20The man called his wife Eve because she would be the mother of all the living.21Yahweh God made garments of animal skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.
22Yahweh God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever—”23Therefore Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.24So he drove out the man; and he placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
20 The man called his wife Eve because she would be the mother of all the living.
21 Yahweh God made garments of animal skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.
22 Yahweh God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever—”
23 Therefore Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.
24 So he drove out the man; and he placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
KJVKing James Version
20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
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JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
20 And the man called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
21 And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them.
22 And the LORD God said: 'Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.'
23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
24 So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden the cherubim, and the flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way to the tree of life.
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Is everyone descended from Adam and Eve?Genesis 3:20 names Eve the mother of all living, and Paul treats universal Adamic descent as the engine of original sin.
How many gods are there?Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and New Testament passages repeatedly assert strict monotheism, with YHWH alone and no other gods beside him.
Isaiah 61:10(v21)I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh! My soul will be joyful in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me…
Matthew 1:23(v20)“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son. They shall call his name Immanuel;” which is, being interpreted,…
Genesis 2:23(v20)The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of Man.”
2 Corinthians 5:21(v21)For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Revelation 2:7(v22)He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life,…
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2 Corinthians 5:2-3(v21)For most certainly in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed being clothed, we will not…
Revelation 22:14(v22)Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city.
Proverbs 3:18(v22)She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her. Happy is everyone who retains her.
Hebrews 1:7(v24)Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his servants a flame of fire.”
Genesis 11:6-7(v22)Yahweh said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld…
Psalms 104:4(v24)He makes his messengers winds, and his servants flames of fire.
Revelation 22:2(v22)in the middle of its street. On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit…
Genesis 2:9(v22)Out of the ground Yahweh God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, including the tree of life in the…
Exodus 25:18-22(v24)You shall make two cherubim of hammered gold. You shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at the one end, and…
John 6:48-58(v22)I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that…
Genesis 1:26(v22)God said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky,…
Genesis 3:5(v22)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.”
Genesis 3:7(v21)Their eyes were opened, and they both knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made coverings for themselves.
1 Chronicles 21:16-17(v24)David lifted up his eyes, and saw Yahweh’s angel standing between earth and the sky, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over…
Genesis 2:20(v20)The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a…
Genesis 4:2(v23)Again she gave birth, to Cain’s brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
Genesis 5:29(v20)He named him Noah, saying, “This one will comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, caused by the ground which Yahweh has…
Hebrews 10:18-22(v24)Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by…
Genesis 3:19(v23)You will eat bread by the sweat of your face until you return to the ground, for you were taken out of it. For you are dust, and you shall…
Genesis 4:12(v23)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.”
Genesis 16:11(v20)Yahweh’s angel said to her, “Behold, you are with child, and will bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because Yahweh has heard…
Genesis 2:5(v23)No plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Yahweh God had not caused it to rain on the…
Genesis 29:32-35(v20)Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she named him Reuben. For she said, “Because Yahweh has looked at my affliction; for now my husband…
Genesis 35:18(v20)As her soul was departing (for she died), she named him Benoni, but his father named him Benjamin.
Exodus 2:10(v20)The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, “Because I drew him out of…
1 Samuel 1:20(v20)When the time had come, Hannah conceived, and bore a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked him of Yahweh.”
Ecclesiastes 5:9(v23)Moreover the profit of the earth is for all. The king profits from the field.
Isaiah 47:12-13(v22)“Stand now with your enchantments and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth, as if you might…
Matthew 1:21(v20)She shall give birth to a son. You shall name him Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”
John 14:6(v24)Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
Acts 17:26(v20)He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the…
Romans 3:22(v21)even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction,
Genesis 2:8-9(v24)Yahweh God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground Yahweh God made every tree to…
Genesis 9:20(v23)Noah began to be a farmer, and planted a vineyard.
Joshua 5:13(v24)When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man stood in front of him with his sword drawn in his hand.…
Psalms 22:26(v22)The humble shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise Yahweh who seek after him. Let your hearts live forever.
Psalms 80:1(v24)Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who sit above the cherubim, shine out.
Psalms 99:1(v24)Yahweh reigns! Let the peoples tremble. He sits enthroned among the cherubim. Let the earth be moved.
Isaiah 19:12-13(v22)Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you now; and let them know what Yahweh of Armies has purposed concerning Egypt. The princes of…
Ezekiel 10:2-22(v24)He spoke to the man clothed in linen, and said, “Go in between the whirling wheels, even under the cherub, and fill both your hands with…
Exodus 25:2(v24)“Speak to the children of Israel, that they take an offering for me. From everyone whose heart makes him willing you shall take my offering.
Numbers 22:23(v24)The donkey saw Yahweh’s angel standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand; and the donkey turned out of the path, and went into…
1 Samuel 4:4(v24)So the people sent to Shiloh, and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of Yahweh of Armies, who sits above the cherubim; and the…
1 Kings 6:25-35(v24)The other cherub was ten cubits. Both the cherubim were of one measure and one form. One cherub was ten cubits high, and so was the other…
Jeremiah 22:23(v22)Inhabitant of Lebanon, who makes your nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied you will be when pangs come on you, the pain as of a…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (23 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv20–2320. And Adam called, etc. There are two ways…
20. And Adam called, etc. There are two ways in which this may be read. The former, in the pluperfect tense, ‘Adam had called.’ If we follow this reading, the sense of Moses will be, that Adam had been greatly deceived, in promising life to himself and to his posterity, from a wife, whom he afterwards found by experience to be the introducer of death. And Moses (as we have seen) is accustomed, without preserving the order of the history, to subjoin afterwards things which had been prior in point of time. If, however we read the passage in the preterite tense, it may be understood either in a good or bad sense. There are those who think that Adam, animated by the hope of a more happy condition, because God had promised that the head of the serpent should be wounded by the seed of the woman, called her by a name implying life.’ This would be a noble and even heroic fortitude of mind; since he could not, without an arduous and difficult struggle, deem her the mother of the living, who, before any man could have been born, had involved all in eternal destruction. But, because I fear lest this conjecture should be weak, let the reader consider whether Moses did not design rather to tax Adam with thoughtlessness, who being himself immersed in death, yet gave to his wife so proud a name. Nevertheless, I do not doubt that, when he heard the declaration of God concerning the prolongation of life, he began again to breathe and to take courage; and then, as one revived, he gave his wife a name derived from life ; but it does not follow, that by a faith accordant with the word of God, he triumphed, as he ought to have done, over death. I therefore thus expound the passage; as soon as he had escaped present death, being encouraged by a measure of consolation, he celebrated that divine benefit which, beyond all expectation, he had received, in the name he gave his wife.
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 translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv21–22Or, gave them knowledge to make themselves coats.
Or, gave them knowledge to make themselves coats.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv20–24Gen 3:20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve;…
Gen 3:20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
Ver. 20. And Adam called his wife’s name Eve.] That is, Life, or Living. Not, per antiphrasim, as some would have it; much less out of pride and stomach, in contempt of the divine sentence denounced against them both, that they should surely die, as Rupertus would have it: but because she was to be mother of all living, whether a natural or a spiritual life; and likewise for a testimony of his faith in, and thankfulness for, that lively and lifegiving oracle. {a} {Gen 3:15}
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The mother of all living.] "Have we not all," as "one father," {Mal 2:10} so, one mother? did we not all tumble in a belly? "why do we then deal treacherously every man against his brother?" {Mal 2:10} This one consideration should charm down our rising and boiling spirits one against another, as it did Abraham’s. {Gen 13:8}
{a} λογια ζωντα, i.e., ζωοποιουντα.
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 Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv20–24The word signifies either a living, or, the giver…
The word signifies either a living, or, the giver or preserver of life. Though for her sin justly sentenced to a present death, yet by God’s infinite mercy, and by virtue of the promised Seed, she was both continued in life herself, and
was made the mother of all living men and women that should be after her upon the earth; who though in and with their mother they were condemned to speedy death, yet shall be brought forth into the state and land of the living, and into the hopes of a blessed and eternal life by the Redeemer, whose mother or progenitor she was.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn vv20–22God having named the man, and called him Adam,…
God having named the man, and called him Adam, which signifies red earth, Adam, in further token of dominion, named the woman, and called her Eve, that is, life. Adam bears the name of the dying body, Eve that of the living soul. The reason of the name is here given (some think, by Moses the historian, others, by Adam himself): Because she was (that is, was to be) the mother of all living. He had before called her Ishah - woman, as a wife; here he calls her Evah - life, as a mother. Now, 1. If this was done by divine direction, it was an instance of God's favour, and, like the new naming of Abraham and Sarah, it was a seal of the covenant, an assurance to them that, notwithstanding their sin and his displeasure against them for it, he had not reversed that blessing wherewith he had blessed them: Be fruitful and multiply. It was likewise a confirmation of the promise now made, that the seed of the woman, of this woman, should break the serpent's head. 2. If Adam did it of himself, it was an instance of his faith in the word of God. Doubtless it was not done, as some have suspected, in contempt or defiance of the curse, but rather in a humble confidence and dependence upon the blessing. (1.) The blessing of a reprieve, admiring the patience of God, that he should spare such sinners to be the parents of all living, and that he did not immediately shut up those fountains of the human life and nature, because they could send forth no other than polluted, poisoned, streams. (2.) The blessing of a Redeemer, and promised seed, to whom Adam had an eye, in calling his wife Eve - life; for he should be the life of all the living, and in him all the families of the earth should be blessed, in hope of which he thus triumphs.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv20–24And Adam called his wife's name Eve,.... Whom he…
And Adam called his wife's name Eve,.... Whom he had before named "Ishah", a woman, because taken from him the man, Gen 2:23 and now gives her a new name upon this scene of things, which had taken place; which is derived not from "Chavah", to "show forth", to "declare"; as if she was called so, because of her discourse with the serpent, being loquacious and talkative, and telling everything she knew, according to some Jewish writers (g); but from "Chayah, to live", as the reason given in the text shows. She is called Aeon "(Aevum)" by Philo Byblius, the interpreter of Sanchoniatho (h). The word "Eve" is retained in many Heathen writers, and used to be frequently repeated in the Bacchanalian rites, when the idolaters appeared with serpents platted on their heads (i); which plainly refers to the affair between the serpent and Eve; hence Bacchus is sometimes called Evius (k): the reason of Adam's giving her this name follows:
because she was the mother of all living; which reason is either given by Moses, when from her had sprung a numerous offspring, and would be continued to the end of the world; or if given by Adam was prophetic of what she would be; and so the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "because she would be the mother of all living"; and the ground of this faith and persuasion of his, that he and his wife should not die immediately for the offence they had committed, but should live and propagate their species, as well as be partakers of spiritual and eternal life, was the hint that had been just given, that there would be a seed spring from them; not only a numerous offspring, but a particular eminent person that should be the ruin of the devil and his kingdom, and the Saviour of them; and so Eve would be not, only the mother of all men living in succeeding generations, but particularly, or however one descending from her, would be the mother of him that should bring life and immortality to light, or be the author of all life, natural, spiritual, and eternal; and who is called "the life", which is the same word by which the Greek version renders Eve in the preceding clause. It was with pleasure, no doubt, that Adam gave her this name; and it appears that this affair of her being seduced by the serpent, and of drawing him into the transgression, did not alienate his affection from her; and the rather he must needs cleave unto her, and not forsake her, since her seed was to break the serpent's head, and procure life and salvation for them; and by means of her there would be a race of living men produced, which would propagate his species to the end of time: for all living can only respect them, and not other animals, though in some sense they may be included, as our English poet (l) hints.
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(g) Apud Fagium in loc. vid. Baal Hatturim in loc. (h) Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 1. p. 34. (i) Virgil. Aeneid. l. 6. v. 518, 519. Pers. Satyr 1. v. 101, 102. vid. Clement. Alex. ad Gentes, p. 9. (k) Horat. Carmin. l. 2. ode 11. v. 17. (l) Mother of all things living, since by thee Man is to live, and all things live for man. Milton's Paradise Lost. B. 11. l. 160, 161.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv20–24God having named the man, and called him Adam,…
God having named the man, and called him Adam, which signifies red earth, he in farther token of dominion named the woman, and called her Eve - That is, life. Adam bears the name of the dying body, Eve of the living soul. The reason of the name is here given, some think by Moses the historian, others by Adam himself, because she was - That is, was to be the mother of all living. He had called her Isha, woman, before, as a wife; here he calls her Evah, life, as a mother. Now,
1. If this was done by divine direction, it was an instance of God's favour, and, like the new naming of Abraham and Sarah, it was a seal of the covenant, and an assurance to them, that notwithstanding their sin, he had not reversed that blessing wherewith he had blessed them, Be fruitful and multiply: it was likewise a confirmation of the promise now made, that the seed of the woman, of this woman, should break the serpent's head.
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2. If Adam did of himself, it was an instance of his faith in the word of God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv20, 21, 22, 24Verse 20. And Adam called his wife's name Eve;…
Verse 20. And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.] A man who does not understand the original cannot possibly comprehend the reason of what is said here. What has the word Eve to do with being the mother of all living? Our translators often follow the Septuagint; it is a pity they had not done so here, as the Septuagint translation is literal and correct: Και εκαλεσεν Αδαμ το ονομα της γυναικος αυτου Ζωη, ὁτι μητηρ παντων των ζωντων· "And Adam called his wife's name Life, because she was the mother of all the living." This is a proper and faithful representation of the Hebrew text, for the חוה Chavvah of the original, which we have corrupted into Eve, a word destitute of all meaning, answers exactly to the Ζωη of the Septuagint, both signifying life; as does also the Hebrew חי chai to the Greek ζωντων, both of which signify the living.
It is probable that God designed by this name to teach our first parents these two important truths:
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1. That though they had merited immediate death, yet they should be respited, and the accomplishment of the sentence be long delayed; they should be spared to propagate a numerous progeny on the earth.
2. That though much misery would be entailed on his posterity, and death should have a long and universal empire, yet ONE should in the fulness of time spring from the woman, who should destroy death, and bring life and immortality to light, 2Ti 1:10. Therefore Adam called his wife's name Life, because she was to be the mother of all human beings, and because she was to be the mother of HIM who was to give life to a world dead in trespasses, and dead in sins, Eph 2:1, &c.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv20, 21, 22, 24Gen 3:20. God having named the man, and called…
Gen 3:20. God having named the man, and called him Adam, which signifies red earth; Adam, in further token of dominion, named the woman, and called her Eve, that is, life. Thus Adam bears the name of the dying body, Eve, of the living soul. Though for her sin she was justly sentenced to a present death, yet, by God’s infinite mercy, and by virtue of the promised seed, she was both continued in life herself, and made the mother of all living. Adam had before called her Isha, woman, as a wife; here he calls her Evah, life, as a mother. Now, 1st, If this name were given her by divine direction, it was an instance of God’s favour, and, like the new naming of Abraham and Sarah, it was a seal of the covenant, and an assurance to them, that, notwithstanding their sin, he had not reversed that blessing wherewith he had blessed them. Be fruitful and multiply. It was likewise a confirmation of the promise now made, that the seed of the woman, of this woman, should break the serpent’s head. 2d, If Adam did it of himself, it was an instance of his faith in the word of God.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn v22- XVII. The Execution
- XVII. The Execution
24. כרוּב kerûb ברך in Aramaic: “carve, plow”; Persian: “grip, grasp.” This word occurs about eighty-seven times in the Hebrew scriptures; in sixty of which it refers to carved or embroidered figures; in twenty-two to the living being in the vision of Ezekiel Ezek. 10; in two figuratively to the king of Tyre Eze 28:14, Eze 28:16; in two to a being on which the Lord is poetically described as riding 2Sa 22:11; Psa 18:11; and in the present passage unequivocally to real and well-known beings. The root is not otherwise extant in Hebrew proper. But from the class of actions to which it refers, and from a review of the statements of Scripture concerning these creatures, we are led to the following conclusions:
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First. The cherubim are real creatures, and not mere symbols. In the narrative of the fall they are introduced as real into the scenes of reality. Their existence is assumed as known; for God is said to place or station the cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden. The representation of a cherub too in vision, as part of a symbolic figure, implies a corresponding reality Eze 10:14. A symbol itself points to a reality.
Second. They are afterward described as “living creatures,” especially in the visions of Ezekiel Eze 1:10. This seems to arise, not from their standing at the highest stage of life, which the term does not denote, but from the members of the various animals, which enter into their variously-described figure. Among these appear the faces of the man, the lion, the ox, and the eagle, of which a cherubic form had one, two or four Exo 25:20; Eze 41:18; Eze 1:16. They had, besides, wings, in number two or four Exo 25:20; 1Ki 6:27; Eze 1:6. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides Eze 1:8; Eze 10:8. Ezekiel also describes their feet as being straight, and having the sole like that of a calf. They sometimes appear too with their bodies, hands, wings, and even accompanying wheels full of eyes Eze 1:18; Eze 10:12. The variety in the figuration of the cherubim is owing to the variety of aspects in which they stand, and of offices or services they have to perform in the varying posture of affairs. This figuration is evidently symbolic. For the real being has not a varying number or order of its constituent parts in the same stage of its existence, though it may be readily represented by a diversity of symbols, according to the diversity of the circumstances in which it appears, and of operations it has to perform. The figuration is merely intended to shadow forth its nature and office in sensible forms to those who have not entered the spiritual world.
Third. The cherubim are intelligent beings. This is indicated by their form, movement, and conduct. In their visible appearance the human form predominates: “They had the likeness of a man” Eze 1:5. The human face is in front, and has therefore the principal place. The “hands of a man” determine the erect posture, and therefore the human form of the body. The parts of other animal forms are only accessory, and serve to mark the possession of qualities which are not prominent in man. The lion indicates the active and destructive powers; the ox, the patient and productive; the eagle denotes rapid motion, with which the wings coincide, and quick sight with which the many eyes accord; and the man signifies reason, which rationalizes all these otherwise physical qualities.
The four faces indicate powers of observation that sweep the whole horizon. The straight feet, with soles like those of a calf, mark an elasticity of step appertaining only to beings unaffected by the force of gravitation. Their motion, “straight forward,” combined with the four faces, and the wheel within a wheel going according to its quarters, points to a capacity of moving in any direction without turning by the mere impulse of the will. The intelligence of their conduct will appear from the nature of the duties they have to discharge.
Fourth. Their special office seems to be “intellectual and potential” rather than moral. They have to do with the physical more than the moral aspect of being. Hence, they stand related, on the one side, to God, as אלהים 'ĕlohı̂ym, “the Everlasting, the God of omnipotence;” and, on the other, to the universe of created things, in its material, animal, and intellectual departments, and to the general administration of the divine will in this comprehensive sphere. The radical meanings of the terms “carve, plow, grasp,” point to the potential. The hand symbolizes intelligent agency. The multiplicity of eyes denotes many-sided intelligence. The number four is evidently normal and characteristic. It marks their relation to the cosmos - universe of system of created things.
Fifth. Their place of ministry is about the throne, and in the presence of the Almighty. Accordingly, where he manifests himself in a stated place, and with all the solemnity of a court, there they generally appear.
Sixth. Their special functions correspond with these indications of their nature and place. They are stationed at the east of the garden of Eden, where God had condescended to walk with man before his fall, and where he still lingers on earth to hold communion with man, for the purpose of mercy, and their business is to keep the way of the tree of life. They are figured in the most holy place, which was appropriated to the divine presence, and constructed after the pattern seen in the mount. They stand on the mercy-seat, where God sits to rule his people, and they look down with intelligent wonder on the mysteries of redemption. In the vision of the likeness of the glory of God vouchsafed to Ezekiel, they appear under the expanse on which rests the throne of God, and beside the wheels which move as they move. And when God is represented as in movement for the execution of his judgments, the physical elements and the spiritual essences are alike described as the vehicles of his irresistible progress Psa 18:11. All these movements are mysteries to us, while we are in a world of sense. We cannot comprehend the relation of the spiritual and the physical. But of this we may be assured, that material things are at bottom centers of multiform forces, or fixed springs of power, to which the Everlasting Potentate has given a local habitation and a name, and therefore cognate with spiritual beings of free power, and consequently manageable by them.
Seventh. The cherubim seem to be officially distinct from angels or messengers who go upon special errands to a distance from the presence-chamber of the Almighty. It is possible that they are also to be distinguished in function from the seraphim and the living beings of the Apocalypse, who like them appear among the attendants in the court of heaven.
Here we enter upon the record of the steps taken to carry into effect the forfeiture of life by man, consequent upon his willful transgression of the divine command.
Gen 3:22
As one of us. - This is another indication of the plurality in unity which is evidently inherent in the Eternal Spirit. It is still more significant than the expression of concert in the creation of man, as it cannot be explained by anything short of a personal distinction.
Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil. - We are now prepared to understand the nature of the two trees which were in the midst of the garden. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil effected a change, not in the physical constitution of man, but in his mental experience - in his knowledge of good and evil. There do not appear to have been any seeds of death - any poisonous or malignant power in the tree. “The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and likely to the eyes,” as well as a tree to be desired to make one wise. Neither does it appear that the virtue of making wise on the particular point of moral distinctions lay in the digestion of its fruit when received into the stomach. The natural effect of food is on the body, not on the understanding. The moral effect lay rather in the conduct of man in regard to the tree, as a thing prohibited. The result of his conduct, whether in the way of obedience or disobedience to the divine command, was to be the knowledge of good and evil. If man had obeyed, he would have come to this knowledge in a legitimate way. For he would have perceived that distrust of God and disobedience to his will, as they were externally presented to his view in the suggestions of the tempter, were evil; and that confidence and obedience, internally experienced in himself in defiance of such suggestions, were good. And this was the germ of the knowledge of good and evil. But, by disregarding the express injunction of his Maker with respect to this tree, he attained to the knowledge of good and evil in an unlawful and fatal way. He learned immediately that he himself was the guilty party, whereas, before, he was free from guilt; and thus became aware, in his own person and to his own condemnation, of good and evil, as distinct and opposite qualities.
This view of the tree is in accordance with all the intimations of Scripture. First. The terms in which it is prohibited are, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat; for in the day thou eatest of it, die surely shalt thou.” Here it is important to mark the consequence which is pointed out as flowing from the eating of it. It is not, Thou shalt know good and evil by any physical virtue of the tree, a process by which knowledge comes not at all; but, “Thou shalt surely die.” Now, this is not any physical result of the fruit being received into the system, since man did not die for centuries after, but a penal result, in fact, the awful sanction of that divine command by which man’s probation was to be accomplished. Second. The points brought out by the serpent are to the same effect. He suggests that God had not given permission to eat of every tree of the garden.
There was some reserve. This reserve is an injury to man, which he makes out by denying that death is the consequence of eating of the tree reserved, and asserting that special benefits, such as the opening of the eyes, and being as God in knowing good and evil, would follow. In both of these statements there is equivocation. Death is not indeed the natural, but it is the legal consequence of disobedience. The eyes of them both were opened, and they became like God in knowing good and evil; but, in both instances, to their own shame and confusion, instead of their glory and honor. They saw that they were “naked,” and they were “ashamed” and “afraid.” They knew good and evil; but they knew the evil to be present with them, and the good to have departed from them. Third. The interview of God with the culprits is also in keeping with the same view. The question to the man is, “Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee not to eat?” Mark the tenor of this question. It is not, Hast thou eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? but, “of which I commanded thee not to eat;” by which it is indicated that, not the physical character of the tree, but the moral character of the action, is the point of the interrogatory.
The tree, then, was the ordained occasion of man’s becoming as God in knowing good and evil. He had now reached the second, or experimental lesson in morals. When God gave him the theoretical lesson in the command, he expected that the practical one would follow. He now says, “Behold the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.” In the style of his word he notes the result, without marking the disobedience of man as the means. This is understood from the circumstances. Man is therefore guilty, and the law must be vindicated.
Hence, it is added, “Lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat and live forever.” This sentence is completed by an act, not a word, as we shall see in the next verse. Measures must be taken to prevent his access to this tree, now that he has incurred the penalty of death.
From this sentence it follows that the tree of life must have had some virtue by which the human frame was to be kept free from the decrepitude of age, or the decay that terminates in death. Its name, the tree of life, accords with this conclusion. Only on such a ground could exclusion from it be made the penalty of disobedience, and the occasion of death. Thus, also may we meet and answer all the difficulties which physiology presents to the immortality of unfallen man. We have it on record that there was an herbal virtue in paradise capable of counteracting the effects of the wear and tear of the animal frame. This confirms our account of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Death, which, it is to be remembered, is, to a moral and responsible being, in a comprehensive sense, exclusion from the blessings of conscious existence, and pre-eminently from that of the divine complacence, was not the physical effect of its fruit being eaten, but the penal consequence of a forbidden act. And this consequence is brought about by a special judicial process, recorded in the next verse:
The two trees stand related to one another in a way that touches the very center of man’s moral being. “Do this and live” is the fundamental dictum of the moral law. Its implied counterpart is, “If thou do it not, thou shalt die.” The act of disobedience is evidently decisive for the whole conduct, character, and relation to God. It therefore necessarily forfeits that life which consists in the favor of God and all consequent blessings. The two trees correspond with the condition and the benefit in this essential covenant of law. The one is the test of man’s obedience, or disobedience; the other, the benefit which is retained by obedience and lost by disobedience. Man fails in obedience, and loses the blessing. Hence, forth both the legal and the beneficial parts of the covenant must come from a higher source to all that are saved. Christ bestows both the one and the other by his obedience and by his Spirit. In the old form of the covenant of grace, the Passover typifies the one, and circumcision the other; in the new, the Lord’s Supper and baptism have a similar import. These all, from first to last, betoken the two essential parts of salvation, redemption, and regeneration. This is a clear example of the unity and constancy which prevail in the works of God.
It is evident that the idea of immortality is familiar to the early chapters of Genesis. The primeval command itself implies it. Mortality, moreover, applies to the נפשׁ nephesh, the organic living body; not to the particles of matter in that body, nor to the חיים נשׁמת nı̂shmat chayı̂ym, “breath of life” which came from God. It means not annihilation, but dissolution. Still further, the first part of death is exclusion from the tree of life, which takes place on the very day of disobedience. This indicates its nature. It is not annihilation of the spiritual essence, which does not in fact take place, but the withdrawal from it of the blessings and enjoyments in communion with God of which it is capable. And, lastly, the whole tenor of the narrative is, that death is a penalty for transgression; whereas annihilation is not a penalty, but a release from the doom of perdition. Accordingly, the tempter is not annihilated, but left to bear his doom; and so man’s existence is perpetuated under partial privation - the emblem and earnest of that death which consists in the total privation of life. Death is, no doubt, in its primary meaning, the dissolution of the living body. But even in the execution of the primeval sentence it begins to expand into that compass of meaning which all the great primitives of the scriptural language sooner or later express. Earth, sky, good, evil, life, and death are striking specimens of this elasticity of signification. Hence, we perceive that the germs of the doctrine of the immortality of the soul lie even in these primeval documents. And more we could not expect, unless we were to concentrate the whole fullness of revelation on this subject into its opening pages.
Gen 3:23
In consequence of man’s disobedience the tree of life is withdrawn from the reach of man as a forfeited boon, and the dissolution of the present life allowed to take place according to the laws of nature, still remaining in force in regard to other animated beings; aided, indeed, and accelerated in their operation, by the sinful abuse of human passions. And thus the expression, “in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die,” receives its simple application. It is a conditional sentence, pronounced antecedently as a warning to the responsible party. On the very day of transgression it becomes legally valid against him, and the first step toward its regular execution in the ordinary course of things is taken. This step is his exclusion from the tree of life. This is effected by sending man out of the garden into the common, to until the soil whence he was taken.
Gen 3:24
So he drove out the man. - This expresses the banishment of man from the garden as a judicial act. While he is left to the fruits of his labor for the means of subsistence until his return to the dust, his access to the source of perpetual life and vigor is effectually barred by a guard stationed east of the garden, where was no doubt its only entrance, consisting of the cherubim and the flame of a sword waving in all directions. The flaming sword is the visible form of the sword of justice, repelling the transgressors from the seat and source of happiness and life. The cherubim, who are here mentioned as well-known objects, whose figure does not require description, are the ministers of the divine presence and judgment - of his presence which was not entirely withdrawn from man; and of his judgment, by which he was excluded from the garden of delight.
There is unspeakable mercy here in every respect for the erring race. This present life in the flesh was now tainted with sin, and impregnated with the seeds of the curse, about to spring forth into an awful growth of moral and physical evil. It is not worth preserving for itself. It is not in any way desirable that such a dark confusion of life and death in one nature should be perpetuated. Hence, there is mercy as well as judgment in the exclusion of man from that tree which could have only continued the carnal, earthly, sensual and even devilish state of his being. Let it remain for a season, until it be seen whether the seed of spiritual life will come to birth and growth, and then let death come and put a final end to the old man.
Still further, God does not annihilate the garden or its tree of life. Annihilation does not seem to be his way. It is not the way of that omniscient One who sees the end from the beginning, of that infinite Wisdom that can devise and create a self-working, self-adjusting universe of things and events. On the other hand, he sets his cherubim to keep the way of the tree of life. This paradise, then, and its tree of life are in safe keeping. They are in reserve for those who will become entitled to them after an intervening period of trial and victory, and they will reappear in all their pristine glory and in all their beautiful adaptedness to the high-born and new-born perfection of man. The slough of that serpent nature which has been infused into man will fall off, at least from the chosen number who take refuge in the mercy of God; and in all the freshness and freedom of a heaven-born nature will they enter into all the originally congenial enjoyments that were shadowed forth in their pristine bloom in that first scene of human bliss.
We have now gone over the prelude to the history of man. It consists of three distinct events: the absolute creation of the heavens and the earth, contained in one verse; the last creation, in which man himself came into being, embracing the remainder of the first chapter; and the history of the first pair to the fall, recorded in the second and third chapters. The first two fall into one, and reveal the invisible everlasting Elohim coming forth out of the depths of his inscrutable eternity, and manifesting himself to man in the new character of Yahweh, the author and perpetuator of a universe of being, and pre-eminently of man, a type and specimen of the rational order of beings. Whenever moral agents come into existence, and wherever they come into contact, there must be law, covenant, or compact. Hence, the command is laid upon man as the essential prerequisite to his moral deportment; and Yahweh appears further as the vindicator of law, the keeper of covenant, the performer of promise.
Man, being instructed by him in the fundamental principle of all law, namely, the right of the Creator over the creature, and the independence of each creature in relation to every other, takes the first step in moral conduct. But it is a false one, violating this first law of nature and of God in both its parts. “Thus, by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin.” Hence, the prospect of man’s future history is clouded, and it cannot be darker than it afterward turns out to be. But still it is tinged even in its early dawn with some rays of heavenly hope. The Lord God has held out signals of mercy to the tempted and fallen pair. The woman and the man have not been slow to acknowledge this, and to show symptoms of returning faith and repentance. And though they have been shut out of the garden, yet that region of bliss and its tree of life are not swept out of existence, but, in the boundless mercy of God, reserved in safe keeping for those who shall become heirs of glory, honor, and immortality.
Let it be observed that we here stand on the broad ground of our common humanity. From this wide circumference Scripture never recedes. Even when it recounts the fortunes of a single individual, family, or nation, its eye and its interest extend to the whole race; and it only dwells on the narrower circle of men and things as the potential spring of nascent, growing, and eternal life and blessing to the whole race. Let us endeavor to do justice to this ancient record, in the calm and constant grandeur and catholicity of its revelations concerning the ways of God with man.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv20, 22, 24The living. Hebrew chai, one who brings forth alive,…
The living. Hebrew chai, one who brings forth alive, (Symmachus,) or one who imparts life, in which she was a figure of the blessed Virgin. (Calmet) --- Adam gives his wife this new name, in gratitude for not being cut off by death on the very day of his transgression, as he had every reason to expect and fear he would have been, chap. ii. 17. (Haydock) --- The printed Hebrew reads here, and in many other place, Eva, he, instead of Eja, she; thus, He was the mother, ver. 12, he gave, &c. an inaccuracy unknown to the Samaritan and the best manuscripts copies. (Kennicott.)
Ver 21. Of skins, which Adam took from the beasts which he offered in sacrifice to his merciful Judge, testifying thereby that he had forfeited his life, and uniting himself to that sacrifice of the woman’s promised seed, by which alone he believed the sin of the world was to be expiated. (Haydock)
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 Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv20, 21, 22, 24Adam called his wife's name Eve--probably in reference to…
Adam called his wife's name Eve--probably in reference to her being a mother of the promised Saviour, as well as of all mankind.
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. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv20–2420. Eve… the mother of all living — The…
20. Eve… the mother of all living — The account of man’s original sin concludes with four statements too important and suggestive to have been accidental. The new naming of the woman, (comp. Gen_2:23,) the first clothing, the expulsion from the garden of Eden, and the two sacred symbols placed at the gate, are full of significance. The name Eve, חוה, Hhavvah, from the intensive stem חיה, signifies life-spring, or quickener of life. Given in the very face of the death foreshadowed by the penal sentence, it seems to have arisen from Adam’s faith in the promise that the woman’s Seed should wound the serpent’s head. In Gen_2:23 he named her Woman, in view of her origin; here he names her Eve, in view of her hopeful destiny.
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 Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv20–2420. Eve] Heb. Ḥavvah, that is, Living, or Life.…
20. Eve] Heb. Ḥavvah, that is, Living, or Life. The man is represented as calling his wife by this name, because she was the mother of the whole human race. The word is evidently of great antiquity; for it is not found with this spelling in Biblical Hebrew, but in the form of ḥayyah. The sound of the name “Ḥavvah” (Eve) was sufficiently close to that of the root meaning “Life” (ḥay) to suggest connexion. Whether ḥavvah was an old form, or a name taken over from the primitive people of Palestine, we have no means of deciding.
20–21. These two verses are a parenthesis interrupting the thread of the narrative. Probably they contain materials current in some other thread of tradition, and inserted here at the close of the judicial sentence.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv20–24(20) Adam called his wife’s name Eve.—Heb., Chavvah; in…
(20) Adam called his wife’s name Eve.—Heb., Chavvah; in Greek, Zoë. It has been debated whether this name is a substantive, Life (LXX.), or a participle, Life-producer (Symm). Adam’s condition was now one of death, but his wife thereby attained a higher value in his sight. Through her alone could human life be continued, and the “woman’s seed” be obtained who was to raise up man from his fall. While, then, woman’s punishment consists in the multiplication of her “sorrow and conception,” she becomes thereby only more precious to man; and while “her desire is to her husband,” Adam turns from his own punishment to look upon her with more tender love. He has no word for her of reproach, and we thus see that the common interpretation of Gen_3:12 is more than doubtful. Adam throws no blame either on Eve or on his Maker, because he does not feel himself to blame. He rather means, “How could I err in following one so noble, and in whom I recognise Thy best and choicest gift?” And with this agrees Gen_3:6, where Adam partakes of the fruit without hesitation or thought of resistance. And so here he turns to her and calls her Chavvah, his life, his compensation for his loss, and the antidote for the sentence of death.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv20–24Arraigned, convicted, judged, the guilty but pardoned pair prepare…
CHAPTER 3:20-24
Arraigned, convicted, judged, the guilty but pardoned pair prepare to leave their garden home the woman to begin her experience of sorrow, dependence, and subjection; the man to enter upon his life career of hardship and toil, and both to meet their doom of certain, though it might be of long-delayed, death. The impression made upon their hearts by the Divine Clemency, though not directly stated by the historian, may be inferred from what is next recorded as having happened within the precincts of Eden ere they entered on their exile. And Adam called (not prior to the fall, reading the verb as a pluperfect (Calvin), nor after the birth of Cain, transferring the present verse to, Gen_4:2 (Knobel) but subsequent to the promise of the woman"s seed, and preceding their ejection from the garden) his wife"s name Eve. Chavvah, from chavvah = chayyah, to live (cf. with the arganic rent chvi the Sanscrit, giv; Gothic, quiv; Latin, rive, gigno, vigeo; Greek, zaw, &c., the fundamental idea being to breathe, to respire Furst), is correctly rendered life Work) by the LXX, Josephus, Philo, Gesenins, Delitzsch, Macdonald, &c. Lange, regarding it as an abbreviated form of the participle ;mechavvah, understands it to signify "the sustenance, i.e. the propagation of life; while Knobel, viewing it as an adjective, hints at woman"s peculiar function dw hYji to quicken seed (Gen_19:32) as supplying the explanation. Whether appended by the narrator (Delitzsch, Lange) or uttered by Adam (Kalisch, Macdonald), the words which follow give its true import and exegesis. Because she was the mother (am Greek, mamma; Welsh, mani; Copt., man; German and English, mama; Gesenius) of all living.
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(1) Of Adam"s children, though in this respect she might have been so styled from the beginning; and
(2) of all who should truly live in the sense of being the woman"s seed, as distinguished from the seed of the serpent. In Adam"s giving a second name to his wife has been discerned the first assertion of his sovereignty or lordship over woman to which he was promoted subsequent to the fall (Luther), though this seems to be negatived by the fact that Adam exercised the same prerogative immediately on her creation; an act of thoughtlessness on the part of Adam, in that, "being himself immersed in death, he should have called his wife by so proud a name" (Calvin); a proof of his incredulity (Rupertus). With a juster appreciation of the spirit of the narrative, modern expositors generally regard it as a striking testimony to his faith.
HOMILETICS.
Vers. 20-24.
First fruits of the promise.
I FAITH (ver. 20). The special significance of Adam s renaming his wife at this particular juncture in his history is best discerned when the action is regarded as the response of his faith to the antecedent promise of the woman"s seed.
1. It is the place of faith to succeed, and not to precede, the promise. Faith being, in its simplest conception, belief in a testimony, the testimony must ever take precedence of the faith. "In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation". (Eph_1:13)
2. As to the genesis of faith, it is always evoked by the promise, not the promise by the faith. Adam"s faith was the creation of God"s promise; so is that of every true believer. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God". (Rom_10:17)
3. With regard to the function of faith, it is not that of certifying or making sure the promise, but simply of attesting its certainty, which it does by reposing trust in its veracity. "He that receiveth his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true". (Joh_3:33) And this was practically whatwas done by Adam when he called his wife"s name Eve.
4. The power of faith is seen in this, that while it cannot implement, it is able to anticipate the promise, and, as it were, to enjoy it beforehand, in earnest at least, as Adam did when he realized that his spouse should be the mother of all living. Even so "faith is the substance of things hoped for". (Heb_11:1)
II ACCEPTANCE (ver. 21).
1. In the Divine scheme of salvation acceptance ever follows on the exercise of faith. See the language of the New Testament generally on the subject of a sinner s justification. The covering of our first parents with coats of skin, apart altogether from any symbolical significance in the act, could scarcely be regarded as other than a token of Jehovah"s favor.
1. According to the same scheme the clothing, era sinner ever accompanies the act of his acceptance. In New Testament theology the Divine act of justification is always represented as proceeding on the
2. ground that in the eye of God the sinner stands invested with a complete covering (the righteousness of Christ) which renders him both legally and morally acceptable. That all this was comprehended with perfect fullness and clearness by the pardoned pair it would be foolish to assert; but, in a fashion accommodated to their simple intelligences, the germ of this doctrine was exhibited by the coats of skin with which they were arrayed, and it is at least possible that they had a deeper insight into the significance of the Divine action than we are always prepared to allow.
3. In the teaching of the gospel scheme the providing of a sinner with such a covering as he requires must ever be the work of God, Though not improbable that the coats of skin were furnished by the hides of animals, now for the first time offered in sacrifice by Divine appointment, the simple circumstance that they were God-provided, apart from any other consideration, was sufficient to suggest the thought that only God could supply the covering which was needed for their sin.
III DISCIPLINE (vers. 22-24). Rightly interpreted, neither the language of Jehovah nor that of Moses warrants the idea that the expulsion was designed as a penal infliction; but rather as a measure mercifully intended and wisely adapted for the spiritual edification of the pardoned pair. Three elements were present in it that are seldom absent from the discipline of saints.
1. Removal of comforts. The initial act in the discipline of Adam and his wife was to eject them from the precincts of Eden. And so oftentimes does God begin the work of sanctification in his people"s hearts by the infliction of loss. In the case of Adam and his spouse there were special reasons demanding their removal from the garden, as, e. g.,
(1) its non-suitability as a home for them now that their pure natures were defiled by sin; and
(2) the danger of their continuing longer in the vicinity of the tree of life. And the same two reasons will frequently be found to explain God"s dealings with his people when he inflicts upon them loss of creature comforts; the non-suitability of those comforts to their wants as spiritual beings; and the presence of some special danger in the things removed.
1. Increase of sorrow. Besides being ejected from the garden, the first pair were henceforth to be subjected to toil and trouble. Adam in tilling the ground, and Eve in bearing children. And this, too, was a part of God"s educational process with our first parents; as, indeed, the sufferings of this
2. present life inflicted on his people generally are all commissioned on a like errand, viz., to bring forth within them the peaceable fruits of righteousness, and to make them partakers of his holiness.
3. Sentence of death. The words "whence he was taken" have an echo in them of "dust thou art," &c., and must have extinguished within the breasts of Adam and his wife all hope of returning to Eden on this side the grave; perhaps, too, would assist them in seeking for a better country, even a heavenly. To prevent saints from seeking Edens on the earth seems to be one of the main designs of death.
IV Here (ver. 24). Though excluded from the garden, man was not without cheering ingredients of hope in his condition.
1. The Divine presence was still with him. The cherubim and flaming sword were symbols of the ineffable majesty of Jehovah, and tokens of his presence. And never since has the world been abandoned by the God of mercy and salvation.
2. Paradise was still reserved for him. The cherubim and flaming sword were appointed "to keep the way of the tree of life;" not simply to guard the entrance, but to protect the place. So is heaven a reserved inheritance. (1Pe_1:4)
1. The prospect of readmission to the tree of life was yet before him. As much as this was implied in the jealous guarding of the gate so long as Adam was defiled by sin. It could not fail to suggest the idea that when purified by life"s discipline he would no longer be excluded. (cf. Rev_22:14)
2. The gate of heaven was still near him. He was still permitted to reside in the vicinity of Eden, and to commune with him who dwelt between the cherubim, though denied the privilege as yet of dwelling with him in the interior of his abode. If debarred from the full inheritance, he had at least its earnest. And exactly this is the situation of saints on earth, who, unlike those within the veil, who see the Lord of the heavenly paradise face to face, can only commune with him, as it were, at the gate of his celestial palace.
Learn
1. To believe God"s promise of salvation.
2. To be grateful for God"s gift of righteousness.
3. To submit with cheerfulness to God"s paternal discipline.
4. To live in hope of entering God"s heaven.
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 Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv20, 22, 24Adam called his wifes name live
Gen_3:20
Adam called his wifes name live
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Mans undying hope
Consider that aspect of this terrible calamity which is afforded us in the action of Adam.
It is clear that he understood what was involved in the act he had just committed. Scarcely are the words uttered by God, In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, etc., than he seems to turn to his wife and say, Eve, the mother, the living one; because she is mother of all living. There is no defiance here. It is not because the man refused to accept the judgment of God, not because he refused to submit to the doom. He did not refuse, he did not set himself up against God. He caught the tenderness of the Divine voice even as it pronounced the judgment. He saw the gleam of grace in the darkness of the doom. It is then that he turned to his wife and said, Eve, the living one. Her seed shall bruise the serpents head; shall yet triumph over the evil power that has almost destroyed her; and though this day we die, beyond is a life eternal, for she is the mother of all that shall live. How true this is to human nature! It is illustrated, it is constantly illustrated, in the experience through which we pass. Who has not known it?--Men turning back to their wives in the hour of trouble. Man, suddenly stripped of his glory and possessions, stands amongst the wreck of all his life; that moment, with a fresh trust, he puts his hand in his wifes and says, Well, the future is still before us, we shall not lose hope. Eve, the living one. Mother of all that live. Is there not, in the first place, a recognition of the dignity of the woman? Her name is not mentioned before. She is simply the woman; the other side of human nature--the man and the woman. Adam had his name, the general name of humanity centring in him. But when the loss comes, woman takes her place. She is no longer woman only, she is Eve. She is herself. Bound by a closer tie than ever to her husband, but with a dignity of her own. And is it not also the assertion of the dignity of motherhood? What is womans highest dignity? To be the mother of men. She had been the wife of man before, but a wife is not perfected until she is a mother. And so she receives her name when she is recognized as mother. It is also the immediate acceptance on the part of Adam of the promise of God. God has confirmed his earthly nature. Earth thou art. God had also declared that there was to be a continuance of the race by reference to immediate hope. I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. But had there not been before this these words: I shall put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou shaft bruise his heel? Then came the judgment upon the man, and yet, the moment the judgment is uttered, he calls his wife Eve. He sees the promise that is contained in the motherhood, and in the conflict of the seed and the serpent. He seals with his own word the promise of God. The chief subject of our consideration, however, is the aspect in which Adam seemed to regard his wife, mother of all living! As we speak the word, there rises before us the vast multitude of the human race! The mother of all living--all who shall live! All in the past--all now--all in the future! Mother of all living! How the generations move along the road of life in the great march of mankind--like a river rolling swift with ever broadening stream into the vast ocean of eternity! Wave after wave rolls up and breaks upon the shore of time from the exhaustless tide of life! The life that is around us, in our own city. Multiply these teeming millions by all the cities of the world, or all the ages of human existence, and think of them all gathered up within this womans name. Has our first father been prophetic? Did he, for a moment, see down the vistas of centuries, the masses of humanity enfolded in the motherhood of Eve? Then the thought would come that all these living ones would die. You remember the story of Darius, who, when he reviewed those mighty hosts that followed his standard when he marched to the invasion of Greece, was observed to weep. The squadrons were there, their arms all flashing in the sun, and round about them in the outlying regions the multitudes of followers that attend an army. Magnificent battle array! Vast concourse of men all obedient to his will, and yet the monarch weeps! Why weepest thou, O king? I weep because in one hundred years not one of this great host will be alive. And many feel as felt the king when they contemplate a crowd. When the people are out upon a gala day, and from some high window we look down upon them, a strange melancholy creeps into the heart. When we visit foreign lands, and passing from city to city behold everywhere human life teeming in countless millions, a sense of awe comes over the spirit, and a sense of sorrow. And yet, I am not quite sure that this is right. I would rather catch the gleams of light that the eye of Adam saw shining in the promise of God. I would rather hear the words of cheer of our first father when he gathers up the hope of humanity within his soul, and though the judgment had been only a moment uttered, called her who stood beside him--Eve, because she was the mother of all living, and seals his acceptance of the promise and the hope, in the name he gave to his wife. And man generally has been true to this Divine instinct of the Father. The hope of human life has been unquenchable. Read history, and you will find that no misfortune has daunted men. They remain always hopeful. In the increase of poverty, in the presence of disaster, after war, accidents, oppression, life reasserts itself, and in that up-springing of life, mankind declares its hope. You never can crush it out. Today, the victorious foe may spread desolation over the homes of people whom they destroy, but let the tide of war roll back, and hope will return, and the very battlefield will grow green with harvest promise, and the streets down which the destroying legions thundered, echo with the voice of the children at their play. You cannot crush out life, you cannot destroy mans hope in himself. This name of Eve, the mother of all living, is only the hope that sprang to being in Adams breast, and which, since that moment, has never died from human hearts. Hence it seems to me that human nature is a perpetual gospel. Life is full of evangel. The very vastness and fulness of humanity are the large letters in which Gods promise and Adams interpretation of it, are written out that all may read. (L. D. Bevan, D. D.)
Observations
I. GOD LEAVES NOT HIS CHILDREN WITHOUT MEANS TO SUPPORT THEM IN THEIR WORST CONDITION.
II. THE GRACE WHICH GOD ESPECIALLY WORKS AND PRESERVES IN HIS CHILDRENS HEARTS, IS FAITH.
III. GODS PROMISES MUST BE EMBRACED BY FAITH, AS REAL PERFORMANCES.
IV. A GODLY MAN MUST BE CAREFUL TO PRESERVE MEMORIALS OF GREAT MERCIES. To this end God ordained the Sabbath, and divers other festivals, as likewise did the Church in imitation of Him (Est_9:20-21; Est_9:27-28); for the same end they gave names to the places where those mercies were performed (1Sa_7:12; 2Ch_20:26). Upon the same ground God appoints a pot of manna to be kept in the tabernacle, to remind posterity of that miraculous feeding of their fathers with bread from heaven (Exo_16:33).
V. IT IS FIT IN GIVING NAMES, TO MAKE CHOICE OF SUCH AS MAY GIVE US WITHAL SOMETHING FOR OUR INSTRUCTION. Of this God Himself gives us a precedent, in changing Abrahams and Sarahs name (Gen_17:5; Gen_17:15), and Jacobs (Gen_32:28), in giving Solomon his name (1Ch_21:9), and the name of Jesus to our Saviour (Mat_1:21), which holy persons have followed (Gen_21:3; Gen_21:6; Gen_29:32). Reason
1. We need all helps, to mind us either of Gods mercies, and acts of His providence, or of our own duties; which God Himself implied, in causing His people to write the commandments on the posts and gates of their houses (Deu_11:20), and to make fringes to their garments, to put them in mind of them (Num_15:38-39).
2. And there is no readier means to mind us of such things than our names, which we have daily in our mouths and memories. (J. White, M. A.)
Eve habited by Adam
The fact that it was not God but Adam that gave the name to Eve teaches us much. Why did not God give Eve her name, as He had done to Adam? God did not allow Adam to name himself, even in his innocence; yet now in his fall He permits him to name the woman, nay, sanctions his so doing. This was for such reasons as the following--
1. To show His grace. What grace, what tender love is displayed in allowing man to give a name to his wife--and such a name--Eve--LIFE!
2. To show that Adam was not to be deprived of his headship. He was still to be head of the woman, even in his fall, and as such he names her.
3. To show, that though Adam had so cruelly flung blame upon her before God, yet no estrangement had followed. She was still bone of his bone. They had been companions in guilt, they were to be companions in sorrow, and they were fellow heirs of the hope just held out to them. Thus they were reunited in new bonds of mingled sadness and joy.
4. To show the direction in which Adams thoughts were running, that from this manifestation of the current of his thoughts we might learn how the promise had taken hold of him. This verse gives us unequivocal insight into the state of Adams feelings. It exhibits him to us as one who understood, believed, prized, rested on the Divine promise which he had just heard. He stands before us as a believing man; and we might say of him, By faith Adam called his wifes name Eve. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
Coats of skins
Man clothed by God
The whole mystery of justification is wrapped up in the details of this story.
I. We have the fact as in a parable that MAN IS UTTERLY IMPOTENT TO BRING TO PASS ANY SATISFYING RIGHTEOUSNESS OF HIS OWN. He can see his shame, but he cannot effectually cover or conceal it. The garments of our own righteousness are fig leaves all, and we shall prove them such. Let God once call to us, and we shall find how little all these devices of our own can do for us. We shall stand shivering, naked and ashamed, before Him.
II. While we thus learn that man cannot clothe himself, we learn also that GOD UNDERTAKES TO CLOTHE HIM. As elsewhere He has said in word, I am the Lord that healeth thee, so here He says in act, I am the Lord that clotheth thee. He can yet devise a way by which His banished shall return to Him.
III. We note in this Scripture that the clothing which God found for Adam could only have been obtained AT THE COST OF A LIFE, and that the life of one unguilty, of one who had no share or part in the sin which made the providing of it needful. We have here the first institution of sacrifice; God Himself is the Institutor. It is a type and shadow, a prelude and prophecy of the crowning sacrifice on Calvary.
IV. Are not the LESSONS which we may draw from all this plain and palpable enough?
1. There is no robe of our own righteousness which can cover us and conceal our shame.
2. That righteousness which we have not in ourselves we must be content and thankful to receive at the hands of God.
3. Not Christ by His life, but by His life and death, and mainly by His death, supplies these garments for our spirits need. (Archbishop Trench.)
Man clothed by God
I come, then, to the conclusion that these vestments which the Lord God provided for our first parents, are emblematic of nothing less than the sacrifice and righteousness of Christ. But there might be a second object in thus arraying our first parents in coats of skin; and that was, to keep alive in their minds the sentence of death, which would be ultimately executed upon them. The dying struggles of the poor animals, whose skins they were to appropriate to themselves, could not fail to remind them of their own deserts; but then this feeling might be too soon effaced; it was essential, therefore, to their continuance in humility, that they should carry with them wherever they went a memorial that death was come into the world--a death which was the effect of sin, a death to which they must at last submit. And sadly they must have gazed upon the throes of every slaughtered creature, as they beheld the fate to which they were hastening themselves. Yet there was a wonderful provision made for securing both the glory of God and the comfort of His creatures. Death was the fruit of sin, sin was the work of Satan; and I may say concerning the honour of the Creator, that Satan may not triumph as a destroyer, it was so ordained that the first things which died should be emblematical of the death of Christ, by whom death itself should be virtually abolished. (F. J. Stainforth, M. A.)
Sin and civilization
I. The clothing of the first man and woman in skins of beasts, is in the first place, symbolical of the dominance of that nature which is the sole possession of the beast. In the beast, there is only a life, which informs the body for the purpose of bodily ends. In the man there is a spirit, which informs the body through the soul, for the ultimate ends of the higher and spiritual life. The body of the beast is for itself. The body of the man is for the spirit. It is the spirits instrument. But, by sin, man had set body against spirit, over spirit. Man had chosen the material instead of the spiritual.
II. It was, also, the insistence of God upon the propriety of the shame, which had prompted them to cover themselves with clothes. It is as if God had said: You are right; the material body which you have put on over the spiritual--conceal it! You have set it in the forefront; put it in the rear. Cover it! hide it!
III. It is, besides, the symbol of the conflict between the higher and lower, which makes up the whole of mans moral discipline.
IV. But there was still another meaning in this clothing of skins, for it is to be noted that while Adam and Eve covered themselves with leaves God makes coats of skins and clothed them. Were it only for the purpose of symbolism, they might have worn these clothes of leaves. Why must these coats of skins have been made for them? I shall not raise here questions as to mans relation to the animals in his innocent state. Naturally, by physical constitution, man is a flesh-eating animal, and I cannot accept the opinion, that till his sin, he was fed only by the food of the garden. But, at last, the narrative brings out a striking distinction between the demand made on mans powers, when innocent, and that which was made upon him after the Fall. In the garden all seemed spontaneously easy. He had only to put forth his hand, and take the food, the fruit. It was simple work--gathering a few leaves: fastening them together and making a covering. But now, there is the further difficulty of securing the skins of beasts. These must supply their coverings; they will have to be captured, killed, and the skins prepared. There may be some relation here to sacrifice as well as to food. At least the idea is suggested of man coming into relation to the animal world. The creatures must be caught and trained, and fed, and slain. Now this is the elementary fact of all material civilization. Mans first victory over the world is over the animals. Man makes his first step in culture in conquering the brutes. The domesticity of the lower world, and the dominance of the human race over the animal, is the first step in progress. It is, then, with no fanciful interpretation that I base upon this passage some thoughts concerning the progress of humanity in material civilization, as related to the Fall. Mans fallen condition has certainly borne in some way upon his material development. I am anxious to show that in Gods mercy the Fall has been the condition of a greater rising.
1. The historic proof of this doctrine. If you review the history of civilization and the physical progress of man, you will find that it has been rendered in a large degree possible by sin, and, we may almost say that, had it not been for sin, man could not have advanced to the degree, or in the manner, in which that advance has been made. We do not say that material development necessarily accompanies a sinful condition of humanity. This is disproved by the fact that the highest form of material civilization has been pressed into service of the highest moral and spiritual life, and the further fact that the noblest instances of culture have been found to manifest the most distinguished virtues. Still, the general relation of religious and material well-being has been such as to suggest, what we think the incident of our text indicates, that the presence of sin in our human nature has been the condition upon which God has made the development of mans external good to be dependent. Had it not been for sin, we had not been so wise, or so wealthy, or strong, nor smitten with so many passions--not summoned to such weary conflicts; but also, and by reason of these, not such masters of an external world of use and ornament, of beauty and grace.
2. That which is shown in this historical review is also seen in the nature of the case. Let us restate the position we are endeavouring to sustain. Out of the Fall God has caused to issue mans material well-being. We have seen, that the essence of the first sin consisted in the elevation of the physical nature into the supreme regard. Thereupon God thrust man out into a world which demanded his energy to conquer its hostile forces, and to bring it into subservience to his will. Civilization is the result of the assertions of mans physical needs, and the endeavour on the part of man to compel the physical world to supply those needs. When, in the person of his first parents, he set the body above the spirit, then he lost his natural condition. Now, he must win back this material empire; he must overcome everything, himself included. Nothing submits freely, spontaneously. His nature, especially his physical nature, becomes imperative, he hungers, he thirsts; his passions are imperious, and yet there is no response from the things about him. In Eden, hunger would have been immediately satisfied, thirst immediately assuaged. I doubt if ever there was hunger or thirst. All the emotions of the soul would have been in complete rhythm and harmony, and the spirit, and the soul, and the body, would have been in perpetual melody of goodness and innocence. But now he must set himself to contrive. He has to contend. He must become an artist. He must call in the aid of his fellows. He must unite with others, and here is the source of organization, development of art, the inventions of science, the formation of political arrangement, the submission of the governed, the rule of the king. All must be produced to content the cravings of that nature which has been aroused and will be satisfied. There is no government among the angels, except the immediate government of God. There can be no art among beings who are not created at once in fellowship with the Divine, and yet part of the material world about them. Government and art are the result of the fact that this lower nature of ours has been lifted into supremacy. They are the means of supplying its desires; the answer to its emphatic claim. But, moreover, the lower nature thus aroused, heightened, intensified, must again be brought under the control of the higher nature. If that does not result, there will be confusion, chaos, death. The body has been made prominent, brought forth; it must be set back, hidden. God taught man this lesson first, when He made coats of skins and clothed him. Hence there follows not only the development of the physical, but the subjugation of this physical to the spiritual. CONCLUSION:
1. Are we not taught here the lesson, which no age more than our own has needed, that a civilization which is chiefly materialistic must have in it the gravest perils?
2. And will not these thoughts help us to understand the meaning of the perplexed and changeful condition through which the development of the race has moved? Is it some strange and malicious spirit that has driven man to struggle with the beasts, and compelled him to the arduous conflict, often renewed, with the hard outer world? Not at all. It is the will of God, wise and loving, which would thus cover his nakedness and Jet once more the brutal nature in its proper place of retirement and subjection. Every race decay and national decline is only part of the discipline of man. It is a long struggle to regain the proper relation of spirit and body. But it is the Divine will.
3. It shows us, too, the need of a Divine help for the undoing of the evil man has brought upon himself, and which the clothes of his own invention will not supply. The man had already clothed himself with leaves. But man found hiding of shame to be not enough. A devil brought the sin, and a God must make its covering. Mans leaf garment is a poor defence against the cold, hard world into which he is driven. God therefore gives him clothes of skins. And so ever He is ready to supply that remedy, that salvation which man must find or perish, but which no man can himself secure.
4. And so, finally, I learn by these words to fill all things with the evangel which God proclaims in the very utterance of doom. Some men go everywhere only to find a Divine law and a Divine condemnation. Wherever I turn I see written up Gods gospel. I know no human story which is not a comment upon grace. I know no voice, even though it comes from the deeps of hell, which is not an echo of the pity of our God. (L. D.Bevan, D. D.)
Lessons
1. In the midst of death Gods thoughts have been to direct sinners unto life.
2. Gods thoughts are not only to give life but to reveal it in His own way.
3. Gods goodness prevented sin from turning all into disorder. He keeps relations.
4. Grace makes the same instrument be for life, which was for death (Gen_3:20).
5. God pitieth His creatures in the nakedness which sin hath made.
6. God makes garments where man makes nakedness.
7. Garments are a covering of nakedness, but a discovery of sin.
8. Raiment should humble and not make men proud. The mischief of sin is to forget nakedness under fine clothes. It makes nakedness appear fine.
9. Suitable clothing was Gods work for several sexes. For Adam and his wife. The law afterwards showeth this.
10. Gracious providence puts on clothes upon sinners backs. Much of love (Gen_3:21). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Observations
I. THE VERY CLOTHES THAT WE WEAR ARE GODS PROVISION.
II. NECESSARY PROVISION IS AS MUCH AS WE CAN LOOK FOR AT GODS HAND.
III. OUR CLOTHES FOR THE MOST PART ARE BORROWED FROM OTHER CREATURES.
1. To humble and keep our hearts low, when we consider that we have nothing but what we borrow, and that of our basest vassals.
2. To move us to take care of the creature, without the help whereof we must need starve with hunger and cold. (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 Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v22Gen_3:24. Cherubims.] The final “s” is superfluous: the word…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Gen_3:24. Cherubims.] The final “s” is superfluous: the word should be either “cherubim,” or, what comes to the same thing, “cherubs.” It is of much more consequence to know and remember that the Heb. has the definite article. This is very significant. It implies that, when the book of Genesis was written, the notion of “the cherubim” had become “familiar.” Instead of wearying the reader with the numerous, and for the most part obviously far-fetched conjectures which critics have indulged in as to the derivation and meaning of the word cherub, we will merely say that perhaps one of the latest and simplest explanations is the best. Fürst regards the root (k-r-b) as meaning “to seize, catch, lay hold of;” and compares with it the Sanscrit gribh, Persian giriften, Greek γρυπ, γρυφ, German grip, krip, greif, &c. If, as he says, the word is an “abstract,” and signifies “the seizing, laying hold of,” even so a ready application of the term to the objects intended may be made. But if, as we venture to think, karubh is simply a pure passive, then the meaning yielded by it would be “the seized ones,” “the laid hold of ones,” “the possessed ones,”—than which a more fitting significance could scarcely be imagined (cf. especially Psa_18:10; Psa_80:1; Ezekiel 10) On the one hand, the cherubim laid hold of and enclosed the divine glory; and, on the other, the divine power laid hold of and directed these upbearers of the divine majesty.
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MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Gen_3:22-24
THE EXPULSION OF MAN FROM EDEN
Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden teaches:—
I. That when comforts are likely to be abused, God sends men from them. There was danger least Adam should put forth his hand and eat of the “tree of life” and live for ever. The fallen man must not be allowed to eat of the tree of life in this world. It can only be tasted by him in the resurrection; to live for ever in a frail body would be an unmitigated woe. There are many trees of life in the world from which God has to drive men, because they are not in a proper condition to make the designed use of them. Government and law must be preventive as well as punitive, they must regard the future as well as the past. It is better for a man to be driven from a mental, moral, or social good than that he should make a bad use of it. Many a soul has lost its Eden by making a bad use of good things.
II. That it is not well that a sinner should live and reside in the habitation of innocence. Adam and Eve were out of harmony with the purity and beauty of Eden. Such an innocent abode would not furnish them with the toil rendered necessary by their new condition of life. Men ought to have a sympathy with the place in which they reside. Only pure men should live in Eden. Society should drive out the impure from its sacred garden. Commerce should expel the dishonest from its benevolent enclosure. Let the wicked go to their own place in this life. A wicked soul will be far happier out of Eden than in it. Heaven will only allow the good to dwell within its walls.
III. That sin always causes men to be expelled from their truest enjoyments. Sin expels men from their Edens. It expels from the Eden of a pure and noble manhood. It drives the monarch from his palace into exile. It exchanges innocence for shame; plenty for want; the blessing of God into a curse; and fertility into barrenness. It makes the world into a prison-house. It often happens that when men want to gain more than they legitimately can, that they lose that which they already possess. In trying to become gods, men often lose their Edens. Satan robs men of their choicest possessions and of their sweetest comforts. This expulsion was
(1). Deserved.
(2). Preventive.
(3). Pitiable.
IV. That though expelled from Eden man’s life is yet beset with blessings. Though the cherubim and the flaming sword closed up the way to Paradise, Christ had opened a new and living way into the holy place. Christ is now the “way” of man—to purity—to true enjoyment—to heaven. Heaven substitutes one blessing for another.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen_3:22-24. Jehovah is the disposer of all places and conditions; he sends in and puts out.
The cursed earth is the sinner’s place of correction.
God has separated sin from pleasure. Sin is out of Paradise.
Terrible are the means by which God drives sinners from their pleasures.
God sometimes withholds blessings for our good.
When men have once committed sin, they are in danger of any other.
The surest way to prevent sin is to keep men from the allurements to it.
God cannot allow the defiling of His ordinances by such as have no right to them.
God likes to leave monuments both of His mercies and judgments.
THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION EXHIBITED AT EDEN
By some it has been thought that the plan of redemption began to be unfolded in Eden in that symbolical appearance recorded in our text, receiving, as time rolled on, fuller development and additional illustration, until it was clearly set forth in the Saviour’s mission.
I. The event here recorded. The expulsion of man from Paradise.
1. It was not forcible. The wording of the sentence would certainly lead us to infer the contrary, but we can scarcely suppose that the unwillingness of Adam to leave Eden would manifest itself in rebellious opposition, so as to induce coercive measures; besides, we may infer from the entire narrative, that he had been brought by this time to penitence.
2. Neither are we to suppose that this event occurred merely as a carrying out of the curse which had been pronounced. The sin of Adam no doubt was the ground of this exclusion, but the principal reason was, that access to the tree of life might be denied him. By this he was taught the full consequence of his sin.
II. The transaction that followed. “And he placed at the east of the garden,” &c. The general mind associates with this statement, the idea of wrath; the popular notion being, that an angel with a flaming sword in hand, stood in the entrance of Eden, to prevent any approach to the tree of life. That such cannot be its import might be inferred from the general tenor of the narrative; in several instances, while Adam was yet in the garden, the mercy of God was especially manifested to him, and we cannot suppose that after his exclusion, there would be less mercy. To us it appears as an illustration of the recent promise of the Redeemer.
1. What is the Scripture signification of the term “Cherubim?” (Eze_1:22; Eze_10:1.) (Rev_4:6.) The cherubim of paradise same as these. In Ezekiel, and in all the passages which refer to the subject, we have the idea that God dwelt with the cherubim; we are also told that the appearance of the cherubim was that of a man; so that one great truth taught at Eden might be, that the seed of the woman, who would open the way to the tree of life, would be God dwelling with the flesh.
2. What was the flaming sword? Critics tell us that the word rendered “flaming sword,” might be rendered “the fire of wrath.” Allow that the institution at Eden and the vision of Ezekiel represent the same appearance, and we have a key to the expression, “flaming sword.” In the vision of Ezekiel there was a fire unfolding, or turning back upon itself; and the living creatures, with the likeness of a man, were in the midst of the fire. In the text, the sword of flame is said to have turned every way, but this would be better rendered “turning back on itself;” so that the great truth here taught was, that the fire of wrath, which had been kindled by transgression, instead of burning out to consume man, would turn back and expend itself on “God manifest in the flesh.”
III. The design of this transaction.
1. One great end was to teach the principles of redemption.
2. To keep the divinely-appointed way to eternal life in remembrance.
3. That it might serve as a temple of worship. It was to this “presence of the Lord” that the antediluvian patriarch came—from which Cain was driven. Here sacrifices were offered, as expressions of faith in this way of reconciliation.—(Sketches of Sermons by Wesleyan Ministers.)
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
REV. WM. ADAMSON
Privileges Perverted! Gen_3:22. Pilkington mentions that in Retsch’s Illustrations of Göethe’s Faust, there is one plate where angels are seen dropping roses down upon the demons, who are contending for the soul of Faust. But every rose falls like molten metal—burning and blistering where it touches. Is it not so with man? God’s gifts are by him abused—His privileges perverted. The gifts remain intrinsically the same; but man’s heart—his guilty conscience is pained; as vice blushes at virtue’s contact.
“Wasted and marred in the sin-stricken soul,
The finest workmanship of God is there.”—Willis.
Divine Care! (Gen_3:23.) God did not forget Adam and Eve. Nor was He indifferent to their constitution. Life in Paradise would be extreme misery. He saw—he knew. So God sees all the way of each child of His. And as he taught Adam and Eve that His Providence and love would guide and direct their future, so does He teach us. Dr. Doddride was taught this in a dream. He thought he had just died, and in an instant was conscious that he was free as a bird. Embodied in an aërial form he floated in light, while beneath was his family weeping over his dead body, which he had just left as though it were an empty box. Reposing upon golden clouds, he found himself ascending through space, guided by a venerable figure, in which age and youth were blended into majestic sweetness. They travelled on and on. At length the towers of a most beautiful edifice rose, brilliant and distinct, before them. The door swung noiselessly open as they entered a spacious room, in the centre of which stood a table covered with a snow-white cloth, on which was a golden cup and a cluster of ripe grapes. “Here you must await the Lord of the mansion, who will soon come,” said the guide. “In the meantime, you will find plenty to delight you.” His guide vanished; and upon looking at the room, he found its walls covered with pictures, which, upon examination, proved to be a complete delineation of his entire life, revealing to him that there had not been an hour in it of joy, sadness, or peril, in which a ministering angel had not been present as guardian and Saviour. This revelation of God’s goodness and mercy and watchfulness far exceeded his highest imaginings. While he was filled with gratitude and love, the Lord of the mansion entered. His appearance was so overwhelming in its loveliness and majesty, that the dreamer sank at his feet overcome. His Lord, gently raising him, took his hand and led him forward to the table. Pressing the juice of the grapes into the golden cup, he first tasted it, then holding it to the dreamer’s lips, said, “Drink: this is the new wine in my Father’s kingdom.” No sooner had he drank, than perfect love cast out all fear, and clasping his arms around the Saviour, he exclaimed “My Lord and my God!” Sweeter than the sweetest of earth’s music, he heard the voice of God His Saviour in accents of comfort and tones of assurance; and, thrilling with unspeakable bliss, he awoke with tears of rapture streaming over his face. Yes! God sees—knows—pities—preserves—perfects.
“Through all my dark has shone
Thy face, Thy peace has flowed beneath my pain;
Stumbling, I fell in Thy embrace
My loss by Thee was turned to gain.”
Mercy and Judgment! Gen_3:24. Mercy here fringed the judgment of exclusion. Man now required an occupation to prevent unavailing regrets. Naturally prone to mood over the past, God gave him an employment which would draw his mind away from past memories to present action and future hope. Regrets of a certain class are useless. As for instance those which a man in mid-life sometimes experiences. It is the solemn thought connected with middle life, that life’s last business is begun in earnest; and it is then, midway between the cradle and the grave, that a man begins to marvel that he lets the days of youth go by so half-enjoyed. It is the pensive autumn feeling; it is the sensation of half-sadness that we experience when the longest day of the year is past, and every day that follows is shorter, and the light fainter, and the feebler shadows tell that nature is hastening with gigantic footsteps to her winter grave. So does man look back upon his youth. When the first gray hairs become visible, when the unwelcome truth fastens itself upon the mind that a man is no longer going up hill, but down, and that the sun is always westering, he looks back on things behind. When we were children, we thought as children. But now there lies before us manhood, with its earnest work, and then old age, and then the grave, and then home. There is a second youth for man, better and holier than the first, if he will look on and not look back. Hence God sent forth Adam to till the ground, to devote his energies to diligent use of the present, by directing his hopes toward heavenly rest in the future. And if we could have his confession now it would be:—
“Yes, I can tell of hours apart
In lonely path and secret place,
When burned and glowed within my heart
The wondrous meanings of Thy grace.”
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.
Alexander MacLaren1905 · Public DomainOn v24Gen 3:24. - Rev 22:14.
Genesis
EDEN LOST AND RESTORED
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Gen 3:24. - Rev 22:14.
Better is the end of a thing than the beginning.’ Eden was fair, but the heavenly city shall be fairer. The Paradise regained is an advance on the Paradise that was lost. These are the two ends of the history of man, separated by who knows how many millenniums. Heaven lay about him in his infancy, but as he journeyed westwards its morning blush faded into the light of common day-and only at eventide shall the sky glow again with glory and colour, and the western heaven at last outshine the eastern, with a light that shall never die. A fall, and a rise-a rise that reverses the fall, a rise that transcends the glory from which he fell,-that is the Bible’s notion of the history of the world, and I, for my part, believe it to be true, and feel it to be the one satisfactory explanation of what I see round about me and am conscious of within me.
1. Man had an Eden and lost it.
I take the Fall to be a historical fact. To all who accept the authority of Scripture, no words are needed beyond the simple statement before us, but we may just gather up the signs that there are on the wide field of the world’s history, and in the narrower experience of individuals, that such a fall has been.
Look at the condition of the world: its degradation, its savagery-all its pining myriads, all its untold millions who sit in darkness and the shadow of death. Will any man try to bring before him the actual state of the heathen world, and, retaining his belief in a God, profess that these men are what God meant men to be? It seems to me that the present condition of the world is not congruous with the idea that men are in their primitive state, and if this is what God meant men for, then I see not how the dark clouds which rest on His wisdom and His love are to be lifted off.
Then, again-if the world has not a Fall in its history, then we must take the lowest condition as the one from which all have come; and is that idea capable of defence? Do we see anywhere signs of an upward process going on now? Have we any experience of a tribe raising itself? Can you catch anywhere a race in the act of struggling up, outside of the pale of Christianity? Is not the history of all a history of decadence, except only where the Gospel has come in to reverse the process?
But passing from this: What mean the experiences of the individual-these longings; this hard toil; these sorrows?
How comes it that man alone on earth, manifestly meant to be leader, lord, etc., seems but cursed with a higher nature that he may know greater sorrows, and raised above the beasts in capacity that he may sink below them in woe, this capacity only leading to a more exquisite susceptibility, to a more various as well as more poignant misery?
Whence come the contrarieties and discordance in his nature?
It seems to me that all this is best explained as the Bible explains it by saying: {1} Sin has done it; {2} Sin is not part of God’s original design, but man has fallen; {3} Sin had a personal beginning. There have been men who were pure, able to stand but free to fall.
It seems to me that that explanation is more in harmony with the facts of the case, finds more response in the unsophisticated instinct of man, than any other. It seems to me that, though it leaves many dark and sorrowful mysteries all unsolved, yet that it alleviates the blackest of them, and flings some rays of hope on them all. It seems to me that it relieves the character and administration of God from the darkest dishonour; that it delivers man’s position and destiny from the most hopeless despair; that though it leaves the mystery of the origin of evil, it brings out into clearest relief the central truths that evil is evil, and sin and sorrow are not God’s will; that it vindicates as something better than fond imaginings the vague aspirations of the soul for a fair and holy state; that it establishes, as nothing else will, at once the love of God and the dignity of man; that it leaves open the possibility of the final overthrow of that Sin which it treats as an intrusion and stigmatises as a fall; that it therefore braces for more vigorous, hopeful conflict against it, and that while but for it the answer to the despairing question, Hast Thou made all men in vain? must be either the wailing echo ‘In vain,’ or the denial that He has made them at all, there is hope and there is power, and there is brightness thrown on the character of God and on the fate of man, by the old belief that God made man upright, and that man made himself a sinner.
2. Heaven restores the lost Eden.
‘God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared them a city.’
The highest conception we can form of heaven is the reversal of all the evil of earth, and the completion of its incomplete good: the sinless purity-the blessed presence of God-the fulfilment of all desires-the service which is blessed, not toil-the changelessness which is progress, not stagnation.
3. Heaven surpasses the lost Eden.
{1} Garden-City.
The perfection of association-the nations of the saved. Here ‘we mortal millions live alone,’ even when united with dearest. Like Egyptian monks of old, each dwelling in his own cave, though all were a community.
{2} The richer experience.
The memory of past sorrows which are understood at last.
Heaven’s bliss in contrast with earthly joys.
Sinlessness of those who have been sinners will be more intensely lustrous for its dark background in the past. Redeemed men will be brighter than angels.
The impossibility of a fall.
Death behind us.
The former things shall no more come to mind, being lost in blaze of present transcendent experience, but yet shall be remembered as having led to that perfect state.
Christ not only repairs the ‘tabernacle which was fallen,’ but builds a fairer temple. He brings ‘a statelier Eden,’ and makes us dwell for ever in a Garden City.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield1917 · Public DomainOn vv20, 21, 23, 24i.e. living, or life-giver.
Eve
i.e. living, or life-giver.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v20Man Driven Out of paradise
Man Driven Out of paradise
v. 20. And Adam called his wife’s name Eve because she was the mother of all living. Both Adam and his wife received the first Gospel proclamation in silence; they believed the promise and arose from their fall with due repentance. This is shown even in the name which Adam applied to his wife, calling her "life," or "source of life," because she became the mother of the entire human race, whose propagation and life was dependent upon her.
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v. 21. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed them. So the first real dress of man was God’s work; He authorized them, He gave them instructions, to make themselves coats of skins, which they were to wear as a covering for their nakedness and as a protection against the rigors of a changed climate. Beginning with this time, then, men were permitted to kill and sacrifice animals for their own use. This act of God, incidentally, serves as a basis for all order and decency in the matter of dress under all circumstances. If the dress of man or woman does not cover their nakedness, but suggests or reveals such charms as have an essentially sensual appeal, then it does not serve the purpose for which the Lord intended it in the beginning, then it becomes a tool in the service of sin.
v. 22. And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of Us to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever,
v. 23. therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. Here the Triune God is again shown in counsel with Himself. Man had become, in a manner of speaking, like one of the persons of the Godhead. He knew good and evil, although, unfortunately, he was involved in the latter himself, having broken through the bounds set him by the Lord. The sentence of punishment had been spoken, and lest man frustrate its force by partaking of the tree of life as well, the Lord now formally expelled Adam and Eve from the lovely garden which had been their home. The man was destined henceforth to gain his livelihood by the most laborious application to the soil from which he himself had been formed.
v. 24. So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. After his expulsion, man’s return into the garden was rendered impossible by the fact that God on the east side, the only accessible entrance, stationed cherubim, armed with the flame of a sword that was two-edged and sharp, glittering in the light as the rays struck its brilliant play. To attempt to pass meant certain death. Man would henceforth know of the existence of Paradise, would even know the location of the tree of life, whose supernatural powers had not been removed by God, but man could not return. This fact was to remind him continually of the time of the final perfection, when sin will be destroyed forever, death will be abolished, and the true tree of life will bear fruit for those that partake of salvation throughout eternity, Revelation 20, 21.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv20, 22The man
The man
Some translations say "Adam."
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called his wife's name Eve
"gave his wife the name Eve" or "named his wife Eve"
Eve
Translators may write a footnote saying "The name Eve sounds like the Hebrew word that means 'living.'"
all the living
The word "living" refers to people. AT: "all people" or "all living people" (See: Nominal Adjectives)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv20–243:20-24 Soon after they were judged for their sin,…
3:20-24 Soon after they were judged for their sin, Adam and Eve were banished from the garden.
3:20 Eve (Hebrew khawah) sounds like a Hebrew term (khayah) that means “to give life.” Following God’s pronouncement of Adam’s impending death (3:19), Adam expressed hope by giving Eve a name associated with life. Adam’s naming of Eve in such close proximity to 3:16 may suggest that the narrator views it as Adam’s first act of ruling over the woman after the Fall (see study note on 2:19-20).
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv20–23 20. And Adam called, etc. There are two ways…
20. And Adam called, etc. There are two ways in which this may be read. The former, in the pluperfect tense, ‘Adam had called.’ If we follow this reading, the sense of Moses will be, that Adam had been greatly deceived, in promising life to himself and to his posterity, from a wife, whom he afterwards found by experience to be the introducer of death. And Moses (as we have seen) is accustomed, without preserving the order of the history, to subjoin afterwards things which had been prior in point of time. If, however we read the passage in the preterite tense, it may be understood either in a good or bad sense. There are those who think that Adam, animated by the hope of a more happy condition, because God had promised that the head of the serpent should be wounded by the seed of the woman, called her by a name implying life.’ This would be a noble and even heroic fortitude of mind; since he could not, without an arduous and difficult struggle, deem her the mother of the living, who, before any man could have been born, had involved all in eternal destruction. But, because I fear lest this conjecture should be weak, let the reader consider whether Moses did not design rather to tax Adam with thoughtlessness, who being himself immersed in death, yet gave to his wife so proud a name. Nevertheless, I do not doubt that, when he heard the declaration of God concerning the prolongation of life, he began again to breathe and to take courage; and then, as one revived, he gave his wife a name derived from life ; but it does not follow, that by a faith accordant with the word of God, he triumphed, as he ought to have done, over death. I therefore thus expound the passage; as soon as he had escaped present death, being encouraged by a measure of consolation, he celebrated that divine benefit which, beyond all expectation, he had received, in the name he gave his wife.
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 On vv21–22 Or, gave them knowledge to make themselves coats.
Or, gave them knowledge to make themselves coats.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv20–24 Gen 3:20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve;…
Gen 3:20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
Ver. 20. And Adam called his wife’s name Eve.] That is, Life, or Living. Not, per antiphrasim, as some would have it; much less out of pride and stomach, in contempt of the divine sentence denounced against them both, that they should surely die, as Rupertus would have it: but because she was to be mother of all living, whether a natural or a spiritual life; and likewise for a testimony of his faith in, and thankfulness for, that lively and lifegiving oracle. {a} {Gen 3:15}
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The mother of all living.] "Have we not all," as "one father," {Mal 2:10} so, one mother? did we not all tumble in a belly? "why do we then deal treacherously every man against his brother?" {Mal 2:10} This one consideration should charm down our rising and boiling spirits one against another, as it did Abraham’s. {Gen 13:8}
{a} λογια ζωντα, i.e., ζωοποιουντα.
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 On vv20–24 The word signifies either a living, or, the giver…
The word signifies either a living, or, the giver or preserver of life. Though for her sin justly sentenced to a present death, yet by God’s infinite mercy, and by virtue of the promised Seed, she was both continued in life herself, and
was made the mother of all living men and women that should be after her upon the earth; who though in and with their mother they were condemned to speedy death, yet shall be brought forth into the state and land of the living, and into the hopes of a blessed and eternal life by the Redeemer, whose mother or progenitor she was.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv20–22 God having named the man, and called him Adam,…
God having named the man, and called him Adam, which signifies red earth, Adam, in further token of dominion, named the woman, and called her Eve, that is, life. Adam bears the name of the dying body, Eve that of the living soul. The reason of the name is here given (some think, by Moses the historian, others, by Adam himself): Because she was (that is, was to be) the mother of all living. He had before called her Ishah - woman, as a wife; here he calls her Evah - life, as a mother. Now, 1. If this was done by divine direction, it was an instance of God's favour, and, like the new naming of Abraham and Sarah, it was a seal of the covenant, an assurance to them that, notwithstanding their sin and his displeasure against them for it, he had not reversed that blessing wherewith he had blessed them: Be fruitful and multiply. It was likewise a confirmation of the promise now made, that the seed of the woman, of this woman, should break the serpent's head. 2. If Adam did it of himself, it was an instance of his faith in the word of God. Doubtless it was not done, as some have suspected, in contempt or defiance of the curse, but rather in a humble confidence and dependence upon the blessing. (1.) The blessing of a reprieve, admiring the patience of God, that he should spare such sinners to be the parents of all living, and that he did not immediately shut up those fountains of the human life and nature, because they could send forth no other than polluted, poisoned, streams. (2.) The blessing of a Redeemer, and promised seed, to whom Adam had an eye, in calling his wife Eve - life; for he should be the life of all the living, and in him all the families of the earth should be blessed, in hope of which he thus triumphs.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv20–24 And Adam called his wife's name Eve,.... Whom he…
And Adam called his wife's name Eve,.... Whom he had before named "Ishah", a woman, because taken from him the man, Gen 2:23 and now gives her a new name upon this scene of things, which had taken place; which is derived not from "Chavah", to "show forth", to "declare"; as if she was called so, because of her discourse with the serpent, being loquacious and talkative, and telling everything she knew, according to some Jewish writers (g); but from "Chayah, to live", as the reason given in the text shows. She is called Aeon "(Aevum)" by Philo Byblius, the interpreter of Sanchoniatho (h). The word "Eve" is retained in many Heathen writers, and used to be frequently repeated in the Bacchanalian rites, when the idolaters appeared with serpents platted on their heads (i); which plainly refers to the affair between the serpent and Eve; hence Bacchus is sometimes called Evius (k): the reason of Adam's giving her this name follows:
because she was the mother of all living; which reason is either given by Moses, when from her had sprung a numerous offspring, and would be continued to the end of the world; or if given by Adam was prophetic of what she would be; and so the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "because she would be the mother of all living"; and the ground of this faith and persuasion of his, that he and his wife should not die immediately for the offence they had committed, but should live and propagate their species, as well as be partakers of spiritual and eternal life, was the hint that had been just given, that there would be a seed spring from them; not only a numerous offspring, but a particular eminent person that should be the ruin of the devil and his kingdom, and the Saviour of them; and so Eve would be not, only the mother of all men living in succeeding generations, but particularly, or however one descending from her, would be the mother of him that should bring life and immortality to light, or be the author of all life, natural, spiritual, and eternal; and who is called "the life", which is the same word by which the Greek version renders Eve in the preceding clause. It was with pleasure, no doubt, that Adam gave her this name; and it appears that this affair of her being seduced by the serpent, and of drawing him into the transgression, did not alienate his affection from her; and the rather he must needs cleave unto her, and not forsake her, since her seed was to break the serpent's head, and procure life and salvation for them; and by means of her there would be a race of living men produced, which would propagate his species to the end of time: for all living can only respect them, and not other animals, though in some sense they may be included, as our English poet (l) hints.
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(g) Apud Fagium in loc. vid. Baal Hatturim in loc. (h) Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 1. p. 34. (i) Virgil. Aeneid. l. 6. v. 518, 519. Pers. Satyr 1. v. 101, 102. vid. Clement. Alex. ad Gentes, p. 9. (k) Horat. Carmin. l. 2. ode 11. v. 17. (l) Mother of all things living, since by thee Man is to live, and all things live for man. Milton's Paradise Lost. B. 11. l. 160, 161.
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 On vv20–24 God having named the man, and called him Adam,…
God having named the man, and called him Adam, which signifies red earth, he in farther token of dominion named the woman, and called her Eve - That is, life. Adam bears the name of the dying body, Eve of the living soul. The reason of the name is here given, some think by Moses the historian, others by Adam himself, because she was - That is, was to be the mother of all living. He had called her Isha, woman, before, as a wife; here he calls her Evah, life, as a mother. Now,
1. If this was done by divine direction, it was an instance of God's favour, and, like the new naming of Abraham and Sarah, it was a seal of the covenant, and an assurance to them, that notwithstanding their sin, he had not reversed that blessing wherewith he had blessed them, Be fruitful and multiply: it was likewise a confirmation of the promise now made, that the seed of the woman, of this woman, should break the serpent's head.
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2. If Adam did of himself, it was an instance of his faith in the word of God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 24 Verse 20. And Adam called his wife's name Eve;…
Verse 20. And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.] A man who does not understand the original cannot possibly comprehend the reason of what is said here. What has the word Eve to do with being the mother of all living? Our translators often follow the Septuagint; it is a pity they had not done so here, as the Septuagint translation is literal and correct: Και εκαλεσεν Αδαμ το ονομα της γυναικος αυτου Ζωη, ὁτι μητηρ παντων των ζωντων· "And Adam called his wife's name Life, because she was the mother of all the living." This is a proper and faithful representation of the Hebrew text, for the חוה Chavvah of the original, which we have corrupted into Eve, a word destitute of all meaning, answers exactly to the Ζωη of the Septuagint, both signifying life; as does also the Hebrew חי chai to the Greek ζωντων, both of which signify the living.
It is probable that God designed by this name to teach our first parents these two important truths:
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1. That though they had merited immediate death, yet they should be respited, and the accomplishment of the sentence be long delayed; they should be spared to propagate a numerous progeny on the earth.
2. That though much misery would be entailed on his posterity, and death should have a long and universal empire, yet ONE should in the fulness of time spring from the woman, who should destroy death, and bring life and immortality to light, 2Ti 1:10. Therefore Adam called his wife's name Life, because she was to be the mother of all human beings, and because she was to be the mother of HIM who was to give life to a world dead in trespasses, and dead in sins, Eph 2:1, &c.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 22, 24 Gen 3:20. God having named the man, and called…
Gen 3:20. God having named the man, and called him Adam, which signifies red earth; Adam, in further token of dominion, named the woman, and called her Eve, that is, life. Thus Adam bears the name of the dying body, Eve, of the living soul. Though for her sin she was justly sentenced to a present death, yet, by God’s infinite mercy, and by virtue of the promised seed, she was both continued in life herself, and made the mother of all living. Adam had before called her Isha, woman, as a wife; here he calls her Evah, life, as a mother. Now, 1st, If this name were given her by divine direction, it was an instance of God’s favour, and, like the new naming of Abraham and Sarah, it was a seal of the covenant, and an assurance to them, that, notwithstanding their sin, he had not reversed that blessing wherewith he had blessed them. Be fruitful and multiply. It was likewise a confirmation of the promise now made, that the seed of the woman, of this woman, should break the serpent’s head. 2d, If Adam did it of himself, it was an instance of his faith in the word of God.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v22 - XVII. The Execution
- XVII. The Execution
24. כרוּב kerûb ברך in Aramaic: “carve, plow”; Persian: “grip, grasp.” This word occurs about eighty-seven times in the Hebrew scriptures; in sixty of which it refers to carved or embroidered figures; in twenty-two to the living being in the vision of Ezekiel Ezek. 10; in two figuratively to the king of Tyre Eze 28:14, Eze 28:16; in two to a being on which the Lord is poetically described as riding 2Sa 22:11; Psa 18:11; and in the present passage unequivocally to real and well-known beings. The root is not otherwise extant in Hebrew proper. But from the class of actions to which it refers, and from a review of the statements of Scripture concerning these creatures, we are led to the following conclusions:
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First. The cherubim are real creatures, and not mere symbols. In the narrative of the fall they are introduced as real into the scenes of reality. Their existence is assumed as known; for God is said to place or station the cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden. The representation of a cherub too in vision, as part of a symbolic figure, implies a corresponding reality Eze 10:14. A symbol itself points to a reality.
Second. They are afterward described as “living creatures,” especially in the visions of Ezekiel Eze 1:10. This seems to arise, not from their standing at the highest stage of life, which the term does not denote, but from the members of the various animals, which enter into their variously-described figure. Among these appear the faces of the man, the lion, the ox, and the eagle, of which a cherubic form had one, two or four Exo 25:20; Eze 41:18; Eze 1:16. They had, besides, wings, in number two or four Exo 25:20; 1Ki 6:27; Eze 1:6. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides Eze 1:8; Eze 10:8. Ezekiel also describes their feet as being straight, and having the sole like that of a calf. They sometimes appear too with their bodies, hands, wings, and even accompanying wheels full of eyes Eze 1:18; Eze 10:12. The variety in the figuration of the cherubim is owing to the variety of aspects in which they stand, and of offices or services they have to perform in the varying posture of affairs. This figuration is evidently symbolic. For the real being has not a varying number or order of its constituent parts in the same stage of its existence, though it may be readily represented by a diversity of symbols, according to the diversity of the circumstances in which it appears, and of operations it has to perform. The figuration is merely intended to shadow forth its nature and office in sensible forms to those who have not entered the spiritual world.
Third. The cherubim are intelligent beings. This is indicated by their form, movement, and conduct. In their visible appearance the human form predominates: “They had the likeness of a man” Eze 1:5. The human face is in front, and has therefore the principal place. The “hands of a man” determine the erect posture, and therefore the human form of the body. The parts of other animal forms are only accessory, and serve to mark the possession of qualities which are not prominent in man. The lion indicates the active and destructive powers; the ox, the patient and productive; the eagle denotes rapid motion, with which the wings coincide, and quick sight with which the many eyes accord; and the man signifies reason, which rationalizes all these otherwise physical qualities.
The four faces indicate powers of observation that sweep the whole horizon. The straight feet, with soles like those of a calf, mark an elasticity of step appertaining only to beings unaffected by the force of gravitation. Their motion, “straight forward,” combined with the four faces, and the wheel within a wheel going according to its quarters, points to a capacity of moving in any direction without turning by the mere impulse of the will. The intelligence of their conduct will appear from the nature of the duties they have to discharge.
Fourth. Their special office seems to be “intellectual and potential” rather than moral. They have to do with the physical more than the moral aspect of being. Hence, they stand related, on the one side, to God, as אלהים 'ĕlohı̂ym, “the Everlasting, the God of omnipotence;” and, on the other, to the universe of created things, in its material, animal, and intellectual departments, and to the general administration of the divine will in this comprehensive sphere. The radical meanings of the terms “carve, plow, grasp,” point to the potential. The hand symbolizes intelligent agency. The multiplicity of eyes denotes many-sided intelligence. The number four is evidently normal and characteristic. It marks their relation to the cosmos - universe of system of created things.
Fifth. Their place of ministry is about the throne, and in the presence of the Almighty. Accordingly, where he manifests himself in a stated place, and with all the solemnity of a court, there they generally appear.
Sixth. Their special functions correspond with these indications of their nature and place. They are stationed at the east of the garden of Eden, where God had condescended to walk with man before his fall, and where he still lingers on earth to hold communion with man, for the purpose of mercy, and their business is to keep the way of the tree of life. They are figured in the most holy place, which was appropriated to the divine presence, and constructed after the pattern seen in the mount. They stand on the mercy-seat, where God sits to rule his people, and they look down with intelligent wonder on the mysteries of redemption. In the vision of the likeness of the glory of God vouchsafed to Ezekiel, they appear under the expanse on which rests the throne of God, and beside the wheels which move as they move. And when God is represented as in movement for the execution of his judgments, the physical elements and the spiritual essences are alike described as the vehicles of his irresistible progress Psa 18:11. All these movements are mysteries to us, while we are in a world of sense. We cannot comprehend the relation of the spiritual and the physical. But of this we may be assured, that material things are at bottom centers of multiform forces, or fixed springs of power, to which the Everlasting Potentate has given a local habitation and a name, and therefore cognate with spiritual beings of free power, and consequently manageable by them.
Seventh. The cherubim seem to be officially distinct from angels or messengers who go upon special errands to a distance from the presence-chamber of the Almighty. It is possible that they are also to be distinguished in function from the seraphim and the living beings of the Apocalypse, who like them appear among the attendants in the court of heaven.
Here we enter upon the record of the steps taken to carry into effect the forfeiture of life by man, consequent upon his willful transgression of the divine command.
Gen 3:22
As one of us. - This is another indication of the plurality in unity which is evidently inherent in the Eternal Spirit. It is still more significant than the expression of concert in the creation of man, as it cannot be explained by anything short of a personal distinction.
Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil. - We are now prepared to understand the nature of the two trees which were in the midst of the garden. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil effected a change, not in the physical constitution of man, but in his mental experience - in his knowledge of good and evil. There do not appear to have been any seeds of death - any poisonous or malignant power in the tree. “The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and likely to the eyes,” as well as a tree to be desired to make one wise. Neither does it appear that the virtue of making wise on the particular point of moral distinctions lay in the digestion of its fruit when received into the stomach. The natural effect of food is on the body, not on the understanding. The moral effect lay rather in the conduct of man in regard to the tree, as a thing prohibited. The result of his conduct, whether in the way of obedience or disobedience to the divine command, was to be the knowledge of good and evil. If man had obeyed, he would have come to this knowledge in a legitimate way. For he would have perceived that distrust of God and disobedience to his will, as they were externally presented to his view in the suggestions of the tempter, were evil; and that confidence and obedience, internally experienced in himself in defiance of such suggestions, were good. And this was the germ of the knowledge of good and evil. But, by disregarding the express injunction of his Maker with respect to this tree, he attained to the knowledge of good and evil in an unlawful and fatal way. He learned immediately that he himself was the guilty party, whereas, before, he was free from guilt; and thus became aware, in his own person and to his own condemnation, of good and evil, as distinct and opposite qualities.
This view of the tree is in accordance with all the intimations of Scripture. First. The terms in which it is prohibited are, “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat; for in the day thou eatest of it, die surely shalt thou.” Here it is important to mark the consequence which is pointed out as flowing from the eating of it. It is not, Thou shalt know good and evil by any physical virtue of the tree, a process by which knowledge comes not at all; but, “Thou shalt surely die.” Now, this is not any physical result of the fruit being received into the system, since man did not die for centuries after, but a penal result, in fact, the awful sanction of that divine command by which man’s probation was to be accomplished. Second. The points brought out by the serpent are to the same effect. He suggests that God had not given permission to eat of every tree of the garden.
There was some reserve. This reserve is an injury to man, which he makes out by denying that death is the consequence of eating of the tree reserved, and asserting that special benefits, such as the opening of the eyes, and being as God in knowing good and evil, would follow. In both of these statements there is equivocation. Death is not indeed the natural, but it is the legal consequence of disobedience. The eyes of them both were opened, and they became like God in knowing good and evil; but, in both instances, to their own shame and confusion, instead of their glory and honor. They saw that they were “naked,” and they were “ashamed” and “afraid.” They knew good and evil; but they knew the evil to be present with them, and the good to have departed from them. Third. The interview of God with the culprits is also in keeping with the same view. The question to the man is, “Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee not to eat?” Mark the tenor of this question. It is not, Hast thou eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? but, “of which I commanded thee not to eat;” by which it is indicated that, not the physical character of the tree, but the moral character of the action, is the point of the interrogatory.
The tree, then, was the ordained occasion of man’s becoming as God in knowing good and evil. He had now reached the second, or experimental lesson in morals. When God gave him the theoretical lesson in the command, he expected that the practical one would follow. He now says, “Behold the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.” In the style of his word he notes the result, without marking the disobedience of man as the means. This is understood from the circumstances. Man is therefore guilty, and the law must be vindicated.
Hence, it is added, “Lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat and live forever.” This sentence is completed by an act, not a word, as we shall see in the next verse. Measures must be taken to prevent his access to this tree, now that he has incurred the penalty of death.
From this sentence it follows that the tree of life must have had some virtue by which the human frame was to be kept free from the decrepitude of age, or the decay that terminates in death. Its name, the tree of life, accords with this conclusion. Only on such a ground could exclusion from it be made the penalty of disobedience, and the occasion of death. Thus, also may we meet and answer all the difficulties which physiology presents to the immortality of unfallen man. We have it on record that there was an herbal virtue in paradise capable of counteracting the effects of the wear and tear of the animal frame. This confirms our account of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Death, which, it is to be remembered, is, to a moral and responsible being, in a comprehensive sense, exclusion from the blessings of conscious existence, and pre-eminently from that of the divine complacence, was not the physical effect of its fruit being eaten, but the penal consequence of a forbidden act. And this consequence is brought about by a special judicial process, recorded in the next verse:
The two trees stand related to one another in a way that touches the very center of man’s moral being. “Do this and live” is the fundamental dictum of the moral law. Its implied counterpart is, “If thou do it not, thou shalt die.” The act of disobedience is evidently decisive for the whole conduct, character, and relation to God. It therefore necessarily forfeits that life which consists in the favor of God and all consequent blessings. The two trees correspond with the condition and the benefit in this essential covenant of law. The one is the test of man’s obedience, or disobedience; the other, the benefit which is retained by obedience and lost by disobedience. Man fails in obedience, and loses the blessing. Hence, forth both the legal and the beneficial parts of the covenant must come from a higher source to all that are saved. Christ bestows both the one and the other by his obedience and by his Spirit. In the old form of the covenant of grace, the Passover typifies the one, and circumcision the other; in the new, the Lord’s Supper and baptism have a similar import. These all, from first to last, betoken the two essential parts of salvation, redemption, and regeneration. This is a clear example of the unity and constancy which prevail in the works of God.
It is evident that the idea of immortality is familiar to the early chapters of Genesis. The primeval command itself implies it. Mortality, moreover, applies to the נפשׁ nephesh, the organic living body; not to the particles of matter in that body, nor to the חיים נשׁמת nı̂shmat chayı̂ym, “breath of life” which came from God. It means not annihilation, but dissolution. Still further, the first part of death is exclusion from the tree of life, which takes place on the very day of disobedience. This indicates its nature. It is not annihilation of the spiritual essence, which does not in fact take place, but the withdrawal from it of the blessings and enjoyments in communion with God of which it is capable. And, lastly, the whole tenor of the narrative is, that death is a penalty for transgression; whereas annihilation is not a penalty, but a release from the doom of perdition. Accordingly, the tempter is not annihilated, but left to bear his doom; and so man’s existence is perpetuated under partial privation - the emblem and earnest of that death which consists in the total privation of life. Death is, no doubt, in its primary meaning, the dissolution of the living body. But even in the execution of the primeval sentence it begins to expand into that compass of meaning which all the great primitives of the scriptural language sooner or later express. Earth, sky, good, evil, life, and death are striking specimens of this elasticity of signification. Hence, we perceive that the germs of the doctrine of the immortality of the soul lie even in these primeval documents. And more we could not expect, unless we were to concentrate the whole fullness of revelation on this subject into its opening pages.
Gen 3:23
In consequence of man’s disobedience the tree of life is withdrawn from the reach of man as a forfeited boon, and the dissolution of the present life allowed to take place according to the laws of nature, still remaining in force in regard to other animated beings; aided, indeed, and accelerated in their operation, by the sinful abuse of human passions. And thus the expression, “in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die,” receives its simple application. It is a conditional sentence, pronounced antecedently as a warning to the responsible party. On the very day of transgression it becomes legally valid against him, and the first step toward its regular execution in the ordinary course of things is taken. This step is his exclusion from the tree of life. This is effected by sending man out of the garden into the common, to until the soil whence he was taken.
Gen 3:24
So he drove out the man. - This expresses the banishment of man from the garden as a judicial act. While he is left to the fruits of his labor for the means of subsistence until his return to the dust, his access to the source of perpetual life and vigor is effectually barred by a guard stationed east of the garden, where was no doubt its only entrance, consisting of the cherubim and the flame of a sword waving in all directions. The flaming sword is the visible form of the sword of justice, repelling the transgressors from the seat and source of happiness and life. The cherubim, who are here mentioned as well-known objects, whose figure does not require description, are the ministers of the divine presence and judgment - of his presence which was not entirely withdrawn from man; and of his judgment, by which he was excluded from the garden of delight.
There is unspeakable mercy here in every respect for the erring race. This present life in the flesh was now tainted with sin, and impregnated with the seeds of the curse, about to spring forth into an awful growth of moral and physical evil. It is not worth preserving for itself. It is not in any way desirable that such a dark confusion of life and death in one nature should be perpetuated. Hence, there is mercy as well as judgment in the exclusion of man from that tree which could have only continued the carnal, earthly, sensual and even devilish state of his being. Let it remain for a season, until it be seen whether the seed of spiritual life will come to birth and growth, and then let death come and put a final end to the old man.
Still further, God does not annihilate the garden or its tree of life. Annihilation does not seem to be his way. It is not the way of that omniscient One who sees the end from the beginning, of that infinite Wisdom that can devise and create a self-working, self-adjusting universe of things and events. On the other hand, he sets his cherubim to keep the way of the tree of life. This paradise, then, and its tree of life are in safe keeping. They are in reserve for those who will become entitled to them after an intervening period of trial and victory, and they will reappear in all their pristine glory and in all their beautiful adaptedness to the high-born and new-born perfection of man. The slough of that serpent nature which has been infused into man will fall off, at least from the chosen number who take refuge in the mercy of God; and in all the freshness and freedom of a heaven-born nature will they enter into all the originally congenial enjoyments that were shadowed forth in their pristine bloom in that first scene of human bliss.
We have now gone over the prelude to the history of man. It consists of three distinct events: the absolute creation of the heavens and the earth, contained in one verse; the last creation, in which man himself came into being, embracing the remainder of the first chapter; and the history of the first pair to the fall, recorded in the second and third chapters. The first two fall into one, and reveal the invisible everlasting Elohim coming forth out of the depths of his inscrutable eternity, and manifesting himself to man in the new character of Yahweh, the author and perpetuator of a universe of being, and pre-eminently of man, a type and specimen of the rational order of beings. Whenever moral agents come into existence, and wherever they come into contact, there must be law, covenant, or compact. Hence, the command is laid upon man as the essential prerequisite to his moral deportment; and Yahweh appears further as the vindicator of law, the keeper of covenant, the performer of promise.
Man, being instructed by him in the fundamental principle of all law, namely, the right of the Creator over the creature, and the independence of each creature in relation to every other, takes the first step in moral conduct. But it is a false one, violating this first law of nature and of God in both its parts. “Thus, by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin.” Hence, the prospect of man’s future history is clouded, and it cannot be darker than it afterward turns out to be. But still it is tinged even in its early dawn with some rays of heavenly hope. The Lord God has held out signals of mercy to the tempted and fallen pair. The woman and the man have not been slow to acknowledge this, and to show symptoms of returning faith and repentance. And though they have been shut out of the garden, yet that region of bliss and its tree of life are not swept out of existence, but, in the boundless mercy of God, reserved in safe keeping for those who shall become heirs of glory, honor, and immortality.
Let it be observed that we here stand on the broad ground of our common humanity. From this wide circumference Scripture never recedes. Even when it recounts the fortunes of a single individual, family, or nation, its eye and its interest extend to the whole race; and it only dwells on the narrower circle of men and things as the potential spring of nascent, growing, and eternal life and blessing to the whole race. Let us endeavor to do justice to this ancient record, in the calm and constant grandeur and catholicity of its revelations concerning the ways of God with man.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv20, 22, 24 The living. Hebrew chai, one who brings forth alive,…
The living. Hebrew chai, one who brings forth alive, (Symmachus,) or one who imparts life, in which she was a figure of the blessed Virgin. (Calmet) --- Adam gives his wife this new name, in gratitude for not being cut off by death on the very day of his transgression, as he had every reason to expect and fear he would have been, chap. ii. 17. (Haydock) --- The printed Hebrew reads here, and in many other place, Eva, he, instead of Eja, she; thus, He was the mother, ver. 12, he gave, &c. an inaccuracy unknown to the Samaritan and the best manuscripts copies. (Kennicott.)
Ver 21. Of skins, which Adam took from the beasts which he offered in sacrifice to his merciful Judge, testifying thereby that he had forfeited his life, and uniting himself to that sacrifice of the woman’s promised seed, by which alone he believed the sin of the world was to be expiated. (Haydock)
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 On vv20, 21, 22, 24 Adam called his wife's name Eve--probably in reference to…
Adam called his wife's name Eve--probably in reference to her being a mother of the promised Saviour, as well as of all mankind.
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 On vv20–24 20. Eve… the mother of all living — The…
20. Eve… the mother of all living — The account of man’s original sin concludes with four statements too important and suggestive to have been accidental. The new naming of the woman, (comp. Gen_2:23,) the first clothing, the expulsion from the garden of Eden, and the two sacred symbols placed at the gate, are full of significance. The name Eve, חוה, Hhavvah, from the intensive stem חיה, signifies life-spring, or quickener of life. Given in the very face of the death foreshadowed by the penal sentence, it seems to have arisen from Adam’s faith in the promise that the woman’s Seed should wound the serpent’s head. In Gen_2:23 he named her Woman, in view of her origin; here he names her Eve, in view of her hopeful destiny.
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 On vv20–24 20. Eve] Heb. Ḥavvah, that is, Living, or Life.…
20. Eve] Heb. Ḥavvah, that is, Living, or Life. The man is represented as calling his wife by this name, because she was the mother of the whole human race. The word is evidently of great antiquity; for it is not found with this spelling in Biblical Hebrew, but in the form of ḥayyah. The sound of the name “Ḥavvah” (Eve) was sufficiently close to that of the root meaning “Life” (ḥay) to suggest connexion. Whether ḥavvah was an old form, or a name taken over from the primitive people of Palestine, we have no means of deciding.
20–21. These two verses are a parenthesis interrupting the thread of the narrative. Probably they contain materials current in some other thread of tradition, and inserted here at the close of the judicial sentence.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv20–24 (20) Adam called his wife’s name Eve.—Heb., Chavvah; in…
(20) Adam called his wife’s name Eve.—Heb., Chavvah; in Greek, Zoë. It has been debated whether this name is a substantive, Life (LXX.), or a participle, Life-producer (Symm). Adam’s condition was now one of death, but his wife thereby attained a higher value in his sight. Through her alone could human life be continued, and the “woman’s seed” be obtained who was to raise up man from his fall. While, then, woman’s punishment consists in the multiplication of her “sorrow and conception,” she becomes thereby only more precious to man; and while “her desire is to her husband,” Adam turns from his own punishment to look upon her with more tender love. He has no word for her of reproach, and we thus see that the common interpretation of Gen_3:12 is more than doubtful. Adam throws no blame either on Eve or on his Maker, because he does not feel himself to blame. He rather means, “How could I err in following one so noble, and in whom I recognise Thy best and choicest gift?” And with this agrees Gen_3:6, where Adam partakes of the fruit without hesitation or thought of resistance. And so here he turns to her and calls her Chavvah, his life, his compensation for his loss, and the antidote for the sentence of death.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv20–24 Arraigned, convicted, judged, the guilty but pardoned pair prepare…
CHAPTER 3:20-24
Arraigned, convicted, judged, the guilty but pardoned pair prepare to leave their garden home the woman to begin her experience of sorrow, dependence, and subjection; the man to enter upon his life career of hardship and toil, and both to meet their doom of certain, though it might be of long-delayed, death. The impression made upon their hearts by the Divine Clemency, though not directly stated by the historian, may be inferred from what is next recorded as having happened within the precincts of Eden ere they entered on their exile. And Adam called (not prior to the fall, reading the verb as a pluperfect (Calvin), nor after the birth of Cain, transferring the present verse to, Gen_4:2 (Knobel) but subsequent to the promise of the woman"s seed, and preceding their ejection from the garden) his wife"s name Eve. Chavvah, from chavvah = chayyah, to live (cf. with the arganic rent chvi the Sanscrit, giv; Gothic, quiv; Latin, rive, gigno, vigeo; Greek, zaw, &c., the fundamental idea being to breathe, to respire Furst), is correctly rendered life Work) by the LXX, Josephus, Philo, Gesenins, Delitzsch, Macdonald, &c. Lange, regarding it as an abbreviated form of the participle ;mechavvah, understands it to signify "the sustenance, i.e. the propagation of life; while Knobel, viewing it as an adjective, hints at woman"s peculiar function dw hYji to quicken seed (Gen_19:32) as supplying the explanation. Whether appended by the narrator (Delitzsch, Lange) or uttered by Adam (Kalisch, Macdonald), the words which follow give its true import and exegesis. Because she was the mother (am Greek, mamma; Welsh, mani; Copt., man; German and English, mama; Gesenius) of all living.
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(1) Of Adam"s children, though in this respect she might have been so styled from the beginning; and
(2) of all who should truly live in the sense of being the woman"s seed, as distinguished from the seed of the serpent. In Adam"s giving a second name to his wife has been discerned the first assertion of his sovereignty or lordship over woman to which he was promoted subsequent to the fall (Luther), though this seems to be negatived by the fact that Adam exercised the same prerogative immediately on her creation; an act of thoughtlessness on the part of Adam, in that, "being himself immersed in death, he should have called his wife by so proud a name" (Calvin); a proof of his incredulity (Rupertus). With a juster appreciation of the spirit of the narrative, modern expositors generally regard it as a striking testimony to his faith.
HOMILETICS.
Vers. 20-24.
First fruits of the promise.
I FAITH (ver. 20). The special significance of Adam s renaming his wife at this particular juncture in his history is best discerned when the action is regarded as the response of his faith to the antecedent promise of the woman"s seed.
1. It is the place of faith to succeed, and not to precede, the promise. Faith being, in its simplest conception, belief in a testimony, the testimony must ever take precedence of the faith. "In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation". (Eph_1:13)
2. As to the genesis of faith, it is always evoked by the promise, not the promise by the faith. Adam"s faith was the creation of God"s promise; so is that of every true believer. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God". (Rom_10:17)
3. With regard to the function of faith, it is not that of certifying or making sure the promise, but simply of attesting its certainty, which it does by reposing trust in its veracity. "He that receiveth his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true". (Joh_3:33) And this was practically whatwas done by Adam when he called his wife"s name Eve.
4. The power of faith is seen in this, that while it cannot implement, it is able to anticipate the promise, and, as it were, to enjoy it beforehand, in earnest at least, as Adam did when he realized that his spouse should be the mother of all living. Even so "faith is the substance of things hoped for". (Heb_11:1)
II ACCEPTANCE (ver. 21).
1. In the Divine scheme of salvation acceptance ever follows on the exercise of faith. See the language of the New Testament generally on the subject of a sinner s justification. The covering of our first parents with coats of skin, apart altogether from any symbolical significance in the act, could scarcely be regarded as other than a token of Jehovah"s favor.
1. According to the same scheme the clothing, era sinner ever accompanies the act of his acceptance. In New Testament theology the Divine act of justification is always represented as proceeding on the
2. ground that in the eye of God the sinner stands invested with a complete covering (the righteousness of Christ) which renders him both legally and morally acceptable. That all this was comprehended with perfect fullness and clearness by the pardoned pair it would be foolish to assert; but, in a fashion accommodated to their simple intelligences, the germ of this doctrine was exhibited by the coats of skin with which they were arrayed, and it is at least possible that they had a deeper insight into the significance of the Divine action than we are always prepared to allow.
3. In the teaching of the gospel scheme the providing of a sinner with such a covering as he requires must ever be the work of God, Though not improbable that the coats of skin were furnished by the hides of animals, now for the first time offered in sacrifice by Divine appointment, the simple circumstance that they were God-provided, apart from any other consideration, was sufficient to suggest the thought that only God could supply the covering which was needed for their sin.
III DISCIPLINE (vers. 22-24). Rightly interpreted, neither the language of Jehovah nor that of Moses warrants the idea that the expulsion was designed as a penal infliction; but rather as a measure mercifully intended and wisely adapted for the spiritual edification of the pardoned pair. Three elements were present in it that are seldom absent from the discipline of saints.
1. Removal of comforts. The initial act in the discipline of Adam and his wife was to eject them from the precincts of Eden. And so oftentimes does God begin the work of sanctification in his people"s hearts by the infliction of loss. In the case of Adam and his spouse there were special reasons demanding their removal from the garden, as, e. g.,
(1) its non-suitability as a home for them now that their pure natures were defiled by sin; and
(2) the danger of their continuing longer in the vicinity of the tree of life. And the same two reasons will frequently be found to explain God"s dealings with his people when he inflicts upon them loss of creature comforts; the non-suitability of those comforts to their wants as spiritual beings; and the presence of some special danger in the things removed.
1. Increase of sorrow. Besides being ejected from the garden, the first pair were henceforth to be subjected to toil and trouble. Adam in tilling the ground, and Eve in bearing children. And this, too, was a part of God"s educational process with our first parents; as, indeed, the sufferings of this
2. present life inflicted on his people generally are all commissioned on a like errand, viz., to bring forth within them the peaceable fruits of righteousness, and to make them partakers of his holiness.
3. Sentence of death. The words "whence he was taken" have an echo in them of "dust thou art," &c., and must have extinguished within the breasts of Adam and his wife all hope of returning to Eden on this side the grave; perhaps, too, would assist them in seeking for a better country, even a heavenly. To prevent saints from seeking Edens on the earth seems to be one of the main designs of death.
IV Here (ver. 24). Though excluded from the garden, man was not without cheering ingredients of hope in his condition.
1. The Divine presence was still with him. The cherubim and flaming sword were symbols of the ineffable majesty of Jehovah, and tokens of his presence. And never since has the world been abandoned by the God of mercy and salvation.
2. Paradise was still reserved for him. The cherubim and flaming sword were appointed "to keep the way of the tree of life;" not simply to guard the entrance, but to protect the place. So is heaven a reserved inheritance. (1Pe_1:4)
1. The prospect of readmission to the tree of life was yet before him. As much as this was implied in the jealous guarding of the gate so long as Adam was defiled by sin. It could not fail to suggest the idea that when purified by life"s discipline he would no longer be excluded. (cf. Rev_22:14)
2. The gate of heaven was still near him. He was still permitted to reside in the vicinity of Eden, and to commune with him who dwelt between the cherubim, though denied the privilege as yet of dwelling with him in the interior of his abode. If debarred from the full inheritance, he had at least its earnest. And exactly this is the situation of saints on earth, who, unlike those within the veil, who see the Lord of the heavenly paradise face to face, can only commune with him, as it were, at the gate of his celestial palace.
Learn
1. To believe God"s promise of salvation.
2. To be grateful for God"s gift of righteousness.
3. To submit with cheerfulness to God"s paternal discipline.
4. To live in hope of entering God"s heaven.
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 On vv20, 22, 24 Adam called his wifes name live
Gen_3:20
Adam called his wifes name live
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Mans undying hope
Consider that aspect of this terrible calamity which is afforded us in the action of Adam.
It is clear that he understood what was involved in the act he had just committed. Scarcely are the words uttered by God, In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, etc., than he seems to turn to his wife and say, Eve, the mother, the living one; because she is mother of all living. There is no defiance here. It is not because the man refused to accept the judgment of God, not because he refused to submit to the doom. He did not refuse, he did not set himself up against God. He caught the tenderness of the Divine voice even as it pronounced the judgment. He saw the gleam of grace in the darkness of the doom. It is then that he turned to his wife and said, Eve, the living one. Her seed shall bruise the serpents head; shall yet triumph over the evil power that has almost destroyed her; and though this day we die, beyond is a life eternal, for she is the mother of all that shall live. How true this is to human nature! It is illustrated, it is constantly illustrated, in the experience through which we pass. Who has not known it?--Men turning back to their wives in the hour of trouble. Man, suddenly stripped of his glory and possessions, stands amongst the wreck of all his life; that moment, with a fresh trust, he puts his hand in his wifes and says, Well, the future is still before us, we shall not lose hope. Eve, the living one. Mother of all that live. Is there not, in the first place, a recognition of the dignity of the woman? Her name is not mentioned before. She is simply the woman; the other side of human nature--the man and the woman. Adam had his name, the general name of humanity centring in him. But when the loss comes, woman takes her place. She is no longer woman only, she is Eve. She is herself. Bound by a closer tie than ever to her husband, but with a dignity of her own. And is it not also the assertion of the dignity of motherhood? What is womans highest dignity? To be the mother of men. She had been the wife of man before, but a wife is not perfected until she is a mother. And so she receives her name when she is recognized as mother. It is also the immediate acceptance on the part of Adam of the promise of God. God has confirmed his earthly nature. Earth thou art. God had also declared that there was to be a continuance of the race by reference to immediate hope. I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. But had there not been before this these words: I shall put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou shaft bruise his heel? Then came the judgment upon the man, and yet, the moment the judgment is uttered, he calls his wife Eve. He sees the promise that is contained in the motherhood, and in the conflict of the seed and the serpent. He seals with his own word the promise of God. The chief subject of our consideration, however, is the aspect in which Adam seemed to regard his wife, mother of all living! As we speak the word, there rises before us the vast multitude of the human race! The mother of all living--all who shall live! All in the past--all now--all in the future! Mother of all living! How the generations move along the road of life in the great march of mankind--like a river rolling swift with ever broadening stream into the vast ocean of eternity! Wave after wave rolls up and breaks upon the shore of time from the exhaustless tide of life! The life that is around us, in our own city. Multiply these teeming millions by all the cities of the world, or all the ages of human existence, and think of them all gathered up within this womans name. Has our first father been prophetic? Did he, for a moment, see down the vistas of centuries, the masses of humanity enfolded in the motherhood of Eve? Then the thought would come that all these living ones would die. You remember the story of Darius, who, when he reviewed those mighty hosts that followed his standard when he marched to the invasion of Greece, was observed to weep. The squadrons were there, their arms all flashing in the sun, and round about them in the outlying regions the multitudes of followers that attend an army. Magnificent battle array! Vast concourse of men all obedient to his will, and yet the monarch weeps! Why weepest thou, O king? I weep because in one hundred years not one of this great host will be alive. And many feel as felt the king when they contemplate a crowd. When the people are out upon a gala day, and from some high window we look down upon them, a strange melancholy creeps into the heart. When we visit foreign lands, and passing from city to city behold everywhere human life teeming in countless millions, a sense of awe comes over the spirit, and a sense of sorrow. And yet, I am not quite sure that this is right. I would rather catch the gleams of light that the eye of Adam saw shining in the promise of God. I would rather hear the words of cheer of our first father when he gathers up the hope of humanity within his soul, and though the judgment had been only a moment uttered, called her who stood beside him--Eve, because she was the mother of all living, and seals his acceptance of the promise and the hope, in the name he gave to his wife. And man generally has been true to this Divine instinct of the Father. The hope of human life has been unquenchable. Read history, and you will find that no misfortune has daunted men. They remain always hopeful. In the increase of poverty, in the presence of disaster, after war, accidents, oppression, life reasserts itself, and in that up-springing of life, mankind declares its hope. You never can crush it out. Today, the victorious foe may spread desolation over the homes of people whom they destroy, but let the tide of war roll back, and hope will return, and the very battlefield will grow green with harvest promise, and the streets down which the destroying legions thundered, echo with the voice of the children at their play. You cannot crush out life, you cannot destroy mans hope in himself. This name of Eve, the mother of all living, is only the hope that sprang to being in Adams breast, and which, since that moment, has never died from human hearts. Hence it seems to me that human nature is a perpetual gospel. Life is full of evangel. The very vastness and fulness of humanity are the large letters in which Gods promise and Adams interpretation of it, are written out that all may read. (L. D. Bevan, D. D.)
Observations
I. GOD LEAVES NOT HIS CHILDREN WITHOUT MEANS TO SUPPORT THEM IN THEIR WORST CONDITION.
II. THE GRACE WHICH GOD ESPECIALLY WORKS AND PRESERVES IN HIS CHILDRENS HEARTS, IS FAITH.
III. GODS PROMISES MUST BE EMBRACED BY FAITH, AS REAL PERFORMANCES.
IV. A GODLY MAN MUST BE CAREFUL TO PRESERVE MEMORIALS OF GREAT MERCIES. To this end God ordained the Sabbath, and divers other festivals, as likewise did the Church in imitation of Him (Est_9:20-21; Est_9:27-28); for the same end they gave names to the places where those mercies were performed (1Sa_7:12; 2Ch_20:26). Upon the same ground God appoints a pot of manna to be kept in the tabernacle, to remind posterity of that miraculous feeding of their fathers with bread from heaven (Exo_16:33).
V. IT IS FIT IN GIVING NAMES, TO MAKE CHOICE OF SUCH AS MAY GIVE US WITHAL SOMETHING FOR OUR INSTRUCTION. Of this God Himself gives us a precedent, in changing Abrahams and Sarahs name (Gen_17:5; Gen_17:15), and Jacobs (Gen_32:28), in giving Solomon his name (1Ch_21:9), and the name of Jesus to our Saviour (Mat_1:21), which holy persons have followed (Gen_21:3; Gen_21:6; Gen_29:32). Reason
1. We need all helps, to mind us either of Gods mercies, and acts of His providence, or of our own duties; which God Himself implied, in causing His people to write the commandments on the posts and gates of their houses (Deu_11:20), and to make fringes to their garments, to put them in mind of them (Num_15:38-39).
2. And there is no readier means to mind us of such things than our names, which we have daily in our mouths and memories. (J. White, M. A.)
Eve habited by Adam
The fact that it was not God but Adam that gave the name to Eve teaches us much. Why did not God give Eve her name, as He had done to Adam? God did not allow Adam to name himself, even in his innocence; yet now in his fall He permits him to name the woman, nay, sanctions his so doing. This was for such reasons as the following--
1. To show His grace. What grace, what tender love is displayed in allowing man to give a name to his wife--and such a name--Eve--LIFE!
2. To show that Adam was not to be deprived of his headship. He was still to be head of the woman, even in his fall, and as such he names her.
3. To show, that though Adam had so cruelly flung blame upon her before God, yet no estrangement had followed. She was still bone of his bone. They had been companions in guilt, they were to be companions in sorrow, and they were fellow heirs of the hope just held out to them. Thus they were reunited in new bonds of mingled sadness and joy.
4. To show the direction in which Adams thoughts were running, that from this manifestation of the current of his thoughts we might learn how the promise had taken hold of him. This verse gives us unequivocal insight into the state of Adams feelings. It exhibits him to us as one who understood, believed, prized, rested on the Divine promise which he had just heard. He stands before us as a believing man; and we might say of him, By faith Adam called his wifes name Eve. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
Coats of skins
Man clothed by God
The whole mystery of justification is wrapped up in the details of this story.
I. We have the fact as in a parable that MAN IS UTTERLY IMPOTENT TO BRING TO PASS ANY SATISFYING RIGHTEOUSNESS OF HIS OWN. He can see his shame, but he cannot effectually cover or conceal it. The garments of our own righteousness are fig leaves all, and we shall prove them such. Let God once call to us, and we shall find how little all these devices of our own can do for us. We shall stand shivering, naked and ashamed, before Him.
II. While we thus learn that man cannot clothe himself, we learn also that GOD UNDERTAKES TO CLOTHE HIM. As elsewhere He has said in word, I am the Lord that healeth thee, so here He says in act, I am the Lord that clotheth thee. He can yet devise a way by which His banished shall return to Him.
III. We note in this Scripture that the clothing which God found for Adam could only have been obtained AT THE COST OF A LIFE, and that the life of one unguilty, of one who had no share or part in the sin which made the providing of it needful. We have here the first institution of sacrifice; God Himself is the Institutor. It is a type and shadow, a prelude and prophecy of the crowning sacrifice on Calvary.
IV. Are not the LESSONS which we may draw from all this plain and palpable enough?
1. There is no robe of our own righteousness which can cover us and conceal our shame.
2. That righteousness which we have not in ourselves we must be content and thankful to receive at the hands of God.
3. Not Christ by His life, but by His life and death, and mainly by His death, supplies these garments for our spirits need. (Archbishop Trench.)
Man clothed by God
I come, then, to the conclusion that these vestments which the Lord God provided for our first parents, are emblematic of nothing less than the sacrifice and righteousness of Christ. But there might be a second object in thus arraying our first parents in coats of skin; and that was, to keep alive in their minds the sentence of death, which would be ultimately executed upon them. The dying struggles of the poor animals, whose skins they were to appropriate to themselves, could not fail to remind them of their own deserts; but then this feeling might be too soon effaced; it was essential, therefore, to their continuance in humility, that they should carry with them wherever they went a memorial that death was come into the world--a death which was the effect of sin, a death to which they must at last submit. And sadly they must have gazed upon the throes of every slaughtered creature, as they beheld the fate to which they were hastening themselves. Yet there was a wonderful provision made for securing both the glory of God and the comfort of His creatures. Death was the fruit of sin, sin was the work of Satan; and I may say concerning the honour of the Creator, that Satan may not triumph as a destroyer, it was so ordained that the first things which died should be emblematical of the death of Christ, by whom death itself should be virtually abolished. (F. J. Stainforth, M. A.)
Sin and civilization
I. The clothing of the first man and woman in skins of beasts, is in the first place, symbolical of the dominance of that nature which is the sole possession of the beast. In the beast, there is only a life, which informs the body for the purpose of bodily ends. In the man there is a spirit, which informs the body through the soul, for the ultimate ends of the higher and spiritual life. The body of the beast is for itself. The body of the man is for the spirit. It is the spirits instrument. But, by sin, man had set body against spirit, over spirit. Man had chosen the material instead of the spiritual.
II. It was, also, the insistence of God upon the propriety of the shame, which had prompted them to cover themselves with clothes. It is as if God had said: You are right; the material body which you have put on over the spiritual--conceal it! You have set it in the forefront; put it in the rear. Cover it! hide it!
III. It is, besides, the symbol of the conflict between the higher and lower, which makes up the whole of mans moral discipline.
IV. But there was still another meaning in this clothing of skins, for it is to be noted that while Adam and Eve covered themselves with leaves God makes coats of skins and clothed them. Were it only for the purpose of symbolism, they might have worn these clothes of leaves. Why must these coats of skins have been made for them? I shall not raise here questions as to mans relation to the animals in his innocent state. Naturally, by physical constitution, man is a flesh-eating animal, and I cannot accept the opinion, that till his sin, he was fed only by the food of the garden. But, at last, the narrative brings out a striking distinction between the demand made on mans powers, when innocent, and that which was made upon him after the Fall. In the garden all seemed spontaneously easy. He had only to put forth his hand, and take the food, the fruit. It was simple work--gathering a few leaves: fastening them together and making a covering. But now, there is the further difficulty of securing the skins of beasts. These must supply their coverings; they will have to be captured, killed, and the skins prepared. There may be some relation here to sacrifice as well as to food. At least the idea is suggested of man coming into relation to the animal world. The creatures must be caught and trained, and fed, and slain. Now this is the elementary fact of all material civilization. Mans first victory over the world is over the animals. Man makes his first step in culture in conquering the brutes. The domesticity of the lower world, and the dominance of the human race over the animal, is the first step in progress. It is, then, with no fanciful interpretation that I base upon this passage some thoughts concerning the progress of humanity in material civilization, as related to the Fall. Mans fallen condition has certainly borne in some way upon his material development. I am anxious to show that in Gods mercy the Fall has been the condition of a greater rising.
1. The historic proof of this doctrine. If you review the history of civilization and the physical progress of man, you will find that it has been rendered in a large degree possible by sin, and, we may almost say that, had it not been for sin, man could not have advanced to the degree, or in the manner, in which that advance has been made. We do not say that material development necessarily accompanies a sinful condition of humanity. This is disproved by the fact that the highest form of material civilization has been pressed into service of the highest moral and spiritual life, and the further fact that the noblest instances of culture have been found to manifest the most distinguished virtues. Still, the general relation of religious and material well-being has been such as to suggest, what we think the incident of our text indicates, that the presence of sin in our human nature has been the condition upon which God has made the development of mans external good to be dependent. Had it not been for sin, we had not been so wise, or so wealthy, or strong, nor smitten with so many passions--not summoned to such weary conflicts; but also, and by reason of these, not such masters of an external world of use and ornament, of beauty and grace.
2. That which is shown in this historical review is also seen in the nature of the case. Let us restate the position we are endeavouring to sustain. Out of the Fall God has caused to issue mans material well-being. We have seen, that the essence of the first sin consisted in the elevation of the physical nature into the supreme regard. Thereupon God thrust man out into a world which demanded his energy to conquer its hostile forces, and to bring it into subservience to his will. Civilization is the result of the assertions of mans physical needs, and the endeavour on the part of man to compel the physical world to supply those needs. When, in the person of his first parents, he set the body above the spirit, then he lost his natural condition. Now, he must win back this material empire; he must overcome everything, himself included. Nothing submits freely, spontaneously. His nature, especially his physical nature, becomes imperative, he hungers, he thirsts; his passions are imperious, and yet there is no response from the things about him. In Eden, hunger would have been immediately satisfied, thirst immediately assuaged. I doubt if ever there was hunger or thirst. All the emotions of the soul would have been in complete rhythm and harmony, and the spirit, and the soul, and the body, would have been in perpetual melody of goodness and innocence. But now he must set himself to contrive. He has to contend. He must become an artist. He must call in the aid of his fellows. He must unite with others, and here is the source of organization, development of art, the inventions of science, the formation of political arrangement, the submission of the governed, the rule of the king. All must be produced to content the cravings of that nature which has been aroused and will be satisfied. There is no government among the angels, except the immediate government of God. There can be no art among beings who are not created at once in fellowship with the Divine, and yet part of the material world about them. Government and art are the result of the fact that this lower nature of ours has been lifted into supremacy. They are the means of supplying its desires; the answer to its emphatic claim. But, moreover, the lower nature thus aroused, heightened, intensified, must again be brought under the control of the higher nature. If that does not result, there will be confusion, chaos, death. The body has been made prominent, brought forth; it must be set back, hidden. God taught man this lesson first, when He made coats of skins and clothed him. Hence there follows not only the development of the physical, but the subjugation of this physical to the spiritual. CONCLUSION:
1. Are we not taught here the lesson, which no age more than our own has needed, that a civilization which is chiefly materialistic must have in it the gravest perils?
2. And will not these thoughts help us to understand the meaning of the perplexed and changeful condition through which the development of the race has moved? Is it some strange and malicious spirit that has driven man to struggle with the beasts, and compelled him to the arduous conflict, often renewed, with the hard outer world? Not at all. It is the will of God, wise and loving, which would thus cover his nakedness and Jet once more the brutal nature in its proper place of retirement and subjection. Every race decay and national decline is only part of the discipline of man. It is a long struggle to regain the proper relation of spirit and body. But it is the Divine will.
3. It shows us, too, the need of a Divine help for the undoing of the evil man has brought upon himself, and which the clothes of his own invention will not supply. The man had already clothed himself with leaves. But man found hiding of shame to be not enough. A devil brought the sin, and a God must make its covering. Mans leaf garment is a poor defence against the cold, hard world into which he is driven. God therefore gives him clothes of skins. And so ever He is ready to supply that remedy, that salvation which man must find or perish, but which no man can himself secure.
4. And so, finally, I learn by these words to fill all things with the evangel which God proclaims in the very utterance of doom. Some men go everywhere only to find a Divine law and a Divine condemnation. Wherever I turn I see written up Gods gospel. I know no human story which is not a comment upon grace. I know no voice, even though it comes from the deeps of hell, which is not an echo of the pity of our God. (L. D.Bevan, D. D.)
Lessons
1. In the midst of death Gods thoughts have been to direct sinners unto life.
2. Gods thoughts are not only to give life but to reveal it in His own way.
3. Gods goodness prevented sin from turning all into disorder. He keeps relations.
4. Grace makes the same instrument be for life, which was for death (Gen_3:20).
5. God pitieth His creatures in the nakedness which sin hath made.
6. God makes garments where man makes nakedness.
7. Garments are a covering of nakedness, but a discovery of sin.
8. Raiment should humble and not make men proud. The mischief of sin is to forget nakedness under fine clothes. It makes nakedness appear fine.
9. Suitable clothing was Gods work for several sexes. For Adam and his wife. The law afterwards showeth this.
10. Gracious providence puts on clothes upon sinners backs. Much of love (Gen_3:21). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
Observations
I. THE VERY CLOTHES THAT WE WEAR ARE GODS PROVISION.
II. NECESSARY PROVISION IS AS MUCH AS WE CAN LOOK FOR AT GODS HAND.
III. OUR CLOTHES FOR THE MOST PART ARE BORROWED FROM OTHER CREATURES.
1. To humble and keep our hearts low, when we consider that we have nothing but what we borrow, and that of our basest vassals.
2. To move us to take care of the creature, without the help whereof we must need starve with hunger and cold. (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 On v22 Gen_3:24. Cherubims.] The final “s” is superfluous: the word…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Gen_3:24. Cherubims.] The final “s” is superfluous: the word should be either “cherubim,” or, what comes to the same thing, “cherubs.” It is of much more consequence to know and remember that the Heb. has the definite article. This is very significant. It implies that, when the book of Genesis was written, the notion of “the cherubim” had become “familiar.” Instead of wearying the reader with the numerous, and for the most part obviously far-fetched conjectures which critics have indulged in as to the derivation and meaning of the word cherub, we will merely say that perhaps one of the latest and simplest explanations is the best. Fürst regards the root (k-r-b) as meaning “to seize, catch, lay hold of;” and compares with it the Sanscrit gribh, Persian giriften, Greek γρυπ, γρυφ, German grip, krip, greif, &c. If, as he says, the word is an “abstract,” and signifies “the seizing, laying hold of,” even so a ready application of the term to the objects intended may be made. But if, as we venture to think, karubh is simply a pure passive, then the meaning yielded by it would be “the seized ones,” “the laid hold of ones,” “the possessed ones,”—than which a more fitting significance could scarcely be imagined (cf. especially Psa_18:10; Psa_80:1; Ezekiel 10) On the one hand, the cherubim laid hold of and enclosed the divine glory; and, on the other, the divine power laid hold of and directed these upbearers of the divine majesty.
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MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Gen_3:22-24
THE EXPULSION OF MAN FROM EDEN
Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden teaches:—
I. That when comforts are likely to be abused, God sends men from them. There was danger least Adam should put forth his hand and eat of the “tree of life” and live for ever. The fallen man must not be allowed to eat of the tree of life in this world. It can only be tasted by him in the resurrection; to live for ever in a frail body would be an unmitigated woe. There are many trees of life in the world from which God has to drive men, because they are not in a proper condition to make the designed use of them. Government and law must be preventive as well as punitive, they must regard the future as well as the past. It is better for a man to be driven from a mental, moral, or social good than that he should make a bad use of it. Many a soul has lost its Eden by making a bad use of good things.
II. That it is not well that a sinner should live and reside in the habitation of innocence. Adam and Eve were out of harmony with the purity and beauty of Eden. Such an innocent abode would not furnish them with the toil rendered necessary by their new condition of life. Men ought to have a sympathy with the place in which they reside. Only pure men should live in Eden. Society should drive out the impure from its sacred garden. Commerce should expel the dishonest from its benevolent enclosure. Let the wicked go to their own place in this life. A wicked soul will be far happier out of Eden than in it. Heaven will only allow the good to dwell within its walls.
III. That sin always causes men to be expelled from their truest enjoyments. Sin expels men from their Edens. It expels from the Eden of a pure and noble manhood. It drives the monarch from his palace into exile. It exchanges innocence for shame; plenty for want; the blessing of God into a curse; and fertility into barrenness. It makes the world into a prison-house. It often happens that when men want to gain more than they legitimately can, that they lose that which they already possess. In trying to become gods, men often lose their Edens. Satan robs men of their choicest possessions and of their sweetest comforts. This expulsion was
(1). Deserved.
(2). Preventive.
(3). Pitiable.
IV. That though expelled from Eden man’s life is yet beset with blessings. Though the cherubim and the flaming sword closed up the way to Paradise, Christ had opened a new and living way into the holy place. Christ is now the “way” of man—to purity—to true enjoyment—to heaven. Heaven substitutes one blessing for another.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen_3:22-24. Jehovah is the disposer of all places and conditions; he sends in and puts out.
The cursed earth is the sinner’s place of correction.
God has separated sin from pleasure. Sin is out of Paradise.
Terrible are the means by which God drives sinners from their pleasures.
God sometimes withholds blessings for our good.
When men have once committed sin, they are in danger of any other.
The surest way to prevent sin is to keep men from the allurements to it.
God cannot allow the defiling of His ordinances by such as have no right to them.
God likes to leave monuments both of His mercies and judgments.
THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION EXHIBITED AT EDEN
By some it has been thought that the plan of redemption began to be unfolded in Eden in that symbolical appearance recorded in our text, receiving, as time rolled on, fuller development and additional illustration, until it was clearly set forth in the Saviour’s mission.
I. The event here recorded. The expulsion of man from Paradise.
1. It was not forcible. The wording of the sentence would certainly lead us to infer the contrary, but we can scarcely suppose that the unwillingness of Adam to leave Eden would manifest itself in rebellious opposition, so as to induce coercive measures; besides, we may infer from the entire narrative, that he had been brought by this time to penitence.
2. Neither are we to suppose that this event occurred merely as a carrying out of the curse which had been pronounced. The sin of Adam no doubt was the ground of this exclusion, but the principal reason was, that access to the tree of life might be denied him. By this he was taught the full consequence of his sin.
II. The transaction that followed. “And he placed at the east of the garden,” &c. The general mind associates with this statement, the idea of wrath; the popular notion being, that an angel with a flaming sword in hand, stood in the entrance of Eden, to prevent any approach to the tree of life. That such cannot be its import might be inferred from the general tenor of the narrative; in several instances, while Adam was yet in the garden, the mercy of God was especially manifested to him, and we cannot suppose that after his exclusion, there would be less mercy. To us it appears as an illustration of the recent promise of the Redeemer.
1. What is the Scripture signification of the term “Cherubim?” (Eze_1:22; Eze_10:1.) (Rev_4:6.) The cherubim of paradise same as these. In Ezekiel, and in all the passages which refer to the subject, we have the idea that God dwelt with the cherubim; we are also told that the appearance of the cherubim was that of a man; so that one great truth taught at Eden might be, that the seed of the woman, who would open the way to the tree of life, would be God dwelling with the flesh.
2. What was the flaming sword? Critics tell us that the word rendered “flaming sword,” might be rendered “the fire of wrath.” Allow that the institution at Eden and the vision of Ezekiel represent the same appearance, and we have a key to the expression, “flaming sword.” In the vision of Ezekiel there was a fire unfolding, or turning back upon itself; and the living creatures, with the likeness of a man, were in the midst of the fire. In the text, the sword of flame is said to have turned every way, but this would be better rendered “turning back on itself;” so that the great truth here taught was, that the fire of wrath, which had been kindled by transgression, instead of burning out to consume man, would turn back and expend itself on “God manifest in the flesh.”
III. The design of this transaction.
1. One great end was to teach the principles of redemption.
2. To keep the divinely-appointed way to eternal life in remembrance.
3. That it might serve as a temple of worship. It was to this “presence of the Lord” that the antediluvian patriarch came—from which Cain was driven. Here sacrifices were offered, as expressions of faith in this way of reconciliation.—(Sketches of Sermons by Wesleyan Ministers.)
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
REV. WM. ADAMSON
Privileges Perverted! Gen_3:22. Pilkington mentions that in Retsch’s Illustrations of Göethe’s Faust, there is one plate where angels are seen dropping roses down upon the demons, who are contending for the soul of Faust. But every rose falls like molten metal—burning and blistering where it touches. Is it not so with man? God’s gifts are by him abused—His privileges perverted. The gifts remain intrinsically the same; but man’s heart—his guilty conscience is pained; as vice blushes at virtue’s contact.
“Wasted and marred in the sin-stricken soul,
The finest workmanship of God is there.”—Willis.
Divine Care! (Gen_3:23.) God did not forget Adam and Eve. Nor was He indifferent to their constitution. Life in Paradise would be extreme misery. He saw—he knew. So God sees all the way of each child of His. And as he taught Adam and Eve that His Providence and love would guide and direct their future, so does He teach us. Dr. Doddride was taught this in a dream. He thought he had just died, and in an instant was conscious that he was free as a bird. Embodied in an aërial form he floated in light, while beneath was his family weeping over his dead body, which he had just left as though it were an empty box. Reposing upon golden clouds, he found himself ascending through space, guided by a venerable figure, in which age and youth were blended into majestic sweetness. They travelled on and on. At length the towers of a most beautiful edifice rose, brilliant and distinct, before them. The door swung noiselessly open as they entered a spacious room, in the centre of which stood a table covered with a snow-white cloth, on which was a golden cup and a cluster of ripe grapes. “Here you must await the Lord of the mansion, who will soon come,” said the guide. “In the meantime, you will find plenty to delight you.” His guide vanished; and upon looking at the room, he found its walls covered with pictures, which, upon examination, proved to be a complete delineation of his entire life, revealing to him that there had not been an hour in it of joy, sadness, or peril, in which a ministering angel had not been present as guardian and Saviour. This revelation of God’s goodness and mercy and watchfulness far exceeded his highest imaginings. While he was filled with gratitude and love, the Lord of the mansion entered. His appearance was so overwhelming in its loveliness and majesty, that the dreamer sank at his feet overcome. His Lord, gently raising him, took his hand and led him forward to the table. Pressing the juice of the grapes into the golden cup, he first tasted it, then holding it to the dreamer’s lips, said, “Drink: this is the new wine in my Father’s kingdom.” No sooner had he drank, than perfect love cast out all fear, and clasping his arms around the Saviour, he exclaimed “My Lord and my God!” Sweeter than the sweetest of earth’s music, he heard the voice of God His Saviour in accents of comfort and tones of assurance; and, thrilling with unspeakable bliss, he awoke with tears of rapture streaming over his face. Yes! God sees—knows—pities—preserves—perfects.
“Through all my dark has shone
Thy face, Thy peace has flowed beneath my pain;
Stumbling, I fell in Thy embrace
My loss by Thee was turned to gain.”
Mercy and Judgment! Gen_3:24. Mercy here fringed the judgment of exclusion. Man now required an occupation to prevent unavailing regrets. Naturally prone to mood over the past, God gave him an employment which would draw his mind away from past memories to present action and future hope. Regrets of a certain class are useless. As for instance those which a man in mid-life sometimes experiences. It is the solemn thought connected with middle life, that life’s last business is begun in earnest; and it is then, midway between the cradle and the grave, that a man begins to marvel that he lets the days of youth go by so half-enjoyed. It is the pensive autumn feeling; it is the sensation of half-sadness that we experience when the longest day of the year is past, and every day that follows is shorter, and the light fainter, and the feebler shadows tell that nature is hastening with gigantic footsteps to her winter grave. So does man look back upon his youth. When the first gray hairs become visible, when the unwelcome truth fastens itself upon the mind that a man is no longer going up hill, but down, and that the sun is always westering, he looks back on things behind. When we were children, we thought as children. But now there lies before us manhood, with its earnest work, and then old age, and then the grave, and then home. There is a second youth for man, better and holier than the first, if he will look on and not look back. Hence God sent forth Adam to till the ground, to devote his energies to diligent use of the present, by directing his hopes toward heavenly rest in the future. And if we could have his confession now it would be:—
“Yes, I can tell of hours apart
In lonely path and secret place,
When burned and glowed within my heart
The wondrous meanings of Thy grace.”
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.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v24 Gen 3:24. - Rev 22:14.
Genesis
EDEN LOST AND RESTORED
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Gen 3:24. - Rev 22:14.
Better is the end of a thing than the beginning.’ Eden was fair, but the heavenly city shall be fairer. The Paradise regained is an advance on the Paradise that was lost. These are the two ends of the history of man, separated by who knows how many millenniums. Heaven lay about him in his infancy, but as he journeyed westwards its morning blush faded into the light of common day-and only at eventide shall the sky glow again with glory and colour, and the western heaven at last outshine the eastern, with a light that shall never die. A fall, and a rise-a rise that reverses the fall, a rise that transcends the glory from which he fell,-that is the Bible’s notion of the history of the world, and I, for my part, believe it to be true, and feel it to be the one satisfactory explanation of what I see round about me and am conscious of within me.
1. Man had an Eden and lost it.
I take the Fall to be a historical fact. To all who accept the authority of Scripture, no words are needed beyond the simple statement before us, but we may just gather up the signs that there are on the wide field of the world’s history, and in the narrower experience of individuals, that such a fall has been.
Look at the condition of the world: its degradation, its savagery-all its pining myriads, all its untold millions who sit in darkness and the shadow of death. Will any man try to bring before him the actual state of the heathen world, and, retaining his belief in a God, profess that these men are what God meant men to be? It seems to me that the present condition of the world is not congruous with the idea that men are in their primitive state, and if this is what God meant men for, then I see not how the dark clouds which rest on His wisdom and His love are to be lifted off.
Then, again-if the world has not a Fall in its history, then we must take the lowest condition as the one from which all have come; and is that idea capable of defence? Do we see anywhere signs of an upward process going on now? Have we any experience of a tribe raising itself? Can you catch anywhere a race in the act of struggling up, outside of the pale of Christianity? Is not the history of all a history of decadence, except only where the Gospel has come in to reverse the process?
But passing from this: What mean the experiences of the individual-these longings; this hard toil; these sorrows?
How comes it that man alone on earth, manifestly meant to be leader, lord, etc., seems but cursed with a higher nature that he may know greater sorrows, and raised above the beasts in capacity that he may sink below them in woe, this capacity only leading to a more exquisite susceptibility, to a more various as well as more poignant misery?
Whence come the contrarieties and discordance in his nature?
It seems to me that all this is best explained as the Bible explains it by saying: {1} Sin has done it; {2} Sin is not part of God’s original design, but man has fallen; {3} Sin had a personal beginning. There have been men who were pure, able to stand but free to fall.
It seems to me that that explanation is more in harmony with the facts of the case, finds more response in the unsophisticated instinct of man, than any other. It seems to me that, though it leaves many dark and sorrowful mysteries all unsolved, yet that it alleviates the blackest of them, and flings some rays of hope on them all. It seems to me that it relieves the character and administration of God from the darkest dishonour; that it delivers man’s position and destiny from the most hopeless despair; that though it leaves the mystery of the origin of evil, it brings out into clearest relief the central truths that evil is evil, and sin and sorrow are not God’s will; that it vindicates as something better than fond imaginings the vague aspirations of the soul for a fair and holy state; that it establishes, as nothing else will, at once the love of God and the dignity of man; that it leaves open the possibility of the final overthrow of that Sin which it treats as an intrusion and stigmatises as a fall; that it therefore braces for more vigorous, hopeful conflict against it, and that while but for it the answer to the despairing question, Hast Thou made all men in vain? must be either the wailing echo ‘In vain,’ or the denial that He has made them at all, there is hope and there is power, and there is brightness thrown on the character of God and on the fate of man, by the old belief that God made man upright, and that man made himself a sinner.
2. Heaven restores the lost Eden.
‘God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared them a city.’
The highest conception we can form of heaven is the reversal of all the evil of earth, and the completion of its incomplete good: the sinless purity-the blessed presence of God-the fulfilment of all desires-the service which is blessed, not toil-the changelessness which is progress, not stagnation.
3. Heaven surpasses the lost Eden.
{1} Garden-City.
The perfection of association-the nations of the saved. Here ‘we mortal millions live alone,’ even when united with dearest. Like Egyptian monks of old, each dwelling in his own cave, though all were a community.
{2} The richer experience.
The memory of past sorrows which are understood at last.
Heaven’s bliss in contrast with earthly joys.
Sinlessness of those who have been sinners will be more intensely lustrous for its dark background in the past. Redeemed men will be brighter than angels.
The impossibility of a fall.
Death behind us.
The former things shall no more come to mind, being lost in blaze of present transcendent experience, but yet shall be remembered as having led to that perfect state.
Christ not only repairs the ‘tabernacle which was fallen,’ but builds a fairer temple. He brings ‘a statelier Eden,’ and makes us dwell for ever in a Garden City.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv20, 21, 23, 24 i.e. living, or life-giver.
Eve
i.e. living, or life-giver.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v20 Man Driven Out of paradise
Man Driven Out of paradise
v. 20. And Adam called his wife’s name Eve because she was the mother of all living. Both Adam and his wife received the first Gospel proclamation in silence; they believed the promise and arose from their fall with due repentance. This is shown even in the name which Adam applied to his wife, calling her "life," or "source of life," because she became the mother of the entire human race, whose propagation and life was dependent upon her.
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v. 21. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed them. So the first real dress of man was God’s work; He authorized them, He gave them instructions, to make themselves coats of skins, which they were to wear as a covering for their nakedness and as a protection against the rigors of a changed climate. Beginning with this time, then, men were permitted to kill and sacrifice animals for their own use. This act of God, incidentally, serves as a basis for all order and decency in the matter of dress under all circumstances. If the dress of man or woman does not cover their nakedness, but suggests or reveals such charms as have an essentially sensual appeal, then it does not serve the purpose for which the Lord intended it in the beginning, then it becomes a tool in the service of sin.
v. 22. And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of Us to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever,
v. 23. therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. Here the Triune God is again shown in counsel with Himself. Man had become, in a manner of speaking, like one of the persons of the Godhead. He knew good and evil, although, unfortunately, he was involved in the latter himself, having broken through the bounds set him by the Lord. The sentence of punishment had been spoken, and lest man frustrate its force by partaking of the tree of life as well, the Lord now formally expelled Adam and Eve from the lovely garden which had been their home. The man was destined henceforth to gain his livelihood by the most laborious application to the soil from which he himself had been formed.
v. 24. So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. After his expulsion, man’s return into the garden was rendered impossible by the fact that God on the east side, the only accessible entrance, stationed cherubim, armed with the flame of a sword that was two-edged and sharp, glittering in the light as the rays struck its brilliant play. To attempt to pass meant certain death. Man would henceforth know of the existence of Paradise, would even know the location of the tree of life, whose supernatural powers had not been removed by God, but man could not return. This fact was to remind him continually of the time of the final perfection, when sin will be destroyed forever, death will be abolished, and the true tree of life will bear fruit for those that partake of salvation throughout eternity, Revelation 20, 21.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv20, 22 The man
The man
Some translations say "Adam."
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called his wife's name Eve
"gave his wife the name Eve" or "named his wife Eve"
Eve
Translators may write a footnote saying "The name Eve sounds like the Hebrew word that means 'living.'"
all the living
The word "living" refers to people. AT: "all people" or "all living people" (See: Nominal Adjectives)
garments of skins
"clothing made out of animal skins"
translationWords
Eve
Lord Yahweh
Adam
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv20–24 3:20-24 Soon after they were judged for their sin,…
3:20-24 Soon after they were judged for their sin, Adam and Eve were banished from the garden.
3:20 Eve (Hebrew khawah) sounds like a Hebrew term (khayah) that means “to give life.” Following God’s pronouncement of Adam’s impending death (3:19), Adam expressed hope by giving Eve a name associated with life. Adam’s naming of Eve in such close proximity to 3:16 may suggest that the narrator views it as Adam’s first act of ruling over the woman after the Fall (see study note on 2:19-20).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.