Adam and Eve are tempted by the serpent to eat the fruit of the tree of good and evil, and by their actions show that they do not want to be God’s people, they distance themselves and hide from God’s presence and as a result, God’s punishment for them is not death, but rather a banishment from God’s place.
No more shalom.
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’ He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’ And he said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?’ The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’ Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The snake deceived me, and I ate.’ - Genesis 3:8 - 13
It’s very important to realise the gravity of this situation. If you’re anything like me, you can gloss over this chapter, or even think that God is over-reacting. Genesis 3 shows the consequences of breaking shalom – a fracture of everything. What is God’s reaction to such a catastrophe? Judgment and mercy.
The Serpent
So the Lord God said to the snake, ‘Because you have done this,
‘Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.’ - Genesis 3:14 - 15
God’s judgment is most severe for the serpent. Whilst Adam and Eve will have punishments laced with a long thread of hope, the serpent is cursed without mercy. One day, the Enemy of humankind will be crushed by the offspring of a woman, but only after he bites the foot that crushes his head.
God’s People
Now God has to deal with us. This isn’t about an apple, this is about a rejection of God’s authority over the earth that he entrusted to our care. We, like Adam and Eve know that God has said x, but we want to do y. The results are devastating.
Why do some people of one colour think that people of another colour are uglier?
Why do some people of one gender think that people of another gender are weaker?
Why do some people of one age think that people of another age are an inconvenience because they don’t contribute to the bottom line? The Bible’s answer is simple. We forget that we are god-crafted image-bearing creatures that belong in community with other god-crafted image-bearers.
This is the why behind all the tears, funerals, cancer diagnoses, natural disasters, wars, poverty, heartbreaks and strife.
Why does global warming, unregulated deforestation and mass pollution happen? We forget that earth is our god-crafted place, and we are its god-appointed stewards.
This is the why behind all the tears, funerals, cancer diagnoses, natural disasters, wars, poverty, heartbreaks and strife. We forget that we are beloved creatures made by God for God, each other, and for God’s creation.
This is the deepest wound of humanity.
Us without God.
Us without each other.
Us without a place.
No more shalom.
Sin.
‘The Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing to and fro to guard the way to the tree of life.’ - Genesis 3:23 - 24
Is that it? Two chapters and we’re done? Kicked out with no hope of ever returning? No forgiveness? No mercy?
Thankfully, no.
To the woman he said, ‘I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labour you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.’ To Adam he said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, “You must not eat from it,” ‘Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.’ - Genesis 3:16 - 19
The blessing that God gives to humans are reversed in a world of sin. Adam no longer rules the Adamah; work becomes toil. Eve means the mother of the living. In a world of sin, she is cursed with pain as she gives birth to life. The greatest tragedy that befalls us all is death. We who were crafted out of the dust of the earth, in loving union with our creator, will return as dust to the earth, separated from God.
Outside God’s place.
Without God’s presence.
Our choice.
That’s where our experience of being a human begins.
