|
The Test
“The Lord God commanded the man saying: ‘From any tree of
the garden you may eat freely.’” (Gen. 2:16)
God gave Adam and Eve a test. He told the couple to freely eat
from any tree in the garden. There was going to be only one
exception.
“But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you
shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will
surely die.” (Gen. 2:17)
The word “but,” an extremely important contrast, pointed to
God’s first negative command. God made it very easy for Adam and
Eve to pass the test by giving them trees to eat from that were
beautiful to the eyes with fruit that was delicious to the taste
(Gen. 2:9). This was all that their appetite could desire.
But the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was off limits.
What do you suppose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
was like? Was it an old, ugly, gnarled witch’s tree with green
slimy fruit hanging off it? Was there a sign of a skull and
cross bones standing nearby saying, “Poison! Do not touch” It
was evidently no different than any other tree in the garden. In
fact, it was probably a very beautiful tree just like the
others. The test had nothing to do with the looks of the tree
or the taste of its fruit. The test was within the spiritual
capacity of Adam’s soul.
“For in the day” is a Hebrew idiomatic expression. An idiom is
an expression used by the people of that day. This idiom means
“at the exact time or at the precise time.” God said to Adam, at
the time that you eat you will surely die. “Dying you will die”
is also a Hebrew emphatic phrase! If one wanted to emphasize
something in Hebrew the words would be repeated. This is how
this phrase looks in the original language; “Muth, tomuth.”
And it could be translated, “Dying, you will surely, most
positively die.” This is the first mention of death in the
Bible. Death is not a human word but a Bible word.
“Oh, the
depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His
ways.” (Rom. 11:33)
Satan Attacks
Satan had rebelled against God (Isa.
14:12-14) and God had cast him into the earth. (See
“The
First Sinner”).
God had created man and placed him in the garden. Satan may have
thought that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the
tree that would determine his ultimate fate, but he was wrong.
That was not the tree! That tree would come later. It would be
located upon a small hill called “Golgotha.”
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field
which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman,
‘Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of
the garden’?” (Gen. 3:1)
This was no ordinary serpent. “Crafty” is from the Hebrew word
for sensible, shrewd, and prudent. Remember that Satan was
created "blameless in his ways" (Eze. 28:15). He was extremely
intelligent. He knew God's original command to the man and the
woman to rule over all lower creation. He also may have
understood the result of Adam being created first and taken from
the soil. Adam was responsible to God. The woman had been taken
from the man, and so she became responsible to God through the
man. Satan reasoned that the man must fail the test in the
garden and fail of his own free will. But how could this be
accomplished? Watch closely!
The Woman First
Satan attacked the woman first. He understood God’s chain of
command! If Satan had gone to the man first and deceived him,
the man would have had an excuse before God. He could have
complained that he had been deceived. And Adam would have given
the fruit to Eve and she would have had to eat it in order to
remain submissive to the man. Both the man and the woman would
have an excuse before God.
But Satan went to the woman! He deceived her, and then the woman
approached the man. The man then had to make a decision. He
would have no excuses. But as we will see, God is the ultimate
genius.
Speaking to the woman he said.
“Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of
the garden.’” (Gen. 3:16)
This question to the woman was designed to confuse. Satan is a
master of illusion and confusion. “Isha, will God not let you
eat from every tree in the garden?” Before we begin to consider
Isha's answer, think about this. At the heart of man's human
wisdom is the desire to be free. Man wants to be free from
poverty, ignorance, disease and all absolutes. At the bottom of
Satan's question to Eve is her freedom. "Isha, are you not free
to do anything that you wish? You’re not free to eat of any
tree in the garden!"
“The woman said to the serpent, ‘From the fruit of the trees
of the garden we may eat.’” (Gen. 3:2)
Eve should have said, “We may eat from every tree in the garden.
Our Creator has provided them all for us. But the Creator, whose
will we know to be the best, has commanded us not to eat of this
one; and since He knows best for us, we willingly submit to
Him.” Or better still she could have asked the serpent to speak
with her husband. But she responded!
“From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat. But
from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the
garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch
it, or you will die.” (Gen. 3:3)
She was evidently now focusing on the tree. It was as if
something was wrong with that tree. An element of doubt was put
in her thinking by the deceiver. There were no fences around
the tree; there were no pits around it with crocodiles in them;
there were no signs with skull and crossbones. The tree was not
poisonous. The issue was not with the tree. Satan by deception
had struck the chord of Eve’s emotion and caused her to
temporarily set aside the facts.
“The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!”
(Gen. 3:4)
The Hebrew is more graphic than the English. Satan said, “No!
You will by no means die.” This is arguably the greatest lie
from the lips of the greatest liar in all of history. Satan is
the father of lies.
“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the
desires of your father. He was a murderer from the
beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is
no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from
his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
(Jn. 8:44)
Satan invented lying! God had said that to eat the fruit of
that tree would bring death. Satan blatantly contradicted God.
"For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes
will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and
evil.” (Gen. 3:5)
He was saying, "Isha, God is keeping something from you. If you
eat from it, then your eyes will be opened.” This is a Hebrew
idiom that implied that she would really begin to understand
like never before, and she would be like God knowing good and
evil.
Satan was telling the woman that she could become the captain of
her own destiny. She could have power and glory. She would be
free and able to make her own decisions, free from the
restraints of this unreasonable God that she served.
The sinner from the position of being “in sin,” cannot
understand sin. Everything becomes distorted. Only the person
free of sin understands its true meaning and consequences. Adam
and Eve had been truly free and did not recognize it. The
freedom of innocence is much better than the responsibility of
conscience. Satan now plays his trump card.
“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and
that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was
desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate;
and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”
(Gen. 3:6)
The appeal of the temptation went through her eyes to her
emotion. She did not say a word. She was at this point
completely captivated. “Good to eat” meant that it appealed to
the human appetite. “To be desirable” is to create a longing for
something. The woman craved the fruit of this forbidden tree.
She began to rationalize her decision. The fruit looked good.
It was desirable, and after all it would make her wise! Here is
rationalization at its best.
Once we have made up our minds to sin, we begin to rationalize
and make wrong appear to be right. The fall was not an
instantaneous act. It was a process. Woman saw the forbidden.
She desired the forbidden. She took the forbidden. This is the
pattern of temptation leading to sin (Joshua 7:21, 2 Samuel
11:2-4).
The First Sinner on Earth
The first sinner upon the earth was Isha, the woman. Adam then
had a decision to make. On one hand, he had the word of God,
“Don’t eat the fruit!” On the other hand, he had his mate. He
knew very well what the issue was. Whatever his choice, Adam
could not say that he did not know all the facts.
The woman became the initiator, not the responder. She gave the
fruit to her husband and he ate. This is obviously one of the
most important phrases in all of God’s word, but it is not
written in red or in italics or in bold letters or underlined.
No bells rang; no strobe lights starting flashing; no sirens
went off.
Adam ate, and immediately he died. Death means separation.
Immediately Adam was separated from God. With his mind, Adam no
longer knew God. With his emotion, he no longer had a desire to
fellowship with God; and with his will, he could no longer
choose to fellowship with God. He died spiritually, and at that
moment he also began to die physically.
Adam took the test of God in the garden
and he failed. He knowingly sinned against God; and when he
sinned, he immediately died. His heart did not stop beating, nor
did he stop breathing and fall over lifeless, but he did die. He
died on the inside! (See “The
Consequences of the Fall”).
The spiritual aspect of his soul was instantly separated from
God. Adam became an earthy man, completely out of touch with
his Creator. He became a “natural man.”
"But the
natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of
God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them,
because they are spiritually understood." (1 Cor. 2:14)
With his spiritual image now detached, his soul could operate
only in the earthy realm. Adam had lost his relationship with
God. Eventually, at the age of 930 years, Adam would die
physically (Gen. 5:5).
Why the Fall
Why did God give Adam the command not to eat of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil? Remember that it is the plan of the
Creator to reveal the riches of His glory upon His vessels of
mercy (Rom. 9:23).
The riches of God’s glory will evidently include the knowledge
of good and evil. What is so wrong with knowing the difference
between good and evil? It is a good quality for children to
have.
“Moreover your little ones and your children, who you say
will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good and
evil, they shall go in there; to them I will give it, and
they shall possess it.” (Deut. 1:39)
It is a good quality for kings to have.
“Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to
judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil.
For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” (1
Kings 3:9)
In fact, God had the ability Himself.
“Then the LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like
one of Us, knowing good and evil.’” (Gen. 3:22)
The knowledge of good and evil is a quality of God. It is not
the knowledge of good and evil that is the problem. What matters
is from what source and position do we learn the difference.
Adam learned the difference from the vantage point of a sinner.
He should have learned the truth by doing that which was right.
It may be God’s design to teach His vessels of mercy the
ultimate reason for good and evil. God clearly wants his vessels
of mercy to recognize that His will is best. Everyone will
discover in time that God’s will is best, and in eternity He
will shed light upon Himself and His faithfulness (Phil 2:5-11).
God had ordained a Lamb before the foundation of the world. That
means that the fall did not catch Him by surprise (1 Pet. 1:20).
God has a plan!
God’s
Redemption Plan
God deceived the deceiver. He
miraculously allowed the woman to be deceived first in order to
reserve for Himself a means to come into the slave-market
later! (See “The
Virgin Birth”).
Sources
New American
Standard Bible
Robert B.
Thieme, Jr.; Tape Series on Genesis
Bible Knowledge Commentary; Old Testament
|
