Genesis 3: 1 - 13

1 Now the snake was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden”?’

² The woman said to the snake, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³ but God did say, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.”’

⁴ ‘You will not certainly die,’ the snake said to the woman. ⁵ ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’

⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’

¹⁰ He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’

¹¹ And he said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?’

¹² The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’

¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’

The woman said, ‘The snake deceived me, and I ate.’

Temptation.

There are 1,189 chapters in the Bible. And only in the first two and the last two is there no sin. Genesis chapter 3 is where sin begins – and in that sense it is the saddest chapter in the Bible.

How did the sin begin? It began with a temptation that included a lie: ‘Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden”?’ No he didn’t, and the tempter well knows that it is not true. He starts by undermining God and trying to get the woman to feel that God’s commands are unreasonable. Secondly, after the woman has quoted God more accurately, concerning the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tempter comes back with another lie, in order to get the woman to doubt God’s truthfulness and goodness: ‘You will not certainly die. For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’

At this point the woman had a choice. She was not yet committed to taking the wrong path. This is like the moment when David looked out from the palace roof and saw Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11). It is the choice that we make next. The temptation is there, but sin has not yet happened. David should have turned away and walked away. Eve should have done the same. But in verse 6 we read, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom…” She stayed to look and to think about it. She allowed the idea to take root. She justified it – ‘good for food’, ‘pleasing to the eye’. And then the deed was done – she took the fruit and ate it. Doesn’t the way through temptation and into sin often follow the same path for us? Failing to turn away, lingering over the thought and looking, justifying it and CRASH, we fall!

Was Adam innocent in this? Was it the woman’s fault, as people sometimes claim? No! Look at the second half of verse 6: “She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” He was right there, joining in! It wasn’t that he came along later – no, he was complicit and equally guilty. Then the blame game began. The man blamed the woman, the woman blamed the snake, and the snake didn’t have a leg to stand on (sorry, old joke). But not only did the man blame the woman, he implicitly blamed God: “The woman you put here with me,” says Adam. I would never have done it if it were just me here! It’s your fault, God! God, I would never have sinned if you hadn’t put me in this situation. Do we say that, or even, very briefly, think it? May God help us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to go his way, to turn our backs on temptation before it becomes sin and to always trust in him.

 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, please help me to keep my eyes fixed on you, making the right choice to go the right way at all times. I need your Holy Spirit in me, guiding me day by day, my counsellor, my guide and my comforter. Go with me today, I pray. Amen.