Adam and Eve

Genesis 2:16-20 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.

The very first commandment, “Every tree you can eat from but, DO NOT eat from THIS tree.” God told Adam if he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would die in that day.

God felt that Adam needed a friend, a helper. So, God placed before Adam all the animals He had created and told Adam he could name them. Even after giving them names Adam still felt alone.

Genesis 2:21-25 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Woman was created to be a friend, a helper, to man. Women are not subservient to men. Women are equal, created and taken from man’s side. Created to be by his side. His friend, helper, and mate. His wife. Man and woman together as one flesh. It is interesting how this is worded because when a husband and wife come together and bare a child, that child is both parents becoming one flesh. Man and man can not do this nor can woman and woman.

Adam and Eve were naked and they knew no different. Just as a child, who doesn’t know right from wrong, is innocent until they have been given knowledge that it is wrong. Only then does it become punishable once they learn and should know the difference. They were not punished for their nakedness since they didn’t know any different so,God forgave them. Children have not “eaten of the tree of knowledge” until later in life when they should know the difference but choose to ignore it. Therefore, children, until they know, are not punished by God. That is why Jesus tells us to be like the little children. Innocent and humble.

Genesis 3:1-5 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 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. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

It is possible that Satan took on the appearance of the serpent to seduce Eve. He tells her that the only reason God told them not eat it was because He didn’t want them to be as gods and that she will not die if she eats it. Satan stills tries to get us to believe that we can be gods. Satan despises humanity. It really chaps his hide to know that he was above all other creation of his time but man will inherit the earth instead of him. He goes before God and accuses us of sinful things to get us in trouble. He tries to persuade us to do sinful things to make God hate us and make himself look like a hero. He goes before God and says. “See, I told you they were no good. They should be punished and I should be rewarded for turning them in.”

Genesis 3:6-7 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

Eve listened to the serpent and ate the fruit then she shared it with Adam and he ate it. They became aware of right and wrong bringing sin into the world because they disobeyed God.

Genesis 3:8-15 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 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? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto 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: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Placing blame on each other instead of admitting guilt. Not taking responsibility for their own actions. We still do that today and it gets worse as time goes on. We have all heard some of the craziest lawsuits. And, with “fights for rights” it gets worse. This shows where man’s justice differs from God’s. It is also interesting to note that Adam not only places blame on Eve but, God as well by saying “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me,”

The serpent itself is cursed above all. It wasn’t until now that the serpent crawled upon it’s belly. Before this it walked on legs. Perhaps the serpent was a different animal in the beginning. God told Satan that there will be hostility between his seed (his followers) and Eve’s seed (mankind). Satan and mankind will be enemies. In the end Satan will be crushed like a serpent’s head under a boot heal. He will be defeated. Jesus explains it better:

Matthew 13:37-40 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.

Genesis 6:16-19 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Because of this disobedience, woman will now go through painful childbirth. During this same punishment in the same sentence about the same subject concerning childbirth, God said that man will rule over woman. I don’t really think this about authority. A man’s sperm is what determines the gender of a baby. In this sense, the man has control over the woman since the woman’s body doesn’t get to choose.

As for authority, a man should be the head of the household. Woman should never beguile their husbands. He is the strength of your family and as such, should be treated with respect. Men should not beguile their wives because she is the mother of your children, your friend, your helper. Men should treat their wives with respect. God told Adam not to eat the fruit, then Adam told Eve. So, Eve not only disobeyed God but, she also disobeyed and didn’t trust Adam. God went to Adam first because he was the head of the Garden or household. It was his responsibility to oversee that rules are followed. Some scripture speaks of how a woman is to act in public, such as, 1Timothy 2:9-15 and how a man is head of the household in 1 Corinthians 11:7-9. It is to be recognized that the woman was the temptress and man fell for it, therefore, caution is taken where woman may do so again. Other scriptures do not state that a man has absolute authority over a woman.

Ephesians 5:20-33 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

When man and woman are joined together, they become one flesh. Not two with one ruling the other but, one. By a woman submitting to her husband she is trusting his judgment and not causing strife. There are examples in the bible of woman having authority over men. Like Deborah, whom God chose as the only female judge and leader of forces. Many woman were even prophets. Why would God give this gift to women if they were only servants of man? We are all servants of God, men and women.

Adam’s punishment is death which is passed on to all mankind. He will work hard for food to feed his family to survive and then die returning to the dirt that God created him from. Living the easy life is gone. Adam’s disobedience brought death to all living. His punishment is shared with ALL of creation. However, Eve’s disobedience to God AND to Adam was passed on to only females. God “greatly multiplied thy sorrow and thy conception”. This implies, as does the statement to be fruitful and multiply before the fruit was eaten, that childbearing was already possible. It was either not very painful or not painful at all. God also said He greatly multiplied her conception. She now has a greater chance of becoming pregnant.

This is just an assumption but, I believe this is where a woman’s menstruation begins. It’s interesting how the shedding of blood is needed for the remission of sins yet, a woman’s menstrual cycle is unclean to God. Leviticus 15 describes a woman’s menstruation as “her separation”. She was separated from the community since touching her and anything else she touched would make that person unclean. Leviticus 12 describes the menstruating after childbearing as “the days of her purifying”. The seven days being unclean is the same of someone who touched a dead body. Another interesting thing is that after her separation and days of purifying she must give a sin offering. A woman menstruates because the egg released was not fertilized. Therefore, the body flushes out the dead egg. Almost like her cycle is a reminder of the death she brought because of her disobeying.

These two important trees in the Garden of Eden are available to us on a daily basis. Satan tempts us to disobey God instead of taking eternal life through Jesus Christ.

Genesis 3:20-24 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them. And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

God knew that the temptation would be there to eat of the tree of life. After receiving such a punishment that would be too horrible to bare for an eternity, God sent Adam and Eve away from the tree so they would not eat of the tree of life and live forever in their cursed flesh. God made Adam and Eve coats of skin. The first animal sacrifice. They were then sent beyond the garden to till the land and grow their own food. The garden was then guarded by Cherubims, angels with four wings and four faces. The guardians of God’s domain.

Adam and Eve were not exiled from Eden, only the garden. They moved out into Eden where they began their new life and raised a family.

God told Adam that he would die in the day that he ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Satan told Eve she wouldn’t die if she ate of it. Satan tried to make God look like a liar. God’s ways are so different from ours. We see everything in the literal but, God’s “literal” is not always what we consider literal. We are promised hell if we disobey God but yet, most don’t believe it because we never see it. We are taught that we can live forever if we do follow His word but yet, we have never seen anyone live forever. This is why Jesus was looked upon as a lunatic. People didn’t understand that Jesus wasn’t talking of us in this flesh living forever. They even misunderstood what being reborn and sleeping meant. We just don’t think like God does and Satan takes advantage of this.

2 Peter 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Adam lived to be 930 years old. He died in the same day he ate that fruit. God doesn’t lie.