The Fall Of Man I Series

The fall part I

7–8 And the eyes of them both were opened reveals the half-truth of the serpen; shows how the enemy will take the truth and mix it moderately with a lie to disguise the lie.

Now Adam and Eve see good and evil from the standpoint of sinners, from the low level of sin. (Sin can’t dwell in the midst of God).

Their eyes were opened to the fact that they were corrupt and polluted;

sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. In addition, they sought to hide themselves from God; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God. A keen sense of guilt immediately followed the act of sinning, and their intimate fellowship with God was broken. Because their conscience had revealed to them the error of their ways. The knowledge they now have judges everything from a false standpoint; it sees from a perverted position.

Previously they were naked (2:25), but they were not ashamed. Actually, what they heard was “the sound or voice of the LORD God traversing the garden as the Spirit of the day.” This was a primal Parousia. God was coming unto them in judgment for their disobedience. The word voice is better rendered sound as it appears in (cf. Ps 18:13; Jer 25:30; Ezk 1:24ff; Joel 3:16; see the Westminster Theological Journal, March, 1978). The cool of the day relates to the “Spirit of the day,” as cool is the Hebrew word for spirit. And the day is a judgment day. No small wonder that as the sound of the LORD God was traversing back and forth in the garden seeking out Adam and Eve, they actively hid themselves from His presence!

9–13 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

God has to call man because one man had broken away from God, now we have to call upon God so God does leave us in a lost condition.

This is the great marvel of the Scriptures; God does not abandon the creature to his just deserts. In this question God reveals His love:

1) For the purpose of interrogating Adam

2) To cause him to see where his disobedience has brought him.

3) To cause him to contemplate his present status

4) Give an account of why he is in the condition in which he in.

And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. Here is the voice of the sinner; he is not straightforward, open, and aboveboard. Sin makes man a coward and an evader; it leads him to seek refuge in half-truths, deceit, and evasion. What Adam says is true in part; but he is more concerned with the consequences of his sin than with the heinousness of what he had done. The awareness of his nakedness was more keenly in Adam’s mind than the fact that he had broken God’s command. Sin causes us to think more of what happens and will happen to us than of the fact that we have disobeyed God. Why should he have been afraid because he was naked (cf. 2:25)? Then God asked another question,

Who told thee that thou west naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree? Adam must be brought to the realization that the sin which he had committed was more serious than its consequences. He must have a deeper consciousness of his sin than of its effects. The realization of his nakedness from a sinful perspective was directly related to his eating of the prohibited tree. The straightforward question Hast thou eaten? God makes it easy for Adam to answer a Yes or question. A simple, honest confession was what God sought. (He asks the same from us)

The structure of the twelfth verse is quite interesting, particularly with respect to the first three words (lit., and there said the man, the woman). Adam is shifting the blame to the woman. He mentions her (Eve) first and, thus, emphasizes her (Eve). Adam the leader is now a follower. The woman whom thou gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.