Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

What should I learn from this chapter?

• See Topic: Biblical Directions

Genesis 3

The Temptation and Fall of Man

Genesis 3:¹ Now the serpent was more cunning (crafty, manipulative) than any beast of the field which the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) God (‘ĕlōhîm) had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God (‘ĕlōhîm) indeed said (Did He really really say?), ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

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Genesis 3:^2-3 And the woman said to (answered) the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God (‘ĕlōhîm) has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

Genesis 3:^4-5 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God (‘ĕlōhîm) knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God (‘ĕlōhîm), knowing good and evil.”

• Isn’t this what Satan wanted-To be like God? He failed. Don’t take wisdom from those who fail. That’s not wisdom.

Genesis 3:⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

Genesis 3:⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened,

• Ironically, having one’s eyes opened means to see “Truth” as it really is, and yet it is this “eye opening” event of sin that brings about man’s spiritual blindness.

• Isaiah 44:18 They do not know nor understand; For He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand.

• Jeremiah 5:21 ‘Hear this now, O foolish people, without understanding, Who have eyes and see not, And who have ears and hear not:

• Ezekiel 12:2 “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, which has eyes to see but does not see, and ears to hear but does not hear; for they are a rebellious house.

Genesis 3:^7b and they knew that they were naked (vulnerable); and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

Genesis 3:⁸ And they heard the sound of the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) God (‘ĕlōhîm) walking in the garden in the cool (literally: Spirit) of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God (Yᵊhōvâ ‘ĕlōhîm) among the trees of the garden.

• Satan blinded them spiritually. They can only hear the sound of the Lord.
• The separation between God and man has begun. They distance themselves from God in shame.
• Man went a different direction from God and he is becoming “lost”. Man has lost his “way”.
• Man is blind and lost, groping for truth in a forest of lies.

Genesis 3:⁹ Then the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) God (‘ĕlōhîm) called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

• Where are you with God?
  Throughout the ages, God calls to men, “Where are you?”

• Satan’s advice makes all mankind God’s prodigal son.
• Some learn that being a son to God is better than being in the pigsty with Satan. Luke 15:11-32)

Genesis 3:¹⁰ So he (Adam) said, “I heard Your (God’s) 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 (Yᵊhōvâ) God (‘ĕlōhîm) 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 (Yĕhovah) God (‘ĕlōhîm) 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 (clay-red) all the days of your life.

• Man (Adam) was made from dust/clay of the ground (adama). Ever since God’s curse, the serpent has been devouring mankind.

Genesis 3:¹⁵ And I (God) will put enmity (war) between you (Satan) and the woman (from the line of Eve all the way to Mary),

And between your (Satan’s) seed (descendants) and her (Eve’s) Seed;

He (Jesus, Eve’s descendant from the virgin Mary) shall bruise your (the serpent’s) head (a deadly blow), and you (the serpent) shall bruise His heel (a non-deadly blow: a vain attempt to kill).”

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.”

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’:

Genesis 3:¹⁸ “Cursed is the ground for your sake (because of you);

In toil (hard work, sweat) you shall eat of it (from it) all the days of your life.

• Life is now hard for Adam and Eve; if life gets easy, man’s sin nature tends to bend toward misusing God’s blessings for his own sin filled purposes.

Genesis 3:¹⁸ Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,

And you shall eat the herb of the field.

Genesis 3:¹⁹ In the sweat of your face (stress) you shall eat bread (literally: bread/meat/food) till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust (red clay) you shall return.”

Genesis 3:²⁰ And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

Genesis 3:²¹ Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God (Yᵊhōvâ ‘ĕlōhîm) made tunics of skin, and clothed (covered) them.

• The fig leaves were Adam’s and Eve’s “way” of salvation.
• The blood of an animal was God’s “way” for salvation.

Genesis 3:²² Then the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) God (‘ĕlōhîm) said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us (plural),

Genesis 3:²² to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— ²³ therefore the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) God (‘ĕlōhîm) sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.

• The Garden of Eden was an earthly paradise. Man can’t find it because he is lost.
• In Eden, the ground was fertile. When God sent Adam and Eve out of the Garden, the soil was resistant to growth and had to be tilled.

Genesis 3:²⁴ So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim (angels) at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life (vs the tree of good and evil).

• Saying: The Sun (Son) Rises in the East.

• “On Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, Leviticus 16:14 says that when the High Priest is in the Holy of Holiest he is to sprinkle the blood on the atonement cover (mercy seat) east (qedma).”
  
  To the east? Jewish understanding explains that the east is … “on the front of the atonement cover,”. After all, qedem does also mean forward, or front. But if it really means “east,” then how would it be practically possible? The tabernacle, and later the temple, was facing east, so the High Priest in the Holy of Holiest would stand facing the west, with his back to the east. How could he then sprinkle blood to the east? The only way would be to sprinkle the blood on the atonement cover, and then backwards, to the east, thus creating a straight vertical east-west line of blood. The next sentence says that he shall sprinkle seven times “before the atonement cover,” i.e. a straight horizontal line of blood.
  
  Did the High Priest use the blood of the sacrifice to draw a cross in the Holy of Holies, on the Day of Atonement?
  A cross of blood, which stretches to the north, south, east, and west?
  It all depends on how we translate “qedma” in that passage,
  Bible Society in Israel: Four Directions
  https://biblesocietyinisrael.com/the-four-directions-in-ancient-hebrew/

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Symbolic Dictionary for Genesis 3

Eyes Opened: To see something unseen
Fig Leaves: Temporary Protection, like the law
Fruit: From Above
Ground: World, Worldliness, Base
Herbs: Vegetables, Of the Ground, Worldly
Man: The Physical Representation of a marriage (whether good or evil)
Naked: Vulnerable, Needing Protection
Sea: Sea of People masses flowing like water
Seed: Fruit of the Parent, Descendant
Serpent: Lying Predator, Satan
Skin: Covering
Thorns: Curses
Trees: Men/Nations
To Cover: Top, Above, Over, Hide, Protect, Neutralize Danger
Tree of Life: Giver of Eternal Life
Tree of Good and Evil: Choices – Obedience vs Disobedience, The Law
Woman: The Spiritual Representation of a marriage (whether good or evil)

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