On our trip to Greece we did a Farm Tour and Cooking Class. I did make some notes about gardening (dry tomato farming) and plant intelligence that may post sometime. But this is the reflections on the Genesis 3 Garden History. It’s a subject we heard in a talking last weekend in Colorado. These are my thoughts this morning.
Notes From the Garden – Geneva Bible Updated
The subtle serpent and the art of using questions or questioning God for deception.
Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil then any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made: and he said to the woman, Yea, hath God in deed said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
The woman who is not yet called Eve or in this the Geneva Bible “Hevah” (also spelled Havah, Chavah, or Hewah) is primarily the ancient Hebrew name for Eve, meaning “living” or “life” and symbolizing vitality. It is derived from a root meaning to breathe or exist. Previous in Chapter 2 Adam called her woman:
H802 (Brown-Driver-Briggs)
נשׁים / אשּׁה
‘ishshâh / nâshı̂ym
BDB Definition:
1) woman, wife, female
1a) woman (opposite of man)
1b) wife (woman married to a man)
1c) female (of animals)
1d) each, every (pronoun)
Part of Speech: noun feminine
Gen 3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden,
The woman’s answer was only partially right….
Gen 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
The first answer was a lie, black and white, as God had said he (Adam) should die…and Adam obviously from the conversation had told the woman about it.
Gen 3:4 Then the serpent said to the woman, Ye shall not die at all,
Gen 2:16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Thou shalt eat freely of every tree of the garden,
Gen 2:17 But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die the death.
Gen 3:5 But God doeth know, that when ye shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Gen 3:6 So the woman (seeing that the tree was good for meat, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to get knowledge) took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also to her husband with her, and he did eat.
The first point of the serpent in v5 is confirmed. And later in the passage God affirms in v 22 that indeed the 2nd part of the serpent’s statement was also true, although not in the full concept.
Gen 3:22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; now lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life and eat and live for ever,
Gen 3:7 Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig tree leaves together, and made themselves breeches.
Gen 3:8 Afterward they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Notice God addresses the man he formed out of the dust first and the man responds from a new perspective about God (afraid) and himself (naked).
Gen 3:9 But the Lord God called to the man, and said unto him, Where art thou?
Gen 3:10 Who said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and was afraid: because I was naked, therefore I hid myself.
God responds with a question about the original command.
Gen 3:11 And he said, Who told thee, that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
Both the man and the woman, resort to the blame game…
Gen 3:12 Then the man said, The woman which thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Gen 3:13 And the Lord God said to the woman, Why hast thou done this? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
God addresses the serpent first…..
Gen 3:14 Then the Lord God said to the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field: upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.
Gen 3:15 I will also put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. He shall break thine head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
And so on…read the 1560 Copy with notes here..
Rainbow Trout 