “That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! The golden city ceased!”

Isa 14:12” How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!”

Now Lucifer, the morning star, who is Satan, has power over this world. When Christ, the Bright and Morning Star came, He defeated Satan the self-proclaimed morning star. This alludes to a transfer of power from Satan to Christ, which is truly Biblical. Genesis tells us that the serpent will bruise the heel seed of the woman (Christ), and that the seed will crush the head of the serpent. Satan, who had been the prince of the power of the air since the beginning of the world, successfully had Christ crucified, thus bruising His heel. Nevertheless, the victory was Christ's, for after the crucifixion, Christ arose and crushed the head of the serpent. Satan may no longer possess anyone who is saved. The Devil cannot possess a saved person because he has the Holy Spirit in himself. An evil spirit cannot displace the Holy Spirit. Satan no longer has power over God's children. That means his power has diminished significantly. Thus his head has been crushed. But he is not dead yet. At the end of the age he will be cast into the lake of fire where he will remain forever. Then his demise will be complete.

When one looks at the context, it is easy to see that these things mentioned here do not apply to a mere human.

2 "Of course we may eat it," the woman told him

How does the woman know the rules? Adam told her.

Satan’s 1st attack is on God’s Word. Once we doubt the Word, all is lost! Jesus responded with the Word.

The steps which led up to the overt act:
1st, the voice of the tempter was heeded. Instead of saying, "Get thee behind me, Satan," Eve quietly listened to the Evil One challenging the word of Jehovah. Not only so, but she proceeds to parley with him.
2nd, there is a tampering with God’s Word. Eve begins by adding to what God has said—always a fatal course to pursue. "Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it." This last clause was her own addition.
3rd, she proceeded to alter God’s Word, "lest ye die." The sharp point of the Spirit’s Sword was blunted.
4th, she altogether omits God’s solemn threat, "Thou shalt surely die." The forbidden fruit is now looked upon, desired, taken, eaten, and given to her husband. This is ever the logical order. Such, in brief, is the Divine account of the entry of sin into our world. The will of God was resisted, the word of God was rejected, and the way of God was deserted.

3 "It's only the fruit from the tree at the center of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God says we must not eat it or even touch it, or we will die."

Who told the woman the rules of the Garden and of the trees?
The woman adds to the Word.

It is to be noted that in the temptation, a threefold appeal was made to Eve corresponding with the 3-part nature of the human constitution. "The woman saw that the tree was good for food"—appealing to the bodily senses; "and that it was pleasant to the eyes"—appealing to the desire nature, the emotions; "and a tree to be desired to make one wise"—appealing to the intelligence. Thus we learn here a deeply important fact, namely, that Satan works from without to within, which is the very reverse of the Divine operations. God begins His work in man’s heart, and the change wrought there reacts and transforms the outward life. But Satan begins with the external and through the bodily senses and emotions of the soul works back to the spirit—the reason for this being, that normally he has not direct access to man’s spirit as God has. This same line was followed in reference to our Jesus. "Command that these stones be made bread "—appealing to the bodily senses; "Cast Thyself down" a challenge to His courage or an appeal to the emotional nature of the soul. "Fall down and worship me"—an appeal to the spirit, for we worship the Father "in spirit and in truth."

4 "You won't die!" the serpent hissed., who was with her. Then he ate it, too

“Liar and the father of lies”

5 "God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it. You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil."

Satan implies that God is not fair in withholding the knowledge of good and evil.

Being equal to God is Satan’s desire.

6 “The woman was convinced. The fruit looked so fresh and delicious, and it would make her so wise! So she ate some of the fruit. She also gave some to her husband.”

Eve was deceived by the serpent, but Adam willfully sinned too when he ate the fruit. She was led into sin by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of the life.

It was at this point that “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin” – Rom 5:12.

It was “through the offence of one many be dead” – Rom 5:15

1 Tim 2:14 – Adam was not deceived and had not apparently seen or heard Satan. Why did he eat?

7 “At that moment, their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they strung fig leaves together around their hips to cover themselves.”

Ps 104 – clothed with light.
Fig – Symbol of Israel

Figs are man’s religion / covering.

Tried to hide their sin from God – we can’t hide our sin from Him! The first effect of the fall upon Adam and Eve was a realization of their shame. "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked." Through sin, man obtained that which he did not have before, a conscience—a knowledge of both good and evil. This was something which un-fallen man did not possess, for man was created in a state of innocence, and innocence is ignorance of evil. But as soon as man partook of the forbidden fruit he became conscious of his wrongdoing, and his eyes were opened to see his fallen condition. And conscience, the moral instinct, is something which is now common to human nature. Man has that within him which witnesses to his fallen and sinful condition! But not only does conscience bear witness to man’s depravity, it is also one of the marks of a personal Creator’s handiwork. The conscience cannot be of man’s making. He would not voluntarily have set up an accuser, a judge, a tormentor, in himself. From whence then does it proceed? It is no more the result of education than is reason or memory, though like both it may be cultivated. Conscience is the still small voice of God within the soul, testifying to the fact that man is not his own master but responsible to a moral law which either approves or reproves.

Having become conscious of their shame, Adam and Eve at once endeavored to hide it by making for themselves aprons of fig leaves. This action of theirs was highly significant. Instead of seeking God and openly confessing their guilt, they attempted to conceal it both from Him and from themselves. Such has ever been the way of the natural man. The very last thing he will do is to own before God his lost and undone condition. Conscious that something is wrong with him, he seeks shelter behind his own self-righteousness and trusts that his good works will more than counter-balance his evil ones. Church-going, religious exercises, attention to ordinances, philanthropy and altruism are the fig leaves which many today are weaving into aprons to cover their spiritual shame. But like those which our first parents sewed together they will not endure the test of eternity. At best they are but things of time which will speedily crumble away to dust.

But these self-manufactured aprons did not remove from Adam and Eve the sense of their shame, for when they heard the voice of the Lord God they "hid themselves" from Him. Man’s conscience then did not bring him to God—for that there must be the work of the Holy Spirit—rather did it terrify him and drive him away from God. Our first parents sought to hide themselves. Again we note how characteristic and representative was their action. They had some faint conception at least of the moral distance that there was between themselves and their Creator. He was holy, they were sinful, consequently they were afraid of Him and sought to flee from His presence. So it is with the unregenerate today. In spite of all their proud boastings, religious exercises, and self-manufactured coverings, men are uneasy and fearful. Why is it that the Bible is so much neglected? It is because it brings man nearer to God than any other book, and men are uneasy in the presence of God and wish to hide from Him. We all shared in the first sin and died in Adam.

8 “Toward evening they heard the LORD God walking about in the garden, so they hid themselves among the trees.”

This “walking” has to be Christ the Word in the form of man.

9 “The LORD God called to Adam, ‘Where are you?’"

Adam - Hebrew the man, and so throughout this chapter.

Were they able to hide from God?

God knew that Adam and Eve were the victims of their choice and that they were now in bondage to death and darkness. He was giving them a chance to own up to their sin.

When God sought out Adam and brought him face to face with his guilt, he was given fair and full opportunity to confess his sin. And what was the reply? Instead of a broken-hearted confession of his sin he excused himself and blamed Eve and God, while Eve blamed Satan.

Highly favored as our first parents were, blessed with everything the heart could desire, only a single restriction placed upon their liberty in order to test their loyalty and fidelity to their Maker — how fearful then their fall, how terrible, their sin! What wonder if God had consigned them to "everlasting chains under darkness," as He did the angels when they sinned? What wonder if His wrath had instantly consumed them? Such would have been no undue severity. It would simply have been bare justice. It was all they deserved. But no. In His infinite condescension and abundant mercy, God deigned to be the Seeker, and came down to Eden crying, Where art you?

W. Griffith Thomas has forcibly summed up the significance of this question in the following words: "God’s question to Adam still sounds in the ear of every sinner: ‘Where art you?’ It is the call of Divine justice, which cannot overlook sin. It is the call of Divine sorrow, which grieves over the sinner. It is the call of Divine love, which offers redemption from sin. To each and to every one of us the call is reiterated, ‘Where art you?’"

Everything recorded in Genesis 3 has far more than a local significance. God’s attitude and action there were typical and characteristic. It was not Adam who sought God, but God that sought Adam. And this has been the order ever since. " No one has real understanding; no one is seeking God" (Rom. 3:11). It was God who sought out and called Abram while yet an idolater. It was God who sought Jacob at Bethel when he was fleeing from the consequences of his wrong doing. It was God who sought out Moses while a fugitive in Midian. It was Christ who sought out the apostles while they were fishing, so that He could say, "You didn't choose me. I chose you." (John 15:16) It was Christ who, in His love, came to seek and to save that which was lost. It is the Shepherd who seeks the sheep, and not the sheep that seek the Shepherd. How true it is that "We love Him because He first loved us.

10 “He replied, ‘I heard you, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.’"

We can’t hide from God.


11 "‘Who told you that you were naked?’ the LORD God asked. ‘Have you eaten the fruit I commanded you not to eat?’"

The question was to encourage them to confess their sin. He was well aware what had happened and even knew it would happen.

Didn’t God know that they’d eaten the fruit?

12 "’Yes,’ Adam admitted, ‘but it was the woman you gave me who brought me the fruit, and I ate it.’"

Adam and Eve tried to shift the blame for their sin onto others.

13 “Then the LORD God asked the woman, ‘How could you do such a thing?’
’The serpent tricked me,’ she replied. ‘That's why I ate it.’

14 “So the LORD God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, you will be punished. You are singled out from all the domestic and wild animals of the whole earth to be cursed. You will grovel in the dust as long as you live, crawling along on your belly’”

War declared.

15 “’From now on, you and the woman will be enemies, and your *offspring and her *offspring will be enemies. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.’"

* offspring = zera which is literally “seed” – i.e., from the male! Seed in the OT is the line of the male, not of the female.

The 1st prophecy in the Bible:
The first promise of the Messiah: Jesus, the seed of the woman (Mary), destroyed the “head” or authority and power of Satan by His redemptive death on the cross. The cross is the second tree established by God by which men might leave the dominion of death and darkness and go back into the dominion of life and light. This prophecy will be completely fulfilled when Christ casts Satan into the lake of fire – Rev. 20:10.

Heel – The myth of Achilles’ heel.

Here again we see the exceeding riches of God’s grace. Before He acted in judgment He displayed His mercy; before He banished the guilty ones from Eden, He gave them a blessed promise and hope. Though Satan had encompassed the downfall of man, it is announced that One shall come and bruise his head. By woman had come sin, by woman should come the Savior. By woman had come the curse, by woman should come Him who would bear and remove the curse. By woman Paradise was lost, yet by woman should be born the One who should regain it.

Here we have the beginning and germ of all prophecy. Three things should be carefully noted. First, it is announced that there should be enmity between Satan and the woman. The "woman" here typifies Israel—the woman from whom the promised Seed came—the woman of Revelation 12. The children of Israel, through which the Messiah was to come, became the object of Satan’s continued enmity and assault. The "famines" mentioned in Genesis were the first efforts of the enemy to destroy the fathers of the chosen race. The edict of Pharaoh to destroy all the male children; the Egyptian attack at the Red Sea; the assaults of the Canaanites when in the land; the plot of Haman, Hitler, Palestinians are all so many examples of this enmity between Satan and "the woman”.

Second, two "seeds" or offspring are here referred to - "your offspring" and "her offspring“- the Antichrist and the Christ. In these two persons all prophecy converges. In the former of these expressions "your offspring" (Satan’s offspring) we have more than a hint of the supernatural and satanic nature and character of the Antichrist. If "her offspring" ends in a single personality—Christ—then by every principle of sound interpretation "your offspring" must also ultimate in a single person—the Antichrist.

"Her offspring (seed)" - here we have the first announcement concerning the supernatural birth of our Savior. It was prophetically foretold that He should enter this world in a unique manner. "Her seed—the woman’s seed, not the man’s! A "virgin’’ was with child and four thousand years after this initial prediction "God sent forth His Son, made of a woman" (Gal. 4:4).

In the third item of this marvelous prophecy reference is made to a double "bruising"—the woman’s Seed shall bruise the Serpent’s head, and the Serpent should bruise His heel. The last clause in this prediction has already become history. The "bruising" of the heel of the woman’s Seed is a symbolical reference to the sufferings and death of our Savior, who was "wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities." The first of these clauses yet awaits fulfillment. The bruising of the Serpent’s head will take place when our Lord returns to the earth in person and in power, and when "the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan shall be bound for a thousand years (the Millennium) and cast into the bottomless pit (Rev. 20:2, 3)

16 “Then he said to the woman, ‘You will bear children with intense pain and suffering. And though your desire will be for your husband, he will be your master.’”

Or “And though you may desire to control your husband”.

Eve was supposed to get pregnant and have children – but there was not originally supposed to be pain with it.


17 “And to Adam he said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate the fruit I told you not to eat, I have placed a curse on the ground. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.’”

Rom 8:19-23: “For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God's curse. All creation anticipates the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us.”

Ground is the same word as for earth.

18 “It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains.”

There’d been no thorns, thistles or weeds till then.

19 “‘All your life you will sweat to produce food, until your dying day. Then you will return to the ground from which you came. For you were made from dust, and to the dust you will return.’”

The curse on Adam had 4 main aspects: (1) sorrow, (2) pain, (3) sweat or tears, (4) death.

God tells Adam what death is – a returning to the dust he was made of.

20 “Then Adam named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all people everywhere.”

Adam named all the animals, but had not yet named the woman!

Eve sounds like a Hebrew term that means "to give life."

Adam’s naming her “Eve” shows his faith in God’s promise that Eve would bear a Seed.


21 “And the LORD God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.”

Isaiah 61:10 “I am overwhelmed with joy in the LORD my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels.” The first Gospel sermon, preached by God Himself. This act shows them the need for blood sacrifice to cover sin as the animals are killed to provide clothing for Adam and Eve. This also points toward Christ’s eventual on the cross, which put an end to blood sacrifice. It was the declaration that "without shedding of blood is no remission." (Heb 8:22). It was an illustration of substitution - the innocent dying in the place of the guilty.

Before the fall, God had defined the wages of sin: “If you eat of its fruit, you will surely die." Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” God is righteous, and as Judge of all the earth He must do right. His law had been broken and justice cried aloud for the enforcing of its penalty. But is justice to override mercy? Mercy desired to spare the sinner and because justice demands death, another shall be killed in his place. Because the Lord Jesus laid down His life for the sheep, God can now be just and the justifier of him which believes in Jesus (Romans 3:26).

God furnished the skins, made them into coats and clothed our first parents. They did nothing. God did it all. They were entirely passive. The same truth is illustrated in the parable of the prodigal son. When the wanderer had taken the place of a lost and undone creature and had confessed his sin, the grace of the father’s heart was displayed. “But his father said to the servants, `Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger, and sandals for his feet." (Luke 15:22). The prodigal did not have to furnish the robe, nor did he have put it on himself, all was done for him. And so it is with every sinner. "God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God." (Eph. 2:8).

22 “Then the LORD God said, ‘The people have become as we are, knowing everything, both good and evil. What if they eat the fruit of the tree of life? Then they will live forever!’"

Rev. 2:7: “Anyone who is willing to hear should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Everyone who is victorious will eat from the tree of life in the paradise of God.”
Rev. 22:1-2: “And the angel showed me a pure river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, coursing down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.”


23 “So the LORD God banished Adam and his wife from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made.”

How do you think they felt about leaving an ideal environment and God’s presence?

This was the immediate climax in the Divine condemnation of the first sin. After sentence of judgment had been passed first upon the serpent, then upon the woman, and finally upon the man, and after God had acted in mercy by giving them a precious promise to keep in their hearts and by providing a covering for their shame, Adam and Eve were driven out of Paradise. The moral significance of this is plain. It was impossible for them to remain in the garden and continue in fellowship with the Lord. He is holy, and that which defiles cannot enter His presence. Sin always results in separation - "…your sins have cut you off from God. Because of your sin, he has turned away and will not listen anymore." (Isa. 59:2).

Here we see the fulfillment of God’s threat: Die, not only physically—there is something infinitely worse than that—but die spiritually. Just as physical death is the separation of the soul from the body, spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God. When it is said that we are by nature "dead in trespasses and sins," it is because men are "Their closed minds are full of darkness; they are far away from the life of God because they have shut their minds and hardened their hearts against him." (Eph. 4:18). Here in Genesis 3 we have God’s own definition of death—separation from Him and eventual return to “dust”.

24 “After banishing them from the garden, the LORD God stationed mighty angelic beings (Hebrew cherubim) to the east of Eden. And a flaming sword flashed back and forth, guarding the way to the tree of life.”

Cherubim are the highest beings in the hierarchy of angels, always associated with the immediate presence of God.

Satan had been the “anointed Cherub” (translated “guardian” in the NLT) on God’s holy mountain (Ezekiel 28:14).

The garden probably was swept away by the flood. Until then, people brought their sacrifices to this closed entrance to the garden. This would be a type of the meeting of God with the high priest at the mercy seat, Jacob’s ladder (Genesis 28:12), and the burning bush (Exodus 3:2). Now, we’re told to come boldly to the throne of grace. (Hebrews 4:16)

The barring of the way to the tree of life illustrated an important spiritual truth. In some peculiar way this tree seems to have been a symbol of the Divine presence (see Prov. 3:18), and the fact that fallen man had no right of access to it further emphasized the moral distance at which he stood from God. The sinner, as such, had no access to God, for the sword of justice barred his way, just as the veil in the Tabernacle and Temple shut man out from the Divine presence.


The Cherubim
This Is Appendix 41 From The Companion Bible.
It is hopeless to arrive at the meaning of the Cherubim from etymology. Only by the usage of the whole of Scripture can we form an approximately true idea.
Their description is twice given (Ezekiel 1:5-14; 10:20; and Revelation 4:6-9).
By a process of elimination we arrive at the fact that they are a celestial order of spirit-beings, and we can form no more notion of them than we can of other heavenly orders which are named, but not explained, and for the want of better words are called "Thrones," "Dominions," "Principalities," "Powers," etc.
They are to be distinguished from the symbolic figures of them, which were made to represent them.
Negatively, we may note :
1. That they cannot be the Godhead, or Divine in their nature, for (1) likeness of any kind was strictly forbidden (Deuteronomy 4:15, 16, etc.); and (2) the Godhead is distinguished from them by being mentioned at the same time.
2. Though heavenly, or celestial and spiritual in their nature and character, they are distinguished from the angels (who, as their name implies, were spirits used as messengers). Compare Revelation 5:8, 11 and 7:11, where, first the cherubim offer worship, and then the angels. They must therefore be real spirit-beings, for they could hardly be represented emblematically and really in the same verse. Moreover, they are never dismissed on errands as angels are, and are never seen apart from the Throne.
3. They cannot be merely symbols, for, though symbolic and emblematic representations of them were allowed to be made, they themselves are not symbolic, or we should have symbolic symbols of symbols, and no reality at all.
4. They cannot be a symbol of the "Church" or any portion of redeemed humanity, for they are distinguished from them in Revelation 5:9, 10, according to the best readings of the most ancient Manuscripts and critical Greek texts, where the "us" of verse 9 should be omitted, and the "us" and "we" of verse 10 should be "them" and "they." Compare also Revelation 7:9-11.
5. For the same reason they cannot be symbols of "the four gospels" or books of any kind, for the cherubim are ministers associated with wrath; and call for the judgment plagues. See Revelation 6 and 15:7. Moreover, there is no connection between these and the presence of the cherubim in Eden, in the Tabernacle, in the Temple, and the Throne of God.
Positively, we may note :
1. That the three root letters of kerub, = k, = r, and = b, are the root letters of the word KaRaB, which reappear in our GRiP, GRaB, GRiPe, GRasP. In a passive sense the notion would be that of holding something in safe keeping: and, as a matter of fact, the symbolic representation of them were held fast to the mercy-seat, being made out of the same piece of gold (Exodus 25:18, 23).
2. In Genesis 3:24 they were placed to KEEP (or guard) the way to the tree of life, and preserve the hope of re-genesis for a ruined creation (compare Genesis 2:15, where we have the word "keep" in this sense).
3. Their presence on the mercy-seat binds this hope with atonement, and with Israel.
4. On the vail the hope is bound up with the coming of the Christ in incarnation and redemption.
5. They are four in number, and four is the number of Creation (see Appendix 10).
6. They are represented by the symbolic heads of the four great divisions of animate creation : the lion (of wild beasts), the ox (of tame beasts), the eagle (of birds), man (of humanity).
7. They are beneath the Throne, for the earth is Jehovah's footstool.
8. Their song, when they speak, is of creation (Revelation 4:11), and is in connection with the earth. Redemption is a "new song" for them, relating to others.
9. We conclude therefore, that the cherubim are celestial or real spirit-beings, associated in some way with the embodiment of creation's hope as expressed in Romans 8:19-23. The emblematic representations made of them connect that hope with "the hope of Israel" and associate it with the blood-sprinkled mercy-seat, and the rent vail (Hebrews 10:10, 20.)