Bible'N Me

The Fall of Humanity

• Devin Birdsong • Episode 10

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SPEAKER_01

All right, here we are again. It's Genesis chapter three. We're starting on uh Genesis three, verse number one. This is the entire plot conflict of the Bible. That's where it's introduced right here. Chapter two, we ended up with the man and the woman having everything they need to spread God's goodness and multiply his blessing to out to the rest of the earth. There's a lot of dry land that's left to inhabit. They have a meeting place with God in the garden where they can come on a regular basis and find renewal and rest and have true unhindered fellowship with God. They have unhindered fellowship with one another. And if only we were able to stop at the end of chapter two and be able to tell a different story. But part of what it meant for God to create man in his own image is to give man the ability to reason. We may have talked about this on a previous episode, but there's also something to be said about man being able to choose to suppress his own appetites. Humans are the only ones that's able to be hungry and not eat. As far as the land creatures go, if they're hungry, they eat. They don't walk up to a mill and say, I'm not going to eat today. Same thing goes to be able to multiply. Animals, when it's time to mate, they mate. But humans have the ability to refrain that part of their appetite. And so God gave an appetite for food to man, but he also, in part of what they could or had the potential to consume, he put a prohibition on this one tree. To get the knowledge of good and evil, you don't get that by consuming something with your own hands. You can't choose that. You have to trust God with it. Now there is, there is this way around that, but if you do that, there's something, some huge consequences attached to that. So that's what's set up here in chapter number three, exactly what happens. So we're going to start verse number one, and I'm going to read down through verse number seven. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, 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 both of them were open, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. All right, let's start back with number one. What hit you immediately?

SPEAKER_02

I mean, just I think the obvious odd thing here is a creature speaking. A talking snake.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, completely. I don't have the details in front of me, but I'm not exactly sure that Israel would have thought of this as being odd. It's completely odd to you and I because we don't have talking animals. So we're going, you just mentioned that a talking snake is the first obvious thing that's out of place. So a lot of people don't stop and think about the implications of that. Like it, we've heard this story all of our life, and it should um give us pause for sure. Like, what is that all about? So that seems out of place, but then I notice that the word more subtle is used. In the uh Old Testament, this word is used, I think, maybe um a handful of times, maybe like 10 or 11 times. And it's pretty amazing how this the biblical authors use this word, it has neither a negative or positive connotation in and of itself. So in Job, the word is used as crafty, which in our context is what? That would probably have sneaky. Yeah, it would have a negative connotation. Negative connotation for sure. Yeah, it would. So, right here, when it says that the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, it's as if God gifted this creature with this gift that's above the rest of the creatures of the field or the beast of the field, and says, I'm gonna give it to you, and you use it, however, either to the good or to the bad. He ties his subtlety to this creature right here.

SPEAKER_02

Would wisdom be a word that would work there?

SPEAKER_01

It could turn into that, I think.

SPEAKER_02

Instead of prudent, they he would have some wisdom.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, he seems to be more uh wise in a negative sense. Maybe that's just because it's attached to how it all worked out. But in my mind, to be more subtle, it it always speaks to the negative, but I think that's because we know what's gonna about to happen. It's neither negative or positive in the context of chapter three and verse number one. It's like I'm I'm gonna give you this gift and you can use it to the good or the bad, which is very consistent with the nature of God toward his creation, right? I'm giving you this, like there's gonna be some boundaries, right? But this can either be something that's a great source of joy or a great source of sorrow.

SPEAKER_02

Something that jumps out at me here, and I know there's a lot of details that's left out, yeah, is that she doesn't seem Eve does not seem surprised at all. No, not at all. And just can and just starts on carrying a conversation with talking about it.

SPEAKER_01

And there doesn't seem to be not yeah, not scared. Yeah, there's no exactly there's no fear that's attached to it. No, it doesn't seem like that there's uh uh anything from God's side that that says that you shouldn't do this.

SPEAKER_02

Almost even that she had seen this serpent before. Maybe, maybe even heard him speak before. I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01

Uh, one of the things that stood out to me when I was reading the text was here again, it's saying of the field. So of the field is that where is that? What's that normal boundary line?

SPEAKER_02

Beast of the field would implicate wild, right?

SPEAKER_01

Out in the wild and waste place, out of Eden or out of the garden? Maybe it brings up something different, like in our minds, especially in the Sunday school literature, who was looking at the pictures when it from when it happened.

SPEAKER_02

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_01

Sunday school literature has all this in one place at one time, and I'm not saying yes or no, I'm just saying that really stood out to me when I was reading over that. I was like, of the field, are they outside the boundary of the garden or just in Eden?

SPEAKER_02

Are you saying that were they possibly where they wasn't supposed to be?

SPEAKER_01

Uh no, because there is supposed to be blessing and everything carried out on the outside of Eden.

SPEAKER_02

Did they live outside of the garden?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02

Or have acts they could go back and forth. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. And the garden represents that heaven and earth spot where God and man come together. Right. It's almost like God's saying, spread my goodness out there. And it's almost like they're encountering this maybe outside. I don't know. But they I see that they talk about what is inside the garden.

SPEAKER_02

Because we always assume the serpent is in that tree, wrapped around the tree. That's true. That they're they're standing right there. Once again, my Sunday school literature, who got it right off of the picture as it was taken.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I'm not saying that's either right or wrong. I'm not trying to make something that's not there, but I've wondered where's this conversation taking place? And that doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. No. But look at what happens here. He questions God. The serpent questions God. Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. He's got this gift of subtlety that could either be prudence or craftiness, depending, depending on how he uses it. And he comes with a question, and one slight change is glaring to me. Lord is missing. He wants to alienate the humans from the relational side of God. And if you if you just take the way the narrative works, the only thing that Eve has known about God up until this point is he's Lord God. He's the one we meet all the time, he's the self-existent, all-knowing, all-powerful one. He's the one we talk to. He's not just God Elohim that is just a supreme being. He's a relational being. And the serpent asks, Hath God said? He pulls that Lord off of the title, I feel like, to try to alienate the humans from their relationship with God. And that's just one small change. All she, since she's been in the picture, all she's ever known about Yahweh is the relational part. She's not known him as just God.

SPEAKER_02

I have a hard time wrapping my mind around what the serpent is. Like how it's speaking, how it's not, you know, what you're saying, not saying Lord God, not referring to him as that.

SPEAKER_01

Why wouldn't every part of the creation do that? Why wouldn't the creation do that? Yeah. That those questions aren't answered here.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. And I guess maybe you may have may have said this in some of the early episodes of maybe that's the wrong question. Yeah. Because I've asked that, I've had that question many times in my mind. Why, why was there a serpent that even tried to tempt Eve? Yeah. How did that happen?

SPEAKER_01

And we're not told. At least to this point in the story, we're not told. Right. This is the plot conflict of the whole Bible. And there's such it's really a skeleton story in so many ways. There's so many details that are left out. And here again, you have to go back what Hebrews 11 says, by faith we understand that the worlds were framed. It still takes a step of faith for us to receive these texts as the truth of God's word. It is, and we've already experienced the power behind under, you know, faith and understanding that. It's brought us to tears in this very room many times already. Yeah. But here, what what's not said seems to be some of the things that speak the loudest, huh?

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Look at this question he asked. Yes. Has God said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? So he puts himself in the place of inferiority. He plays dumb. I really don't know about God. Could you inform me about him? Can you can you tell me what his word is? I'm not, I'm not really sure really what's going on. And look at the switch that takes place when he says in verse number four, you shall not surely die. It's exactly the way that every trickster works. Yeah. Playing dumb at first. Tell me a little bit now. Give me the details. I'm not real sure. And then all of a sudden, oh, that ain't the case.

SPEAKER_02

So verse three answers uh what subtle means here. Yes. And this one. It's definitely crafty.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, he's used it in the wrong way completely. Yeah. Which I I don't know how much to mention about this, but there's there's real thought about when the fall happens. Is this a simultaneous fall between the humans and whoever is the behind the serpent figure? And we find out who that is later on in the Bible. Right. It's the accuser, Satan. Right. Is this a simultaneous fall? Here again, I'm not going to answer that question because there's really no way. I'd like to know the answer of that. I would like to know the answer of that as well. But it is something to ponder. Because at least to this point in the scripture, we don't have any background for any of that. Just very sparse details, and then you just find out what you need to know for right now. And then later on in the Bible, this is going to be replayed over and over and over. When he plays dumb and asks about what God's command is, and ask about this one tree. Look at the tree that he's asking her about. Hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. Yeah, we can eat them. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it lest ye die. What's wrong there? What was the command? It was just not to eat it. Yeah. Didn't say anything about touching it. Nothing about touching it. So she adds to that. And the serpent all of a sudden, when he sees that she's added something to the command, he jumps in as the expert all of a sudden and says, You shall not surely die. You're not going to die from that. He plays dumb first and then plays the expert second. No, no, no, no. Here's what's really going on. He acts like he doesn't know what's going on in the beginning. Now he's like, here's what's going on. God knows in the day that you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be open and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. We had a pretty extensive discussion on one of the last episodes of whether man knew good from evil. He did inside of the boundaries of trusting God's word. God has called two things not good and seven things good, and man has to trust him for that knowledge. Yeah, God, you're telling the truth. I'm going to trust you that you're telling the truth. Now God gives this command to follow, and man still has to trust him to find out whether that's really true or not. But in that, he's going to grow in his knowledge of what good and evil is, but it's going to be God deciding if he lets God decide. Does that make sense?

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

There's the potential to grow in that knowledge. Sure. In both ways. But it's going to come through either trusting God or finding that out some other way.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. This may be a way out here, but when she answers and she says that when she changes that command where God's not to eat it, but she said not to touch it, could that possibly be man putting his own commands on things? You know, sometimes we're prone to say, well, God has said this, but we try to figure it out ourselves as well. I mean, I could see maybe if Adam told her, hey, if we eat of that, we'll die. So don't even touch it. That's what I was going to say. To me, I almost see that as a good comment. I almost see that as a good comment.

SPEAKER_01

It looks like it. It looks like, well, they're trying to go the extra mile. If I don't touch it, I can't eat it. But how many times in the Word of God is it said, and it's not just in the book of Revelation, how many times is it said to Israel, if you add one word to what I say or take away one word from what I say, then the consequences is not going to be good. Yeah. I'm going to remove you from the book of life.

SPEAKER_02

Repeated. Yeah. I just see in that you're taking trust in God, just don't eat it. But you're trying to, well, if I just don't touch it as well, you're just kind of putting a little bit in yourself.

SPEAKER_01

A little completely.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Putting trust in your own self just to not, as long as I don't touch it, I'm good. No, don't eat it. Follow God's command.

SPEAKER_01

Man, that's good. Yeah. Because it causes us to reflect on how we do with God. Yeah. Man, isn't that amazing? We're talking about the fall of the first humans, and we see ourselves in that very thing. We we will do that all day long. We'll add to what God says as a safety measure. Maybe or maybe out of a safety measure. But here again, how did she add to this? She did not hear it. No. It was the man that heard it first. The man got the commandment before Eve was separated from him and created out of him.

SPEAKER_02

Could you think that Adam could have taught it wrong?

SPEAKER_01

He's a poor conveyor of the command. So don't add to whatever God says, trust that to be enough. I know of people who want to add to God's word because they don't feel like it goes quite far enough in some areas. Yeah. And we all know people who say it goes way too far. That's way too restrictive. It's all the way back to the original sin. It's adding a little bit, like it seems innocent, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_02

It does.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, that's an extra safety measure. God didn't say anything about touching it. And then also to think about how that the serpent, by what he asked, caused her focus to totally get off of every other thing that God provided, how abundantly giving he was. And out of all the goodness of God, you're going to concentrate on this one thing. Right. Why would you do that? But do you ever feel frustrated like that about yourself when you get in an altar and God's like, this is what my word is. And you concentrate, we concentrate on things that Satan has so got us to focus on.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, that's and to make you feel like you're missing out. Yeah. That God has withheld something good. Yeah. And he comes at it so subtly. And then we convince ourselves, we can't deny the good that we've experienced with God or that we have. Yeah. But it's almost like we convince ourselves if I could just get this one more thing, then I would be happy. Is that almost what is going on here? Completely. Like, yo, oh yes, you have all the garden you can eat of all the trees, but this one last tree, if you could just have that one thing that God's withheld from you, then you'll have the ultimate. But he totally denies the consequence of that and gets her to Yeah, totally. And well, the thing is, yeah, because she said it, lest we die, she knows the consequence. Yeah. But he leaves he leaves that out and pretty much says, Well, it's just because he knows you'll be like God'll be as God. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, he's not going to tell you the whole truth. Yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_02

That's one thing I think is so amazing. God explicitly said that you will die.

SPEAKER_01

And Satan always takes the concentration off of death. Yeah. The end result, the wages of sin is death, and that's what no one thinks about when they're sinning. No, you're right. Don't think about that. We're not going to talk about the payday.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_01

Like the end result, what actually pays off in the end?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Death. Right. Mm-mm. We're not going to think he he does that every time. So he is taking this. If you want to say subtlety is God's extra gift toward whatever this creature is, and he has taken it and turned it the wrong way. He's used it for the worst purpose. Yeah. You shall not surely die, he says. For God doth know. Here again, it's not the Lord God, for God doth know that in the day that ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be open, and ye shall be as gods. You're going to be something different than you already are. You're made to image God the Creator. You're made with the ability to reason. You're made with the ability to suppress your appetite. And in the day that you do that, you're going to be like him. No, he was trying to get her to be like something that she already was to a degree. I'm not saying that she was she wasn't eternal or whatever, but he's saying you can be like God, you can be like your creator. And is sin and the desire for sin not the same thing? It's like I want to be the one to decide. Let me be the one in power. Let me be the one in control. You're going to have the control now. But he said, you're going to be as gods, knowing good and evil. Uh something that uh we covered on an episode of the other podcast when I met with the pastors that time, I think it was uh brother John Brock that said they weren't prepared to be able to take in both good and evil without measure. You've been experiencing all the good.

SPEAKER_02

All the good.

SPEAKER_01

But evil's not came without measure, and you're not going to be able to, you're not going to be able to harness that. In essence, that's what he was saying. So when they take of something that God says not to take, there's there's no way to hold back all the evil that comes behind that. Pretty pretty heavy. So verse number six, 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. Anything stand out to you there?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, something stands out to me as of Adam being with her. I've always looked at it that she was alone. She was alone. Yeah. The serpent came to her alone. She was weak.

SPEAKER_01

A prime example of not ignoring a little phrase that gives you a big idea.

SPEAKER_02

And in fact, I just seen that this morning before we came, before we recorded, just reading through this. Yeah. It kind of was with her the whole time.

SPEAKER_01

So back to something that I've talked about before. And we're going to spend, I'm going to spend a couple episodes on this fall narrative. So we're about out of time for today. But I want us to think about this. This is a prime example of something that's set up here. Again, it's not explicit, it's implicit. The silence of men when it comes to the commandment of God is something that's going to be repeated over and over in the Old Testament. Men's silence, when they're supposed to speak up for their families, is going to become a deal for Israel. I mean, it is a deal for Israel. This nation's getting this at the time that they're getting the law, more than likely. And their father, Jacob, who became Israel, was silent when it came to a matter in his family that was of the greatest importance. His daughter was being abused, and he was silent about it. That becomes a deal in the Old Testament. As a matter of fact, in the uh Levitical law, there's there's a whole portion of the law that talks about uh men not being silent when it comes to to do with their wives and their daughters. So this is a pattern that's set up. Adam was there the whole time, and he never spoke up and said, Hang on just a minute. Is that what God's commandment was? Because I'm the one that got that. Yeah. He was just silent. He let it go on. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_02

It is. There's another conviction at the end of setting idly by when you do see something in your family or in your in your home. You see something that does not line up with God's commandments, and you turn a blind eye and think that's just what they want to do. They'll grow out of it, or um, maybe some somebody else will preach to them or teach to them. No, it's not. It is it's your responsibility to stop that. Yeah, yes, amen. At the very beginning.

SPEAKER_01

We're gonna revisit this in the next episode, but I wanted to finish here by what we talked about in verse number seven, or what we read down to verse number seven. When the pattern of sin starts here in verse number six and verse number seven, the result of that was the eyes of both of them were now opened. They knew that they were naked, they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. The first thing that they did that changed in their relationship was they covered themselves from each other. So their relationship between the two of them changed in that they no longer could be or even desired to be vulnerable with one another. It's like we've got to do something to cover up. So they lost everything that God had intended in chapter number two, verse number 25. This vulnerability, the first thing that changed was their relationship with each other. Now they're hiding from each other, and it's gonna result in hiding from God.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. All of a sudden, the the innocence that was in chap in verse 25 of chapter two, and that open communication between the two of them, all of a sudden now it's it's shame.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So I got a question for you guys. How do you feel after reading this text? Because I can see on your account that's a difference. How do you feel after reading these first seven verses of chapter number three? And I know it's not men don't often talk about their feelings. I don't mind to share what I feel. I feel dirty. I feel I feel ashamed myself. I mean, we ended chapter number two, and it's like it's just the greatest thing in the world. Perfect peace. Yeah. Look at what God gave, look at the gift, look. There's there's some strings attached, there's a prohibition on one tree, but the potential for goodness and greatness on the dry land is there. And then all of a sudden, chapter three, verse one through seven, it's like, I don't, this is not a place I want to be. Isn't it amazing just reading those verses? What a difference in your feeling, and it hits you at the heart.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Like as I said, men are not emotionally different creatures, but I feel an emotional response to what's going on here. I mean, I'm frustrated at Adam, I'm frustrated at the snake, I'm frustrated, but really she's kind of far down on the list at Eve. It it seems like she's almost a victim. Yeah. In some regards. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

It was Adam's fall. Yeah. One thing I mentioned the word vulnerable in the last episode towards the end of the chapter, but I was looking it up because it didn't feel right at the time in my mind. But to be to be vulnerable is you you are opening yourself up for harm. So previously that vulnerability was not for harm. That was not for harm. Yeah. So the way I the way we would advance. That's the negative context. You're allowing yourself to be possibly, it may not always happen, but if you truly open yourself up, you know, when they without clothes, they were truly open their soul. But they what there was no worry of being harm. It wasn't just complete trust. Complete, it wasn't that they were being vulnerable. They were just being completely trusting. Trusting. Is that a word for that context? That's what I could I can't find. I can't find what word would fit that.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But then that's why they covered up because then they truly felt vulnerable, vulnerable. Yes. We are opening ourselves up for attack and for shame. I can't trust you now. Right.

unknown

Wow.

SPEAKER_02

Right. So yeah, that I don't think that word applies in chapter two.

SPEAKER_01

I agree with that. Yeah. Because our our uh connotation of vulnerability all it has that negative context always attached to it. That's very good. It's good discussion. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Um, this narrow road I've been traveling, and it gives me a purpose for my life. Jesus is my treasure. He's the reason that I'm still living. He's gonna be my reason. When I die, he's gonna be my reason. When I die.