Bible Stories: The Garden (Genesis 2-3)

A sermon for Milledgeville and Whitestown UMC

Bible Stories: The Garden (Genesis 2-3)

 

When was the first math problem in the Bible? When God told humans to go forth and multiply.  

 

What was the longest day in the Bible? The day Adam was created… because there was no Eve.

 

Today we are digging into the Garden, a story that illustrates human nature. Genesis 1 tells us that humans are made in God’s image. The garden story depicts the creator breathing life into lifeless dirt. Something of God gives life to the man made from dirt. The Hebrew language plays on the words. Adam (aw-dawm) comes from the ground (adama). This wordplay implies that humans are earthbound, yet we have this longing for something more. Later in chapter 3, the Lord will remind us, “You are dust and to dust you shall return.” (Gen 3:19)

 

God places Adam in paradise. Eden means pleasure. It is a walled garden – protected like the gardens of kings. One of the seven wonders of the world was the hanging gardens of Babylon. These meticulously pampered gardens within the courtyards of the palace grounds were a symbol of the gods blessing the king and, through the divinely appointed monarch, his kingdom. The image is one of peace and plenty, complete ease. The animals God makes are not afraid of Adam, nor is the man afraid of the animals. Fear doesn’t enter the picture until Adam sins. Then in shame, he hides from God.

 

Adam had a job to do. He was to work the garden, and watch over it.  For Jews hearing this story, the word work may remind them of the harsh work of slavery. Adam had work, even in paradise. Work gave him purpose.  

 

 

 

Adam was also meant to tend the garden. He needed to keep watch over it and guard it attentively. In the same way, Jews are called to guard the things of God with great attention, specifically God’s commandments. There are 613 different commandments (mizvot) in Torah. Jesus taught that love fulfills all the commandments of God. Love God, Love Neighbor, Love Enemies, Love one another.

 

God gave Adam one specific command to not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of God and Evil. It was the first restrictive command, a thou shalt not command. The command was meant to protect the man from death. God provided the man purpose in Eden. God gave the man plenty to eat. He could eat of the fruit of any tree, save one. But God saw that Adam needed an appropriate companion to help him.

 

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” (Gen 2:18) God said it’s not good (Notice the opposite of Genesis 1?) God saw all he had created and thought, “It is very good.” But it was not good for the man God placed in Eden to be separated from other human beings. God decided to make a helper to place in front of Adam. He made woman, not from the ground, but from part of the man. When Adam saw her he said,

 

“This at last is bone of my bones

    and flesh of my flesh; (Gen 2:23)

 

The narrator comments, “Therefore, a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” (Gen 2:24-25) Jesus quoted this very passage when teaching on divorce. When a man and woman are wed, they are bound together as one. They fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. The man is made whole by clinging to his wife. She brings him a missing piece of himself. And that is very good. No one should act to tear their union apart.

 

Then, a new character is introduced, the shrewd serpent. The Hebrew word for serpent is nahas (naw’khash’). It comes from a root word meaning divination or fortune telling. You know how the witches in Harry Potter read tea leaves? Greek oracles read animal entrails. Kinda gross. It is a practice outlawed by the law of Moses. Today, some read Tarot cards, or consult spirits through Ouija boards. The Jews took such practices very seriously.

 

 “You shall not permit a female sorcerer to live. (Ex 22:18)

 

The serpent is a sham artist, much like those who purport to be able to see the future. Dial 1-900 Psychic! Sadly, the serpent made his twisted truths seem quite convincing.

 

First, he implied that God was oppressive. “Did God truly say that you shall not eat from any tree in the garden?” (Gen 3:1)

 

He made the one restriction to not eat from one tree, to encompass all trees in the garden. It’s kind of how a toddler thinks. The child gets fixated on one thing. The parent tells them they can’t have it and the toddler throws a fit. The one restriction has become everything.

 

Eve corrects the serpent by stating exactly what God said. “You shall not eat of the tree in the middle of the garden or you will die.” (Gen 3:3)

 

Now the serpent changes tactics. He calls God a liar. Worse, the serpent implies that God is keeping something good from Adam and Eve. “You will not 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.” (Gen 3:4)

 

You will be like God! Sounds pretty good. Eve thought being a god was an exciting prospect. Besides, the fruit looked delicious!

 

Rather than trust God’s command and warning, she chose to trust the lies of the serpent. Eve ate the forbidden fruit. And Adam, who was with her, ate it too.

 

This moment in the story is what we call “The Fall.” Adam and Eve sinned. They broke the commandment, and devoured what was forbidden. Rather than trust the God, they trusted the word of a serpent.

 

The Garden story illustrates how sin works. It takes a restriction and makes it a wonderful thing that God is keeping from you. The warlock Alister Crowley wrote, “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.” You’ll learn, on your own, what works and doesn’t work. The Bible offers a different way. Trust the wisdom of God. God has given us a moral and righteous path to follow. Don’t go where the road don’t go. It only leads to misery.

 

Adam sinned, and paradise was lost. God drove them out of the Garden of Eden, out of the pleasant, protected, well cared-for garden that gives life to the world.

 

The Garden of Eden is a picture how life was meant to be, lived in covenant with God. The wall that protects the garden and marks its boundaries symbolizes the law of Moses. Living faithfully within the boundaries of the law, God walks with Israel, dwells among them, and blesses them with peace and plenty.

 

A river flowed out of Eden into 4 rivers, watering the earth in all directions. In the same way, the knowledge of God flows through Israel and nourishes holy life all over the world, for those who chose to live within the boundaries of the law.

 

But Adam broke the law and was expelled from Eden. Outside the blessings of God, he would experience hard labor from a cursed ground.

Eve would experience great pain in childbirth and her man will rule over her.

The rabbis teach that God took Adam’s rib to make Eve. Not from the foot, that he might tread upon her, or rule over her, not from the skull that she might tread him underfoot, but from the side, close to the heart, that the two might live as intimate partners. Because of sin, instead of the two joined as one flesh, now there is separation, a master ruling over his subjugated wife.

 

Sin corrupts human relationships. All of us sin and fall short of God’s glory. All we like sheep have gone astray. Sin corrupts nature. The land which God had called good is now cursed. It yields weeds, thorns and thistles. Only by hard work will Adam be able to eat. It’s no longer an easy life with peace and plenty. It’s a harsh world outside of Eden, unwelcoming, scant and unforgiving.

 

But even in this story of the Fall of Humankind from Paradise, there is mercy. God provides Adam and Eve clothing made from animal skins. This symbolizes the sacrificial system. Animals died to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness, their shame. In their shame, they hid from God, but God provided a way for them to cover their sin and shame. Atonement is achieved by the blood of a sacrificial lamb. The blood sacrifice covers over sin, so that they may stand before God forgiven and redeemed.

 

And the first prophecy of the messiah is found in Genesis 3. The offspring of Eve will crush the serpent’s head. Paul uses the imagery in his closing to the letter to the Romans.

 

The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet. (Rom 16:20)

 

The devil makes the path that leads to misery and death look good. We have music to celebrate it: Highway to Hell, Running With the Devil! We think we’re missing out if we don’t partake of the things God’s word warns us about. But if we are wise, we will take God at His word and remain under His providence and protection. But at some point, we all make that choice to follow the crowd onto the popular path of destruction. Everybody’s doing it!

 

But God, in His mercy, has provided us a way back to Paradise. God has provided the sacrificial lamb, His only Son, Jesus Christ.

 

Christ Jesus made us a promise.

 

To everyone who conquers (endures faithfully to the end), I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God. (Rev 2:7)

 

God had blocked the way into Paradise with a flaming sword, but now through the sacrifice of Jesus, and His Spirit walking with us through faith, the way back into the garden is open.

 

Joni Mitchell wrote in her song Woodstock,

 

We are stardust. We are golden

We are caught in the devil’s bargain.

And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.

 

Jesus Christ is the way back to paradise, when death will be no more. Crying, and pain will be no more. God will wipe away every tear caused by this harsh, fallen world.

 

All we need do is follow Jesus.

 

Earnestly tenderly, Jesus is calling. Calling, “Oh Sinner, come home!”