Study: Adam & Eve

 

Adam and Eve

What really happened in the garden of Eden? And how does that affect our lives?

Please read the following passages, before continuing with this study: Gen 1, Gen 2, Gen 3, Eph 5:22-33, Col 3: 17-25, Numb 30.

God created a physical world, and a spiritual man first, in Gen 1. Then He created the physical man, and plantlife in Gen 2. Adam was to dress and keep the garden (Gen 2:15). And He told Adam what he can and cannot eat, the latter being the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:16-17).

Then God said that it is not good for Adam to be alone, and God created the living creatures as a help meet for him, and Adam was to name them. Adam’s name first appears in verse 19 where he is to name the creatures, before that, he was just “the man”. So the Bible doesn’t directly state whether God named Adam, or whether he named himself.

 In verse 20, we see that there wasn’t any among the creatures fit for Adam. And then God let Adam fall into a deep sleep and he formed the woman out of one of Adam’s ribs (V22)

And Adam named her “Woman”, because she came out of “Man” (v23).

 We will now discuss Genesis 3 by verse:

 Gen 3:1 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?

 This is interesting, because the serpent knew that God didn’t tell the woman anything. God told Adam. The Bible doesn’t state whether God ever told the woman, it does however clearly state that God told Adam and He told him even before the woman was created. So, whatever the woman knew, she must’ve learnt from Adam. That is why he (the serpent) didn’t go to Adam. Adam got his instructions directly from God, which would have made it impossible for the serpent to deceive him. Adam would’ve told him off. But the woman didn’t. I think she wasn’t 100% convinced herself of the rules.

 

² And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

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.

 

And this is why I say so: there was added to the commandment. God didn’t say to not even touch the tree, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil is not in the midst of the garden. The tree of life is in the midst of the garden (Gen 2:9). So here the serpent knew with absolute certainty that the woman did not have the right information. God also told Adam that they would die the same day that they ate of the fruit (Gen 2:17), and that little extra information isn’t even mentioned. So the serpent knew he could continue his deception.

 

So, did the woman just not understand Adam, or did Adam – to maybe make sure that Eve not eat from the tree – twist God’s words and told her that God said to not even touch it?

 

I imagine it going like this: “Woman, there are two trees: the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We may eat of the tree of life. But we MAY NOT eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. You know what, we shouldn’t even touch it. Or we will die. Do you want to die?” As the woman’s eyes grow wider, she slowly shakes her head… “No, I don’t want to die!”, she exclaims. “Good, then we understand each other?” The woman nods her head, her eyes still wide.

 

Whether or not Adam gave the woman the wrong instructions, or whether she just got the wrong message, or understood it wrong, doesn’t matter. Adam was the woman’s husband, and therefor her spiritual head and teacher. He did not make sure she understood the commandment.

 

⁴ And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

 

The serpent blatantly lied to the woman. The serpent had its own agenda to bring sin into the world (Topic study: Body, Soul & Spirit). He needed them to sin. God told Adam that they would die in the day they eat of the forbidden tree. Death in this sense has 2 meanings: spiritual death, which is simply put: separation from God, and physical death. The serpent knew what both of these meant, but the woman did not.

 

⁵ 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.

 

And the serpent uses the same thing that got him kicked out of heaven, to convince the woman: pride, to be “as gods”. Furthermore, the serpent is telling it to the woman, as if God is not so great as He makes Himself out to be, because He is keeping something good from them – to be as He is.

 

Also note: it is not right and wrong, as we tend to interpret it. It’s good and evil. The most basic explanation of what good is and what evil is, is this: good = obedience to God, evil = disobedience.

The eyes being opened is also a key phrase. The eyes are the windows of the soul. And when they are “opened”, the soul is basically severed from the spirit (Study). God said that they shall die in the day they eat thereof. The serpent said their eyes shall be opened. Let’s see what happened.

 

⁶ 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.

It looked good. It didn’t appear bad at all. We don’t know what the “fruit” was, it is not explained anywhere in the Bible. And there is a lot of theories. What we do know, is that must have been something close enough to something the woman knew to be good already, to appear good to her as well – that she couldn’t tell the difference in what made it bad. And whatever it was, she was able to do it, and then go to Adam so that he could do it as well.

After she ate, she gave to her husband “with her”. Does that mean Adam was standing there next to her, while the serpent was busy deceiving her, and he didn’t do anything about it? Or did the serpent beguile the woman, and left. And later the woman and the man went for their afternoon stroll and they walked through the garden and came upon the tree, and the more the woman looked at it, the more it became appealing, and then she took a fruit and ate it, and gave some to Adam and he just ate it. Again, we’re not quite sure what “with her” meant, but it would seem that Adam just didn’t stop her.

The question is, why not? If Adam was literally with her, he should have told her to leave that tree well enough alone. He should have said: “What the hell, Woman? Didn’t I tell you we cannot eat from that tree? Seriously?” And he should have taken the fruit and threw it on the ground, and stomped on it.

So why didn’t he? There is the theory that the woman was dominating Adam through the Jezebel spirit, and Adam then had the Ahab spirit, which is the submissive one. There is also the theory that Adam loved Eve and that because she sinned, she would have died, and he didn’t want her to, so he ate with her to be with her.

The woman didn’t make the man eat. It really doesn’t seem like she had to convince him, or manipulate him into it. She also wasn’t afraid of what she did. She didn’t try to hide it from Adam. She ate, and gave to him. “Look, Adam! I know you said we shouldn’t even touch that tree, let alone eat from it, but boy, it is such a beautiful tree, and the fruits! Just look at it. And they are soooo tasty! Here, try it!”

I think, Adam realized he didn’t give the woman the right instruction and to save himself the embarrassment of fessing up to it, he ate.

⁷ 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.

Also note, that nothing happened after the woman ate. It was only after Adam ate, that their eyes were opened. This is because the man is the head of the woman. In Numbers 30 it is explained that if a woman makes a vow and the husband annuls it, it shall be annulled and the Lord will forgive her. The man has the power to stop the woman’s sin, and she will not even carry the punishment. The Godly order is that man is the head of the woman. He is responsible for her, and for his household. The man is literally the go-between between God and the woman. Before a woman is married, it is her father. And when married, it is her husband. If a woman does not have a father or a husband, Jesus is her covering as He is the spiritual husband.

If Adam had stopped the woman, neither’s eyes would have opened. But when Adam sinned also, BOTH their eyes were opened. So although Adam could have stopped the consequences of the sin, and NEITHER would have suffered, once he conceded and sinned as well, they BOTH suffered the consequences. Not just the woman, as she ate first, not just Adam, as he was the head, but both.

Shame only came in after sin. They only knew their nakedness after they sinned. Fig leaves are an interesting choice… it is the worst you could probably use! The sap is sticky and both the sap and the leaves makes you very itchy. And to put that on your private parts? It must’ve been excruciating! Again a lot of theories, but that’s another study.

But, they didn’t die. Or did they?

⁸ 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.

Interesting side note: God didn’t walk through the garden, His VOICE did. And they didn’t try to hide from God, they hid from His PRESENCE.

They also didn’t feel that their makeshift, itchy coverings of fig leaves was enough of a covering. So they had to hide themselves between the trees as well. Was the leaves then perhaps more for them than for God? They were husband and wife – yes, with all that that implies. God did say: “be fruitful and multiply” and He did create them with all the necessary parts… so it is just logical to assume that Adam and his wife was sexually active. So it’s not that they had never seen each other, or touched each other. But with the eyes opened as they were now, they covered themselves up – from each other.

Were they trying to hide their own shame? The woman because she gave Adam the fruit, and Adam because he ate, while he knew better?

 

⁹ And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

¹⁰ And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

Adam hid himself because he was naked, not because he was disobedient. Adam should have said: because I was disobedient, but it wasn’t his disobedience that bothered him, it was his nakedness. Sin exposes us, makes us feel vulnerable.

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?

Interesting for me, is that God didn’t ask Adam “how did you find out”, He asked “who told you”. Followed by “have you eaten of the tree”. How would eating a fruit – an action – TELL you something? Adam and his wife ATE the fruit, and this TOLD them they were naked. And, also, that God isn’t going to like it.

¹² And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

And here is what changed everything: Adam, instead of taking the responsibility for his and his wife’s actions, and asking God for forgiveness, he blames God and his wife. The woman GOD gave to him – so it wasn’t the woman Adam chose, you know, God gave her to him, so somehow God also has a stake in this. And then, the famous words of man: She MADE me do it.

Adam as the head of the house, should have taken the full responsibility here. He should have been the woman’s covering. But instead of being that, he threw her under the bus!

I can only imagine the pure shock and horror that the woman must’ve felt when she heard Adam speak those words. He was there “with her” and he didn’t say anything. She gave him of the fruit – she didn’t try to hide it, didn’t try to trick Adam, didn’t force him, didn’t coerce him – and even when he knew better, he didn’t try to stop her, he didn’t correct her. No, he simply took what she gave him and ate. Just to turn around and throw it back in her face as her fault.

With these words Adam committed another sin: not covering his wife. 1 Tim 2:14 tells us that Adam wasn’t deceived. He knew exactly what he was doing, and he still did it. Why?

¹³ 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 woman follows the man’s lead and blames the serpent. She said she was beguiled, Adam did not, because he wasn’t.

¹⁴ 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:

God did not ask the serpent what he did or why, He just curses him straight off the bat. Please note the serpent could not have been a snake. If it was, then to curse it to go on its belly is a bit pointless, don’t you think? There is a theory that the serpent is actually the link between man and beast, and since it has been cursed to become a snake, it – or its skeletons - will therefore never be found. The serpent was the most subtil of all the beasts and was then also cursed as such – more than any other creature.

¹⁵ 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.

The enmity was put between the serpent and the woman, not the man. The promise of defeat over the serpent will come through the woman’s seed, not the man’s. Also, enmity was not placed between Adam and the woman, but between the serpent and the woman.

¹⁶ 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.

God did not tell the woman why. He told the serpent and Adam why, but not the woman. I believe it is because God knows what the woman knew and understood and what she didn’t, and because it was Adam’s job to ensure she knew and understood the commandment. But because Adam didn’t do his job, the woman was deceived. You don’t know what you don’t know. To tell the woman what she did wrong, would not have made sense to her, as that was not what she was told. Adam didn’t ensure that she understood the commandment, and that left her open for deception. We can argue that God punished her because she still ate, and whether she knew everything or not, she did know not to eat from the tree, and she still did. But the Bible does not say the exact WHY.

The woman received 3 punishments: 1) multiply thy sorrow and conception, 2) in sorrow you shall bring forth children, 3) desire to thy husband.

 

What is 0 x 0 = ? 0, right? To multiply something, there had to have been something there to begin with. So when God multiplies her sorrow and conception, it means there was some sorrow and conception to begin with. Thus, not an entirely new punishment – just more of something already there.

When you take nr. 2 back to Hebrew, it also points to starting a nation, not just bearing children. I believe that points to the “seed” that the woman shall produce, that will defeat the serpent. So yes, women shall suffer while bearing children, but out of her line, the saviour will be born. What a promise!

 

And then Paul also says that women shall be saved by childbearing and continuing in the faith (1 Tim 2:15). So the same thing that is a curse for the woman, is also part of what saves her. Grace along with punishment.

 

The third part is as much the woman’s curse as the man’s. And I think God had to bring that in, because after Adam threw Eve under the bus, she would’ve wanted nothing more to do with him. So God forced them together! Maybe also, so that before the woman wants to do anything, she will consult with her husband first, so as to prevent a second fall. Her desire will be to please him, and he will have the final say.

 

And the woman’s desire will be to HER HUSBAND – not all men. The husband will rule over HIS WIFE – not all women. Just because you are a woman, you are not subject unto all men, you do not have to obey the commands of a man, simply because he is a man. (Not talking authority figures – that is different entirely, and is also not exclusive to male).

 

¹⁷ 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;

¹⁸ Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

¹⁹ 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.

 

Adam received 7 curses: 1) the ground is cursed because of him, 2) he shall eat of the ground in sorrow, 3) thorns and thistles, 4) you shall eat the herb of the field, 5) you shall work until you die, 6) you will die a physical death and 7) you shall rule over the woman.

 

The woman’s punishments only involved her. She will suffer and will have great pains in childbearing. But the man’s punishment didn’t really touch him – just the whole world around him. He will suffer because of it, but he himself was only cursed with eating of the ground in sorrow.

 

Initially, the fruit of the trees would have been man’s food, but after the fall, food from the ground were introduced, ie. crops. Hard work to live was introduced. Maybe that is why people die when they retire and go sit and do nothing – you have to work until you die. And men is more affected by this than woman.

 

Adam received a much heavier punishment than Eve, and God told him why: he hearkened unto the voice of his wife, and ate of the tree. Adam did not correct Eve, he wasn’t her covering, her spiritual head and leader – he should have rebuked her outright! But he didn’t.

 

This isn’t a warning for men not to listen to their wives – this is a warning for men to take care of them! The woman was deceived in the first place because Adam didn’t teach her correctly, and when she did wrong, he still didn’t correct her. He just went along with it, only to turn around and blame her for it. God requires of the man to be strong and steadfast, to lead his household into His kingdom – like a king leads a country. History has proven what happens when wimps rule… chaos and degradation. So when Adam didn’t step up to the plate, God punished him severely.

 

And physical death was introduced. They would not have died before the fall, which leads me to believe they had glorified bodies, and that was why they were not ashamed. But once they sinned, their bodies became flesh, and the death that God promised them, came into play. They didn’t die that day, but that day death became a part of them. They died a spiritual death, and their bodies became subject to physical death.

 

So when Adam looks at the woman, he sees the curses he believes she brought on him. And then his revenge starts with changing her name:

 

²⁰ And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

 

Adam named her “Woman” when God first introduced the two to each other. After the fall, he changed her name, and her name carried her curse: since she will bring forth children that will die, she is the mother of all “living”. What’s in a name? Everything. Her name wasn’t lovingly given, it was a punishment. So when Jesus broke all the curses on the cross, and he rose from the dead, he addressed Mary Magdalene, as “woman”. In fact, the only woman recorded that he called by name, was Martha. All other woman he dealt with, including his mother, he addressed as “woman” – reinstating her place to before the fall.

 

Adam’s curse is not so easily broken. The cursed earth will only end when God creates a NEW heaven and a NEW earth (Rev 21:1)

 

²¹ Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

 

God performed the first sacrifice – killing an animal to cover the nakedness of Adam and his wife, to cover their sins.

 

²² 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:

²³ Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

²⁴ 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.

 

The first Adam committed sin, and introduced death, so a second Adam (Jesus) had to come to bring life – 1 Cor 15:22.

 

One of the biggest questions of history still remains: What was the “fruit” really?

We know it wasn’t an actual fruit, like an apple. We know it wasn’t sex.

 

But does it really matter, anyway? For God, the actual sin is of such little importance for us to know, that it is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible. Adam and Eve weren’t even punished for whatever that was. They were punished for DISOBEDIENCE.

 

Knowing good and evil isn’t a sin anyway. God knows good from evil, and there is no evil in Him. Perhaps the sin didn’t have anything to do with what the fruit was. The fruit wasn’t sin – it was knowledge. Eating the fruit in itself wasn’t the problem either. The point is, that God told them not to. And they did.

 

They were disobedient.

 

At the end of it all, it isn’t about RIGHT and WRONG, it is about being OBEDIENT to God, to listen to His voice and heed His call. To do His will. To be obedient to God is GOOD. Disobedience is EVIL.

 

 Adam & Eve PDF