Tag: Genesis 4

Day 2: Genesis 3-4

Genesis 3 opens with the serpent. The author of Genesis immediately alerts the reader in verse 1 that the serpent is not trustworthy, when he calls him ‘subtile’, which means cunning or crafty, and, from the interaction between the serpent and Eve, we observe the serpent’s craftiness. The serpent doesn’t outright direct Eve to eat of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:17), but he draws her eyes and her attention to the tree and its fruit. Matthew Henry gives good advice in this area, “Those that would not eat the forbidden fruit must not come near the forbidden tree. Avoid it, pass not by it, (Prov 4.15)” (Henry 18).

Yesterday, I focused on the command God gave Adam regarding the trees in the Garden:

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17).

However, when the serpent asked Eve, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (Genesis 3:1b), Eve incorrectly recollects the command and responds:

“We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hat said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die” (Genesis 3:2-3).

Eve, unfortunately, added “neither shall ye touch it”. Matthew Henry notes, “Neither shall you not touch it, seems to have been added with good intention, not (as some think) tacitly to reflect upon the command as too strict…but to make a fence about it: ‘We must not eat, therefore we will not touch. It is forbidden in the highest degree, and the authority of the prohibition is sacred to us’ ” (Henry 18). However, Eve meant it, the serpent did not relent and seized his opportunity to draw her to doubt and temptation: “Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Gen 3:4-5).

This is a good place to stop and ponder how we are drawn to temptation. Like Eve, we know the path of obedience, but we are led astray by:

• Our reason
  • “the tree was good for food” (3:6)
• Our eyes, our senses
  • “it was pleasant to the eyes (3:6)
• Our selfish desires
  • “a tree to be desired to make one wise” (3:6)

“It is a dangerous thing to treat with a temptation, which ought at first to be rejected with disdain and abhorrence” (Henry 18).

Lord, help me to set my gaze upon you and not be beguiled by my own reason, senses and desires. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Henry, Matthew. “Volume 1: Genesis.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.

Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.

© 2025 Angela Hormberg