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God’s Design for Marriage: Responsibilities
The Temptation and Fall of Man
Genesis 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. :8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Now Adam and Eve see good and evil from the standpoint of sinners, from the low level of sin. Their eyes were opened to the fact that they were corrupt and polluted; for they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
In addition, they sought to hide themselves from God; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God. A keen sense of guilt immediately followed the act of sinning, and their intimate fellowship with God was broken.
The physical eyes are not spoken of here, but rather the conscience. The knowledge they now have judges everything from a false standpoint; it sees from a perverted position.
Previously they were naked (2:25), but they were not ashamed. Actually, what they heard was “the sound or voice of the Lord God traversing the garden as the Spirit of the day.” This was a primal Parousia. God was coming unto them in judgment for their disobedience.
The cool of the day relates to the “Spirit of the day,” as cool is the Hebrew word for spirit. And the day is a judgment day. No small wonder that as the sound of the Lord God was traversing back and forth in the garden seeking out Adam and Eve, they actively hid themselves from His presence!
Genesis 3:9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
Genesis 3:10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
Genesis 3:11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
Genesis 3:12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
Genesis 3:13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Genesis 3:14 So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life.
The Lord God cursed the serpent to degradation, disgrace, and defeat. The fact that the serpent is cursed more than all cattle or any other beast of the field suggests that reptiles are primarily in view here rather than Satan.
Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
But verse 15 switches to the Devil himself. This verse is known as the protevangelium, meaning “The First Gospel.” It predicts the perpetual hostility between Satan and the woman (representing all mankind), and between Satan’s seed (his agents) and her Seed (the Messiah). The woman’s Seed would crush the Devil’s head, a mortal wound spelling utter defeat. This wound was administered at Calvary when the Savior decisively triumphed over the Devil. Satan, in turn, would bruise the Messiah’s heel.
The heel wound here speaks of suffering and even of physical death, but not of ultimate defeat. So Christ suffered on the cross, and even died, but He arose from the dead, victorious over sin, hell, and Satan.
The fact that He is called the woman’s Seed may contain a suggestion of His virgin birth.
Note the kindness of God in promising the Messiah before pronouncing sentence in the following
verses.
Genesis 3:16 To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”
Just as the beasts of the field, and most especially the serpent, were cursed because of man’s sin, so too, the woman received a threefold curse because of sin. Unto her, God said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. Cassuto and others render this as “I will greatly multiply your suffering in general, and more particularly that of your childbearing. Women’s pains would exceed that of men and particularly during the period of childbearing” (Genesis Part One, p. 165).
The second part of the curse on the woman was your desire will be to your husband. This phrase has been interpreted in several ways: (1) the common view is that of a sexual desire on the part of the woman for her husband, knowing now there will be more pain in childbearing; (2) some refer to it as a psychological dependence upon the husband, i.e., the woman will be a willing servant; and (3) Calvin says she will desire only what the husband desires. But the leadership of the husband is not a result of, or a punishment for, sin, since it was God’s intention from the beginning of creation (cf. 1 Tim 2:13). The general consensus in Hebrew is believed to mean, the woman’s desire will be against her husband and his leadership; she will not willingly submit to his leadership. So with all of these thoughts how can man and woman live peaceably together?
The third curse may actually be a promise in disguise; for God has said he will rule over you. It can be worked out. A parallel promise with the same wording appears in 4:7 with the disjunctive waw and the verb “to rule” translated “but you may rule over it.” Certainly, we live in a day and age when it is obvious that many women are expressing their desire against their husbands. Paul says for husbands to love their own wives and for the wives to “submit,” to their husbands. Why else would it be commanded, if it came naturally? What are your thoughts?
Genesis 3:17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. :18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. :19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 3:20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. :21 Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
Verse 20 is Adam’s response in faith to the revealed Word of God in verses 15 and 16. God had told them that in the day that you eat thereof you shalt surely die (2:17), which involved not only a separation from God but, in time, physical death as well.
Then God gave them the promise in verses 15–16 that Eve would bear children and continue to live physically. Adam’s response to God’s promise was to call his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
“Consequently, by the significant nature of the name employed, as well as by the significant way in which the matter is reported at this important juncture, we are to understand that Adam refers to the things implied in the promise of the victory over the devil. In other words, he here gives evidence not only of believing that God spoke the truth but evidence of belief in the salvation which God had promised” (Leupold, p. 177).
God responded by providing coats of skins, and clothed them. This was His way of demonstrating that fellowship was restored.
“While it may be premature to read into this the introduction of animal sacrifice, it certainly illustrated to Adam and Eve, who may even have witnessed the death of these innocent animals, the high cost of their guilt” (Davis, p. 95).
Macdonald, Farstad Grady Scott, Hindson, E. MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006).
