Genesis 3:7

And the eyes of them both were opened,.... Not of their bodies, but of their minds; not so as to have an advanced knowledge of things pleasant, profitable, and useful, as was promised and expected,

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. The eyes of them both were opened.

The eyes of them both. The eyes of their minds and conscience, which hitherto had been closed and blinded by the arts of the devil, were opened, as the devil had promised them, though in a far differing and sadder sense. They knew that they were naked. They knew it before, when it was their glory, but now they know it with grief and shame, from a sense both of their guilt for the sin newly past, and of that sinful concupiscence which they now found working in them. They tied, twisted, or fastened, the lesser branches or twigs, upon which were also the leaves of a fig tree, which peradventure was then near them, and which because of its broad leaves was most fit for that use. Made themselves aprons, to cover their nakedness.

Genesis 3:7 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.Ver. 7. They knew that they were naked.] Bereft of God’ s blessed image; no more of it left than, as of one of Job’ s messengers, to bear witness of our great loss. I call it ours, because we were all in Adam, as Levi was in Abraham, or as the whole country is in a Parliament man. tie was our head; and if the head plot treason, all the body is guilty. Hence the prophet Hosea: "O Israel, one hath destroyed thee; but in me is thy help". So some read it. Had we been by when this wretched "one" destroyed us all; had we seen him stand staggering betwixt God’ s commandment and Eve’ s allurement, not yet resolved which way to incline, and could have foreseen the danger hanging over him and ourselves, we would surely have cried out to him, Take heed, thou wretch. And why do we not the same to ourselves, when solicited to sin?, saith Isidore; and, saith another. There is a practical judgment still practised in our hearts. On the one side is propounded the commodity of sin; on the other, the offence whereby we provoke God. So that in the one end of the balance is laid God, in the other sin, and man stands in the midst, rejecting the comnland of God, and accepting of the pleasure of sin. What is this but to prefer Paris before Paradise with Cardinal Bourbon, Barabbas before Christ, a thing of nought before heaven’ s happiness? Our first parents were born with the royal robe of righteousness, as those Porphyrogeniti in Constantinople; but the devil soon stripped them of it (the same day, as some think), and so they became sore ashamed of their bodily nakedness, which therefore they sought to cover by making themselves aprons to cover their privities. Quest. But why did they, and do we still, so studiously hide those parts, rather than their eyes and ears, which they had abused to sin with? Ans. Because sin has become natural, and derived by generation. Therefore circumcision was also on that part of man’ s body; to show that that which was begotten thereby, deserved in like manner, as execrable and accursed, to be cut off and thrown away, by God. Here some ground their opinion, that it is a sin against nature to look on the nakedness of another. A foul shame it was for old Noah to lie so uncovered in the midst of his tent, but far fouler for those worshippers of Priapus, which Jerome and Isidore make to be that Baal-peor, that shamed not to say, & c. But in man’ s soul is now a πανσεπρμια, the seed of all sin, though never so heinous or hideous.

(7) The eyes of them both were opened.—This consciousness of guilt came upon them as soon as they had broken God’s commandment by eating of the forbidden fruit; and it is evident from the narrative that they ate together; for otherwise Eve would have been guilty of leading Adam into sin after her understanding had been enlightened to perceive the consequences of her act. But manifestly her deed was not without his cognisance and approval, and he had shared, in his own way, her ambition of attaining to the God like. But how miserably was this proud desire dis appointed! Their increased knowledge brought only shame. Their minds were awakened and enlarged, but the price they paid for it was their innocence and peace. They sewed fig leaves together.—There is no reason for supposing that the leaves were those of the pisang (Musa paradisiaca), which grow ten feet long. Everywhere else the word signifies the common fig-tree (Ficus carica), one of the earliest plants subjected to man’s use. More remarkable is the word sewed. The Syriac translator felt the difficulty of supposing Eve acquainted with the art of needlework, and renders it, “they stuck leaves together.” But the word certainly implies something more elaborate than this. Probably some time elapsed between their sin and its punishment; and thus there was not merely that first hasty covering of themselves which has made commentators look about for a leaf large enough to encircle their bodies, but respite sufficient to allow of something more careful and ingenious; and Eve may have used her first advance in intellect for the adornment of her person. During this delay they would have time for reflection, and begin to understand the nature of the change that had taken place in their condition. Aprons.—More correctly, girdles.

Verse 7. The eyes of them both were opened] They now had a sufficient discovery of their sin and folly in disobeying the command of God; they could discern between good and evil; and what was the consequence? Confusion and shame were engendered, because innocence was lost and guilt contracted. Let us review the whole of this melancholy business, the fall and its effects. 1. From the New Testament we learn that Satan associated himself with the creature which we term the serpent, and the original the nachash, in order to seduce and ruin mankind; 2 Corinthians 11:3; Revelation 12:9; Revelation 20:2. 2. That this creature was the most suitable to his purpose, as being the most subtle, the most intelligent and cunning of all beasts of the field, endued with the gift of speech and reason, and consequently one in which he could best conceal himself. 3. As he knew that while they depended on God they could not be ruined, he therefore endeavoured to seduce them from this dependence. 4. He does this by working on that propensity of the mind to desire an increase of knowledge, with which God, for the most gracious purposes, had endued it. 5. In order to succeed, he insinuates that God, through motives of envy, had given the prohibition - God doth know that in the day ye eat of it, ye shall be like himself, c. 6. As their present state of blessedness must be inexpressibly dear to them, he endeavours to persuade them that they could not fall from this state: Ye shall not surely die - ye shall not only retain your present blessedness, but it shall be greatly increased a temptation by which he has ever since fatally succeeded in the ruin of multitudes of souls, whom he persuaded that being once right they could never finally go wrong. 7. As he kept the unlawfulness of the means proposed out of sight, persuaded them that they could not fall from their steadfastness, assured them that they should resemble God himself, and consequently be self-sufficient, and totally independent of him; they listened, and fixing their eye only on the promised good, neglecting the positive command, and determining to become wise and independent at all events, they took of the fruit and did eat. Let us now examine the effects. 1. Their eyes were opened, and they saw they were naked. They saw what they never saw before, that they were stripped of their excellence; that they had lost their innocence; and that they had fallen into a state of indigence and danger. 2. Though their eyes were opened to see their nakedness, yet their mind was clouded, and their judgment confused. They seem to have lost all just notions of honour and dishonour, of what was shameful and what was praise-worthy. It was dishonourable and shameful to break the commandment of God; but it was neither to go naked, when clothing was not necessary. 3.

7. And the eyes, &c.] The serpent’s promise is fulfilled; their eyes having been opened, they have forfeited the state of innocence of which nakedness was symbolical, cf. Genesis 2:25. The knowledge to which they have attained is neither that of happiness, wisdom, nor power, but that of the consciousness of sin and of its conflict with the Will of God. fig leaves] These leaves would be chosen because of their size. The fig tree is said to be indigenous in Palestine, but not in Babylonia. If so, it is an indirect proof that our version of the story is genuinely Israelite. “Fig leaves are thick, palmately lobed, and often a span or more across” (Hastings’ D.B., s.v.). aprons] Better, as R.V. marg., girdles: LXX περιζώματα, Lat. perizomata. The rendering “breeches,” which appeared in the Genevan Bible (1560), caused that version to be popularly known as “the breeches Bible.”

7. Knew that they were naked — Here is a stinging irony. Literally, Opened were the eyes of both of them, and they knew that — naked were they!