Read Genesis 2:15-3:24

The Talking Serpent
An objection to the Genesis account of the fall is the talking serpent.

First, we need to establish what I would have assumed would be obvious, and I suppose is to honest folks seeking the truth.  It appears that the serpent was influenced by Satan to tempt Eve. 

Revelation 12:9 and Revelation 20:1-2 seem to speak of Satan as a serpent.

Revelation 12:9
And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Revelation 20:1-2
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan….

The curse God pronounced on the serpent was, in part, for Satan.

Genesis 3:14-15
The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

What should Eve’s reaction have been to a talking snake?

—Well, what would YOUR reaction be if your dog or cat started talking? I would be shocked, but the first thing I would do is start talking back to them.

We see an example of this with Balaam.

Numbers 22:22-30
But God’s anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the LORD took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. And the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand. And the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field. And Balaam struck the donkey, to turn her into the road. Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. And when the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall. So he struck her again. Then the angel of the LORD went ahead and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” And Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a fool of me. I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you.” And the donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all your life long to this day? Is it my habit to treat you this way?” And he said, “No.”  

This next part I don’t have an answer for.  I just don’t know what is meant by some of this story and there’s no use in us guessing our way through class.  But it is worth mentioning and maybe these questions could be a good conversation starter for later, outside of class.

God cursed the actual serpent.

—Not just Satan, but the serpent, too.  Why is that?
—The serpent was “more crafty”.  What does that mean?  Was there something about the serpent itself that made Satan choose THAT animal?

The Trees

Generally speaking, where do bad things happen?

—In the open, or hidden?

—In the light, or in the dark?

Do we encourage our kids to take shortcuts through dark alleys?  Of course not.  

We expect dangerous places to look like Gotham in Batman movies.  Dark, dirty, and over-exposed in film editing.

And that’s the impression that many people have of the The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  The Tree of Life was beautiful and sparkling, always in the sunshine.  And the TOKOGAE was broken and craggly, hidden in a cave.  

That’s not what we see in Genesis.

Genesis 2:8-9
And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Midst—H8432—ṯâewḵ

To sever, to bisect….In the middle

Both of the trees were apparently together, and were both equally accessible, in the middle of the garden.  

Additionally, the tree was beautiful to look at.

Genesis 3:6
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….

So, what are some things we can take away from the description of the trees and their location?

1—Don’t judge a book by its cover.

2—Don’t assume that dangerous things will always be hidden.

3—Just because something is easy to access doesn’t mean that its good for you.

Knowledge Of Good & Evil

What does that phrase mean?

Sometimes we can get a better understanding of what something means by knowing what it DOESN’T mean.

Genesis 2:15-17
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 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 surely die.”

Adam and Eve already had an understanding of “right and wrong”.  God told them not to eat the fruit of the tree.  Eve understood the command.  Even knew that abstaining was right and eating was wrong.  She even explained this to the serpent.  

So it’s NOT just knowing right and wrong.  

Genesis 3:4-5
But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

The word “knowing” is literally knowledge.  

Genesis 4:9
Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”

Exodus 2:3-4
When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him.

Numbers 10:29-32
And Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which the LORD said, I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will do good to you, for the LORD has promised good to Israel.” But he said to him, “I will not go. I will depart to my own land and to my kindred.” And he said, “Please do not leave us, for you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us. And if you do go with us, whatever good the LORD will do to us, the same will we do to you.”

Perhaps the passage in Numbers 10 gives us a little more insight.  It wasn’t just knowledge that Moses wanted.  It was understanding.  He wanted insight.  

Deuteronomy 1:13
Choose for your tribes wise, understanding, and experienced men, and I will appoint them as your heads.

We’ve probably experienced something similar in our lives.  We teach our kids to NEVER chase a ball into the street.  They know what is right and what is wrong, but they don’t understand WHY.  As they mature, they have a better understanding of traffic and physics and know that they could get hurt if they chase a ball into the street.  Before they knew, but now they KNOW.

We’ve probably experienced something like that with our secular work.  NEVER push the red button.  And only later we understand how everything works and why we shouldn’t press the red button.  

Genesis 2:7
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Adam and Eve knew right and wrong only in the sense that God had instructed them that some things were right and wrong.  

But after the fall their eyes were opened and the KNEW that some things were inherently wrong, in and of themselves.

As “children” they were able to act in a certain way that didn’t bring them disgrace because they “didn’t know any better”.  Toddlers run around in nothing but a diaper without any shame.  But the transition that we see in our children as they grow up seems to be the same transition we see in Adam and Eve.  

They didn’t have to be told what was immoral.  They intrinsically knew.

And that allowed them greater capacity for evil.  That’s why bullies don’t exist among four year olds, and why teenagers can be so emotionally harmful to each other.

Maybe.  That’s my theory.

Eve’s Conversation With Satan

Genesis 2:16-17
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 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 surely die.”

Genesis 3:2-3
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”

1-Eve made God less generous than he was
—God allowed them to eat of EVERY tree.  Eve says THE trees.
—Imagine giving your child ALL of your money, and they tell their friends that you gave them SOME money.

2-Eve made God harsher than he was
—The command was to not eat of the tree, but Eve said they couldn’t even touch it.
—This is important because it indicates the way Eve is portraying God.

3-Eve wasn’t careful with God’s word
—and from tree-of the knowledge of good and evil not you shall eat from  that in day of to eat of you from to die you shall die
—to die, you shall die
—muth thmuth…..the word “die” is repeated
—The understanding would have been “you will begin to die”
—When Eve repeats God’s command, she says that they will “die”.

We need to be careful that we don’t commit these same mistakes.

1—When we speak of our relationship with God, do we appreciate all of the love that he has shown us?
2—Do we portray God in our lives as a being out to ruin our fun, who we put up with so we can get to Heaven?
3—Are we as careful as we should be when we handle God’s word?

The First Sacrifice

Genesis 3:21
And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

Leather is obviously more durable than fig leaves.  The new clothes Adam and Eve wore served a practical purpose.  

But there seems to be a lot of symbolism here, too.  The first sin was covered, it was hidden, with the death of an animal.  Blood was shed.