And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
6. And when the woman ] The woman’s attention has been drawn to the tree. She finds that the serpent’s suggestion, based on the mysterious properties of the fruit and on the supposition of Jehovah’s jealousy and unkindness, is reinforced by the attractive appearance of the fruit. Probably good to taste, evidently fair to look on, and alleged to contain the secret of wisdom, the sight of the fruit stimulates desire, and this being no longer resisted by a loyal love of God obtains the mastery; cf. Jas 1:14-15, “Each man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin: and the sin, when it is fullgrown, bringeth forth death.”
to be desired to make one wise ] or rather, “to be desired, in order to be wise.” The same word in the Hebrew as in Psa 2:10, “now therefore be wise, O ye kings.” The R.V. marg., “desirable to look upon,” gives a rendering of the Hebrew word which is not supported by its use elsewhere in the Bible, though found with this sense in late Hebrew, and in this verse supported by the versions, LXX , Vulg. aspectu delectabile, and the Syriac Peshitto.
and she gave also ] The story is so condensed that we are left in ignorance, whether the man yielded as easily to the woman as she had to the serpent. The fact that the woman “fell” first, before the man, was presumably a point upon which stress was laid in the Rabbinic teaching, to which St Paul alludes in 1Ti 2:14, “and Adam was not beguiled, but the woman being beguiled hath fallen into transgression.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
6 8. The Fall
The serpent here disappears from the story, except for the mention of him in the woman’s words of excuse ( Gen 3:13), and in the Divine sentence upon him ( Gen 3:14-15). He did not tell the woman to eat the fruit. The temptation which is most dangerous is rarely the most direct. The soul, which has once yielded to the temptation to distrust the goodness of God, may be left to itself to disobey Him, and, in the conflict between pleasure and the service of God, will prefer its own way. Disobedience to God is the assertion of self-will, and “sin is lawlessness” ( ), 1Jn 3:4.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 6. The tree was good for food]
1. The fruit appeared to be wholesome and nutritive. And that it was pleasant to the eyes.
2. The beauty of the fruit tended to whet and increase appetite. And a tree to be desired to make one wise, which was,
3. An additional motive to please the palate.
From these three sources all natural and moral evil sprang: they are exactly what the apostle calls the desire of the flesh; the tree was good for food: the desire of the eye; it was pleasant to the sight: and the pride of life; it was a tree to be desired to make one wise. God had undoubtedly created our first parents not only very wise and intelligent, but also with a great capacity and suitable propensity to increase in knowledge. Those who think that Adam was created so perfect as to preclude the possibility of his increase in knowledge, have taken a very false view of the subject. We shall certainly be convinced that our first parents were in a state of sufficient perfection when we consider,
1. That they were endued with a vast capacity to obtain knowledge.
2. That all the means of information were within their reach.
3. That there was no hinderance to the most direct conception of occurring truth.
4. That all the objects of knowledge, whether natural or moral, were ever at hand.
5. That they had the strongest propensity to know; and,
6. The greatest pleasure in knowing.
To have God and nature continually open to the view of the soul; and to have a soul capable of viewing both, and fathoming endlessly their unbounded glories and excellences, without hinderance or difficulty; what a state of perfection! what a consummation of bliss! This was undoubtedly the state and condition of our first parents; even the present ruins of the state are incontestable evidences of its primitive excellence. We see at once how transgression came; it was natural for them to desire to be increasingly wise. God had implanted this desire in their minds; but he showed them that this desire should be gratified in a certain way; that prudence and judgment should always regulate it; that they should carefully examine what God had opened to their view; and should not pry into what he chose to conceal. He alone who knows all things knows how much knowledge the soul needs to its perfection and increasing happiness, in what subjects this may be legitimately sought, and where the mind may make excursions and discoveries to its prejudice and ruin. There are doubtless many subjects which angels are capable of knowing, and which God chooses to conceal even from them, because that knowledge would tend neither to their perfection nor happiness. Of every attainment and object of pursuit it may be said, in the words of an ancient poet, who conceived correctly on the subject, and expressed his thoughts with perspicuity and energy: –
Est modus in rebus: sunt certi denique fines,
Quos ulta citraque nequit consistere rectum.
HOR. Sat., lib. i., Sat. 1., ver. 106.
“There is a rule for all things; there are in fine fixed and stated limits, on either side of which righteousness cannot be found.” On the line of duty alone we must walk.
Such limits God certainly assigned from the beginning: Thou shalt come up to this; thou shalt not pass it. And as he assigned the limits, so he assigned the means. It is lawful for thee to acquire knowledge in this way; it is unlawful to seek it in that. And had he not a right to do so? And would his creation have been perfect without it?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The woman saw; by curious and accurate observation, and gazing upon it, or perceiving it by the serpents discourse, as was observed on Gen 3:3.
Pleasant to the eyes, to wit, in an eminent degree; for otherwise so were all the rest.
To make one wise, which she might know by the serpents information. See Poole on “Gen 3:1“.
Gave also unto her husband with her, who by this time was returned to her, and who now was with her; or, that he might eat with her, and take his part of that fruit.
And he did eat, by her persuasion and instigation. See 1Ti 2:14.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. And when the woman saw that thetree was good for foodHer imagination and feelings werecompletely won; and the fall of Eve was soon followed by that ofAdam. The history of every temptation, and of every sin, is the same;the outward object of attraction, the inward commotion of mind, theincrease and triumph of passionate desire; ending in the degradation,slavery, and ruin of the soul (Jas 1:15;1Jn 2:16).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,…. She being near the tree, and perhaps just at it when the serpent first attacked her; wherefore looking more wishfully at it, she could discern nothing in the fruit of the tree which showed it to be bad, and unfit to be eaten, or why it should be forbidden for food; but, on the contrary, had a most promising aspect to be very delicious, nourishing and salutary, as any other fruit in the garden:
and that it was pleasant to the eyes; of a beautiful colour, and very inviting to the taste:
and a tree to be desired to make one wise; which above all was the most engaging, and was the most prevailing motive to influence her to eat of it, an eager desire of more wisdom and knowledge; though there was nothing she could see in the tree, and the fruit of it, which promised this; only she perceived in her mind, by the discourse she had with the serpent, and by what he had told her, and she believed, that this would be the consequence of eating this fruit, which was very desirable, and she concluded within herself that so it would be:
she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; she took it off of the tree, and not only tasted of it, but ate of it; what quantity cannot be said, enough to break the divine law, and to incur the divine displeasure: so Sanchoniatho says l, that Aeon (the same with Eve) found the way of taking food from trees:
and gave also to her husband with her; that he might eat as well as she, and partake of the same benefits and advantages she hoped to reap from hence; for no doubt it was of good will, and not ill will, that she gave it to him; and when she offered it to him, it is highly probable she made use of arguments with him, and pressed him hard to it, telling him what delicious food it was, as well as how useful it would be to him and her. The Jews infer from hence, that Adam was with her all the while, and heard the discourse between the serpent and her, yet did not interpose nor dissuade his wife from eating the fruit, and being prevailed upon by the arguments used; or however through a strong affection for his wife, that she might not die alone, he did as she had done:
and he did eat; on which an emphasis may be observed, for it was upon his eating the fate of his posterity depended; for not the woman but the man was the federal head, and he sinning, all his posterity sinned in him, and died in him; through this offence judgment came upon all to condemnation; all became sinners, and obnoxious to death, Ro 5:12. If Eve only had eaten of the forbidden fruit, it could only have personally affected herself, and she only would have died; and had this been the case, God would have formed another woman for Adam, for the propagation of mankind, had he stood; though since he fell as well as she, it is needless to inquire, and may seem too bold to say what otherwise would have been the case.
l Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 1. p. 34.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The illusive hope of being like God excited a longing for the forbidden fruit. “ The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a pleasure to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise ( signifies to gain or show discernment or insight); and she took of its fruit and ate, and gave to her husband by her (who was present), and he did eat.” As distrust of God’s command leads to a disregard of it, so the longing for a false independence excites a desire for the seeming good that has been prohibited; and this desire is fostered by the senses, until it brings forth sin. Doubt, unbelief, and pride were the roots of the sin of our first parents, as they have been of all the sins of their posterity. The more trifling the object of their sin seems to have been, the greater and more difficult does the sin itself appear; especially when we consider that the first men “stood in a more direct relation to God, their Creator, than any other man has ever done, that their hearts were pure, their discernment clear, their intercourse with God direct, that they were surrounded by gifts just bestowed by Him, and could not excuse themselves on the ground of any misunderstanding of the divine prohibition, which threatened them with the loss of life in the event of disobedience” ( Delitzsch). Yet not only did the woman yield to the seductive wiles of the serpent, but even the man allowed himself to be tempted by the woman.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Fall of Man. | B. C. 4004. |
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.
Here we see what Eve’s parley with the tempter ended in. Satan, at length, gains his point, and the strong-hold is taken by his wiles. God tried the obedience of our first parents by forbidding them the tree of knowledge, and Satan does, as it were, join issue with God, and in that very thing undertakes to seduce them into a transgression; and here we find how he prevailed, God permitting it for wise and holy ends.
I. We have here the inducements that moved them to transgress. The woman, being deceived by the tempter’s artful management, was ringleader in the transgression, 1 Tim. ii. 14. She was first in the fault; and it was the result of her consideration, or rather her inconsideration. 1. She saw no harm in this tree, more than in any of the rest. It was said of all the rest of the fruit-trees with which the garden of Eden was planted that they were pleasant to the sight, and good for food, ch. ii. 9. Now, in her eye, this was like all the rest. It seemed as good for food as any of them, and she saw nothing in the colour of its fruit that threatened death or danger; it was as pleasant to the sight as any of them, and therefore, “What hurt could it do them? Why should this be forbidden them rather than any of the rest?” Note, When there is thought to be no more harm in forbidden fruit than in other fruit sin lies at the door, and Satan soon carries the day. Nay, perhaps it seemed to her to be better for food, more grateful to the taste, and more nourishing to the body, than any of the rest, and to her eye it was more pleasant than any. We are often betrayed into snares by an inordinate desire to have our senses gratified. Or, if it had nothing in it more inviting than the rest, yet it was the more coveted because it was prohibited. Whether it was so in her or not, we find that in us (that is, in our flesh, in our corrupt nature) there dwells a strange spirit of contradiction. Nitimur in vetitum–We desire what is prohibited. 2. She imagined more virtue in this tree than in any of the rest, that it was a tree not only not to be dreaded, but to be desired to make one wise, and therein excelling all the rest of the trees. This she saw, that is, she perceived and understood it by what the devil had said to her; and some think that she saw the serpent eat of that tree, and that he told her he thereby had gained the faculties of speech and reason, whence she inferred its power to make one wise, and was persuaded to think, “If it made a brute creature rational, why might it not make a rational creature divine?” See here how the desire of unnecessary knowledge, under the mistaken notion of wisdom, proves hurtful and destructive to many. Our first parents, who knew so much, did not know this–that they knew enough. Christ is a tree to be desired to make one wise, Col 2:3; 1Co 1:30. Let us, by faith, feed upon him, that we may be wise to salvation. In the heavenly paradise, the tree of knowledge will not be a forbidden tree; for there we shall know as we are known. Let us therefore long to be there, and, in the mean time, not exercise ourselves in things too high or too deep for us, nor covet to be wise above what is written.
II. The steps of the transgression, not steps upward, but downward towards the pit–steps that take hold on hell. 1. She saw. She should have turned away her eyes from beholding vanity; but she enters into temptation, by looking with pleasure on the forbidden fruit. Observe, A great deal of sin comes in at the eyes. At these windows Satan throws in those fiery darts which pierce and poison the heart. The eye affects the heart with guilt as well as grief. Let us therefore, with holy Job, make a covenant with our eyes, not to look on that which we are in danger of lusting after, Pro 23:31; Mat 5:28. Let the fear of God be always to us for a covering of the eyes, ch. xx. 16. 2. She took. It was her own act and deed. The devil did not take it, and put it into her mouth, whether she would or no; but she herself took it. Satan may tempt, but he cannot force; may persuade us to cast ourselves down, but he cannot cast us down, Matt. iv. 6. Eve’s taking was stealing, like Achan’s taking the accursed thing, taking that to which she had no right. Surely she took it with a trembling hand. 3. She did eat. Perhaps she did not intend, when she looked, to take, nor, when she took, to eat; but this was the result. Note, The way of sin is downhill; a man cannot stop himself when he will. The beginning of it is as the breaking forth of water, to which it is hard to say, “Hitherto thou shalt come and no further.” Therefore it is our wisdom to suppress the first emotions of sin, and to leave it off before it be meddled with. Obsta principiis–Nip mischief in the bud. 4. She gave also to her husband with her. It is probable that he was not with her when she was tempted (surely, if he had, he would have interposed to prevent the sin), but came to her when she had eaten, and was prevailed upon by her to eat likewise; for it is easier to learn that which is bad than to teach that which is good. She gave it to him, persuading him with the same arguments that the serpent had used with her, adding this to all the rest, that she herself had eaten of it, and found it so far from being deadly that it was extremely pleasant and grateful. Stolen waters are sweet. She gave it to him, under colour of kindness–she would not eat these delicious morsels alone; but really it was the greatest unkindness she could do him. Or perhaps she gave it to him that, if it should prove hurtful, he might share with her in the misery, which indeed looks strangely unkind, and yet may, without difficulty, be supposed to enter into the heart of one that had eaten forbidden fruit. Note, Those that have themselves done ill are commonly willing to draw in others to do the same. As was the devil, so was Eve, no sooner a sinner than a tempter. 5. He did eat, overcome by his wife’s importunity. It is needless to ask, “What would have been the consequence if Eve only had transgressed?” The wisdom of God, we are sure, would have decided the difficulty, according to equity; but, alas! the case was not so; Adam also did eat. “And what great harm if he did?” say the corrupt and carnal reasonings of a vain mind. What harm! Why, this act involved disbelief of God’s word, together with confidence in the devil’s, discontent with his present state, pride in his own merits, and ambition of the honour which comes not from God, envy at God’s perfections, and indulgence of the appetites of the body. In neglecting the tree of life of which he was allowed to eat, and eating of the tree of knowledge which was forbidden, he plainly showed a contempt of the favours God had bestowed on him, and a preference given to those God did not see fit for him. He would be both his own carver and his own master, would have what he pleased and do what he pleased: his sin was, in one word, disobedience (Rom. v. 19), disobedience to a plain, easy, and express command, which probably he knew to be a command of trial. He sinned against great knowledge, against many mercies, against light and love, the clearest light and the dearest love that ever sinner sinned against. He had no corrupt nature within him to betray him; but had a freedom of will, not enslaved, and was in his full strength, not weakened or impaired. He turned aside quickly. Some think he fell the very day on which he was made; but I see not how to reconcile this with God’s pronouncing all very good in the close of the day. Others suppose he fell on the sabbath day: the better day the worse deed. However, it is certain that he kept his integrity but a very little while: being in honour, he continued not. But the greatest aggravation of his sin was that he involved all his posterity in sin and ruin by it. God having told him that his race should replenish the earth, surely he could not but know that he stood as a public person, and that his disobedience would be fatal to all his seed; and, if so, it was certainly both the greatest treachery and the greatest cruelty that ever was. The human nature being lodged entirely in our first parents, henceforward it could not but be transmitted from them under an attainder of guilt, a stain of dishonour, and an hereditary disease of sin and corruption. And can we say, then, that Adam’s sin had but little harm in it?
III. The ultimate consequences of the transgression. Shame and fear seized the criminals, ipso facto–in the fact itself; these came into the world along with sin, and still attend it.
1. Shame seized them unseen, v. 7, where observe,
(1.) The strong convictions they fell under, in their own bosoms: The eyes of them both were opened. It is not meant of the eyes of the body; these were open before, as appears by this, that the sin came in at them. Jonathan’s eyes were enlightened by eating forbidden fruit (1 Sam. xiv. 27), that is, he was refreshed and revived by it; but theirs were not so. Nor is it meant of any advances made hereby in true knowledge; but the eyes of their consciences were opened, their hearts smote them for what they had done. Now, when it was too late, they saw the folly of eating forbidden fruit. They saw the happiness they had fallen from, and the misery they had fallen into. They saw a loving God provoked, his grace and favour forfeited, his likeness and image lost, dominion over the creatures gone. They saw their natures corrupted and depraved, and felt a disorder in their own spirits of which they had never before been conscious. They saw a law in their members warring against the law of their minds, and captivating them both to sin and wrath. They saw, as Balaam, when his eyes were opened (Num. xxii. 31), the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand; and perhaps they saw the serpent that had abused them insulting over them. The text tells us that they saw that they were naked, that is, [1.] That they were stripped, deprived of all the honours and joys of their paradise-state, and exposed to all the miseries that might justly be expected from an angry God. They were disarmed; their defence had departed from them. [2.] That they were shamed, for ever shamed, before God and angels. They saw themselves disrobed of all their ornaments and ensigns of honour, degraded from their dignity and disgraced in the highest degree, laid open to the contempt and reproach of heaven, and earth, and their own consciences. Now see here, First, What a dishonour and disquietment sin is; it makes mischief wherever it is admitted, sets men against themselves disturbs their peace, and destroys all their comforts. Sooner or later, it will have shame, either the shame of true repentance, which ends in glory, or that shame and everlasting contempt to which the wicked shall rise at the great day. Sin is a reproach to any people. Secondly, What deceiver Satan is. He told our first parents, when he tempted them, that their eyes should be opened; and so they were, but not as they understood it; they were opened to their shame and grief, not to their honour nor advantage. Therefore, when he speaks fair, believe him not. The most malicious mischievous liars often excuse themselves with this, that they only equivocate; but God will not so excuse them.
(2.) The sorry shift they made to palliate these convictions, and to arm themselves against them: They sewed, or platted, fig-leaves together; and to cover, at least, part of their shame from one another, they made themselves aprons. See here what is commonly the folly of those that have sinned. [1.] That they are more solicitous to save their credit before men than to obtain their pardon from God; they are backward to confess their sin, and very desirous to conceal it, as much as may be. I have sinned, yet honour me. [2.] That the excuses men make, to cover and extenuate their sins, are vain and frivolous. Like the aprons of fig-leaves, they make the matter never the better, but the worse; the shame, thus hidden, becomes the more shameful. Yet thus we are all apt to cover our transgressions as Adam, Job xxxi. 33.
2. Fear seized them immediately upon their eating the forbidden fruit, v. 8. Observe here, (1.) What was the cause and occasion of their fear: They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. It was the approach of the Judge that put them into a fright; and yet he came in such a manner as made it formidable only to guilty consciences. It is supposed that he came in a human shape, and that he who judged the world now was the same that shall judge the world at the last day, even that man whom God has ordained. He appeared to them now (it should seem) in no other similitude than that in which they had seen him when he put them into paradise; for he came to convince and humble them, not to amaze and terrify them. He came into the garden, not descending immediately from heaven in their view, as afterwards on mount Sinai (making either thick darkness his pavilion or the flaming fire his chariot), but he came into the garden, as one that was still willing to be familiar with them. He came walking, not running, not riding upon the wings of the wind, but walking deliberately, as one slow to anger, teaching us, when we are ever so much provoked, not to be hot nor hasty, but to speak and act considerately and not rashly. He came in the cool of the day, not in the night, when all fears are doubly fearful, nor in the heat of day, for he came not in the heat of his anger. Fury is not in him, Isa. xxvii. 4. Nor did he come suddenly upon them; but they heard his voice at some distance, giving them notice of his coming, and probably it was a still small voice, like that in which he came to enquire after Elijah. Some think they heard him discoursing with himself concerning the sin of Adam, and the judgment now to be passed upon him, perhaps as he did concerning Israel, Hos 11:8; Hos 11:9. How shall I give thee up? Or, rather, they heard him calling for them, and coming towards them. (2.) What was the effect and evidence of their fear: They hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God–a sad change! Before they had sinned, if they had heard the voice of the Lord God coming towards them, they would have run to meet him, and with a humble joy welcomed his gracious visits. But, now that it was otherwise, God had become a terror to them, and then no marvel that they had become a terror to themselves, and were full of confusion. Their own consciences accused them, and set their sin before them in its proper colours. Their fig-leaves failed them, and would do them no service. God had come forth against them as an enemy, and the whole creation was at war with them; and as yet they knew not of any mediator between them and an angry God, so that nothing remained but a certain fearful looking for of judgment. In this fright they hid themselves among the bushes; having offended, they fled for the same. Knowing themselves guilty, they durst not stand a trial, but absconded, and fled from justice. See here, [1.] The falsehood of the tempter, and the frauds and fallacies of his temptations. He promised them they should be safe, but now they cannot so much as think themselves so; he said they should not die, and yet now they are forced to fly for their lives; he promised them they should be advanced, but they see themselves a based–never did they seem so little as now; he promised them they should be knowing, but they see themselves at a loss, and know not so much as where to hide themselves; he promised them they should be as gods, great, and bold, and daring, but they are as criminals discovered, trembling, pale, and anxious to escape: they would not be subjects, and so they are prisoners. [2.] The folly of sinners, to think it either possible or desirable to hide themselves from God: can they conceal themselves from the Father of lights? Ps. cxxxix. 7, c. Jer. xxiii. 24. Will they withdraw themselves from the fountain of life, who alone can give help and happiness? Jon. ii. 8. [3.] The fear that attends sin. All that amazing fear of God’s appearances, the accusations of conscience, the approaches of trouble, the assaults of inferior creatures, and the arrests of death, which is common among men, is the effect of sin. Adam and Eve, who were partners in the sin, were sharers in the shame and fear that attended it; and though hand joined in hand (hands so lately joined in marriage), yet could they not animate nor fortify one another: miserable comforters they had become to each other!
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
6. And when the woman saw This impure look of Eve, infected with the poison of concupiscence, was both the messenger and the witness of an impure heart. She could previously behold the tree with such sincerity, that no desire to eat of it affected her mind; for the faith she had in the word of God was the best guardian of her heart, and of all her senses. But now, after the heart had declined from faith, and from obedience to the word, she corrupted both herself and all her senses, and depravity was diffused through all parts of her soul as well as her body. It is, therefore, a sign of impious defection, that the woman now judges the tree to be good for food, eagerly delights herself in beholding it, and persuades herself that it is desirable for the sake of acquiring wisdom; whereas before she had passed by it a hundred times with an unmoved and tranquil look. For now, having shaken off the bridle, her mind wanders dissolutely and intemperately, drawing the body with it to the same licentiousness. The word להשכיל ( lehaskil,) admits of two explanations: That the tree was desirable either to be looked upon or to impart prudence. I prefer the latter sense, as better corresponding with the temptation.
And gave also unto her husband with her From these words, some conjecture that Adam was present when his wife was tempted and persuaded by the serpent, which is by no means credible. Yet it might be that he soon joined her, and that, even before the woman tasted the fruit of the tree, she related the conversation held with the serpent, and entangled him with the same fallacies by which she herself had been deceived. Others refer the particle עמה ( immah,) “with her,” to the conjugal bond, which may be received. But because Moses simply relates that he ate the fruit taken from the hands of his wife, the opinion has been commonly received, that he was rather captivated with her allurements than persuaded by Satan’s impostures. (168) For this purpose the declaration of Paul is adduced,
‘
Adam was not deceived, but the woman.’ (1Ti 2:14.)
But Paul in that place, as he is teaching that the origin of evil was from the woman, only speaks comparatively. Indeed, it was not only for the sake of complying with the wishes of his wife, that he transgressed the law laid down for him; but being drawn by her into fatal ambition, he became partaker of the same defection with her. And truly Paul elsewhere states that sin came not by the woman, but by Adam himself, (Rom 5:12.) Then, the reproof which soon afterwards follows ‘Behold, Adam is as one of us,’ clearly proves that he also foolishly coveted more than was lawful, and gave greater credit to the flatteries of the devil than to the sacred word of God.
It is now asked, What was the sin of both of them? The opinion of some of the ancients, that they were allured by intemperance of appetite, is puerile. For when there was such an abundance of the choicest fruits what daintiness could there be about one particular kind? Augustine is more correct, who says, that pride was the beginning of all evils, and that by pride the human race was ruined. Yet a fuller definition of the sin may be drawn from the kind of temptation which Moses describes. For first the woman is led away from the word of God by the wiles of Satan, through unbelief. (169) Wherefore, the commencement of the ruin by which the human race was overthrown was a defection from the command of God. But observe, that men then revolted from God, when, having forsaken his word, they lent their ears to the falsehoods of Satan. Hence we infer, that God will be seen and adored in his word; and, therefore, that all reverence for him is shaken off when his word is despised. A doctrine most useful to be known, for the word of God obtains its due honor only with few so that they who rush onward with impunity in contempt of this word, yet arrogate to themselves a chief rank among the worshippers of God. But as God does not manifest himself to men otherwise than through the word, so neither is his majesty maintained, nor does his worship remain secure among us any longer than while we obey his word. Therefore, unbelief was the root of defection; just as faith alone unites us to God. Hence flowed ambition and pride, so that the woman first, and then her husband, desired to exalt themselves against God. For truly they did exalt themselves against God, when, honor having been divinely conferred upon them, they not contented with such excellence, desired to know more than was lawful, in order that they might become equal with God. Here also monstrous ingratitude betrays itself. They had been made in the likeness of God; but this seems a small thing unless equality be added. Now, it is not to be endured that designing and wicked men should labor in vain, as well as absurdly, to extenuate the sin of Adam and his wife. For apostasy is no light offense, but detestable wickedness, by which man withdraws himself from the authority of his Creator, yea, even rejects and denies him. Besides it was not simple apostasy, but combined with atrocious contumelies and reproaches against God himself. Satan accuses God of falsehoods of envy, and of malignity, and our first parents subscribe to a calumny thus vile and execrable. At length, having despised the command of God, they not only indulge their own lust, but enslave themselves to the devil. If any one prefers a shorter explanation, we may say unbelief has opened the door to ambition, but ambition has proved the parent of rebellion, to the end that men, having cast aside the fear of God, might shake off his yoke. On this account, Paul teaches use that by the disobedience of Adam sin entered into the world. Let us imagine that there was nothing worse than the transgression of the command; we shall not even thus have succeeded far in extenuating the fault of Adam. God, having both made him free in everything, and appointed him as king of the world, chose to put his obedience to the proof, in requiring abstinence from one tree alone. This condition did not please him. Perverse declaimers may plead in excuse, that the woman was allured by the beauty of the tree, and the man ensnared by the blandishments of Eve. Yet the milder the authority of God, the less excusable was their perverseness in rejecting it. But we must search more deeply for the origin and cause of sin. For never would they have dared to resist God, unless they had first been incredulous of his word. And nothing allured them to covet the fruit but mad ambition. So long as they firmly believing in God’s word, freely suffered themselves to be governed by Him, they had serene and duly regulated affections. For, indeed, their best restraint was the thoughts which entirely occupied their minds, that God is just, that nothing is better than to obey his commands and that to be loved by him is the consummation of a happy life. But after they had given place to Satan’s blasphemy, they began, like persons fascinated, to lose reason and judgment; yea, since they were become the slaves of Satan; he held their very senses bound. Still further, we know that sins are not estimated in the sight of God by the external appearance, but by the inward disposition.
Again, it appears to many absurd, that the defection of our first parents is said to have proved the destruction of the whole race; and, on this accounts they freely bring an accusation against God. Pelagius, on the other hand, lest, as he falsely feared, the corruption of human nature should be charged upon God, ventured to deny original sin. But an error so gross is plainly refuted, not only by solid testimonies of Scripture, but also by experience itself. The corruption of our nature was unknown to the philosophers who, in other respects, were sufficiently, and more than sufficiently, acute. Surely this stupor itself was a signal proof of original sin. For all who are not utterly blinds perceive that no part of us is sound; that the mind is smitten with blindness, and infected with innumerable errors; that all the affections of the heart are full of stubbornness and wickedness; that vile lusts, or other diseases equally fatal, reign there; and that all the senses burst forth (170) with many vices. Since, however none but God alone is a proper judge in this cause, we must acquiesce in the sentence which he has pronounced in the Scriptures. In the first place, Scripture clearly teaches us that we are born vicious and perverse. The cavil of Pelagius was frivolous, that sin proceeded from Adam by imitation. For David, while still enclosed in his mother’s womb, could not be an imitator of Adam, yet he confesses that he was conceived in sin, (Psa 51:5.) A fuller proof of this matter, and a more ample definition of original sin, may be found in the Institutes; (171) yet here, in a single word, I will attempt to show how far it extends. Whatever in our nature is vicious — since it is not lawful to ascribe it to God — we justly reject as sin. (172) But Paul (Rom 3:10) teaches that corruption does not reside in one part only, but pervades the whole soul, and each of its faculties. Whence it follows, that they childishly err who regard original sin as consisting only in lust, and in the inordinate motion of the appetites, whereas it seizes upon the very seat of reason, and upon the whole heart. To sin is annexed condemnation, (173) or, as Paul speaks,
‘
By man came sin, and by sin, death,’ (Rom 5:12.)
Wherefore he elsewhere pronounces us to be ‘the children of wrath;’ as if he would subject us to an eternal curse, (Eph 2:3.) In short, that we are despoiled of the excellent gifts of the Holy Spirit, of the light of reason, of justice, and of rectitude, and are prone to every evil; that we are also lost and condemned, and subjected to death, is both our hereditary condition, and, at the same time, a just punishments which God, in the person of Adam, has indicted on the human race. Now, if any one should object, that it is unjust for the innocent to bear the punishment of another’s sin, I answer, whatever gifts God had conferred upon us in the person of Adams he had the best right to take away, when Adam wickedly fell. Nor is it necessary to resort to that ancient figment of certain writers, that souls are derived by descent from our first parents. (174) For the human race has not naturally derived corruption through its descent frown Adam; but that result is rather to be traced to the appointment of God, who, as he had adorned the whole nature of mankind with most excellent endowments in one man, so in the same man he again denuded it. But now, from the time in which we were corrupted in Adam, we do not bear the punishment of another’s offense, but are guilty by our own fault.
A question is mooted by some, concerning the time of this fall, or rather ruin. The opinion has been pretty generally received, that they fell on the day they were created; and, therefore Augustine writes, that they stood only for six hours. The conjecture of others, that the temptation was delayed by Satan till the Sabbath, in order to profane that sacred day, is but weak. And certainly, by instances like these, all pious persons are admonished sparingly to indulge themselves in doubtful speculations. As for myself, since I have nothing to assert positively respecting the time, so I think it may be gathered from the narration of Moses, that they did not long retain the dignity they had received; for as soon as he has said they were created, he passes, without the mention of any other thing, to their fall. If Adam had lived but a moderate space of time with his wife, the blessing of God would not have been unfruitful in the production of offspring; but Moses intimates that they were deprived of God’s benefits before they had become accustomed to use them. I therefore readily subscribe to the exclamation of Augustine, ‘O wretched freewill, which, while yet entire, had so little stability!’ And, to say no more respecting the shortness of the time, the admonition of Bernard is worthy of remembrance: ‘Since we read that a fall so dreadful took place in Paradise, what shall we do on the dunghill?’ At the same time, we must keep in memory by what pretext they were led into this delusion so fatal to themselves, and to all their posterity. Plausible was the adulation of Satan, ‘Ye shall know good and evil;’ but that knowledge was therefore accursed, because it was sought in preference to the favor of God. Wherefore, unless we wish, of our own accord, to fasten the same snares upon ourselves, let us learn entirely to depend upon the sole will of God, whom we acknowledge as the Author of all good. And, since the Scripture everywhere admonishes us of our nakedness and poverty, and declares that we may recover in Christ what we have lost in Adams let us, renouncing all self-confidence, offer ourselves empty to Christ, that he may fill us with his own riches.
(168) So our great Poet: —
He scrupled not to eat Against his better knowledge, not deceived, But fondly overcome with female charm. Paradise Lost, Book IX
(169) “ Per infidelitatem.”
(170) “ Scatere,” send forth as from a fountain.
(171) Calvin’s Institutes, Book II, chap. 1, 2, 3.
(172) “ Merito in peccatum rejicimus.”
(173) “ Peccato annexus est reatus.”
(174) “ Quod animae ex traduce oriuntur.” — “ Que les ames procedent de celle d’Adam.” That souls proceed from that of Adam. — French Tr.
It can be scarcely necessary to inform the reader, that a controversy of some magnitude engaged the attention of the learned, on the subject to which Calvin here alludes; namely, whether the souls of men are, like their bodies, propagated by descent from Adam, or whether they proceed immediately from God. The supposed descent of the soul from Adam was said to be ex traduce, by traduction. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE GREATEST SIN OF THE CENTURIES
Gen 3:6
OUT of this story of the fall of man has arisen a number of questions with which I, as a minister of the Gospel, have nothing whatever to do. Skepticism says, Did a serpent ever talk? Skepticism says, Was there ever any garden of Eden? Skepticism says, Would eating an apple effect physical or moral death, or be a sufficient reason why God should pronounce either? Skepticism says, What fruit is it that makes people wise?
I contend that plain, sensible people take no interest whatever in such interrogation points. No man knows whether this serpent literally talked, or whether by his actions he effected the temptation. No man will ever find out by investigation. It is better, therefore, to believe the Divine Records than to loose ones craft upon the sea of speculation.
Whether there was a garden of Eden and where it was located, if answered by history or discovery, would profit us in nothing. As to the judgment of death because one ate an apple, no student of the Scripture would make such suggestion. The death penalty for the transgression of the law of God is another and a higher thought. So far as wisdom coming through fruit eating is concerned, that was not Gods claim, but Satans suggestion, and scarcely to be relied upon. When one violates the law of God, he comes speedily to the knowledge of good and evil, and who can estimate the worth of that discovery?
All these speculations aside, as Joseph Parker has said, Evidently something has disagreed with the world. We do not trust, love, honor and help one another; we are selfish, mean, irascible, unforgiving; we know that our respectability is the thinnest part about us and that the faintest scratch will touch the wolf. How all this came about is answered only in the Book of Genesis, and so far as I am concerned, I believe that Book; hence I regard this act of Eves the greatest sin of the centuries.
SKEPTICISM WAS THE FATHER OF THIS SIN.
Hear now what Satan has to say by way of temptation.
Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Hath God said?
Are you sure of it?
That was the skeptical question in the face of the plain statement, Of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Since the triumph of that skepticism, Satan has never ceased from his efforts to lead men to think that God did not say what is plainly His Word. There are people going up and down the earth now saying, There is no such thing as regeneration. God does not require it. That is Satans assault on Gods Word, Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God. There are people who are saying, It is not needful to accept Jesus Christ in order to be saved. That is Satans assault on Gods plain Word, Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved.
A while ago I read a volume of 150 or more pages, every bit of which was devoted to the subject of baptism and it was Satans assault on Mat 3:5-6; Mat 3:13-16; Mar 1:9; Joh 3:23; Act 8:36 and Rom 6:4-6. The longer I live the less sympathy I have with the skepticism which would nullify, by explaining away, the plain Word of God. I love good old John Bunyan who, when reading his Bible, came to the promise that the feet of the Lord should stand on the Mount of Olives and he remarked, Some commentators say that the Mount of Olives means the heart of the believer; that it is only a figurative expression and means that the Lord will reign in the heart of the believer and the Holy Ghost will dwell there. But I dont think it means that at all. I just think it means the Mount of Olives two miles from Jerusalem on the East.
Get thee hence, Satan! When God says a thing, let it stand.
Again, this skepticism questioned Gods goodness.
Hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
The plain inference is, Has God deprived you of the best? Has God robbed you of the richest? Has God laid an injunction against the most palatable? Then is God good?
I meet that question now. It comes in new forms, but it is the same old question. Young people who are under conviction come to me and say, Do you think God requires me to give up this pleasure and to cease from that worldly amusement? And, when I answer in the language of the Apostle, Love not the world, neither the things of the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him, they reply with a second question, Why does God want to take our pleasures from us? Why does God want to hedge about the very trees from which we fain would eat? There is many a man in the world who cannot see why God should object to his smoking. Many another who cannot see why God should object to his drinking. Many a woman who wonders why the church speaks against the dance, taboos the theatre and shows little sympathy with a game of cards for a prize. Christmas Day used to bring into our house a good many pounds of candy. The small boys could not understand why father or mother drew a line on their eating, and several times, after having consumed to the point of danger, they went crying to bed because they could not have more. We had but one reason for that restraint. We did not want them sick. We did not want to see them suffer, hence we kept back some of the candy as God kept back one tree. God never keeps anything from you, never takes anything away from you, that is for your good. The mere fact that you like it does not prove that you ought to have it, any more than the crying of my children for candy proved that they should be privileged a pound at a sitting.
When will men ever learn this truth? It would seem indeed that Eves experience should be our teacher. Before this chapter is ended she is in sorrow. Before this chapter is ended she has lost the whole garden and has gone out before the frown of God. And the man who will not believe in Gods goodness, or the woman, the one who will not walk according to Gods Word, will come to suffering, for the wages of sin is death.
This skepticism also denied Gods truthfulness.
The serpent said unto the woman, You shall not surely die.
Unbelief is a Palma-Christia Jonahs gourd, for growth. When once it has started up in the heart, it is amazing how quickly it attains to overshadowing proportions. Men, bred in Christian houses, taught in the Word of God, have gone out from them to touch an unbelieving world, and they have caught its spirit. The skepticism that made them afraid, when first it was suggested to them, came to be endured and eventually embraced, and all over the country you can find those who have never read the Bible through, affirming that they do not believe it, and those who have never made a study of the evidences that Jesus Christ was Gods Son, insisting that they wont accept the truths of the Bible on His authority. Think of it, will you? Think of a man who has been in the world but a few years, who has touched only an infinitesimal part of the great universe, who has learned only a primer or two of all the works of wisdom, setting himself up to dispute with God Who made the worlds and without whom was not anything made that was made.
I believe that this can have but one explanation. Eve would never have done this of her own accord. She knew too little to dare such self-assertion. A man today would never do it of his own accord. Eves skepticism and yours and mine came from a source. It is the whispering of Gods arch-enemy, and our eternal antagonistSatan. Because he fathered this sin and by it effected the fall of man, I count it the sin of the centuries.
IN THIS SIN, TEMPTATION TRIUMPHED.
The first five verses of this chapter tell the story of Eves temptation. The sixth verse records Satans triumph.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat.
Has it ever occurred to you that John sums up all temptations under three forms, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life? And have you ever thought of how Satan employed all of these in tempting the Son of God, and how by them he triumphed over our first mother?
The lust of the flesh.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food.
How the lust of the flesh has left in its tracks the defeated and overthrown. What is it that ever made possible our civic scabthe saloon? The lust of the flesh.
What is it that sustains those unnameable institutions that lead women to forget the instruction of youth and forsake God, and men to plan the destruction of their fellow creatures and the loss of their own souls? The lust of the flesh.
Society has been so indifferent to danger from this direction that it has done more to aid Satan in his temptations than to circumvent him in his criminal purposes. Count Leo Tolstoi, in his volume, What
Is Art? declares that since the world began, down to and including this hour, artreal and counterfeit with few exceptions, has devoted itself to kindling the lusts of the flesh. Through salacious novels, from the most refined to the grossest with which literature overflows: through operas and operettas, songs and romances, with which our world teems; by picture and statuary, it goes on disseminating vice wherever it is possible. And after all has been said that can be said for true art, either of the chisel, the pencil or the pen, it must be admitted that Tolstois strictures are none too strong, because every city in the land is suffering today for a bonfire, such as Paul witnessed kindled in the streets of Ephesus; only, to the pile of evil books there should be added a majority of the pictures and nine-tenths of present-day statuary. After such a bonfire, it might be written of the modern metropolis as it was said of Ephesus, So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed.
The lust of the eyes.
And when the woman saw that it was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes.
Oh, these windows of the soul, how the tempters have danced before them! This same volume of Genesis records that When the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, they took them wives of all that they chose, and then it was that God said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man. And when Achan saw, among the spoils, a goodly Babylonish garment, and 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of 50 shekels weight, then he coveted them and took them.
To shut ones eyes against temptation; ah, that is a triumph indeed! And how those who cannot do that are conquered and uncrowned!
Do you remember in reading Hypatia, how Charles Kingsley presents the triumph of temptation through the lust of the eyes? He is talking about Philemon in one of his first excursions away from the monastery, and tells how, ere the boy knew it, he came upon a temple carved in the sandstone cliff. It had been a place of idol worship and the abbot, his spiritual father, had strictly forbidden him to even approach it, and Kingsley says, So down he went, hardly daring to raise his eyes to the alluring iniquities of the painted imagery which, gaudy in crimson and blue, still blazed out upon the desolate solitude, uninjured by that rainless air. But he was young, and youth is curious; and the devil, at least in the fifth century, was busy with young brains. Now Philamon believed most utterly in the devil, and night and day devoutly prayed to be delivered from him: so he crossed himself and ejaculated, honestly enough, Lord, turn away mine eyes, lest they behold vanity, and looked nevertheless. How significant that remark, and looked. That is what many of our young men are doing tonight, looking. They tell you they want to see the city; they forget that often seeing is sinning.
Did you ever think upon the full significance of Solomons speech, Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied?
The pride of life.
And a tree to make one wise.
Ah, the ambition to excel. The ambition to be regarded wise. That is a rock upon which many a soul is wrecked. It is the pride of life that makes politicians of men. It is the pride of life that fills men with an inordinate greed. It is the pride of life that leads them to extravagant dress, inordinate expenses, and lands many in evil employments, embezzlements, gambling and all the rest. It is the picket upon which modernism impales its devotees.
I have no objection to wisdom. I have no objection to wealth. I believe both are well worth the having. But to get either by disregarding God and by forgetting His Word, is to be triumphed over by the Tempter, and confronted by sorrow in the very moment when we expected success.
A few years ago a beautiful woman from the Southland was married to a New York millionaire. Her youth had been characterized by comparative poverty and devotion to God. With her change in fortune she forgot her old customs. Regular church attendance no longer attracted her. If she prayed at all, no one knew it. At every social function she was much admired. Two or three years of this new life, and her delicate body was breaking. Off to the West she went in search of health. The flush came to her cheek afresh, and one day she was on her way back to home and husband, and New York society; when lo, the train crashed through a bridge, and the dead and dying were on every hand. The physician who attended her told her she had but an hour to live, and when she cried, Doctor, I cannot die in an hour, I cant! I cant! He tried to comfort her by saying, Your body is almost entirely paralyzed and you will suffer but little. Then she answered, Oh, I am not afraid of the suffering. But think what I have been doing with my time and my talents! For two or three years I have done nothing but strive to set the fashions, and not one hour of service have I given to God in this time. And, to think of it, only an hour remaining and my body paralyzed. That moment she saw what every man and every woman must see over whose spiritual interests the pride of life has triumphed.
BY THIS SIN THE SPRINGS OF LIFE ARE POISONED.
Her sin formed the first example of iniquity. In her steps her husband speedily followed, for it is written, And he did eat. Who can tell how great will be his responsibility or hers, who having first surrendered to Satan turns tempter for him? Pastor Stalker remarks, I hear it said nowadays that the fear of hell no longer moves mens minds, and that preachers ought no longer to use it as a motive in religion. Well, I confess I fear it myself. It is a motive still to me, but I will tell you what I fear ten times more. What, is there anything that any man can fear ten times more than the fire that shall never be quenched? Yes, it is to meet there any one who will say, You have brought me here. You were my tempter. But for you I might never have come to this place of torment. And yet Eves experience is not exceptional. Where is the man who sins himself without turning tempter to others?
Eves sin imposed sinfulness upon her offspring. A few years since a notable judge said to some of us ministers that he had never felt any particular culpability on account of Adams sin. But be it remembered that Adam, and especially Eve, are culpable for this mans sins, because having sinned they brought forth after their kind. I know of nothing that a man can do worse than imposing upon his innocent offspring evil appetites. You drunken father, when your boy begins to drink, to whose account will God lay the charge?
Charles Spurgeon says, Sages of old contended that no sin was ever committed whose consequences laid on the head of the sinner alone; that no man could do ill and his fellows not suffer. They illustrated it thus: A vessel sailing from Joppa carried a passenger who, beneath his berth cut a hole through the ships side. When the men of the watch expostulated with him, the offender calmly replied, What matters it to you? The hole I have made lies under my own berth. True, and yet every passengers life was endangered thereby.
I have a friend, a young man, who a few years since gave great promise, but today is in the deepest degradationthe victim of the vilest sins. I doubt not, in the judgment of his old grandfather, whose nature he has inherited, he will stand condemned.
But one word more, and I am done.
Against this sin of the centuries God sets a sufficient Saviour. To the serpent God said, The seed of woman shall bruise thy head. That was the promise of His Son. In that victory you have your proffered salvation, and I have mine. We have spent the most of this evening looking at this sin of the centuries, but let us conclude our study by looking away from that sin to Jesus Christ, the sufficient Saviour.
Mr. Moody says, When I was in Belfast I knew a doctor who had a friend, a leading surgeon there, and he told me that the surgeons custom was before performing any operation to say to his patient, Take a good look at the wound, and then fix your eyes on me, and do not take them off me until I get through. I thought at the time that was a good illustration. Sinner, you have looked at your sin; now turn your eyes to the Saviour. If you have seen yourself lost, remember He came to seek and to save that which was lost. If the scarlet in your sin discourages you, remember, it is His, though your sin be as scarlet, to make you as white as snow, and though it be red like crimson to make it as wool.
The bitten Israelite who looked on the brazen serpent was healed, and the sin-cursed soul who looks at Jesus, in faith, is saved.
Look unto Me, all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
(6) And when the woman saw . . . she took.Heb., And the woman saw . . . and she took, &c. In this, the original form of the narrative, we see the progress of the temptation detailed in a far more lively manner than in our version. With awakened desire the woman gazes upon the tree. The fruit appears inviting to the eye, and possibly was really good for food. The whole aspect of the tree was beautiful; and, besides, there was the promise held out to her that it possessed the mysterious faculty of developing her intellectual powers. To this combined influence of her senses without and her ambition within she was unable to offer that resistance which would have been possible only by a living faith in the spoken word of God. She eats, therefore, and gives to her husbandso called here for the first timeand he eats with her. The demeanour of Adam throughout is extraordinary. It is the woman who is temptednot as though Adam was not present, as Milton supposes, for she has not to seek himbut he shares with her at once the gathered fruit. Rather, she is pictured to us as more quick and observant, more open to impressions, more curious and full of longings than the man, whose passive behaviour is as striking as the womans eagerness and excitability.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Good for food pleasant to the eyes to be desired to make one wise Observe the threefold form of this first temptation . First, appeal is made to the animal appetite; next, to the longing eye; and then to an ambition to become wise and godlike . Thus, too, the apostle comprehends all generic forms of human temptation under “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life . ” 1Jn 2:16. It is notable that when this same old serpent attempted the ruin of the Second Adam he employed the same threefold method of assault . The first, was based upon his sense of hunger; the second, was a suggestion to exhibit a vain display at the temple of God; and the third, to make himself a hero-god of the world . Comp . Mat 4:1-11. After the failure of the first Adam and the triumph of the Second in conflict with the devil, we may not plead that we are ignorant of Satan’s devices .
She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat So it is that “when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin,” (Jas 1:15,) and the heart walks after the eyes . Job 31:7.
Her husband with her This is understood by some to imply that Adam was present with the woman during her temptation; but such a supposition seems inconsistent with the narrative, which exhibits Satan and the woman so prominently, and makes no allusion to the man . Better, therefore, to understand the , with her, of his subsequent partnership with her in transgression . Manifestly we have here a very concise record of a most important event . The great facts are stated, the guile of the tempter is exposed, and the sad result is chronicled . Other details are not attempted .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate.’
The woman clearly did not give way immediately. She contemplated the tree and the fruit carefully, and no doubt she wrestled with her conscience. How wonderful the fruit looked, so much to be desired, and how beautiful the tree was, surely something so beautiful could not cause her any harm? Had not God made them? And to be made wise in knowing good and evil like God. How wonderful that must be. She was not aware of Paul’s words to Timothy, ‘flee youthful desires’. For that is what she should have done. Victory over desires like this is only found through flight, not by trying to fight them. Had she fled all would have been well. But she lingered on, and in the end she inevitably gave way. She took of its fruit and ate.
Of course the man and the woman had a conscience and knew the difference between right and wrong in a semi-theoretical way (having never experienced evil) but she saw the snake as offering something more, a God-like knowledge of good and evil.
But she did worse. She went to her mate and took him with her, for she gave the fruit to him, and he ate as well. Seemingly he ate because the woman asked him to. There was no thought for him that it would make him wise like God. He allowed the woman to be more important to him than God. That is why Paul can say, the woman was deceived ( 1Ti 2:14), but the man was not deceived. He was flagrantly disobedient because of his wife. How often when we fall we drag others down with us.
So the one who was ‘a helper suitable for him’ has proved man’s downfall. Perhaps because she was only a helper she did not consider her privilege and responsibility as God’s representative on earth. (How easy it is for us to think that we are unimportant and therefore that what we do ‘doesn’t really matter’). Thus instead of seeing the tree as a proof of her exalted position she saw it only as a way of getting satisfaction and status.
We are constantly brought into positions where we too, as God’s representatives on earth, have to make choices. When something alluring comes before us we need to ‘flee’. That is the only way to fight such things. Otherwise we too will fail, and drag others down with us. On the other hand, if someone important to us begins to suggest we disregard the Lordship of God, we need to be stern with them, and if necessary even be willing to turn away from them. For otherwise we too will fall.
Notice how the temptation is a basis for the words of John in 1Jn 2:16. She saw that it was good for food (the lust of the flesh), a delight to the eyes (the lust of the eyes), and to be desired to make one wise (the pride of life). Herein lies the root of most sin.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gen 3:6. Saw that the tree was good for food, &c. It is not easy to determine how the woman could discover this, unless by supposing, as we have done in a note above, that she saw the serpent eat of it, and that without prejudice, nay, with great advantage to him, raised, as he seemed, by means of this good food, from the animal to the rational nature: well might she therefore conclude, that by the same means she should be raised from the rational to the divine nature. Thus pride, as the tempter wished, stole into her heart; and with pride, animal appetite co-operated: she saw it pleasant to the eyes, which joined to an affectation of wisdom, perfected her ruin: and she did, what we see done every day, give to her passions power over her reason; distrusted God, and trusted herself: eat and was undone, and soon drew her husband into the same fatal error. “Reason is quickly deceived,” says Saurin, “when the senses have been seduced: it was already yielding to the temptation to hearken so long to the tempter.” Vain are all conjectures respecting the manner in which she seduced her husband. The text only tells us that she did so: but considering their situation, there can be no wonder that the man was willing to experience the same lot with his offending, but beloved companion and wife.
The phrase with her, to her husband with her, seems only to express, that she gave to her husband as well as took herself. The whole transaction shews that Adam was absent, but she came to him and gave him of the fruit, and he eat of it with her, or as she had done. In whatever view we consider the crime of Eve, it appears enormous. Her disobedience to what God had so expressly enjoined is an inexcusable fault. Her wish to become equal to God is perhaps even still more terrible. Pride is the source of all these crimes: it produces blindness of mind, and haughtiness of heart, curiosity, luxury, and disobedience.
It may throw light on this transaction to consider what and how HE resisted, who, in the wilderness, foiled this original tempter, and regained what the first man lost.
REFLECTIONS. 1. The woman is singled out for the snare. Satan knew that of the two she was the weaker, not only in body but in mind. Thus he still tempts: he knows our weak side, whatever it may be, and usually there begins his attacks. 2. The woman was alone. She is not the only woman who hath been thus undone. ‘Tis safest for the wife to be near her husband’s side. 3. She was near the tree, perhaps gazing on it: it is dangerous to be in the way of evil; they who would not eat of the forbidden fruit, must not approach the forbidden tree.
The 2nd and 3rd verses contain her answer to the question of the tempter. It was plain and full. She was not ignorant of the command; nay, rather adds to it: they must not only not eat, but not touch it. O, it is ever bad meddling with edged tools! Nor was the threatening concealed, though here she hesitates, and rather diminishes its awful import.
Observe, 1. How inexcusable she was: she fully knew the will of God: and sin against light and knowledge hath peculiar aggravation. 2. Her weakness to discourse about a point so dangerous: the very mention should have awakened suspicion, and bid her fly. Temptations have more than half prevailed, when they can get a hearing. To parley, is the prelude to submission.
In the 4th and 5th verses we have the serpent’s reply. He no longer seeks to invalidate the command, but the threatening being faintly urged by her, he boldly denies. Hence we may observe, 1. Confident assertions readily pass with weak minds, and with those who are willing to be persuaded; and it is much easier boldly to deny, than clearly to Proverbs 2. The hopes of impunity are the great encouragement to sin, and the support of impenitence. By these, Satan’s kingdom is still upheld. Did a sinner see before him the wages of sin, and were everlasting burnings once truly believed, the devil would tempt in vain! I shall have peace, when God hath said, there is no peace, is still the grand lie. 3. Satan not only promises her peace, but profit; and when most effectually ruining her, assures her of the greatest advantages. O how often, by pursuing a false and fancied good in view, do we still lose the portion we actually possessed! Behold his devices! He is still the same. Thus he continues to deceive with fair speeches and lying promises: thus he misrepresents the restraints of God’s law as severe; and, grievous to think, thus he still prevails, and the world lieth , under the power and dominion of this wicked one.
And she did eat, and gave unto her husband, and he did eat! Unhappy souls! thus to give ear to a lying and seducing spirit, rather than to the God of truth. 1. She looked, and because she saw the fruit beautiful to the eye, she concluded the serpent in the right, and that there could be no more harm in this, than in any other tree. O it is often bad judging by the eye: the most pleasing fruit contains sometimes the deadliest poison. 2. She not only promised herself pleasure for the taste, but wisdom for her mind. This tree herein excelled all the rest, and was more desirable; perhaps too, still more, because forbidden. When sin begins in the desire, restraint only whets the appetite. 3. She boldly plucked the fruit, perhaps for a nearer view, or by the touch first to assay whether any ill consequence really would accrue. 4. She did eat; eager to make the last experiment; and it may be, hoping to surprise her husband with the transforming change she had experienced, and the superior knowledge she had attained. 5. She gave him also; came to him with the tempter’s power, and, either out of love, wished him to make the trial with her, and enjoy the pleasure and dignity; or out of malice, lost herself, resolves not to sink alone. 6. Vanquished by her importunity, and by his affection for her, he joined in the transgression.
Behold here the usual process of temptation. 1. An outward object presented by the devil, promising us much pleasure and advantage in the pursuit. 2. The eye caught with it, and led to gaze upon it. The eye is the great inlet of temptation: those who would guard their heart, must often veil their eyes. To look upon a woman’s beauty is the road to lust after her; and to fix the greedy eye on gold, is the prelude to covet it. 3. Desire after it: when temptation has got so far, lust hath conceived, and sin will be the birth. 4. The gratification of the desire. There is no stopping, if once the unbridled appetite is let loose. When we first gazed, we thought it should rest there: we then drew nearer, but resolved to stop. The hand was stretched out to touch, but not to take; till, like the revolving stone on a declivity, each revolution accelerated its motion, and sin no longer could be resisted. 5. We cannot be content to sin alone: those who themselves hearken to the devil’s wiles, quickly turn tempters for him. O how little does many a sinner think of the dreadful charges which will be brought against him by those souls, to whose sin and ruin he may have, by his solicitations, some way contributed!
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 5
THE FALL OF MAN
Gen 3:6-7. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened.
THE happiness of our first parents in Paradise must have far exceeded any thing which we can conceive. Formed in the image of God, they had not a desire or thought contrary to His holy will. There was no cloud upon their understanding; no undue bias on their will, nothing inordinate in their affections. With respect to outward comforts, they possessed all that they could wish. God himself had planted a garden for them, and given them the whole produce, except one tree, for their support. Above all, they enjoyed the freest intercourse with their Maker, and conversed with Him as a man converseth with his friend. But this happiness, alas! was of short continuance: for Satan, who had left his first estate, and, from being a bright angel before the throne of God, was become an apostate spirit and a wicked fiend, he, I say, envied their felicity, and sought to reduce them to the same misery with himself. An opportunity for making his attempt soon occurred. He saw the woman near the forbidden tree, and at a distance from her husband. So favourable an occasion was not to be lost. He instantly took possession of a serpent; which being confessedly the most subtle of all animals, was least likely to create suspicion in her mind, and fittest to be employed in so arduous a service. Through the instrumentality of this creature, Satan entered into conversation with her; and, as we learn from the history before us, succeeded in withdrawing both her and her husband from their allegiance to God. In the text we have a summary of the fatal tragedy: in it, as connected with the context, the whole plot is developed, and the awful catastrophe declared.
That we may have a just view of the conduct of our first parents, we shall consider,
I.
Their temptation
The scope of Satans conversation with Eve was to persuade her that she might partake of the forbidden tree,
1.
With safety
[With this view, his first attempt was to raise doubts in her mind respecting the prohibition. And here his subtilty is very conspicuous; he does not shock her feelings by any strong assertion; but asks, as it were for information, whether such a prohibition as he had heard of had been really given. Nevertheless, his mode of putting the question insinuates, that he could scarcely credit the report; because the imposing of such a restraint would be contrary to the generosity which God had shewn in other respects, and to the distinguished love which he had professed to bear towards them.
Now, though he did not so far prevail as to induce her to deny that God had withheld from her the fruit of that tree, yet he gained much even in this first address: for, he led her to maintain a conversation with him: he disposed her also to soften the terms in which the prohibition had been given [Note: God had said, In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die: and she, in reporting it, said, Ye shall not eat of it or touch it, lest ye die; thus converting a most positive threatening of instant and certain death, into a gentle caution against a possible, or probable, misfortune: Touch not, for fear ye die.]: and though she might intend nothing more than to prevent his entertaining any hard thoughts of God, she hereby emboldened him to prosecute his purpose in a more direct and open manner.
Improving the advantage he had already gained, he proceeded to question in direct terms the grounds of her fears, in relation to the penalty: Ye shall not surely die. He here intimates, that she must be mistaken with respect both to the extent and certainty of the penalty. God could never threaten death for such an offence as that: he could threaten nothing worse even for the most heinous transgression that could be committed: how then could he annex that to so small a matter as the eating of a piece of fruit? At least, if he did put forth his threat, he certainly would never execute it; Ye shall not surely die: it could not be, that a just and good God should ever proceed to such rigorous measures on so slight an occasion. By this daring assertion, he quite disarmed her; and persuaded her, that she must have misunderstood the divine declaration, or, at least, that it never could be carried into effect.]
2.
With advantage
[Finding that Eve did not revolt at his impious assertions, he went on to direct and open blasphemy. He knew, that to an intelligent and holy being nothing was so desirable as knowledge: he therefore affirmed, that there was in the fruit of that tree a virtue capable of wonderfully enlarging her views, so that she and her husband should become as gods, and possess a self-sufficiency and independence suited to that high character. In confirmation of this, he appeals to God himself; and blasphemously insinuates, that God, in withholding the fruit from them, had been actuated by nothing but envy, and a jealousy, lest they should become as wise and happy as himself.
Such was the temptation with which that old serpent assaulted Eve; hoping that, if he could prevail with her, he might, through her influence, overcome her husband also.]
Happy would it have been, if we could have reported of them, as we can of the second Adam, that they repelled the Tempter. But, in following the course of their history, we are constrained to notice,
II.
Their sin
Eve, overpowered by the alluring aspect of the fruit, and the hope of attaining a knowledge as superior to what she already possessed, as this serpents was to that of all the rest of the creation, ate of the fruit, and prevailed upon her husband to partake with her [Note: A variety of questions might be asked respecting different parts of this history; but where God has not been pleased to inform us, we should be contented to be ignorant: and where no certainty can be attained, we judge it better to pass over matters in silence, than to launch out into the boundless and unprofitable regions of conjecture.].
Without inquiring how she prevailed with him, or what would have been the effect if she alone had fallen, let it suffice to know, that Adam transgressed in eating the forbidden fruit, and that this was the sin whereby he and all his posterity were ruined. That the offence may not be thought trivial, let us consider of what malignant qualities it was composed:
1.
What pride!
[Our first parents were endowed with facilities unknown to any other creatures. While, in common, with all the rest, they possessed a beautifully constructed frame of body, they had a rational soul also, which assimilated them to God; so that they were a connecting link between God and the brute-creation, a kind of compound of both. Moreover, they were constituted lords of this lower world; and all other creatures were subjected to their dominion. None was above them but God himself. But they chose to have no superior: they affected to be as gods. What daring presumption! What criminal ambition! It was time indeed that their loftiness should be bowed down, and their haughtiness be made low.]
2.
What unbelief!
[God had spoken with a perspicuity which could not admit of misconstruction, and an energy that precluded doubt. Yet they listen to the suggestions of a wicked fiend, and believe the lies of Satan in preference to Jehovahs word. Can any thing be conceived more insulting to the Majesty of heaven than this? Can an offence be deemed light which offers such an indignity to the God of truth?]
3.
What ingratitude!
[What could God have done more for them than he had done? What could they have, to augment their felicity? And, if any restraint at all was to be laid upon them for the purpose of trying their fidelity and obedience, what smaller restraint could be conceived than the prohibition of one single tree amidst ten thousand? Was one tree too much for Him to reserve, who had created all the rest for their use? Were they to think much of so small an act of self-denial, where so much was provided for their indulgence? Were they to be so unmindful of all which He had done for them, and of all the good things which He had in store for them, as to refuse Him so small a testimony of their regard? Amazing! Incredible! that such favours should be so requited!]
4.
What rebellion!
[God had an undoubted right to command; and, whatever His injunctions were, they were bound to obey them. But how do they regard this single, this easy precept? They set it at nought: they transgress it: they violate it voluntarily, immediately, and without so much as a shadow of reason. They lose sight of all the considerations of duty, or interest: they are absorbed in the one thought of personal gratification; and upon that they rush, without one moments concern, how much they may displease their Friend and Benefactor, their Creator and Governor, their Lord and Judge. Shall not God visit for such rebellion as this?]
After their transgression, we are naturally led to inquire into,
III.
Their recompence
Satan had told them, that their eyes should be opened: but little did they think in what sense his words should be verified! Their eyes were now opened; but only like the eyes of the Syrian army when they saw themselves in the heart of an enemys country [Note: 2Ki 6:20.], or those of the rich man when he lifted them up in hell torments. [Note: Luk 16:23.] They beheld now, what it was their happiness not to know, the consequences of sin. They beheld,
1.
The guilt they had contracted
[Sin, while yet they were only solicited to commit it, appeared of small malignity: its present pleasures seemed to overbalance its future pains. But when the bait was swallowed, how glad would they have been if they had never viewed it with desire, or ventured to trespass on what they knew to have been forbidden! Now all the aggravations of their sin would rush into their minds at once, and overwhelm them with shame. It is true, they could not yet view their conduct with penitence and contrition, because God had not yet vouchsafed to them the grace of repentance: they could at present feel little else than self-indignant rage, and self-tormenting despondency: but their anguish, though not participating the ingenuous feelings of self-lothing and self-abhorrence, must have been pungent beyond all expression: and they must have seemed to themselves to be monsters of iniquity.]
2.
The misery they had incurred
[Wherever they cast their eyes, they must now see how awfully they were despoiled. If they lifted them up to heaven, there they must behold the favour of their God for ever forfeited. If they cast them around, every thing must remind them of their base ingratitude; and they would envy the meanest of the brute creation. If they looked within, O what a sink of iniquity were they now become! The nakedness of their bodies, which in innocence administered no occasion for shame, now caused them to feel what need they had of covering, not for their bodies merely, but much more for their souls. If they thought of their progeny, what pangs must they feel on their account; to have innumerable generations rise in succession to inherit their depravity, and partake their doom! If they contemplated the hour of dissolution, how terrible must that appear! to be consigned, through diseases and death, to their native dust; and to protract a miserable existence in that world, whither the fallen angels were banished, and from whence there can be no return! Me-thinks, under the weight of all these considerations, they wept till they could weep no more [Note: 1Sa 30:4.] ; and till their exhausted nature sinking under the load, they fell asleep through excess of sorrow [Note: Luk 22:45.].]
Infer,
1.
How deplorable is the state of every unregenerate man!
[Any one who considers the state of our first parents after their fall, may easily conceive that it was most pitiable. But their case is a just representation of our own. We are despoiled of the divine image, and filled with all hateful and abominable dispositions: we are under the displeasure of the Almighty: we have nothing to which we can look forward in this world, but troubles, disorders, and death; and in the eternal world, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish for evermore. Why do we not endeavour to get our minds suitably affected with this our melancholy condition? Why do we not see ourselves, as in a glass; and apply to ourselves that commiseration which we are ready to bestow on our first parents? Alas! the god of this world hath blinded our minds: else we should smite upon our breasts with sorrow and anguish, and implore without delay the mercy which we so much need.]
2.
How astonishing was the grace of God in providing a Saviour for us!
[It is needless to say that our first parents could do nothing to repair the evil which they had committed. And how far they were from attempting to make reparation for it, we see, when they fled from God, and cast the blame on others, yea even on God himself, rather than acknowledge their transgressions before him. But God, for His own great name sake, interposed, and promised them a Saviour, through whom they, and their believing posterity, should be restored to his favour. To this gracious promise we owe it, that we are not all involved in endless and irremediable misery. Let heaven and earth stand astonished at the goodness of our God! And let all the sinners of mankind testify their acceptance of his proffered mercy, by fleeing for refuge to the hope set before them.]
3.
How vigilant should we all be against the devices of Satan!
[He who beguiled Eve under the form of a serpent, can assume any shape, for the purpose of deceiving us. He is sometimes transformed into an angel of light, so that we may be ready to follow his advice, as if he were a messenger from heaven. But we may easily distinguish his footsteps, if only we attend to the following inquiries:Does he lessen in our eyes the sinfulness of sin? Does he weaken our apprehensions of its danger? Does he persuade us to that which is forbidden? Would he make us think lightly of that which is threatened? Does he stimulate our desires after evil by any considerations of the pleasure or the profit that shall attend it? Does he calumniate God to us, as though He were unfriendly, oppressive, or severe? If our temptations be accompanied with any of these things, we may know assuredly that the enemy hath done this, and that he is seeking our destruction. Let us then be on our guard against him. Let us watch and pray that we enter not into temptation. However remote we may imagine ourselves to be from the love of evil, let us not think ourselves secure: for if Satan vanquished our first parents under all the advantages they enjoyed, he will certainly overcome us, unless we resist him, strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Pause over this verse, and remark the fatal mean by which, as the Apostle saith, sin hath entered into the world, and death by sin. Rom 5:12 . In this transgression all our nature was involved, and necessarily, as in the rectitude of our first Parents, the whole race would have been interested; so in their fall, the whole were condemned. See those scriptures, which so fully prove the fact, and explain the cause. Rom 5:12-19 ; 1Co 15:22
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Ver. 6. And when the woman saw. ] At this portal the devil entered. How many thousand souls have died of the wound of the eye, and cried out, as Eve might here, “When I saw it, I died!” Ut vidi, ut perii! a If we do not let in sin at the window of the eye, or the door of the ear, it cannot enter into our hearts. “The way to our crimes is through the eyes in our mind.” Quintilian said. Vitiis nobis in animum per oculos est via Wherefore, “if thine eye offend thee, pull it out.” In Barbary, it is death for any man to see one of the Shereefs concubines; and for them too, if when they see a man, though but through a casement, they do not suddenly screech out. b
She took of the fruit thereof.
And gave it also to her husband.
a Ovid.
b Heyl. Geog. , p.]96.
c Porrexit pomum et surripuit paradisum. – Bern.
d Yates’s Model.
e Paraeus. Cartw. Catech.
f D ; Jas 1:14
g D
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
good for food. See 1Jn 2:16, “Lust of the flesh”. Compare Mat 4:3.
pleasant to the eyes. See 1Jn 2:16, “Lust of the eyes”. Compare Mat 4:5.
make one wise. See 1Jn 2:16, “Boastful of life”. Compare Mat 4:8.
gave. See 1Ti 2:14.
with her. Therefore Adam present. Compare “Ye”, verses: Gen 3:4, Gen 3:5.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
saw: Jos 7:21, Jdg 16:1, Jdg 16:2
pleasant: Heb. a desire, Eze 24:16, Eze 24:21, Eze 24:25
to the eyes: Gen 6:2, Gen 39:7, Jos 7:21, 2Sa 11:2, Job 31:1, Mat 5:28, 1Jo 2:16
and did: 1Ti 2:14
and he did eat: Gen 3:12, Gen 3:17, Hos 6:7, *marg. Rom 5:12-19
Reciprocal: Gen 12:14 – beheld Gen 13:10 – and beheld Gen 38:2 – saw Exo 20:17 – thy neighbour’s house Jdg 14:17 – she lay 1Ki 13:19 – General 1Ki 21:2 – Give me 1Ki 21:5 – Jezebel Job 2:9 – his wife Job 20:12 – wickedness Job 33:20 – dainty meat Pro 9:17 – Stolen Pro 19:3 – foolishness Pro 20:17 – is sweet Ecc 2:10 – whatsoever Ecc 7:16 – neither Ecc 7:29 – they Ecc 11:9 – in the sight Jer 44:19 – without Eze 23:16 – as soon as she saw them with her eyes Mar 9:47 – thine Rom 5:16 – for the Rom 5:17 – For if Rom 7:7 – Thou shalt 1Co 15:22 – in Adam Col 2:23 – a show Jam 1:15 – when
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 3:6. When the woman saw, (or perceived) But how? Certainly by believing Satan and disbelieving God. Here we see what her parley with the tempter ended in; Satan, at length, gains his point; God permitting it for wise and holy ends. And he gains it: 1st, By injecting unbelief respecting the divine declaration. 2d, By the lust of the flesh: she saw that the tree was good for food, agreeable to the taste, and nutritive. 3d, By the lust of the eye, that it was pleasant to the eye. 4th, By the pride of life, a tree not only not to be dreaded, but to be desired to make one wise. In a similar way Satan still tempts, and too often prevails: by unbelief and their own lusts, men, being tempted and drawn away (, drawn out of God, Jas 1:14) from his fear and love, and obedience to his will, are enticed, insnared, and overcome.
She gave also to her husband with her It is likely he was not with her when she was tempted; surely if he had been, he would have interposed to prevent the sin; but he came to her when she had eaten, and was prevailed with, by her, to eat likewise. She gave it to him; persuading him with the same arguments that the serpent had used with her; adding this, probably, to the rest, that she herself had eaten of it, and found it so far from being deadly, that it was extremely pleasant and grateful. And he did eat This implied unbelief of Gods word, and confidence in the devils; discontent with his present state and an ambition of the honour which comes not from God. His sin was disobedience, as St. Paul terms it, Rom 5:19, and that to a plain, easy, and express command, which he knew to be a command of trial. He sins against light and love, the clearest light and the dearest love that ever sinner sinned against. But the greatest aggravation of his sin was, that by it he involved all his posterity in sin and ruin. He could not but know that he stood as a public person, and that his disobedience would be fatal to all his seed; and if so, it was certainly both the greatest treachery and the greatest cruelty that ever was.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he {f} did eat.
(f) Not so much to please his wife, as moved by ambition at her persuasion.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Fall 3:6-8
In this section the relationship that God had established with man, which is the focus of the creation story, is broken. We can gain great insight into human nature from this story. Adam and Eve’s behavior as recorded here has been repeated by every one of their descendants.
"It is hardly too much to say that this chapter is the pivot of the Bible . . . . With the exception of the fact of Creation, we have here the record of the most important and far-reaching event in the world’s history-the entrance of sin." [Note: Thomas, p. 46.]
". . . Genesis does not explain the origins of evil; rather, the biblical account, if anything, says where evil does not have its source. Evil was not inherent in man nor can it be said that sin was the consequence of divine entrapment. The tempter stands outside the human pair and stands opposed to God’s word." [Note: Mathews, p. 226.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Having succumbed to temptation Eve disobeyed God’s will. Whereas the serpent initiated the first two steps, he let Eve’s natural desires (her flesh) carry her into his trap.
All three avenues of fleshly temptation are present in Gen 3:6.
1. She saw that the tree was "good for food" (the lust of the flesh: the desire to do something contrary to God’s will, i.e., eat the tasty fruit).
2. It was a "delight to the eyes" (the lust of the eyes: the desire to have something apart from God’s will, i.e., possess the beautiful fruit).
3. It was "desirable to make one wise" (the pride of life: the desire to be something apart from God’s will, i.e., as wise as God, or gods). It was the quest for wisdom that led Eve to disobey God. [Note: Sailhamer, "Genesis," p. 51.]
Eve saw, coveted, and took the fruit (cf. Jos 7:21; 2Sa 11:2-4). We perceive, then lust, then act.
"We have already noted . . . how the scenes themselves are arranged in a concentric palistrophic pattern (ABCDCBA). Within this central scene, the same device is used; the midpoint ’and he ate’ employs the key verb of this tale-’eat.’ On either side we have the woman’s hopes of eating, ’good to eat,’ ’delight to the eyes,’ ’giving insight,’ balanced by its effects, ’eyes opened,’ ’knowing they were nude,’ ’hiding in the trees.’ These contrasts are deliberately drawn." [Note: Wenham, p. 75.]
"The proposition that an adult can gaze at anything is ludicrous and naive, for gazing is too often followed by desiring and sinning." [Note: Davis, p. 90. Cf. 9:20-27.]
In view of Jesus’ statement that a lustful look is as sinful as an overt act of sin (Mat 5:27-28), did Eve commit the first sin when she desired the forbidden fruit? Sinful desires are sinful, but temptations are not sins until we respond by giving in to them. Eve did this when she ate the fruit. Until she did that, she was only experiencing temptation.
"Here is the essence of covetousness. It is the attitude that says I need something I do not now have in order to be happy." [Note: Hamilton, p. 190.]
"What Adam and Eve sought from the tree of knowledge was not philosophical or scientific knowledge desired by the Greeks, but practical knowledge that would give them blessing and fulfillment." [Note: K. Armstrong, In the Beginning, p. 27.]
Ignorance or disregard of God’s word makes one very vulnerable to temptation (Psa 119:11). These conditions produce distrust, dissatisfaction, and finally disobedience. Failure to appreciate God’s goodness leads to distrust of His goodness. God’s prohibitions as well as His provisions are for our good.
"The root of sin should be understood. The foundation of all sin lies in man’s desire of self-assertion and his determination to be independent of God. Adam and Eve chafed under the restriction laid upon them by the command of God, and it was in opposition to this that they asserted themselves, and thereby fell. Man does not like to be dependent upon another, and subject to commands upon another, and subject to commands from without. He desires to go his own way, to be his own master; and as a consequence he sins, and becomes ’lord of himself, that heritage of woe.’" [Note: Thomas, p. 49. Cf. Waltke, Genesis, p. 103.]
God has always asked people to believe and trust His word that His will for us will result in our blessing. However, Satan has always urged us to have experiences that will convince us that we can obtain even greater blessings. He says, "Try it; you’ll like it!" But God says, "Trust me, and you’ll live." Satan’s appeal to get us to experience something to assure ourselves of its goodness directly contradicts God’s will for us. It is the way of sight rather than the way of faith.
Adam chose to obey his wife rather than God (cf. Gen 3:17).