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?

• The symbolic difference between vegetables and fruit.
• We are called to bear fruit, we are not called to bear vegetables.
• Vegetables are like the grave whose direction is down. Fruit is like heaven whose direction is up.
• If you want to see the sun, clouds, moon and stars you look up. If you want to see trash you look down.

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’?”

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.”

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,

Genesis 3:^7b and they knew that they were naked; 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 among the trees of the garden.

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

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.”

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Genesis 3:¹⁴ So the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) 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 all the days of your life.

• Humor:
  • The Serpent doesn’t get fruit or vegetables, only dust.
  • Since God cursed the ground, Satan has to eat God’s curses.
  • “You Are What You Eat”

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 and you (the serpent) shall bruise His heel.”

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);

• Man was cursed because of disobedience, and since man was made from the ground, the ground would also be cursed because when man dies, he returns to the ground. The curse isn’t reversed until a Man comes up from the ground. He who descended also ascended.
  
  • Proverbs 30:4
    Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name, If you know?
  • Ephesians 4:9-10
    Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

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

Genesis 3:¹⁸ Both thorns qôṣ (Lit. thorns or thorn bushes) and thistles it shall bring forth for you,

• Thorns are symbolic for curses.
• The meaning the thorn in Job 41:2 ḥôaḥ : an unused root apparently meaning to “pierce”.
  Jesus not only wore a crown of curses for man’s sins but He was also pierced.
• However; they can also be a blessing for man when God uses them to protect the righteous (like the hedge for Job).

Genesis 3:¹⁸ And you shall eat the herb of the field.

• Didn’t they eat the herb of the field before they sinned?
  
  
  • Genesis 1:²⁹ And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.”
  
  
  • Before they sinned, the ground yielded its fruit gladly in the same way Eve yielded to Adam gladly. However, once sin enters, abuse enters. Now, this same herb which gave nourishment becomes a curse, and now, herbs, or vegetables, are used in scripture to symbolize the world and the sin of the world, which is “worldliness”

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.”

• The curse isn’t reversed until Revelation 22:3 when there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.

• Isaiah 11:6 “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them.
• Isaiah 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, The lion shall eat straw like the ox, And dust shall be he serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” Says the Lord.
• Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

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.

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.

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).

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Symbolic Dictionary for Genesis 3

Eyes Opened: To see things 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, Shame
Sea: Sea of People, amassing, flowing like water
Seed: Fruit of the Parent, Descendant
Serpent: Lying Predator, Satan
Skin: Covering
Thorns: Curses
Trees: Men/Nations
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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