Yahweh God said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Parallel Translations
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Yahweh God said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
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And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
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And the LORD God said unto the woman: 'What is this thou hast done?' And the woman said: 'The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.'
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to Genesis 3:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Corinthians 11:3 But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
- 1 Timothy 2:14 Adam wasn’t deceived, but the woman, being deceived, has fallen into disobedience;
- Genesis 3:4-6 The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t really die, for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate. Then she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too.
- Genesis 4:10-12 Yahweh said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground. Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. From now on, when you till the ground, it won’t yield its strength to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth.”
- John 18:35 Pilate answered, “I’m not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done?”
- 2 Samuel 12:9-12 Why have you despised Yahweh’s word, to do that which is evil in his sight? You have struck Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised me, and have taken Uriah the Hittite’s wife to be your wife.’ “This is what Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did this secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’ ”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 13. And the Lord God said unto the woman.…
13. And the Lord God said unto the woman. God contends no further with the man, nor was it necessary; for he aggravates rather than diminishes his crime, first by a frivolous defense, then by an impious disparagement of God, in short, though he rages he is yet held convicted. The Judge now turns to the woman, that the cause of both being heard, he may at length pronounce sentence. The old interpreter thus renders God’s address: ‘Why hast thou done this?’ But the Hebrew phrase has more vehemence; for it is the language of one who wonders as at something prodigious. It ought therefore rather to be rendered, ‘How hast thou done this?’ as if he had said, ‘How was it possible that thou shouldst bring thy mind to be so perverse a counsellor to thy husband?’
The serpent beguiled me. Eve ought to have been confounded at the portentous wickedness concerning which she was admonished. Yet she is not struck dumb, but, after the example of her husband, transfers the charge to another; by laying the blame on the serpent, she foolishly, indeed, and impiously, thinks herself absolved. For her answer comes at length to this: ‘I received from the serpent what thou hadst forbidden; the serpent, therefore, was the impostor.’ But who compelled Eve to listen to his fallacies, and even to place confidence in them more readily than in the word of God? Lastly, how did she admit them, but by throwing open and betraying that door of access which God had sufficiently fortified? But the fruit of original sin everywhere presents itself; being blind in its own hypocrisy, it would gladly render God mute and speechless. And whence arise daily so many murmurs, but because God does not hold his peace whenever we choose to blind ourselves?
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Instead of confessing her sin, she increaseth it by…
Instead of confessing her sin, she increaseth it by accusing the serpent.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 3:13 And the LORD God said unto the…
Gen 3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What [is] this [that] thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Ver. 13. And the woman said, The serpent.] Thus the flesh never wants excuses; nature need not be taught to tell her own tale. Sin and shifting came into the world together; never yet any came to hell, but had some pretence for coming there. It is a very coarse wool that will take no dye. Sin and Satan are alike in this; they cannot abide to appear in their own colour. Men wrap themselves in excuses, as they do their hands, to defend them from pricks. This is still the vile poison of our hearts; that they will needs be naught; and yet will not yield but that there is reason to be mad, and great sense in sinning.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain How heinous a crime hast thou committed! What a…
How heinous a crime hast thou committed! What a world of mischief hast thou by this one act brought upon thyself and all thy posterity? Or, why hast thou done this? What causes or motives couldst thou have for so wicked an action? What need hadst thou of meddling with this forbidden fruit, when I had given thee so large and liberal an allowance?
And the woman said, The serpent, a creature which thou hast made, and that assisted by a higher power, by an evil angel, for such I now perceive by sad experience there are,
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beguiled me, a weak and foolish woman, whose seduction calls for thy pity, not thine anger;
and I did eat, being surprised and over-persuaded against my own judgment and resolution.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And the Lord God said unto the woman,.... Who…
And the Lord God said unto the woman,.... Who was first in the transgression, and drew her husband into it, and upon whom he seemingly casts the blame of his eating the forbidden fruit:
what is this that thou hast done? dost thou know how great an offence thou hast committed in breaking a command of mine, and how aggravated it is when thou hadst leave to eat of every other tree? what could move thee to do this? by what means hast thou been brought into it, and not only hast done it thyself, but drawn thine husband into it, to the ruin of you both, and of all your posterity? so heinous is the sin thou hast been guilty of:
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and the woman said, the serpent beguiled me, and I did eat; that is, a spirit in the serpent, which she took for a good one, but proved a bad one, with lying words and deceitful language imposed upon her, told her that the fruit forbidden was very good food, and very useful to improve knowledge; even to such a degree as to make men like God; and this God knew, and therefore out of envy and ill will to them forbid the eating of it; nor need they fear his menaces, for they might depend upon it they should never die; and thus he caused her to err from the truth, and to believe a lie; and by giving heed to the seducing spirit she was prevailed upon to eat of the fruit of the tree, which was forbidden, and which she owns; and it is an ingenuous confession that she makes as to the matter of fact; but yet, like her husband, and as learning it from him, she endeavours to shift off the blame from herself, and lay it on the serpent.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain What is this that thou hast done? - Wilt…
What is this that thou hast done? - Wilt thou own thy fault? Neither of them does this fully. Adam lays all the blame upon his wife: She gave me of the tree - Nay, he not only lays the blame upon his wife, but tacitly on God himself. The woman thou gavest me, and gavest to be with me as my companion, she gave me of the tree. Eve lays all the blame upon the serpent; the serpent beguiled me. The prisoners being found guilty by their own confession, besides the infallible knowledge of the Judge, and nothing material being offered in arrest of judgment, God immediately proceeds to pass sentence, and in these verses he begins (where the sin began) with the serpent. God did not examine the serpent, nor ask him what he had done, but immediately sentenced him, (1.) Because he was already convicted of rebellion against God. (2.) Because he was to be forever excluded from pardon; and why should any thing be said to convince and humble him, who was to find no place for repentance?
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Gen 3:13. What is this thou hast done? —…
Gen 3:13. What is this thou hast done? — Wilt thou own thy fault? Neither of them does this fully. Adam lays all the blame on his wife; nay, tacitly, on God. The woman whom thou gavest to be with me as my companion, she gave me of the tree. Eve lays all the blame on the serpent. The serpent beguiled me.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain The serpent, which thou hast made so cunning, and…
The serpent, which thou hast made so cunning, and placed with us, deceived me. God deigns not to answer their frivolous excuses. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain beguiled--cajoled by flattering lies. This sin of the first…
beguiled--cajoled by flattering lies. This sin of the first pair was heinous and aggravated--it was not simply eating an apple, but a love of self, dishonor to God, ingratitude to a benefactor, disobedience to the best of Masters--a preference of the creature to the Creator.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 13. The serpent beguiled me — The woman also,…
13. The serpent beguiled me — The woman also, in her turn, throws the blame of her offence upon another. The serpent, she pleads, had imposed upon her by deception.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 13. The serpent beguiled me] The woman, in answer…
13. The serpent beguiled me] The woman, in answer to the direct and piercing question, lays the blame upon the serpent. For the word “beguiled,” cf. 2Co_11:3. See St Paul’s use of the passage in 1Ti_2:14.
The serpent is not interrogated. Perhaps, as some suggest, because “being an animal it is not morally responsible: but it is punished here as the representative of evil thoughts and suggestions” (Driver). Others have surmised that, as some features of the story have disappeared in the condensed version that has come down to us, the question put to the serpent and his answers may have seemed less suitable for preservation.
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The interrogation is over: it has been admitted, (1) that the man and the woman had eaten the fruit: (2) that the woman had given it the man: (3) that the serpent had beguiled her. The evil has been traced back from the man to the woman, from the woman to the serpent: there is no enquiry into the origin of the evil. Judgement is now delivered in the reverse order, beginning with the serpent, and concluding with the man on whom the chief responsibility rests; for he had enjoyed direct converse with the Lord, and had received the charge of the garden.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And the Lord said unto the woman without noticing…
And the Lord said unto the woman without noticing the excuses, but simply accepting the admission, and passing on, "following up the transgression, even to the root not the psychological merely, but the historical (Lange): What is this that thou hast done? Or, Why hast thou done this?" (LXX, Vulgate, Luther, De Wette). "But the Hebrew phrase has more vehemence; it is the language of one who wonders as at something prodigious, and ought rather to be rendered, " How hast thou done this? (Calvin). And the woman said (following the example of her guilty, husband, omitting any notice of her sin in tempting Adam, and transferring the blame of her own disobedience to the reptile), The serpent beguiled me. Literally, caused me to forget, hence beguiled, from hvn to forget a thing, (Lam_3:17) or person; (Jer_23:39; Stanley Loathes, "Gram.," App. 197) or, caused me to go astray, from av; n; (unused in Kal), kindred to hv; k; perhaps to err, to go astray (Gesenius, Furst); hjpathse (LXX), ejxapathsen. (2Co_11:3) And I did eat. "A forced confession, but no appearance of contrition. "It"s true I did eat, but it was not my fault (Hughes).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain What is this that thou hast done?
Gen_3:13-21
What is this that thou hast done?
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--
The general results of the Fall
I. ETERNAL ENMITY BETWEEN SATAN AND HUMANITY (Gen_3:14).
1. This curse was uttered in reference to Satan.
2. This address is different from that made to Adam and Eve.
3. There was to commence a severe enmity and conflict between Satan and the human race.
(1) This enmity has existed from the early ages of the worlds history.
(2) This enmity is seeking the destruction of the higher interests of man.
(3) This enmity is inspired by the most diabolical passion.
(4) This enmity, while it will inflict injury, is subject to the ultimate conquest of man.
II. THE SORROW AND SUBJECTION OF FEMALE LIFE.
1. The sorrow of woman consequent upon the Fall.
2. The subjection of woman consequent upon the Fall.
3. The subjection of woman consequent upon the Fall gives no countenance to the degrading manner in which she is treated in heathen countries.
III. THE ANXIOUS TOIL OF MAN, AND THE COMPARATIVE UNPRODUCTIVENESS OF HIS LABOUR.
1. The anxious and painful toil of man consequent upon the Fall.
2. The comparative unproductiveness of the soil consequent upon the Fall.
3. The sad departure of man from the earth by death consequent upon the Fall.
IV. THE GRAND AND MERCIFUL INTERPOSITION OF JESUS CHRIST WAS RENDERED NECESSARY BY THE FALL. Lessons:
1. The terrible influences of sin upon an individual life.
2. The influences of sin upon the great communities of the world.
3. The severe devastation of sin.
4. The love of God the great healing influence of the worlds sorrow.
5. How benignantly God blends hope with penalty. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
The first sin
I. THE RECORD BEFORE US IS THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST SIN. It needed no revelation to tell us that sin is, that mankind is sinful. Without, within, around, and inside us, is the fact, the experience, the evidence, the presence of sin. It is sin which makes life troublous and gives death its sting. The revelation of the Fall tells of an entrance, of an inburst of evil into a world all good, into a being created upright--tells, therefore, of a nature capable of purity, of an enemy that may be expelled, and of a holiness possible because natural. From mans fall we infer a fall earlier yet and more mysterious. Once sin was not; and when it entered mans world it entered under an influence independent, not inherent.
II. THE FIRST SIN IS ALSO THE SPECIMEN SIN. It is in this sense, too, the original sin, that all other sins are copies of it. Unbelief first, then disobedience; then corruption, then self-excusing; then the curse and the expulsion. Turn the page, and you shall find a murder!
III. THE ORIGINAL SIN IS ALSO THE INFECTIOUS SIN. Not one man of all the progeny of Adam has drawn his first breath or his latest in an atmosphere pure and salubrious. Before, behind, around, and above there has been the heritage of weakness, the presence and pressure of an influence in large part evil. Fallen sons of a fallen forefather, God must send down His hand from above if we are to be rescued ever out of these deep, these turbid waters. (Dean Vaughan.)
The moral and renal results of the Fall
I. ITS MORAL RESULTS.
1. Separation from nature (Gen_3:7). Things naturally innocent and pure become tainted by sin. The worst misery a man can bring on himself by sin is that those things which to pure minds bring nothing but enjoyment are turned for him into fuel for evil lusts and passions, and light the flames of hell within his soul.
2. Separation from God (Gen_3:8). Let the sceptic enjoy his merriment. To us there is something most touching in the statement that to our first parents in the most hallowed hour of the whole day the voice of God seemed like the thundering of the Divine anger. A child might interpret that rightly to himself. When he has done wrong he is afraid, he dares not hear a sound; a common noise, in the trembling insecurity in which he lives, seems to him Gods voice of thunder. To the apostles the earthquake at Philippi was a promise of release from prison; to the sinful jailer, a thing of judgment and wrath--Sirs, what shall I do to be saved?
3. Selfishness (Gen_3:12-13). The culprits are occupied entirely with their own hearts; each denies the guilt which belongs to each; each throws the blame upon the other. The agriculturist distinguishes between two sorts of roots--those which go deep down into the ground without dividing, and those which divide off into endless fibrils and shoots. Selfishness is like the latter kind; it is the great root of sin from which others branch out--falsehood, cowardice, etc.
II. THE PENAL CONSEQUENCES.
1. Those inflicted on the man.
(1) The ground was cursed for his sake (Gen_3:18-19).
(2) Death.
2. Those inflicted on the woman. In sorrow she was to bring forth children, and her desire was to be to her husband, and he was to rule over her. This penalty of suffering for others, which is the very triumph of the Cross, know we not its blessing? Know we not that in proportion as we suffer for one another we love that other; that in proportion as the mother suffers for her child, she is repaid by that love? Know we not that that subjection which man calls curtailment of liberty is in fact a granting of liberty, of that gospel liberty which is born of obedience to a rule which men venerate and love? (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Lessons of the Fall
1. It is profoundly significant that this narrative traces the first sin to an external tempter. Evil does not spring spontaneously in the unfallen heart. Sin is not, as some would have it, a necessary step in mans development, nor does it spring from his own nature; it is an importation.
2. Whatever more may be taught by the serpent form of the tempter, we may safely regard it as a kind of parable of the nature of evil. The reptile is a symbol both of temptation and of sin. Its colours, sometimes brilliant, but always weird; its lithe, insinuating motions; its slimy track, its sudden spring; its sting so slender, and leaving so minute a puncture, but so deadly; its poison, which kills, not by hideous laceration, as in a lions rending, but by passing the fatal drop into the very life blood--all these points have their parallels in the sinuous approaches, the horrid fascinations, the unnoticed wounds, and the fatal poison of sin. If we turn to the story, we find that it falls into three parts.
I. THE SUBTLE APPROACHES OF TEMPTATION. Notice that we have here, however, a picture of the way in which a pure nature was led away. The way taken with one which has already fallen may be much shorter. There is no need for elaborate and gradual approaches then, but it is often enough to show the bait, and the sinful heart dashes at it. Here more caution has to be used.
1. First comes an apparently innocent question, Is it so that God has said, Ye shall not eat? The tempter might as well have asked whether the sun shone at midday. To cloud the clear light of duty with the mists of doubt is the beginning of falling. A sin which springs with a rush and a roar is less dangerous than one which slides in scarcely noticed. When the restrictions of law begin to look harsh, and we begin to ask ourselves, Is it really the case that we are debarred from all these things over the hedge there? the wedge has been driven a good way in. Beware of tampering with the plain restrictions of recognized duty, and of thinking that doubt may be admissible as to them.
2. The next speech of the tempter dares more. Questioning gives place to assertion. There is a fiat lie, which the tempter knows to be a lie, to begin with. There is a truth in the statement that their eyes will be opened to know good and evil, though the knowledge will not be, as he would have Eve believe, a blessing, but a misery. So his very truth is more a lie than a truth. And there is a third lie, worse than all, in painting the perfect love of God, which delights most in making men like Himself, as grudging them a joy, and keeping it for Himself. In all these points we have here a picture of sins approaches to the yielding will. Strange that tricks so old, and so often found out, should yet have power to deceive us to our ruin. But so it is, and thousands of young men and women today are listening to these old threadbare lies as if they were glorious new truths, fit to be the pole stars of life!
II. THE FATAL DEED. The overwhelming rush of appetite, which blinds to every consideration but present gratification of the senses, is wonderfully set forth in the brief narrative of the sin. The motives are put at full length. The tree was good for food; that is one sense satisfied. It was pleasant to the eyes; that is another. If we retain the translation of the Authorized and Revised Versions, it was to be desired to make one wise; that appealed to a more subtle wish. But the confluent of all these streams made such a current as swept the feeble will clean away; and blind, dazed, deafened by the rush of the stream, Eve was carried over the falls, as a man might be over Niagara. This is the terrible experience of everyone who has yielded to temptation. For a moment all consequences are forgotten, all obligations silenced, every restraint snapped like rotten ropes. No matter what God has said, no matter what mischief will come, no matter for conscience or reason; let them all go! The tyrannous craving which has got astride of the man urges him on blindly. All it cares for is its own satisfaction. What of remorse or misery may come after are nothing to it.
III. THE TRAGIC CONSEQUENCES. These are two fold:
(1) The appointment of toil as the law of life;
(2) the sentence of physical death.
1. The change on the physical world which followed on mans sin is a distinct doctrine of both Old and New Testaments, and is closely connected with the prophecies of the future in both. Here it comes into view only as involving the necessity of a life of toilsome conflict with the sterile and weed-bearing soil. The simple life of the husbandman alone is contemplated here, but the law laid down is wide as the world.
2. The sentence of death is repeated in unambiguous terms. Physical death, and nothing else, is meant by the words. Observe the significant silence as to what is to become of the other part of man. The words distinctly refer to Gen_2:7, but nothing is said now as to the living soul. The curse of death is markedly limited to the body. The very silence is a veiled hint of immortality.
(1) Learn that physical death is the outcome of sin. No doubt animal life tends to death; but it does not follow that, if man had been sinless, the tendency would have been suffered to fulfil itself. However that may be, the whole of what we know as death, which has far more in it of pain and terror than the mere physical process, is plainly the result of sin.
(2) Learn, too, the analogy between the death of the body and the condition of the spirit which is given up to sin. Death is a parable--a picture in the material world of what sin does to the soul. Separation from
God is death. When He withdraws His hand from the body it dies; when the soul withdraws itself from Him it dies.
3. Finally, the temptation in the garden reminds us of the temptation in the wilderness. Christ had a sorer temptation than Adam. The one needed nothing; the other was hungered. The one had nothing of terror or pain hanging over him, which he would escape by yielding; the other had His choice between winning His kingdom by the cross, and getting rule by the easy path of taking evil for His good. The one fell, and, as the most godless scientists are now preaching, necessarily transmitted a depraved nature to his descendants. The other stood, conquered, and gives of His spirit to all who trust Him. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Observations
I. NO ACTOR IN ANY SIN CAN ESCAPE GODS DISCOVERY.
1. He is able to search into the deepest secrets, seeing all things are naked in His sight (Heb_4:13).
2. It concerns Him to do it, that the Judge of all the world may appear and be known to do right, to which purpose He must necessarily have a distinct knowledge, both of the offenders and of the quality and measure of their offences, that everyones judgment may be proportioned in number, weight, and measure, according to their deeds.
II. MENS SINS MUST AND SHALL BE SO FAR MANIFESTED AS MAY CONDUCE TO THE ADVANCING OF GODS GLORY. Let it be our care--
1. To take heed of dishonouring God by committing of any sin.
2. If by human infirmity we fall into any sin by which the name of God may be blasphemed or the honour of it impaired, let us endeavour to take off the dishonour done to Him by laying all the shame upon ourselves.
III. A GOOD MANS HEART OUGHT TO BE DEEPLY AND TENDERLY AFFECTED WITH THE SENSE OF HIS OWN SIN. Such a manner of the affecting of the heart by the sense of sin--
1. Brings much honour to God.
2. Proclaims our own innocence (2Co_7:11).
3. Moves God to compassion towards us (Joe_2:17).
4. Furthers our reformation.
5. Makes us more watchful over our ways for time to come.
IV. THE SEDUCING, ESPECIALLY OF ONES NEAREST FRIENDS, IS A FOUL, AND SHOULD BE AN HEART-BREAKING SIN.
V. SIN AND THE ENTICEMENTS THEREUNTO ARE DANGEROUS DECEITS AND SO WILL PROVE TO BE AT THE LAST. Now this deceit of sin is two fold. First, in proposing evil under the name of good, calling light darkness and darkness light (Isa_5:20), or at least the shadows of good, instead ofthat which is really and truly good, like the passing of gilded brass for perfect gold. Secondly, in proposing unto us a reward in an evil way, which we shall never find (see Pro_1:13; Pro_1:18), as they are justly accounted deceivers who promise men largely that which they never make good in performance. (J. White, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Gen_3:13-21
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Gen_3:13-21
THE GENERAL RESULTS OF THE FALL OF OUR FIRST PARENTS
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I. The result of the fall of our first parents is an eternal enmity between Satan and humanity. “And the Lord God said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field: upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life; and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.” We observe:—
1. That this curse was uttered in reference to Satan. It is true that the serpent is here addressed, but merely as the instrument of the evil spirit. The punishment which came upon an irrational animal was symbolical of that permitted to Satan. Each became the object of a contempt which should be perpetual. That this language is used in reference to Satan is evident from the fact that the human race should triumph over the serpent which indication would have been unneedful had it merely referred to the reptile rather than the devil. Thus we learn that the agents of Satan are neither free from guilt or punishment.
2. We observe that this address is different from that made to Adam and Eve. God said to Adam, “Hast thou eaten of the tree;” and to Eve, “What is it that thou hast done?” But to Satan he puts no interrogation. And why? Because heaven knew that it was impossible for hell to repent, whereas man would be able under the proclamation of Divine mercy, to confess his sin and to receive forgiveness. The misery of Satan is irretrievable. For the sin of man there is provided a Divine remedy which he is urged to obtain. The questionings of God are merciful in their intention. Let us therefore penitently respond to them.
3. We observe that there was to commence a severe enmity and conflict between Satan and the human race. The serpent was no longer even the apparent friend of Adam and Eve, but their open enemy. Their recognized foe. The enmity of hell toward earth is well defined in God’s word. It is thoroughly illustrated by the moral history of mankind.
(1) This enmity has existed from the early ages of the world’s history. Its rage and ruin were co-existent with the progenitors of the race, and was directed against their moral happiness and enjoyment. It did not commence in any after period of the world’s history, and consequently not one individual has ever been exempt from its attack.
(2) This enmity is seeking the destruction of the higher interests of man. It does not seek merely to injure the mental and physical sources of life, but the spiritual and eternal. It seeks to rob man of moral goodness, and of his bright inheritance beyond the grave. It endeavours to defile his soul.
(3) This enmity is inspired by the most diabolical passion. It is not inspired by a mere love of mischief and ruin, not by a desire to have a gay sport with the welfare of man, but by a dire and all-conquering passion for his eternal destruction. This points to unremitting activity on the part of Satan. To inconceivable cunning.
2. This enmity, while it will inflict injury, is subject to the ultimate conquest of man. The serpent may bruise the heal of humanity, but humanity shall certainly bruise his head. Satan will be defeated in the conflict. His power is limited. Instance Job. Christ is his eternal conqueror, in Him the seed of the woman struck its most terrible blow. Thus the fall of our first parents has exposed humanity to the fierce antagonism of Satan. But this may be for our moral good, as the conflict has brought a Divine conqueror to our aid, it renders necessary—and may develop energies which shall lend force and value to our characters, and which otherwise would have remained eternally latent.
II. The result of the fall of our first parents is the sorrow and subjection of female life.
1. The sorrow of woman consequent upon the fall. “Unto the woman He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.” The combined command and blessing had been previously given, that the first pair were to be fruitful and multiply; but in innocency the propagation of their species was to be painless. This is reversed by their fall. The woman is to bring forth her progeny in sorrow. Sin is the cause of the world’s physical suffering. This arrangement evinces the grand principle of vicarious suffering in human life.
2. The subjection of woman consequent upon the fall. “And he shall rule over thee.” Eve had been guilty of insubordination, she had broken from the man to listen to the serpent, hence her punishment was adapted to her indiscretion. Women are to be subject to their husbands. This is the law of God. This is the ordination of physical life and energy. And any man who allows his wife to habitually rule him reverses the law of God, and the curse of the fall. But man’s rulership is not to be lordly and offensive, but loving and graceful, thoughtful and appreciative. Under such a rulership the woman is a queen, herself the sharer of a royal life. These are the true rights of woman. If true to herself she wants no others.
3. The subjection of woman consequent upon the fall gives no countenance to the degrading manner in which she is treated in heathen countries. Man is not to crush a woman into a slave. He is not to regard her as his servant. She is his companion and helpmeet. Missions have done much for the social and moral elevation of woman.
III. The result of the fall of our first parents is the anxious toil of man, and the comparative unproductiveness of his labour.
1. The anxious and painful toil of man consequent upon the fall. Some people imagine that work is the result of the fall, and that if our first parents had retained their innocence all men would have been born independent gentlemen! This may be a nice dream for the idle, but it is far from fact. Adam worked before he yielded to temptation, he tilled and kept the garden. But then there was no anxiety, peril, or fatigue associated with his daily efforts. The element of pain which is now infused into work is the result of the fall, but not the work itself. Work was the law of innocent manhood. It is the happiest law of life. Men who rebel against it do not truly live, they only exist. All the accidents of which we read, and all the strife between capital and labour, and all that brings grief to the human heart connected with work, is a consequence of the fall. The excited brain should remind of a sinful heart.
2. The comparative unproductiveness of the soil consequent upon the fall. The ground was cursed through Adam’s sin, and he was to gather and eat its fruits in sorrow all his life. By allowing Eve to lead him astray Adam had, for the moment, given up his rulership of creation, and, therefore, henceforth nature will resist his will. The earth no longer yields her fruits spontaneously, but only after arduous and protracted toil. The easy dressing of the garden was now to merge into anxious labour to secure its produce. Demons were not let loose upon the earth to lay it waste. The earth became changed in its relation to man. It became wild and rugged. It became decked with poisonous herbs. Its harvests were slow and often unfruitful. Storms broke over its peaceful landscapes. Such an effect has sin upon the material creation.
3. The sad departure of man from the earth by death consequent upon the fall. How long innocent man would have continued in this world, and how he would have been finally conveyed to heaven are idle speculations. But certain it is that sin destroyed the moral relationship of the soul to God, and introduced elements of decay into the physical organism of man. Hence after the fall he began his march to the grave. That man did not die immediately after the committal of the sin, is a tribute to the redeeming mercy of God. Sin always means death. Sin and death are twin sisters.
IV. The grand and merciful interposition of Jesus Christ was rendered necessary by the fall of our first parents. Man had fled from God. He could not bring himself back again. Man had polluted his moral nature by sin. He could not cleanse it. The serpent’s head had to be bruised. Death had to be abolished. God only could send a deliverer. Here commenced the remedial scheme of salvation. An innocent man would not have needed mercy, but a sinful man did. Hence the promise, type, symbol, the incarnation, the cross, the resurrection and ascension, all designed by the infinite love of God to repair the moral woe of Eden’s ruin. LESSONS:
1. The terrible influence of sin upon an individual life.
2. The influence of sin upon the great communities of the world.
3. The severe devastation of sin.
4. The love of God the great healing influence of the world’s sorrow.
5. How benignantly God blends hope with penalty.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen_3:13-14. No actor in any sin can escape God’s discovery:—
1. Adam is found out.
2. Eve is found out.
3. The serpent is found out.
God looks upon Satan as the author of the unbelief, rebellion, and apostasy of man.
The worst of curses hath God laid upon the old serpent, and that irrevocably.
God’s curse upon the old serpent brings a blessing upon man.
God from the fall of man provided a way for saving some from the devil.
The promised seed had his heel bruised in killing the serpent’s head. It was by His own dying, though He rose again.
Redemption is of free grace, and comes from God’s promise.
Such grace binds to enmity with Satan and love to God.
BRUISING THE HEAD OF EVIL; OR, THE MISSION OF CHRISTIANITY
Gen_3:15. That there are two grand opposing moral forces at work in the world, “the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent,” is manifest from the following considerations:—
1. The universal beliefs of mankind. All nations believe in two antagonistic principles.
2. The phenomena of the moral world. The thoughts, actions, and conduct of men are so radically different that they must be referred to two distinct moral forces.
3. The experience of good men.
4. The declaration of the Bible. Now in this conflict, whilst error and evil only strike at the mere “heel” of truth and goodness, truth and goodness strike right at the “head.” Look at this idea in three aspects:—
I. As a characteristic of Christianity. Evil has a “head” and its “head” is not in theories, or institutions, or outward conduct; but in the moral feelings. In the likes and dislikes, the sympathies and antipathies of the heart. Now it is against this “head” of evil that Christianity, as a system of reform, directs its blows. It does not seek to lop off the branches from the mighty upas, but to destroy its roots. It does not strike at the mere forms of murder, adultery, and theft; but at their spirit, anger, lust, and covetousness. This its characteristic.
II. As a test of individual Christianity. Unless Christianity has bruised the very “head” of evil within us it has done nothing to the purpose.
1. It may bruise certain erroneous ideas, and yet be of no service to you.
2. It may bruise certain wrong habits, and yet be of no real service to you.
III. As a guide in propagating Christianity. The great failure of the Church in its world-reforming mission may be traced to the wrong direction of its efforts [Homilist].
Study the records of the Word. It is the history of the long war between the children of light and “the power of darkness.” You will see that Satan has tried every weapon of the armoury of hell. He has no other in reserve. But all have failed. They cannot rise higher than the heel. The head is safe with Christ in God. Mark, too, how a mightier hand guides his blows to wound himself. Satan’s kingdom is made to totter under Satan’s assaults. He brought in sin, and so the door flew open for the Gospel. He persecutes the early converts, and the truth speeds rapidly abroad throughout the world. He casts Paul into the dungeon of Philippi, and the gaoler believes, with all his house. He sends him a prisoner to Rome, and epistles gain wings to teach and comfort all the ages of the Church [Archdeacon Law].
Gen_3:15-19.
I. Some important transactions related.
1. The transgression which had been committed.
2. The scrutiny instituted.
3. The sentence pronounced.
II. The gracious intimations of the Text.
1. Intimations of mercy.
2. Of the mode of mercy.
3. Our cause for gratitude.
4. Occasions for fear. [Sketches of Sermons by Wesleyan Ministers].
Man’s salvation is Satan’s grief and vexation.
God’s indignation is never so much kindled against the wicked, that He forgets His mercy toward His own.
God directs and turns the malice of Satan to the service of the good.
God will strengthen the weakest of His servants against Satan.
The greatness of man’s sin is no bar to God’s mercy.
God’s means extend to future posterity.
Enmity and malice against good men is an evident mark of the child of the devil.
Christ the woman’s seed:—
1. Made under the law.
2. Became a curse for us.
3. Joined us to God.
4. Conquered Satan.
Gen_3:16. Though God has through Christ remitted to his children the sentence of death, yet He has not freed them from the afflictions of this life.
All the afflictions of this life have mercy mixed with them.
It is the duty of the wife to be subject to the will and direction of her husband:—
1. There must be an order in society.
2. The woman was created for man.
3. She was first in transgression.
4. Man has the best abilities for government.
Womanly obedience:—
1. Presented by God.
2. Easy for her.
3. Safe for her.
4. Ennobling to her.
Womanly subjection consists:—
1. In outward obedience.
2. In the inward affection of the heart.
3. In thoughtful service.
Order in sin has an order in punishment. The woman is sentenced before the man.
Gen_3:17. Single account must be given by every creature for single sins. God takes one by one.
God Himself giveth judgment upon every sinner.
Man’s excuse of sin may prove the greatest aggravation to the woman.
It is a sad aggravation of sin that it is committed against God.
The expressness of God’s law doth much aggravate sin against it.
Sin brings all evil upon creatures, and makes them instruments to punish man.
All the creatures of the earth are under Divine command.
The short pleasure of sin draws after it a long punishment.
Gen_3:18. Thorns and thistles are the issues of sin.
As we are more or less serviceable to God, so we may expect creatures to be more or less useful to us.
Sin makes the course of man laborious and painful.
God remembers wretched man and allows him some bread though he deserves none.
Man’s travail ends not but in the grave.
Gen_3:19.—“Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” How dreadful—how rapid—is the havoc of sin. A few chapters preceding man was wise—holy—now the crown is fallen we are all implicated (Heb_9:27).
I. The frailty of our Nature.
1. Its origin. However glorious our Maker, however exquisite the human body, God made that body of the dust of the earth.
2. Its liability to injury. No sooner born than fierce diseases wait to attack us. If not destroyed—injured—accidents. All the elements attack us.
3. Its tendency to dissolution. Behold the ravages of time. Human life has its spring, summer, autumn, and winter. (Psa_103:14-15; Psa_90:5-6; Psa_39:4-5.
II. The certainty of our end.
1. We are born to die. Our first breath is so much of nature exhausted. The first hour we live is an approach to death.
2. The perpetual exit of mortals confirms it.
3. God hath decreed it.
4. Learn rightly to estimate life. (Sketches of four hundred sermons.)
I. Man’s Origin.
1. How wonderful.
2. How humbling.
II. Man’s Doom.
1. Inevitable.
2. Just.
3. Partial.
4. Temporary. (Sermonic Germs by Wythe.)
There is profit in all the duties which God enjoineth us. The disposing of man’s life is in God’s hand.
Gen_3:20-21.—It is fit in giving names to make choice of such as may give us something for our instruction. The very clothes we wear are God’s provision. Necessary provision is as much as we can look for from God’s hand:—
1. For health.
2. For employment.
3. For possession. Our clothes are for the most part borrowed from other creatures.
In the midst of death God’s thought has been to direct the sinner unto life.
God’s goodness prevented sin from turning all man’s relations into disorder.
Grace makes the same instruments be for life, which were for death.
God pities his creatures in the nakedness made by sin.
God makes garments where sin makes nakedness.
The mischief of sin is to forget nakedness under fine clothes.
A gracious providence puts clothes on the backs of sinners.
The guilty clothed:—
1. By God.
2. With priceless robe.
3. For shelter.
4. For happiness.
We have here, in figure, the great doctrine of divine righteousness set forth. The robe which God provided was an effectual covering because He provided it; just as the apron was an ineffectual covering because man had provided it. Moreover, God’s coat was founded upon blood-shedding. Adam’s apron was not. So also, now, God’s righteousness is set forth in the cross; man’s righteousness is set forth in the works, the sin stained works, of his own hands. When Adam stood clothed in the coat of skin he could not say, “I was naked,” nor had he any occasion to hide himself. The sinner may feel perfectly at rest, when, by faith, he knows that God has clothed him: but to feel at rest, till then, can only be the result of presumption or ignorance. To know that the dress I wear, and in which I appear before God, is of His own providing, must set my heart at perfect rest. There can be no permanent rest in aught else.—(C.H.M.)
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
REV. WM. ADAMSON
Remedy! (Gen_3:13.) The death was wrought; but God would evolve death out of life. When a vessel has all the air extracted from it and a vacuum formed, the pressure of the outside air on the surrounding surface will probably shiver it into a thousand pieces; but no man can restore that vessel. The potter may place the fragments in his engine, and mould out of them another vessel; yet it is not the same. But God can. God here declares He will. The remedy followed close upon the disease—the life upon the death. Near the manchaneel, which grows in the forests of the West Indies, and which gives forth a juice of deadly poisonous nature, grows a fig, the sap of either of which, if applied in time, is a remedy for the diseases produced by the manchaneel. God places the Gospel of Grace alongside the sentence of Death. He provides a remedy for man
“To soothe his sorrows—heal his wounds,
And drive away his fears.”
Labour! Gen_3:17. Dionysius the tyrant was once at an entertainment given to him by the Lacedemonians, where he expressed some disgust at their black broth. One of the number remarked that it was no wonder he did not relish it, since there was “no seasoning.” “What seasoning,” enquired the despot? to which the prompt reply was given: “labour joined with hunger.” Krummacher narrates a fable of how Adam had tilled the ground and made himself a garden full of plants and trees. He rested himself with his wife and children upon the brow of a hill. An angel came and saluting them said: “You must labour to eat bread in the sweat of your brow, but after your toil, you rejoice in the fruit acquired.” But Adam deplored the loss of Jehovah’s nearness; whereupon the watcher replied that “toil was earthly prayer, the heavenly gift of Jehovah.”—
“Work for some good be it ever so slowly!
Cherish some flower, be it ever so lowly!
Labour! all labour is noble and holy;
Let thy great deeds be a prayer to thy God.”—Osgood.
Human Ruin! Gen_3:17. Canning says that man is a dismantled fane—a broken shrine, and that there still lingers about him some gleams of his departed glory sufficient to give an idea of what he once was, and probably left as faint prophecy of what he will again be. You see, for example, a beautiful capital still bearing some of the flowers, and some vestiges of the foliage which the sculptor’s chisel had carved upon the marble. It lies on the ground half-buried under rank weeds and nettles; while beside it the headless shaft of a noble column springs from its pedestal. As Guthrie asks: Would you not at once conclude that its present condition so base and mean was not its original position? You would say that the lightning bolt must have struck it down—or earthquake shaken its foundation—or ruthless barbarism had climbed the shaft—or time’s relentless scythe had mown it down. We look at man and arrive at a similar conclusion. Like an old roofless temple, man is a grand and solemn ruin, on the front of which we can still trace the mutilated inscription of his original dedication to God. Yet he IS a ruin, and one which human skill cannot restore. The art of man may wreath it with ivy—may surround it with stonecrop and wall-flower, yet he remains a ruin still—he though in nature’s richest mantle clad
“And graced with all philosophy can add;
Though fair without, and luminous within,
Is still the progeny and heir of sin.”—Cowper.
Resurgam-hope! Gen_3:14. All was not hopeless gloom. The cloud had its silver lining; and like Noah’s thunderbank of water was arched by a brilliant Iris of comfort. It shall bruise thy head. Man would rise. In a Syrian valley grows a clump of trees stunted in their growth, with scarce one shade of resemblance to that noble group of stately cedars on the mountain ridge, the seeds from which had been planted in the vale by the agency of winds, and had shot up into these puny and repulsive trunks. But further on another cluster presents itself, which had been planted by the hand of man, carefully attended to as they grew up. These had a family likeness to that grove upon the hill slopes; and were giving promise of beauty and grandeur equal to that of their progenitors. The godless children of Adam resemble the stunted grove in the dell, with but feeble likeness to that of Adam in his sinless state; whereas the third clump symbolize the “renewed” sons of God, who, though immeasurably inferior as yet to the noble stock from which they were originally taken, are bearing evident marks of their parentage, and promise one day to attain to their high and heavenly origin:—
“Born of the spirit, and thus allied to God,
He during his probations term shall walk
His mother earth, unfledged to range the sky,
But, if found faithful, shall at length ascend
The highest heavens and share my home and yours.”—Bickersteth.
The Seed! Gen_3:15. This seed, the Apostle says, was Christ. He is the great Deliverer and Champion. He is the great Legislator and Teacher. His name outshines all the names upon the “Roll of Fame.” His name is above every name. In the Forum yonder stands a marble pillar of large circumference and lofty height. It rests upon a massive base, it is crowned with a richly-carved capital. And when a citizen has won some great victory for the state, has delivered it from a foreign foe or from domestic insurrection, has removed some gross abuse or inaugurated some beneficent reform, his name, by decree of the senate, is inscribed upon the pillar in letters of gold. And now that shaft glitters from top to bottom with shining names, all honourable, but the more honourable ever above the less. And gleaming at the top of the pillar is a name that outshines all the rest. So in the Forum of the kingdom of heaven stands a pillar blazing all over with beautiful names, and at the top a name that is above every name, “not only in this world but also in that which is to come.” Therefore—
“He spends his time most worthily who seeks this name to know;
Its ocean-fulness riseth still as ages onward flow!”—Canitz.
Thistles! Gen_3:18. How greatly the process of man’s redemption from the curse—of his rise in morals and intelligence—is aided by this decree of Providence it would be difficult to estimate.
1. Did his food grow like acorns or beechmast upon long-lived trees, requiring no toil or care or forethought of his own, the most efficient means to his advancement would have been wanting. The curse would have deepened his degradation, instead of containing as it does now at its core the means of its removal—the inverse aid of man’s physical and spiritual progress.
2. It has been observed that the very instruments of man’s punishment—the very goads that prick him on to exertion—are after all stunted or abortive forms of branches, or of buds which in happier circumstances would have gone on to develop fruit, and that the downy parasols by means of which thistles spread their seeds in myriads are due to degeneration of floral parts; so that they witness to man continually of his own degradation, inasmuch as they—like himself—are failures on the part of nature to reach an ideal perfection.
Contrast! Gen_3:19. A traveller in Syria notes that on a mountainous ridge his attention was called to a magnificent grove of trees of the cedar species. They were evidently the growth of many ages, and had attained the perfection of beauty and grandeur. As he descended into the vale, he beheld a number of other trees stunted in their growth, and as remarkable for their meanness as the former were for their magnificence. The guide assured him that they were of the same species; yet not a trace of resemblance could he find in them. This appears to be a remarkable emblem of Adam. In Genesis 2 the power of body, mind and spirit resemble the cluster of stately cedar-pines; whereas, when we descend into the valley of sin in Genesis 3, we observe that, like the scattered trees in the vale, his mental and moral powers are stunted in their growth—mean, despicable, and well-nigh useless. Of him we may exclaim that he was planted a noble vine, but how is he turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine! Whose fault?
“Whose but his own? Ingrate, he had of Me
All he could have; I made him just and right,
Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall.—Milton.
Dust of Death! Gen_3:19. Dust may be raised for a little while into a tiny cloud, and may seem considerable while held up by the wind that raises it; but when the force of that is spent, it falls again, and returns to the earth out of which it was raised. Such a thing is man; man is but a parcel of dust, and must return to his earth. Thus, as Pascal exclaims, what a chimera is man! What a confused chaos! And after death, of his body it may be said that it is the gold setting left after the extraction of the diamond which it held—a setting, alas! which soon gives cause in its putrescence for the apostrophe: How is the gold become dim! How is the most fine gold changed! Yet “there is hope in thine end,” O Christian gold, however dimmed. There is a “resurgam” for thy dust, O child of God!
“The fine gold has not perished, when the flame
Seizes upon it with consuming glow;
In freshn’d splendour it comes forth anew
To sparkle on the Monarch’s Throne or BROW.”—Bonar.
Promises! Gen_3:21. Deeds are more powerful expressions than words; but this Divine act of clothing Adam and Eve in “robes of blood-shedding” could have no intelligent force to them without a revelation. Is it unreasonable to suppose that God explained to them the meaning of that prophetic decree in Gen_3:15 : “It shall bruise thy head”? When the scarlet-dyed raiment was placed by Divine direction upon the bodies of Adam and Eve, Jehovah explained the symbolism, and unfolded promises of mercy through free sovereigr grace in response to Faith. Adam and Eve laid hold of those promises, and cast themselves unfeignedly on His mercy. This would brighten their otherwise dark pathway. When a pious old slave on a Virginian plantation was asked why he was always so sunny-hearted and cheerful under his hard lot, he replied, “Ah, massa, I always lays flat down on de promises, and den I pray straight up to my hebenly Father.” Humble, happy soul! he was not the first man who has eased an aching heart by laying it upon God’s pillows; or the first man who had risen up the stronger from a repose on the unchangeable word of God’s love. If you take a Bank of England note to the counter of the bank, in an instant that bit of paper turns to gold. If we take a promise of God to the mercy-seat, it turns to what is better than gold—to our own good and the glory of our Father.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 3:13 What have you done? is another rhetorical question…
3:13 What have you done? is another rhetorical question that is really an exclamation of horror (cp. 4:10). • The serpent deceived me: As the man implicated the woman (3:12), the woman accused the serpent. The serpent did play a role and would be punished (3:14), but that did not release the woman or the man from their guilt.
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