Original Sin
Adam's Account:
Genesis Chapter
3
by Lambert Dolphin
Text of Genesis Chapter
3 with notes
3:1 Now
the serpent [nachash] was more clever than any
other wild creature that the LORD God [YHWH Elohim, 9 times this chapter] had
made. He said to the woman, "(Indeed) did God [Satan omits
"YHWH"] say, `You shall not eat of any tree of the garden'?"
In the New Testament the
Apostle tells us that Satan appears, often, as an angel of light. If the devil
appeared to us with pitchfork, horns and hooves he would not be taken seriously.
He is most successful when he comes counterfeiting the appearance and activity
of God. [..."For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen,
disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan
disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is not strange if his servants
also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will
correspond to their deeds." 2 Cor. 11:13-15]. We might
suppose that the devil came to Eve in human form, but this fallen angel is
identified with the serpent. In the last book of the Bible Satan is seen as a
great red dragon. (Revelation 12-13).
God may have instructed
Adam at length prior to the arrival of Eve. If so, it is
conceivable that Adam would have also received the task of passing along his
knowledge to his wife. Men and women are gifted in different ways regarding the
way in which they manage knowledge. Men’s minds are often quick to see subtle
errors in teaching and men are usually adept at comparing facts and building
consistent views of reality. Women can do this as well, but their stronger gifts may lie in facilitating relationships, and integrating
different information -- their intuition is by design keen and insightful. It
has been suggested by at least one author that Adam failed Eve by not stopping
her from eating the forbidden truth. However, God's indictment of Adam (verse
17) is not for being a negligent teacher, but for listening to his wife and
heeding her instead of obeying God unconditionally.
Jesus described the devil as
"a murderer and a liar from the beginning". Initially, however, Satan approached Eve, not with an
outright lie, but with a question, which probably seemed harmless to Eve. How
was she to know that the person speaking to her was not God, nor even a friend
of God's? This was her first encounter with a stranger; how could she know that
his purposes were opposed to God and that he sought to destroy her?
Of the many trees in the
garden, perhaps many thousands, Satan singled out one particular tree. He did not
bother to mention the rest of the trees on which, no doubt, God had lovingly placed
many delectable fruits. There was an abundance of nutritious food to be had for
the picking in the garden. The Tree of Life was not forbidden, but in the book
of Revelation 22:2 we learn that "the leaves of the tree (of Life) were
for the healing of the nations." But the devil cleverly ignored the bountiful provision and the
goodness of God.
We know little about the
great angel who fell and became Satan the Adversary. In his splendid commentary
on Genesis, James Montgomery Boice describes what can be gleaned from scripture
about him. See The Snake in
the Garden. For general information on the angels, including Satan,
see God and His Angels.
Incidentally, the Son of God appears in the Old Testament in human form from
time to time in what are known as theophanies. In these appearances He is
called "THE angel of the Lord," as opposed to "AN angel..."
See The Angel of the Lord, by
Loren Jacobs.
2 And the woman said to
the serpent, "We may eat of [she omits, "freely" and
"all"] the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but God said, `You
shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,
neither shall you touch it, [touching the tree had not been prohibited by God] lest
you die.'"
4 But the serpent said to
the woman, "You will not die [This was an outright lie]. 5 For God knows
that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened [Here Satan implies a previous
condition of blindness], and you will be like the gods, knowing good and
evil."
Satan appeals here to man’s
desire for hidden or esoteric knowledge. Many cults and false religions (for
instance the mystery religions and secret societies) use the same tactic to entice
recruits today. Only after initiation and solemn promises (even "blood
oaths," as is the case with the Mormons), is this secret wisdom given to
the new member. Satan's fall had been because of his pride. Now, in the garden, he appeals to Eve
on the basis of her natural curiosity. She lacks something, he suggests. God is
hiding truth from her and if only she had that truth her eyes would be opened.
Curiosity and a desire to learn is inherent in man and
not sinful in and of itself. What God prohibits (for instance the study of the
occult) is for our own protection. However, Satan subtly suggests to Eve that
God is jealous, not wanting anyone to share his power, and he hints that God is
not acting in her best interests after all.
The New Testament speaks
of one great lie which continues to grip human beings
to this day. "THE lie", as it is named in 2 Thessalonian 2:11
(literal translation), is that man can be his own god, master of his own fate,
and captain of his own destiny. It is the same lie that Satan put forth to Eve
in the garden. The fundamental lie of human life today (until we are correctly
enlightened by Jesus) is that we do not need God since, possessing unlimited
"human potential", we can find
self-realization and achieve godhood on our own.
James contrasts two kinds
of wisdom found in our present world. One is from God and the other is from the
Evil One: "Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good life let
him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy
and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.
This wisdom is not such as comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual,
devilish. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder
and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then
peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without
uncertainty or insincerity. And the harvest of righteousness is sown in peace
by those who make peace." (James 3:13-17)
6 So when the woman saw
[she makes a judgment based on reason and outward appearances at this point]
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; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate.
In the New Testament,
"walking by sight" and “walking by faith” are set in opposition to
each other. "Without faith it is impossible to please God..."
"We walk by faith not by sight, for the things that are seen are
temporary, but the things which are unseen are eternal." Eve was surely walking by sight alone
when she ate of the forbidden fruit.
7 Then the eyes of both
were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves
together and made themselves aprons. [Note their immediate shame and self-consciousness.]
Clothing in the Bible
is a symbol of righteousness. Before the fall the man and his wife were
probably cloaked in some kind of marvelous garments of light. When their original
created righteousness from God departed, they improvised coverings for
themselves from fig leaves. Most artists show this covering as hiding the generative
organs. Since sin would affect all of the offspring of Adam and Eve from birth,
the entire reproductive gift given by God was corrupted and became a particular
source of shame. The sin of Adam and Eve would be automatically transmitted to
all their offspring. But our sexuality is only one part of our being that was
thoroughly corrupted by the Fall.
Shame and guilt are not
the same in the Bible. Guilt has more to do with wrong actions and deeds,
whereas shame (bos) is a feeling of worthlessness and defilement before
the Face of a Holy God. Because of the Fall, Isaiah
could say,
"O that thou wouldst
rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at thy presence--as
when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil-- to make thy
name known to thy adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at thy
presence! When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains quaked at thy presence. From of
old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides
thee, who works for those who wait for him Thou meetest
him that joyfully works righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways.
Behold, thou wast angry, and we sinned; in our sins
we have been a long time, and shall we be saved? We have all become like one
who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We
all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is
no one that calls upon thy name, that bestirs himself
to take hold of thee; for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast delivered us
into the hand of our iniquities. Yet, O LORD, thou art our Father; we are the
clay, and thou art our potter; we are all the work of thy hand. Be not
exceedingly angry, O LORD, and remember not iniquity for ever.
Behold, consider, we are all thy people. Thy holy cities have become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a
desolation. Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, has
been burned by fire, and all our pleasant places have become ruins Wilt thou
restrain thyself at these things, O LORD? Wilt thou keep silent, and afflict us
sorely? (Isaiah 64)
In contrast, it is by
faith in Jesus Christ that we are justified before God. He then imputes
(charges to our account) the righteousness of Christ. Thus we are clothed, as
it were, in white garments. God sees the believer ever after as being "in
Christ" and righteous before Him.
8 And they heard the sound
of the LORD God walking [God may
have taken on a human form in this instance.] in the garden in the cool
[breezes] of the day, and the man [ha 'adham] and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees
of the garden.
It appears that God had
been visiting the man and his wife in the Garden regularly for fellowship and
instruction before they sinned against Him. Surely the quality of their
relationship with the Creator must have been many orders of magnitude better before
the Fall (of man into sin) than it was afterwards. Even
time as we know it was damaged by the Fall, so life for Adam and Even had possessed
an entirely different quality in their days of Innocence. ("With the Lord
one day is like a thousand years..."). For Adam and Eve to be frightened
and hiding from God because of the mere sound of God walking in the garden
tells us something about the horrendous damage sin had already wrought.
God had said that eating
the forbidden fruit would mean "dying you shall
die." Instant spiritual death (a broken link, separation from God) had
occurred and the long, slow, inexorable process of dying, which encompassed not
only the body but the soul and spirit as well, had begun. This is what we would
expect for any dependent organism which is cut off
from its source of life. The living God is the Source of all life in the
universe--life of many kinds and levels.
Jesus said to them,
"Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but
only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does
likewise. For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all that he himself is
doing; and greater works than these will he show him, that you may marvel. For
as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life
to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the
Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not
honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to
you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me,
has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to
life. Truly, truly, I say to
you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the
Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in
himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself, and has given
him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man. Do not marvel
at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his
voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life,
and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. (John 5:19-29)
9 But the LORD God called
to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"10 And he said, "I
heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked;
and I hid myself." 11 He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have
you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"
Paul in Romans 3 says,
"No one seeks after God." Since Adam and Eve's estrangement from God
(a result of sin), man has not sought God. Religion (from the Latin, re + legio "to bind back again") reflects man's
constant self-efforts to reconnect himself to the
source of power and life in the universe, but all such efforts are in vain. We
really do not want to find God, we want to find a
substitute which will give us what we want on our own terms. God must seek man,
and man can not be restored to God apart from God's
unique solution to human evil. Jesus said... "I am the way, and the truth,
and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me."
Here in Genesis is the
first recorded question in the Bible. God asks
"where are you?"-- still the most relevant
question for every generation. One immediate effect of sin is
self-consciousness, shame, and a desire to hide from God (and from one
another).
12 The man said, "The
woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me
fruit of the tree, and I ate." [displacement mechanism]
Adam seems to imply that his
sin is God's fault. After all, if he had not given Adam the woman, Adam would
never have disobeyed God. All of us rationalize or excuse sin when it first
becomes evident to others that we have sinned. However God persists in His
interrogation until He obtains an admission of guilt. This is the path of
repentance we must follow to this day. "If we say we have fellowship with
him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth;
but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him
a liar, and his word is not in us. " (1 John 1:6-10) When we agree with
God in His assessment of the problem in our lives, we have immediate access to
His forgiveness and He is ready to restore.
13 Then the LORD God said
to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said,
"The serpent beguiled me, and I ate." 14 The LORD God said to the
serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above ["over against, "or "out of"] all cattle, and above
all wild animals; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the
days of your life. 15 I will put enmity [not the same as "hostility"] between you and the woman, and between your seed ["the
seed of the serpent"] and her seed ["the seed of the woman"]; he
shall bruise [crush] your head, and you shall bruise his heel."16 To the
woman he said, "I will [very] greatly multiply your pain [and misery] in
childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your [yearning] desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."
The woman, when confronted
by God, blames the serpent. She is closer to the truth that Adam was when he
justified himself. But she is honest with God about her failure and so Eve,
like Adam, is forgiven, spiritually reborn ,and
restored to fellowship with her Creator.
God now discusses
consequences with the three parties involved in this "original sin."
God begins with the serpent--that is where sin started. Satan's judgment is
first. He is not offered any forgiveness or any possibility of redemption.
Indeed none of the angels is offered redemption. This gracious offer is made
only to the offspring of Adam. For the purpose of gaining this redemption for
man, God Himself became a man.
“For it was not to angels
that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been
testified somewhere, ‘What is man that thou art
mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou carest
for him? Thou didst make him for a little while lower than the angels, thou
hast crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under
his feet.’ Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing
outside his control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to
him. But we see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels,
crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the
grace of God he might taste death for every one. For it was fitting that he,
for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should
make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies
and those who are sanctified have all one origin. That is why he is not ashamed
to call them brethren, saying, ‘I will proclaim thy name to my brethren, in the
midst of the congregation I will praise thee.’ And again, ‘I will put my trust
in him.’ And again, ‘Here am I, and the children God has given me.’ Since
therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of
the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of
death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were
subject to lifelong bondage. For surely it is not with angels that he is
concerned but with the descendants of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made
like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and
faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of
the people.” (Hebrews 2:5-17)
In regard to the woman,
enmity is not the same as hostility. Down through history there is special
abiding antagonism (the opposite of agape) between woman and the serpent.
Verse 15 contains what is
called the "proto evangelium," or
first announcement of the gospel to mankind. Eve is to bring forth one unique
seed, one unique son, who will be the Savior of the world. Satan will succeed
only in bruising the heel of this Messiah; Messiah will, on the other hand,
crush the head of the serpent. There is to be one unique seed of the serpent in
history, THE (final) antichrist who will be a man fully possessed by Satan.
Some have speculated that Satan may genetically modify this man but we can not be certain of this. Satan will try to prove that man
can indeed be god. In terms of history, we can say that God allows evil to run
its full course. But God will be constantly working to redeem and restore
individuals, and eventually to fully resolve the problem of human and angelic
evil everywhere.
Both statements in part
two of verse 16 are pejorative. A perpetual weakness in Eve--which she must
overcome--will be her tendency to possess, control, and manipulate the man for her
own selfish purposes. She will readily default to wanting the man to take God's
place in the center of her affection and life. Also, men will find it easy to
exploit the woman, to be harsh and domineering, not appreciating her deeper
emotional understanding, and her healing, nurturing and life-imparting
abilities.
17 And to the man he said,
"Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of
the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the
ground [eretz] because of you; in toil [and
sorrow] you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles
it shall bring forth to you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 In
the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for
out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
Having forgiven Adam and
Eve of their sin so that they are spiritually reborn and restored to a
relationship with God, God now analyzes the situation and delineates the
consequences of their sin. All sin can be forgiven, but all sin has harmful
consequences. We are not free to chose these
consequences! While work was given to man from the day he was created, nature
will now be much less bountiful and the ground will yield its crops only with
much extra labor. Weeds, thorns and thistles as well as harmful pests will
flourish. This "curse" on the earth probably also reduced the amount
of new spiritual energy and life coming into the physical world from the realm
of the spirit.
Furthermore, Adam and Eve became
genetically damaged and the processes of aging, leading to physical death, began.
Sin, sickness, disease, pain and suffering became man's lot in life. The
biological factors which cause aging and death were
genetically transferred to all the descendants of Adam and Eve, except one. See
Arthur Custance's wonderful study,
"The Seed of the Woman." Custance speculates that the
male seed carries the genetic defect of original sin while the female ovum does
not. Thus a son born to a virgin could have a body genetically free from the corrupting
factors that lead to decay and death.
20 The man called his
wife's name Eve [from the Hebrew "to live," or "life"], because she was the mother of all living.
This is a wonderful
statement of God's redemptive work in Eve. She is named the mother of all of
mankind. One of her unique seeds will be the Messiah Himself. Some Roman
Catholics and certain Eastern Churches have claimed that Eve is the
"mother of God" (theotokos). Eve is
the original mother of the humanity of Jesus. Mary is the direct mother, not of
God, but of the man Christ Jesus. God, of course, has no mother.
21 And the LORD God made
for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them. [implies God killed the animals]
True
righteousness is imputed to us by God. No ordinary fig leaves (representing
self-righteousness) will do. Skins taken from animals who
have been killed are the only suitable garments. By the shedding of innocent
blood, Yahweh is demonstrating for the first time in history that "without
the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin." God Himself must
provide the sacrifice. All through the Old Testament means are provided (by sacrifice),
for man's sins to be "covered," until the time when Messiah would
come and "take way" human sin altogether. Messiah's work on the Cross then settled once and for all the sin-accounts God has
with man.
22 Then the LORD God said,
"Behold, [sadly] the man has become like one of us [plural pronoun],
knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the
tree of life, and eat, and live for ever"
---23 therefore the LORD
God drove him forth from the garden of Eden, to till
the ground from which he was taken. 24 He expelled the man; and at the east of
the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned
every way, to guard the way to [not "from"
but "to"] the tree of life.
The tree of life must have
possessed a healing power which, if eaten from, could have
provided Adam and Eve with the ability to live forever in fallen, sinful
bodies. Evidently, this would have been a great disaster, since God intervened
and did not permit it. We may
speculate that, had they eaten of the tree, the final redemption of their
physical bodies might have been impossible.
"...Then he showed me
the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of
God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on
either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit,
yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing
of the nations. There shall no more be anything accursed, but the throne of
God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall worship him; they
shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. And night shall
be no more; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their
light, and they shall reign for ever and ever...I warn every one who hears the
words of the prophecy of this book: if any one adds to them, God will add to
him the plagues described in this book, and if any one takes away from the
words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of
life and in the holy city, which are described in this book." (Revelation
22:1-5, 18-19)
In verse 24 of Genesis 3
we have first mention of those great angels, the cherubim, who are seen in
Ezekiel and Revelation. They are
mighty angels around the throne of God. Their job at the gate of the Garden is
to guard the way TO the tree of life. They do this with whirling flaming swords
symbolic of the cross. The old life of
Adam in each of us must die for man if we are to enter Paradise.
A. W. Tozer says,
"The cross is the symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end
of the human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started
down the road had already said goodbye to his friends. He was not coming back.
He was not going out to have his life redirected. He was going out to have it
ended. The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, spared
nothing. It slew all of the man completely and for good. It did not try to keep
on good terms with its victim. It struck swift and hard and when it had
finished its work the man was no more. That evangelism which draws friendly
parallels between the ways of God and the ways of man is false to the Bible and
cruel to the soul of the hearers. The faith of Christ does not parallel the
world. It intersects it. In coming to Christ we do not bring our life up on to
a higher plane. We leave it at a cross. The grain of wheat must fall into the
ground and die. That is the beginning of the gospel."
Some Related New
Testament Scriptures:
For Adam was formed
first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and
became a transgressor. (1 Tim. 2:13,14)
How long Satan tempted Eve
we do not know. In the second book of his science fiction trilogy,
"Perelandra," C. S. Lewis depicts the temptation of an innocent woman
showing something of the mystery of how a totally innocent, sinless person can
be tricked into sinning--given enough time and patient work by the adversary.
Adam was evidently not present during the temptation of Eve, but he joined her
as she ate the forbidden fruit and, without argument, seems to have joined Eve
in disobeying God readily.
Therefore as sin came
into the world through one man [Adam] and death through sin, and so death
spread to all men because all men sinned--sin indeed was in the world before
the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death
reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the
transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. (Rom. 5:
12-14)
Death has clearly entered
the world because of the sin of the man and the woman. This terrible enemy
affects them, all their offspring, and the animal kingdom.
For as by a man came
death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as [all who
are] in Adam all die, so also [all who are] in Christ shall all be made alive.
(1 Cor. 15:21,22)
For the creation waits
with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was
subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected
it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to
decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the
whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only
the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan
inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Rom.8:19-23)
The creation itself has
been damaged, in fact "ruined" by the chain of events set in motion
by the Fall of the angels and by the Fall of man. The
Old Creation is a dying world, although God sustains it moment by moment with
great care. His plans for the redemption of mankind include a new creation as
well.
Additional Notes and
References:
THE SERPENT OF GENESIS
3, By Dr. E. W. Bullinger
In Genesis 3 we have neither allegory, myth, legend, nor fable, but literal
historical facts set forth, and emphasized by the use of certain Figures of
speech.
All the confusion of
thought and exegesis about the book of Genesis has arisen either from taking
literally what is figurative, or from taking figuratively what is literal. A figure
of speech is ordinarily not used except for the purpose of calling attention
to, emphasizing, and intensifying the literal sense, and the truth of
historical facts. While the exact words
employed in a figure of speech may not be strictly true to the letter, they are
used to convey and emphasize true meanings and historical events.
But for the figurative
language of verses 14 and 15 no one would have thought of referring to Satan in
the third chapter of Genesis as a snake: no more than when reading the third
chapter of Revelation (ch. 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 Gen. 3: and the fact that it was
Satan himself who tempted "the second man", "the last
Adam", Jesus Christ, 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 Gen. 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. Hence also,
the word nehushtan, a piece of brass, in 2 Kings
18.4.
In the same way Saraph, in Isaiah 6.2,6, means a burning one, and, because
the serpents mentioned in Numbers 21 were burning, in the poison of their bite,
they were called Saraphim, or Seraphs.
But when the LORD said
unto Moses, "Make thee a fiery serpent" (Numbers 21.8), He said,
"Make thee a Saraph", and, in obeying this
command, we read in verse 9, "Moses made a Nachash of brass". Nachash
is thus used as being interchangeable with Saraph.
Now, if Saraph is used of a serpent because its bite was burning,
and is also used of a celestial or spirit-being (a burning one), why should nachash be used of a serpent because its appearance was
shining, and be also used of a celestial or spirit-being (a shining one)?
Indeed, a reference to the
structure of Genesis 3 will show that the Cherubim (which are similar celestial
or spirit-beings) of the last verse (Genesis 3.24) require a similar spirit-being to correspond with them in the first verse (for
the structure of the whole chapter is a great Introversion). 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" (1) 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: "Thine heart was
lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of
thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings,
that may behold thee" (verse 17).
Even supposing that these
things were spoken to, and of, an exalted human being in later days (in 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
thus 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 (see note) 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. 1 Samuel 23.22. Psalms 83.3.
The word "beast"
also, in Genesis 3.1, chay, denotes a living being,
and it is wrong to translate zoa "beasts"
in Revelation 4, as it is to translate chay
"beast" in Genesis 3. Both mean living creature. Satan is thus spoken
of as being "more wise than any other living creature which Jehovah Elohim
has made". Even if the word "beast" be retained, it does not say
that either a serpent or Satan was a "beast", but only that he was
"more wise" than any other living being.
We cannot conceive Eve as
holding converse with a snake, but we can understand her being fascinated (2)
by one, apparently "an angel of light" (i.e. a glorious angel),
possessing superior and supernatural knowledge.
When Satan is spoken of as
a "serpent", it is the figure Hypocatastasis
or Implication; 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" (2 Timothy
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.
Other Figures of speech
are used in verses 14, 15, but only for the same purpose of emphasizing the
truth and reality of what is said.
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 thy 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. Revelation
20.1-3,10). What literal words could portray these literal facts so
wonderfully as these Figures of speech?
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 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" (Psalms 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 literal
"gravel". So when Christians are rebuked for "biting and
devouring one another" (Galatians 3.14,15), something more heart-breaking is meant than literal words used in the
Figure.
When "His enemies
shall lick the dust" (Psalms 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 11.3,13).
It is wonderful 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 (3).
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 pure invention, about which there is not one word said in the 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, and 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 of
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, chapter 2.16); then (2) to add the words "neither shalt thou touch
it" (3.3, chapter 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 news,
or the courts; but in the pulpit, and in professors' chairs. Wherever the Word
of God is called into question, there we see the trail of "that old
serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan". This why anything against the
true interests of the Word of God (as being such) finds a ready admission into
the newspapers 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 Psalms 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.
1. Ezekiel 28.11-19, who
is quite a different being from "the Prince of Tyre", in verses 1-10,
who is purely human.
2. It is remarkable that
the verb nachash always means to enchant,
fascinate, bewitch; or of one having and using occult knowledge. See Genesis
30.27; 44.5,15. Leviticus 19.26. Deuteronomy 18.10. 1 Kings 20.33. 2 Kings 17.17;21.6. 2 Chronicles 33.6. So also is the noun used in Numbers 23.22;24.1.
3. Greater than that
wrought by God Himself, who opened the mouth of Balaam's ass.
From the Hebrew Glossary: Serpent
;
Snake. Stems from the root that
means "shining
whisperer," "shining enchanter." In
Shemot
7:9-15 the
nachash is parallel to the
tanin, the sea creature of
Bereshith
1:21 and also related to the
Livyatan of
Yeshayahu 27:1. Nachash is the "shining
enchanter" that misled Adam and
Chavah in
Gan Eden.
James M. Boice: Carnal
Knowledge (Gen. 3:7)
James M. Boice: The Snake in the Garden
Adam's
Diary: Creation and Fall of Man
The Ruin
of Creation
Ray Stedman
on Genesis
The Consequence Engine
Lambert Dolphin
lambert@ldolphin.org
Library
July
1992. Additions, April 16, 2000. November 29, 2004. April 21, 2009
(CV).
April 6, 2019