The Garden of Eden
Genesis 2 & 3
Genesis chapter two records the creation of the Garden of Eden. The Bible records God prepared an impressive garden for humanity. It is a vast area. Rivers define the boundaries. The Tigris and the Euphrates rivers flow into the Persian Gulf. The Gihon River is thought to have been around Jerusalem. The Pihon river is believed to be dried up wadis in southern Israel. If these rivers are the Garden of Eden's borders, it would have encompassed most of the middle east. A lot bigger than the backyard garden my family had when I was a child.
In the middle of the Garden, God places two special trees. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God desired for Adam and Eve to partake of the tree of life. In Revelation, the apostle John equates the tree of life with having fellowship with God in Revelation 2:7. In contrast, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents the ability to disobey God.
In the last part of Genesis two, Genesis records the creation of man and woman. God notices Adam is alone. God has fellowship with Adam, but he needs someone like him to have a connection. God causes Adam to fall into a great sleep and creates a woman from his side. The Hebrew word for side is tsela. It is a word that is only used one other time in the Bible. Tsela is also used to refer to the sides of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle is where Moses went to meet with God. In the same way, our bodies were made to fellowship with God within our body in the beginning.
I find it interesting that God created woman out of man's side. That is on purpose. He didn't create her from his head because she was not to be above him. He didn't create her from his tailbone because she was not to be behind him. God didn't create her from the man's foot because she was not to be under him. The woman was created from the man's side because she was to be equal to him. Some have tried to interpret God, making women a helper, meaning that a woman is to be subordinate to a man. The problem with that interpretation is that the Hebrew word used in this passage helper is also used for God helping Israel. No one would interpret that God is subordinate to Israel, and it shouldn't be used to teach that a woman is to be subordinate to a man.
The Fall – Genesis 3
Adam and Eve are in the Garden of Eden. It is paradise. Plenty to eat. Daily fellowship with God. Beautiful animals to tend. But then there were two unique trees in the garden. One of the trees God commanded them not to eat of that fruit. Adam and Eve are neither good nor evil but innocent. They have yet to be tested, but that is about to change.
The serpent is described as the most crafty of any of the wild animals. The tradition of the church is that the snake is Satan. However, my seminary Old Testament professor and about every Old Testament scholar I have read on Genesis 3 point out that the Bible doesn’t call the serpent Satan. John, in Revelation 12, does call the ancient serpent Satan. I do interpret that the snake is the mask of Satan.
The serpent questions God’s integrity to Eve. The serpent asks, “Did God really say you couldn’t eat of the fruit of the trees?” Eve corrects him and tells the snake that only the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is forbidden. She tells the snake that they will die if they eat the fruit from that tree. The serpent tells her, “you will not die, but you will become like God.” The unforbidden fruit looks good to her, and so she takes some, eats it, and gives some to Adam. The first thing they notice after eating the forbidden fruit is that they are naked. Before, they were naked and not ashamed, but their eyes have been opened to seeing how they can live in disobedience to God after the forbidden fruit. Even their bodies, which were wonderfully made, can be used for perversion.
Then they heard God walking in the garden, and Adam and Eve hide. God calls to them. Adam answers and tells God that he hid because they are naked. Does God want to know who told them they were naked? He then asked, “Have you eaten from the forbidden tree?” Adam then blames Eve, and Eve then blames the serpent.
There are consequences to their disobedience. The serpent is cursed to crawl on its belly. Eve will have pain in childbirth, and her focus will be on her husband. Adam will have to work. The ground in the Garden didn’t have to be worked to produce fruit and vegetation. Because of the curse, to eat, Adam will have to work.
Adam and Eve are kicked out of the garden and not allowed to enter it again. However, hope is given, even in the curse. Genesis 3:15, God says, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (NIV). This is looked at as a promise of God in the future; He will send a Messiah to destroy Satan and death. The tempter in the Garden and death, a result of the curse of the fall.