Genesis 3:1-
Notes
Transcript
Intro:
Intro:
So, we have pretty much wrapped up the creation account of Genesis.
We’ve looked at it from some different angles… and maybe have considered some aspects that are outside of the traditional narrative.
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I’ve done my best to present the obvious puzzle pieces and show how they fit together, but I’ve also thrown some pieces on the table… and have left them to you, to see how they might fit.
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Bible study can be a very easy thing when we have locked in all of our pre-conceived conclusions. We read what we already know and apply what we have already learned… it becomes, almost automatic. But sometimes, when we do this, we are letting old ideas blind us from seeing things, that might be a little different.
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But our challenge, as students of the Bible, is to ‘test all things’… - Even the things we learned in church 10 years ago… or in Bible School, 25 years ago… or from the books we read… or the sermons we listened to. - We need to test what hear… but often times, we need to test our own conclusions.
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Sometimes, when we hold up our traditional conclusions to a clear reading of the word… things don’t always match as perfectly as we once thought they did.
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Sometimes, when we hold up traditional conclusions that were formed from a mindset of modern culture and thought… to the mindset of ancient culture and thought… things don’t always match as perfectly as we once thought they did.
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This is a challenge that we need to bring to the scriptures. To look at them, divorced of our personal bias.
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There are many ways to see the events of the first two chapters… but I think we can sum them up with a few simple statements.
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God took something that was without form… and He gave it shape
God took something that was void… that was empty… and He filled it.
God took something that was dark and chaotic… and He brought light and order to it.
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These are broad, thematic statements… but they set the stage for us, to learn about God’s character moving forward.
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He is the God who shapes the formless, fills the emptiness, brings order to chaos, and bring light to the darkness…
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There is something else we have learned about God… He wants community. He wants a relationship with His creation. He creates beings in His own image, and sends them out into the earth with a unique mission. A mission, which BTW, will be consistent with the things we have learned about God in creation.
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God created man in His image… and his job, Adam’s specifically… was to work the garden, and keep it… - Even after he was cast out… his job was to work the land… and in this job, we see Adam giving shape and order to God’s creation...
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God told his human creation… those made in His image… to go into the world… to be fruitful and multiply… so, as God’s image bearers… they filled a place, that was once empty.
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Later, when God would take Israel as His own inheritance… we learn that they will play a role in bringing deliverance to the nations that were in darkness and disorder… That they, Israel, would be the light.
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5 And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him— for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength— 6 he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
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So… mankind is made in God’s image… and mankind has a responsibility to represent God’s image in the world. But… moving forward in the rest of the Bible… we will see that mankind will be opposed as he attempts to do this.
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That opposition will come from enemies on the outside… and from a corruption on the inside. - These two forms of opposition come on the scene in Genesis 3.
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1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
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So… initial observations…
The serpent is crafty… cunning… prudent… but only in comparison to the beasts of the field that God had made.
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He could be just a little smarter than a cow… but then, we see that he was capable of communication… and definitely smart enough to coheres Eve into an act of disobedience.
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We don’t know of any other animal that can talk, except Balaam’s donkey, who spoke under the influence of the Angel of the Lord.
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So… we might conclude… that this too is a normal animal, that is speaking under the influence of a spiritual being.
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Another thing we learn, just by initial observation, is that this creature is immediately challenging that authority of God’s Word.
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If we read on… we will learn more about what this serpent does… but we won’t really learn who this serpent is… or how this particular serpent is different than the common snake… except that it has intelligence.
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And quite honestly, if we move on, the topic shifts and focuses primarily upon Eve, and then Adam, as they eat of this tree… and the consequences of their rebellious decision.
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The serpent is still in the story… but the serpent won’t be the story..
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So, I want to take some time, to talk about the serpent. Who is the serpent? What is the serpent? Where did this serpent come from?
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To get our answer, we are going to jump from the first book in our Bible, to the last book.
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9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
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According to Revelation… there will come a time when the Devil and his rebellious angels are cast down to the earth… or, this could be translated, cast down, ‘into the earth’.
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The timing of this is difficult to determine. But we can safely conclude that this ‘casting down’ has not yet happened here in Genesis 3. Obviously, this creature is in rebellion… but the ‘casting down’ that we read of in Revelation 12 follows a story about the birth and ultimately the resurrection of Jesus...
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And it goes on to speak of this victory over the devil as happening after the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come… and that they were conquered, by the blood of the Lamb.
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So, there is a future judgment of the Devil and the fallen angels… after the death and resurrection of Jesus..
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So, here in Genesis 3… this creature is, in deed, rebellious. But as of yet, this creature is NOT cast down in judgment.
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However, that story from Revelation 12, does identify the serpent of Genesis 3..
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This serpent is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.
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So… now back to Genesis 3… - this isn’t just some random animal. This is a supernatural being. - But… what kind of being is this Devil?
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First off, according to Rev. 12.... this creature is a satan. And I add the definite article with purpose. - In the OT, the majority of the times when ‘satan’ is used, it is used with the definite article.
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THE… SATAN
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In the cases where the definite article isn’t used, it is referring to other people or beings… - How, you might ask, could other beings be satan?
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Well, in the OT, the word ‘satan’ speaks more of a function, than it does as a proper name. There might be one case in the OT, (1 Chron 21.1-2) where it could possibly be the name of the Devil, but it’s not an easy argument to make… if you are curious about this, jot down these two passages: 1 Chron. 21:1 and 2 Sam. 24:1-2. - Read them both, and take note of the stark contradiction. I can explain this after the study if you want… but for now, I want to stay on track.
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In the story of Balaam’s talking donkey… the Angel of the Lord is called a ‘satan’. There is another time where King David is called a ‘satan’ by the Philistines… a guy named Hadad the Edomite was a satan against Solomon..
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These are all the incidents where Satan didn’t have a definite article, and could be used as a name… - In the majority of the usages… The OT says’ The Satan.... speaking of a being who is fulfilling the role as adversary or accuser.
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That adversary or accuser might, at times, be the devil… like, maybe in the story of Job… - but the grammar makes it clear, that Satan isn’t to be used as a name in those cases.
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In hindsight of the NT… we know… the serpent of Genesis 2… IS the devil, is who can also be named, Satan.
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So, what do we know about Satan?
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In Ezek 28… the prophet is speaking to the King of Tyre.
But, as he speaks to a human King.... he parallels him to the serpent here in the garden of Eden. - It kind of goes back and forth. There are a couple incidences like this in the Bible… and as you read it, understand… this is speaking about the King of Tyre at times… and about the Devil at times…
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In vs. 13… “You were in Eden, the garden of God”
vs. 14… “you were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God...
vs. 15.. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you.
vs. 16… I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God
vs. 17… Your heart was proud because of your beauty… you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.
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You were in Eden… - and here, in Genesis 3… who do we find in Eden? Specifically, in the garden in Eden? - We find the serpent.
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Ancient Jewish literature referred to the mountain in Eden as the mountain of God. They saw Eden as a type of temple where God dwelt, and the mountain being the place from where God made His throne.
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According to this belief, the mountain, from which the rivers flowed into Eden, would have been, ‘the Mountain of God’… - and if it was.... then this serpent would have also been, not only in Eden, but on the Mountain of God..
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What did this serpent do? - He served as an anointed cherub. Or, a ‘guardian cherub’… - So, the serpent was the same kind of being that was set to guard the tree of life in Gen. 3:24. Several passages speak of the chariot of God… or God’s throne on wheels… and it was drawn, not by horses, but by the cherubim.
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and… in I Kings 6 and 1 Kings 8, images of the cherubim were placed on the arc of the covenant… and were said to be ‘the throne of God’.. or images which guarded the presence of God.
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Now… there’s another theory that ties together angels and serpents… and some have proposed that Satan was, specifically, a Seraphim.
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Why? Because a possible way, the plural word for serpent could be translated in Hebrew. The singular word is sArAp… and the plural form of this word, could be translated, seraphim.
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If you read the description of seraphim in Isaiah 6… you will see creatures with six wings…
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Some theologians propose, based on these theories on how the Hebrew word for serpent and seraphim are closely related… that before the serpent was cursed to crawl on its belly… that it first had feet and wings… -Of course, this is speculation, but it does reflect what some believe about the pre-cursed snake.
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Now… looking forward… we do see a theme with snakes and serpents playing out through the rest of the Bible…
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One of the interesting stories is around Goliath. - In 1 Sam 17:5 it says that he was armed with a coat of mail. - The word for ‘mail’ is actually ‘scale’… and in every other reference in the Bible, this word references snakes or fish…
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Why is this significant? Because David… the one through whom Eve’s Seed would come through… - stepped up, and crushed his head with a stone. - And remember the curse? the Snake would crawl on its belly. - in Vs. 49… Goliath fell on his face
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This is just a subtle picture of this… and it may or may not be intentional. But it does draw on this common theme.
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When Israel was in the wilderness… having a fit about how bad things were… and how they wanted to go back to Egypt… God reminded them what Egypt was all about. The most worshipped animal in Egypt, was a snake… - It was the image that the Pharaoh wore on his crown…
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This is probably why one of the signs that Moses presented, was to turn his staff into a snake…
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Snakes were big deals to the Egyptians… and the people complained… saying they wanted to go back to Egypt..
5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” 6 Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.
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What we see here… is a judgment through these fiery serpents. You want Egypt? Here is what Egypt is all about… and many people were dying..… but God offers a means of salvation…
They repented and Asked Moses to pray to Yahweh for them… and God told moses, to make an image of the fiery serpent… and set it on a pole.
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I have always considered this one of the most baffling things in the Bible… because it almost looks like Moses is making an idol.. - but that’s not the message here…
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When people think of this image, they often think of the Caduceus… which is the medical symbol with the pole… and sometimes it has two snakes and wings… sometimes one snake…
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They think of an image of a snake crawling up a pole… - But I don’t think this is the case… simply because of the way it is quoted in John 3…
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
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Jesus was lifted up, onto a military execution device… and he died there… He took the curse of sin… the curse of death… on behalf of humanity there…
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Back in Numbers… Moses is told to put the snake on a pole… - and the people were to look upon it. - Now, a professor from Bethlehem Bible College in Minnesota named Andy Naselli wrote a book on this topic… and he proposes that this image, was of a dead snake, impaled upon a pike....
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If it was to fit the narrative of John 3:14… that snake needed to be dead. It represented something… taking from the people… a curse of death.
When I heard this professor explain it this way… suddenly, something that baffled me for years, made sense.
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I think one of the most profound things we see about the serpent… is the fact that Eve’s seed will have enmity with the seed of the serpent.
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Now… this is a crazy thought… that the devil… will have some form of offspring. And we don’t see evidence, that Satan is fathering children… but we do see a constant conflict, and ongoing enmity… with God’s people… and forces of darkness in the world.
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In the NT, this becomes very profound… Especially when Jesus is speaking to the Jewish leaders who are opposing him…
34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
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john the baptist....
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
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There are several passages like this… where John the Baptist, and Jesus, are literally calling the religious leaders of Israel… spawns of Satan.
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Maybe we have brushed over these passages and chocked them up to being some kind of general insult… but the Pharisees and Sadducees who received these insults, knew good and well what they were all about.
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…Now… if we follow this thread, all the way to the end… we see that it resolves… - God promised judgment… God told His rebellious elohim in Ps. 82… that they would die like men… - and in Revelation, we see the great victory, where God’s angels bring a defeat upon Satan and his angels… and they are cast into the lake of fire.
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So… That’s Genesis 3:1… let’s move on...
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
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I want to bring another character into this narrative. We always like to pretend that Adam is off somewhere naming giraffes or something while this is going on. But as we will see in vs. 6… it appears that he is right there… standing aside while this whole transaction is going down.
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many say, Adam is guilty, because he chose. Eve was deceived, but Adam went into this willingly. And that’s true. But it’s likely, that Adam stood aside, and allowed Eve to be deceived. He allowed Eve to declare God’s word to the serpent. He allowed Eve to believe a lie… - knowingly.
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He didn’t protect her.
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We do see, in vss 2-3… that Eve knew what God had said. She gave the serpent God’s word… She said what she knew, and she did not lie…
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But… she also lacked conviction. She quickly went from a person who declared God’s Word, to a person who accepted, that God was a liar.
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We almost see this kind of stuff happening in our world. God’s word has spoken into someone’s life for years… the scriptures are declared to be true for years…
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Then, the scriptures are closed… and the social media apps are opened… and the quotes… the statements… the memes… the context lacking declarations…
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And in no time at all… the lie is believed.
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Eve was told, basically… that she wasn’t seeing the whole picture. There was more to see. There was more to know. There was wisdom available to her, that God was not giving…
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So, instead of believing what God told her… she looked. And she saw this tree in the same way she saw all the other trees. Remember… God put trees in the garden that were pleasing to look at, and trees that produced fruit that was good to eat.
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Eve looked upon the one forbidden tree… and saw good food, and delight to her eyes.
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This is how deception works…
We are convinced to look upon a lie, in the same manner, that we look upon truth. - It’s literally, the oldest trick in the book…
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Paul references it in Rom. 1.
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19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
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6 So 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 to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
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Suddenly, they knew shame. They knew, that there was something about them that needed to be hidden.
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So what did they do? They attempted to cover their shame themselves.
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And we are going to see in the following verses… that this was something they were unable to do. . Only God could do it.