Genesis 3:1-7
Genesis 1 focuses on the creation and order of heaven and earth which displays God’s glory and wonder and is followed with Genesis 2 which looks into greater detail of the making of our first parents Adam and Eve, which displayed the way the world was supposed to be before sin and death entered in. Chapter 3 is the fall, and it is where sin, death and Satan all come into action. Our life will make a lot more sense once we see where this originated and began. It is one of the most important sections of the Bible and if this is not understood the rest of Scripture will not make any sense. Pastor-Teacher John MacArthur correctly adds, “If you do not understand the origin of sin and its impact based on Genesis chapter 3, then
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 serpent, under the domain of Adam and Eve, doesn’t come as frightening or scary but “crafty.” The serpent asked Eve while she was alone “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (3.1). God actually said, “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” (2:16-17). The serpent twists and manipulates the Word of God. The serpent is trying to change the Word of God. Instead of just walking away, Eve had a conversation with 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’’ (3:2-3). Eve distorts the God’s Word, and man is not supposed to add to or take away from the Word of God. “God promised that death would follow disobedience; Eve implied only that death might follow.” The serpent then follows Eve and directly contradicts the Word of God by saying “You will not surely die” (3:4). The serpent exploits Eve’s doubt by denying the penalty of death and by making her believe that she can become God like. Everything that was created by God was good, so the true wasn’t inherently bad. Eve is prideful and disobedient to the Word of God. She had faith in herself and no faith in God, and the serpent told Eve “you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (3:5). However, Adam and Eve’s were opened and they did see something and it was their
Where Genesis I describes a more ordered creation - the manifestation of a more primitive cultural influence than was responsible for the multi-layered creation in Genesis II - the second creation story focuses less on an etiological justification for the physical world and examines the ramifications of humankind's existence and relationship with God. Instead of Genesis I's simple and repetitive refrains of "and God saw that it was good" (Gen 1:12, 18, 21, 25), Genesis II features a more stylistically advanced look at "the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens" (Gen 2:4). While both stories represent different versions of the same Biblical event, Genesis II is significantly more complex than its predecessor and serves both to quantify the relationship between God and his creations and lay the foundation for the evolving story of humankind as well.
Now, to the untrained eye, it may be possible to interpret the aforementioned text as having certain "scheisty" tendencies coming from both the serpent and, believe it or not, God himself. As possible as it may seem, the main theme of the passages of Genesis are not trying to show God as being greedy with the knowledge of good and evil. It isn't like God was worried that Adam and Eve would gain knowledge that would empower them and make them as gods. That is almost preposterous to think that God, the almighty creator of heaven and earth, would be worried about two mortals obtaining a little bit of information. In all actuality, that idea is incredibly far from the truth. God gave Adam and Eve the world, literally. This perfect world, a "heaven on earth", was just given to them out of the goodness of his heart. All they had to do was look over God's creations and enjoy true eternal bliss. As a matter of fact, the only rule that God gave to Adam and Eve was to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. All they had to do to live in the eternal paradise, with all the cookies and milk they could stomach, was to follow that one freakin' rule. Acknowledging the fact that the serpent (a.k.a. Satan Incarnate) did do its part in persuading Eve to eat the fruit and to give the fruit to her husband. Even still, Eve should have realized that she was risking eternal happiness for the words of a snake.
Most importantly, Genesis offers teachings on the natural world, human identity, human relationships, and civilization. Natural World In regards to the natural world, Genesis 1-3 tells of how God created the world, the creation of man, and the fall of man. The Earth was dark and without form, then God spoke everything into existence. Relationships play a major role in humans’ lives on a day-to-day basis.
The Original Context Summary: Genesis 1: 1- 32 is the story of Creation. It is defined as either a Historic and/or poetic narrative. The narrative was written to tell the story of how God had created the world we live in today. “Six Days of Creation and the Sabbath” is the chapter title and it goes on to give details of what was created on each of the six days. Each day the world had gotten better and more useful. The first day god created the earth and made day and night. The second day he made the sky. The third day he separated the land and sea. The fourth day God created the Sun, Stars and Moon. The fifth day God created animals for the sea and air. The last day was the sixth day and god created animals for the dry land as well as the first
In order for a written work to be considered as Literature; it should portray any element of literature such as: figurative language, irony, simile, symbolism, personification, metaphor, etc. Some of these elements are portrayed in the book of Genesis. As for example in its third chapter, there is a use of figurative language. The term figurative language refers to a word or a phrase that an author uses to extend the meaning of the language which is exactly what the author of the Genesis 3 did by using the serpent as a character. In the text, the serpent is not only a normal serpent; it also happens to be a representation of the devil. As professor Dafni in his article “Genesis 2–3 and Alcibiades’s Speech in Plato’s Symposium” points out, “the serpent changes fundamentally the meaning of the divine command and bears malice toward Yahweh, God the Creator… So the talking serpent as a devil articulates its most decisive argument (Gn 3:5): ‘God knows in fact that the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good from evil’. The serpent concealed and suppressed completely the possibility of death and makes God seem a liar and a fraud”(Dafni,2015). When the author of Genesis, portrays the serpent talking and making God looks like a liar makes a deviation from the literal meaning of the word serpent because is something that a regular serpent
According to Genesis Chapter Three, I am faced with many opinions and conclusions. I draw the conclusion that from d...
This change in language from praising Eve that ‘all higher knowledge in her presence falls’ (Milton 8.551) to degrading her to ‘sweet compliance’ Anderson calls this the ‘language of subordination’ (Anderson 141). Therefore one can conclude that Adam and Eve’s equality only works if she is compliant and subordinate to him. Arguably, this gap in gender equality causes Eve to assert her individuality by separating herself from Adam by eating the apple. Eve’s desire to separate herself from Adam can be seen when she suggests they work apart. Adam immediately rejects the idea, he states that ‘the wife where danger or dishonour lurks safest and seemliest by her husband stays who guards her’ (Milton 9.267-269). The use of ‘lurks’ implies hidden dangers that only Adam can be aware of; Eve is vulnerable without him. This statement by Adam is detached, he refers to Eve as ‘the wife’ this creates a disapproving tone and portrays Adam as a leader dictating rules. He dictates to Eve what she can and can’t do. This embodies the patriarchal ideals of the time. Adam exerts his role as protector, it tells Eve she is inferior and denies her of her
and evil. Eve did not know the serpent could be Satan incarnate, nor did she
God knew that since both Adam and Eve had now gained knowledge of both good and evil they would soon learn to really appreciate life and all it has to offer. And for this reason the couple was expelled from paradise. Had Eve ignored the serpent and refused to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil perhaps civilization would still exist as nirvana. However happiness and in effect perfection is relative. A beautiful spring day is only as beautiful as the worst s...
The creation story in Genesis refers to a serpent classically interpreted as an evil entity. If we consider God’s warning that eating fruit from a certain tree would result in death the same day and that the record indicates that the only two humans on the planet did not, we must reconsider the role of the serpent and reevaluate the roles of good and evil and how they apply to ...
Around 1400 B.C. Exodus was written in Hebrew. The Exodus, which is one of the books in the Old Testament, are rules, similar to Hammurabi Code placed by God for the descendants of Abram. This literature gives insight into the structure of the Jewish community, which includes the hierarchy of their community as well as the roles important in this community. Scholars can further understand the Hebrew community by reading Genesis. Genesis consists of religious stories that talks about how farming, slavery, and the world came into being. But overall, scholars can see a society very much center on religion.
The witch, indicative of the serpent, tempts the mother and father with her rampion so that she might steal their child. In the story of creation, the serpent has the same idea in mind for Adam and Eve. The serpent knows that if man sins against God, he is unable to enter heaven and therefore must face the alternative, a life of eternal suffering in hell. In eating the forbidden fruit, the parents are cursing their child, humanity, to a life apart from God. But, just as with Adam and Eve, the parents must also endure earthly hardships, characterized by childbirth. In Genesis 3:17, Eve is cursed to bear children through intense pain; consequently, Rapunzel was born. ...
Eve’s actions are a result of her going against what she knows to be right, not her lack of knowledge. In Book 9 of Paradise Lost, Eve knows she is not suppose to eat the apple, and Milton confirms this point by stating that God “Forbids us then to taste, but his forbidding / Commends thee more, while it infers the good” ( lines 753-754). Even though Satan’s persuasion of an immature Eve may have been the reason she was brought to the apple, it was her disregard of the rules that caused her to actually eat the apple. The same scenario would not have occurred if Adam had been the one enticed by the serpent, and him and Eve are both equally new to the world. Adam would not have been convinced to commit the sin because he is also aware that it would go against God’s orders.
And He [God] said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
The serpent even states to Eve that “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (NIV, Gen 3:5). The next few lines are completely different from what is shown by Milton. It says that when Eve saw that the fruit was good and she began to desire wisdom she took some and ate it. Then she game some to Adam who was with her. This is a very large contrast from Milton’s work because this shows that Adam was present the whole time of the serpent and Eve’s discussion. In the poem “Verses for Madonna of humility with the temptation of Eve” Lynn Powell takes a very graphic and almost nostalgic look at the story of Adam and Eve. Her poem states “Eve 's lying at eye level, propped up on an elbow./And never has abyss been so good to pink,/ the void a perfect foil for her foreground flesh./She fits into the black like a woman/ ready to be skewered in a vaudeville act./ You can tell the painter loves her, the way/ You can tell the painter loves her/ he 's touched her every place he can with paint./ And he 's noticed what she 's thinking:/ holding the pear, as Hamlet did the skull,/ while gazing up at someone who 's got everything to lose./ Eve 's about to make the choice Mary has to live with./