Bible Stories: Fall (Genesis 2:4-9, 15-18, 21-23, 25; 3:1-8)

Bible Stories: Fall (Genesis 2:4-9, 15-18, 21-23, 25; 3:1-8)

One day Adam said to God in exasperation, “Why did you make Eve so beautiful?” God told Adam, “I made her beautiful so that you would love her.” Then Adam said, “Lord, why did you make her so dumb?” And God said, “So that she would love you!”

The story of Adam, Eve, the serpent and the forbidden fruit in the paradise called Eden has been the source of quite a few ideas. The idea of Original Sin comes from this story.  Some say the forbidden fruit was sexual in nature.  Some believed that sin in humanity is passed on in the blood.  John Wesley thought of humanity as completely corrupt, with noting good in us. A Jewish/Christian understanding of marriage comes from the Garden Story.

“Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.”

Some suggest the Garden Story in Genesis 2-3 is another creation story from a different tradition than the one we read in Genesis one. It tells of how all humanity came from one man and one woman. But I think the Garden Story is about what it means to be human. It’s about our human condition.

In Genesis 1, we are told that God made humans, both male and female, in the image of God and established them as rulers over the earth and all of its many forms of life.  In Genesis 2, God makes a man from the clay of the earth and breathes into him the breath of life. We learn something about humanity here. We are of the earth and we are of God. We are earthly flesh animated by divine spirit.  Without breath we return to dust. We are utterly dependent upon God for life.

God planted a garden in Eden, which is located eastward of Israel. Eden means pleasure. Eden waters the garden, which in turn is the source for four rivers moving out in all directions. The picture we get is the whole world being watered from a mystical paradise. The Garden of Eden is patterned after the royal gardens that were typical of the Sumerians and Babylonians. They kept immaculate gardens on or near their palace grounds with plants and animals collected from all over the known world. Their mythology depicted their gods in similar gardens blessing the earth. In the garden of the gods was the tree of life. Eden is a mythological paradise from which the whole earth is blessed with refreshment. One might say Eden is where heaven and earth meet, much like the temple where God and Israel met.

God placed Adam in the garden as sort of a caretaker. The name Adam comes from the Hebrew word for earth or dust “adamah”, which is a way of pointing to our earthbound existence. After his fall from paradise the Lord tells Adam, “From dust you have come and to dust you shall return.”  God saw that it was not good for the man to be alone, so God created Eve from one of Adam’s ribs. Why the rib? Why didn’t God make Eve the same way God made Adam by molding her out of clay? 

A 17^th century Welsh clergyman, Matthew Henry,

“Women were created from the rib of man to be beside him, not from his head to top him, nor from his feet to be trampled by him, but from under his arm to be protected by him, near to his heart to be loved by him.” 

Genesis 2 presents what human life was meant to be. We were meant for a paradise-like relationship with God. These ancestors of Israel lived without shame before God and each other. They spoke to God face to face. Sheltered under God’s blessing, they were safe and satisfied. All Adam and Eve had to do was care for this garden and avoid the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  

Now enters the serpent.  The serpent in the garden story is like the great sea monster, Tiamat, which I mentioned last Sunday. The serpent is an agent of chaos. Remember that all life came from a primordial sea of disorder and darkness. Within the very fabric of creation is the chaotic push toward disorder. It is God who holds the universe together, and keeps the forces of chaos contained. Should God remove His presence life would cease to exist. And so within the human heart lies the voice of chaos, which does not wish to be ordered, directed or contained. By its very nature chaos seeks to disassociate and go rogue.

The serpent is said to be crafty, which is related to the Hebrew word for naked or uncovered. The serpent uncovers a troubling thought. Maybe God is keeping something from us. Maybe God can’t be trusted. Listen to chaos at work in paradise.

The serpent said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1)

Notice right away he’s twisting the truth. Eve corrects him.  “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 middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’”

Next the serpent plants temptation in her heart by making the forbidden fruit appear to be good for wisdom and a way for her to become like God. His lie causes her to doubt the wisdom of God’s warning and at the same time it gives her the desire to exercise her own will. This is what we mean by Original Sin, the desire to live our lives the way we want, rather than to submit to God wisdom.

Eve follows the temptation to eat the forbidden fruit and she gives some to Adam. They both eat what God had warned them not to. They suddenly become aware of their nakedness. They have their eyes laid bare. They see their foolishness for having heeded the voice of the serpent, rather than trust God. They are vulnerable and ashamed. So they hide themselves from God in the trees of the garden.

I find it interesting that they hide in the trees. These trees were given for food to sustain them. Now they become a barrier between them and God. This image points to idolatry.  A good definition for idolatry is to prize and depend upon a created thing, rather than the creator.

To be intimate with God is to be naked and unashamed before God. What things do I use to hide from intimacy with God?  Things like movies, music, and food are all part of God’s good creation. Art entertains and sustains us through the celebration of life. Food is delightful and sustaining. But overindulgence is never good.  So I must confess I am like Adam and Eve hiding behind the fruit trees in paradise.  It’s easier to indulge myself in these things, rather than pursue a spiritual life, the life I was meant for.

The consequence of Adam and Eve’s sin is that they lost paradise. They were cast out into the uncultivated world, where snakes bite, and weeds grows, and the ground is harsh. Life is no longer pleasant as it was in the garden. Life is hard. The voice of chaos continues to snake its way into our minds, striking at our weaknesses. What follows the garden story is the first murder. God warned Cain, Eve’s firstborn, before he murdered his brother Abel, “Sin is crouching at the door. It wants to own you, but you must master it”. (Gen 4:7)  We were meant for life with God, but we are estranged from God. We are not able to get back into the garden and eat from the tree of life and gain immortality. As the story of Cain and Abel will later illustrate, the Fall causes humans to be restless wanderers upon the earth.  Sin has broken our relationship with God.

Sin limits life. It doesn’t bring the freedom it seems to promise. Instead sin brings death. Sin brings corruption to God’s good creation. Genesis illustrates this by showing unusually long lives for the early humans, but later generations with dramatically shorter lifespans. Adam lived 930 years (Gen 5:5), but 17 generations later Nahor, grandfather to Abraham, lived only 119 years. (Gen 11:25)  Today we live an average of 75 years.

The garden story’s purpose is to introduce to us the human condition. We are exiled from life with God, a fulfilling life with purpose, plenty, and peace. In our hearts we know we were meant for more. So we continue to search for Eden. Like Adam, we have all gone astray, each to our own way. We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. The prophet Jeremiah wrote of our human condition, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)  We need salvation. We need rescue from this condition.

Even in this sad ending to a wonderful beginning there is hope.  God said that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpents head. Christians see Jesus in this image. The apostle Paul mentions this messianic hope in the closing of his letter to the Romans. ^“The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet.” (Rom 16:20a)

Paul is referring to hope in the messiah in the Garden Story. Another reference to messiah is when Adam and Eve hide their nakedness behind fig leaves. The fig tree is a symbol of peace and prosperity in a hopeful future with Christ. Listen to the hope shared by the prophet Micah.

…nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more; but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid... (Micah 4:3-4)

God clothed Adam and Eve with the skin of animals for garments. He covered their shame, which is pointing to the sacrificial system of Israel. The blood of the lamb atones for the sin of Israel and Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! God’s got you covered. So come out of hiding.

The way to Eden is guarded by angels with a flaming sword, so that no one may reach the Tree of Life and gain immortality. But the curse is broken in Christ. Our exile is ended through His sacrifice. Listen to the promise given in the book of Revelation.

Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God. (Rev 2:7)

I want to leave you with one last piece of good news in the Garden story. When Adam and Eve were hiding, God came looking. God called for His children, “Where are you?” God searches for all his lost children, like a shepherd searching for a lost sheep. When a sinner comes out of hiding, to stand in truth before His creator, all of heaven rejoices.