013. II. Man’s Sin And Its Consequences
§ II. MAN’S SIN AND ITS CONSEQUENCES Genesis 2:25 to Genesis 3:19, Genesis 3:23; Genesis 3:21
1.Man’s original innocence. Now the man and his wife were both naked, yet felt no shame. And the serpent was more subtle than all the beasts of the field which Jehovah had made.
2.The voice of temptation. And the serpent said to the woman, Hath God really said, ‘ Ye shall not eat from any tree of the garden ?’ The woman replied to the serpent, From the fruit of all the trees of the garden we may eat; only of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ‘ Ye shall not eat from it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.’ Then the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die; for God knoweth that in the day you eat of it your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be like gods, knowing good and evil.
3. The act of sin. Now when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and attractive to the sight, and desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and gave also to her husband with her and he ate.
4.Effect of sin. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, so that they knew that they were naked; therefore they sewed fig-leaves together and made themselves girdles. But when they heard the sound of the footsteps of Jehovah, as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah among the trees of the garden.
5.Fatal excuses. And Jehovah called to the man and said to him, Where art thou ? And he said, I heard the sound of thy footsteps in the garden and I was afraid, because I was naked; so I hid myself. Then he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked ? Hast thou eaten of the tree from which I commanded thee not to eat ? And the man said, The woman whom thou didst place beside me, she gave me from the tree and I ate. When Jehovah said to the woman, What is this thou hast done ? The woman replied, The serpent beguiled me and I ate.
6.Explanation of serpent’s habits. Then Jehovah said to the serpent, Because thou hast done this, More accursed shalt thou be than all animals, And more than all the beasts of the field. On thy belly shalt thou go, And dust shalt thou eat, All the days of thy life.
Enmity will I set between thee and the woman, And between thy offspring and her offspring.
He shall bruise thee on the head, And thou shalt wound him on the heel.
7. Consequences of the woman’s sin. To the woman he said, I will make thy pain great in thy pregnancy, With pain shalt thou bring forth children.
Yet toward thy husband shall be thy desire, And he shall rule over thee.
8.Of man’s sin. But to the man he said, Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife and hast eaten of the tree concerning which I commanded thee, saying, ‘Thou shalt not eat from it’:
Cursed shall be the ground because of thee, By painful toil shalt thou eat from it all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth for thee, And thou shalt eat the herb of the field. By the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread, Until thou return to the ground, Because from it thou wast taken; For dust thou art, And to dust shalt thou return.
9.God’s benign care. Therefore Jehovah sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground whence he was taken. But Jehovah made for the man and his wife tunics of skin, and clothed them.
I.Literary Form and Origin of the Story. This narrative is the immediate sequel to the preceding story of the creation. In two marvellous scenes it presents the great tragedy of tragedies in human history—the loss of man’s happy, natural relation with God through deliberate disobedience to the divine command. Like the great Teacher of Nazareth, the prophetic author of this marvellous story was dealing with the deepest experiences of human life. His problem was to make clear and plain even to children the nature of that inner struggle which we call temptation. He accomplishes his end by the use of the simple story and dialogue. Attention and interest are fixed from the first on the experiences of a certain man and woman. The story has all the personal charm of those fascinating popular tales which come from the ancient East. Its prologue, the primitive story of creation (§I), was old centuries before the days of Moses. In the first scene the actors are the serpent, the woman, and the man. In the dialogue between the serpent and the woman is brought out vividly the struggle that raged in her own mind between her natural inclinations and her sense of duty. In the second scene Jehovah appears. The acts and motives of the man and woman, and the terrible consequences of sin are portrayed so concretely and dramatically that even the youngest and simplest reader can fully appreciate them. The thoughtful reader, however, soon discovers that the marvellous biblical narrative is far more than a mere record of the experiences of a primitive man and woman. Like the inimitable parables of Jesus, it is a chapter from the book of life. It is in every respect historical because it is absolutely true to human experience. The closest parallel to this account of man’s fall is the late Persian story of the man and woman who were influenced by the evil spirit, Ahriman, to disobey and deny God, to cut down trees, to kill animals, and thus to lose their original innocence.
II.The Character of the Serpent. The serpent is clearly not, as Milton has taught us, the Satan of later Jewish theology. It is rather the animal, which, because of its silent, secretive, venomous habits was generally regarded as the wisest and at the same time the most treacherous foe of man. It was, therefore, most natural that of all the creatures in the garden the serpent should be the one chosen to voice the temptation in the heart of the woman. This choice may also be due to the influence of an older Babylonian tradition.
III.The Real Nature of Temptation and Sin. The dialogue between the serpent and the woman brings out clearly the various forms which temptation assumes. The serpent’s first question implies a doubt concerning Jehovah’s goodness and wisdom. The woman’s answer shows that she fully understands the meaning of the divine command. Then follows the questioning of Jehovah’s warning and a strong appeal to the woman’s curiosity. It is clearly an oriental woman, with her characteristic mental and moral limitations, that the ancient storyteller has in mind. The appeal to her curiosity, therefore, is well-nigh irresistible. There is also an implied dare in the serpent’s words. The issue is clear. On the one side was the definite divine command not to eat. Her noblest impulses of love and gratitude prompted the woman to obey that divine command. On the other side were the natural cravings of appetite, the promptings of the aesthetic sense (for the fruit was attractive), of curiosity, and the desire for knowledge and power. All of these motives were in themselves worthy. Under other conditions they would have inspired noble and right actions, and yet to the woman of the story they were temptations, because they impelled her to turn her back upon the nobler and diviner impulses of gratitude, love and duty which she owed to Jehovah. The story well illustrates the significance of the Hebrew word for sin, which means missing the mark. In missing the mark of implicit obedience set clearly before her the woman sinned. The man’s temptation assumed a very different form, but one which appealed as strongly to him. He himself would doubtless have waved aside the whisperings of the serpent; but when the wife, whom Jehovah had given him as his companion and helper, had eaten the forbidden fruit, he felt that he had a sufficient excuse for disobeying the divine command. Thus with him the choice was between the nobler dictates of duty and the promptings of appetite, the desire for knowledge and a false chivalry. In following his baser impulses the man also missed the mark set before him and thus sinned.
IV.The Effects ofSin. The inevitable consequences of sin are truly and graphically set forth in the story. Sin brought knowledge to man and woman, but a knowledge which destroyed their former innocence. Cowardice and a desire to avoid the presence of Jehovah took the place of their previous glad confidence. While their sin blinded their vision and reared a high barrier between them and Jehovah, residence in the garden was intolerable. And yet, as Jehovah sought the guilty pair, his words were not those of condemnation. Rather his questions invited that frank confession which would have at once dispelled the barrier which sin had raised. But they made a fatal mistake and sinned doubly in excusing their sin and in trying to shift the responsibility. The man said, “The woman gave me from the tree”; the woman said, “The serpent beguiled me.” Thus, their lack of repentance made it impossible for even the infinite God to forgive them. The ancients regarded all misfortune as the result of the divine displeasure. The snake, wriggling through the dust with no legs on which to walk, the deadly enemy of mankind, beaten to death by its foe, or in turn striking its fatal fangs into the heel of its assailant, seemed to primitive peoples to be especially afflicted by God, and, therefore, to rest under the shadow of some great crime. Hence the early story-teller naturally connected the unfortunate peculiarities of serpent kind with the act of the serpent in tempting Eve to disobey Jehovah. The grievous pains of childbirth and the subjection of the oriental woman to her husband are likewise traced to sin. Man’s painful struggle to wrest food and a livelihood from the rocky earth, and death, the sad but certain end of that struggle, are likewise attributed to rebellion against the divine command. The fate of man and woman is not so much a penalty, as the inevitable effect of their sins unconfessed; for, according to the representation of the story, banishment from the garden was necessary, because they had forfeited their title to it. Even they themselves were eager to escape from the presence of Jehovah.’ Banishment meant a struggle for food, suffering, and ultimate death, for they could no longer eat of the life-giving tree in the midst of the garden.
V.The Element of Hope. The gloom of this tragedy of human tragedies is relieved by one bright ray of hope. As the man and his wife go forth to learn in the school of pain and hardship the lessons of life, the divine care still attends them, providing the garments needful in their new and harsh environment—an earnest that they are not beyond the pale of God’s love and forgiveness.
VI.Aim and Teachings of the Story. The prophet’s first aim was clearly to teach the origin, nature, and terrible consequences of sin. Incidentally he retained the popular explanations of certain striking facts in the natural world, as for example, the habits of serpents, the pains of pregnancy, and the necessity of laborious toil. He was, however, preeminently a religious teacher. Even the pseudo-scientific explanations are only concrete illustrations of his central teaching that all pain and affliction are ultimately but the effect of sin. Among the many religious teachings with which this marvellous story abounds may be noted:
(1) Innocence does not become virtue until it is tested and proved by temptation. (2) If the testing is to be effective, the temptation must be of a character to appeal to the individual tested. (3) Sin is not God’s but man’s creation. (4) To sin is to act in accord with the baser and more selfish rather than the nobler and diviner motives. (5) An act of sin destroys a man’s peace of mind and purity of thought. (6) Sin unconfessed is a sin constantly committed, and it absolutely prevents even God himself from forgiving the unrepentant sinner. (7) In keeping with the law of cause and effect, sin brings its own inevitable punishment. (8) The worst effect of sin is the severing of the normal, harmonious relations between God and the individual. (9) Most of the pains and ills of life are the result of some one’s sin. (10) Man must learn in the school of pain and toil the lesson of obedience. (11) Even though guilty and unrepentant, man is still the object of God’s unceasing love and care.