FACTS AND THOUGHTS

RAMBLINGS IN GENESIS   Sixth Ramble - Consequences     Adam cowered beneath the bracken. He was scared. But when he heard the preemptory call of his Creator, it seemed that a force beyond his will propelled him to arise. To cover his confusion, he allowed the thoughtless words to gush forth.     "I heard your voice. . . . .I was afraid. . . . .I was naked," . . . ."so, yes, I hid myself."     (Somehow, guilt seems to make us blurt out more confession than is prudent.)     But the real confession was not forthcoming. The man did not say, "I have sinned: I ate the fruit you forbade me to eat."     Then, as though to show up the folly of Adam's answer, came the question: "Since you were not aware of, nor embarrassed by, your nakedness on Friday or Saturday, what made you think now that nakedness is something to be hidden? 'Who told thee that thou wast naked?'"     And to show that the question did not need an answer, but was just a means of pointing out Adam's folly, came at once the real question, the accusatory challenge, the fundamental issue, that of obedience or guilt.     "Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?"     * * *     The issue had now been squarely put before him, but still Adam put off the honest confession. He looked for excuses to justify his unrighteousness. He looked toward the woman he was committed to cherish and protect, and pointing an accusatory finger, began, "The woman, . . . ."     And since he had begun to try to spread the blame, he thought to involve his Creator and his Benefactor in his guilt. ". . . .whom Thou gavest to be with me, . . . ."     Then he added a lame excuse, ". . . .she gave me of the tree, . . . ."     And finally, wilting under the steady, relentless stare of his divine Interrogator, Adam reluctantly but simply uttered the necessary confession: ". . . .and I did eat."   * * *   Reading the Divine Record, one can almost picture the scene. Man and Woman, standing side by side but not holding hands, with heads bent forward and eyes lowered, each raggedly and partially covered - yet not covered - with a few large leaves hastily strung together by vines, motionless before a Being clothed in Blazing Light. -- Meanwhile, leaning languidly against a nearby tree, and smirking with inward delight, reposed the trouble-making serpent, clearly enjoying the unfolding drama playing out before him.     * * *   For a moment the Living Omnipotent One sadly looked at the one He had intended to be the crown of His creation. Then, wearily blinking shut His eyes, He slowly turned to look upon the woman.     "And Yahweh Elohim said unto the woman, 'What is this thou hast done?'"     Meanwhile, the serpent, realizing that he would be next to face the questioning of the Divine Interrogator, began to plan his own reply. Oh, it would be a grand statement! This would be his chance. He planned a lie so preposterous and so grandiose that his hearers, all of them together: man, woman, (not-so-)-Omnipotent One, all would grovel in the dust before his, Satan's, feet! The very thought exhilarated the serpent.     And the woman, not deigning to raise her eyes, but taking the cue from her man, blamed the serpent as she softly murmured, "The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat."     At this, The Living Omnipotent One turned to the serpent, while Satan, outwardly supercilious, but within eagerly anticipating the chance to make his reply, stood listening for the cue to make The Grand Statement.     "And Yahweh Elohim said unto the serpent, . . . ."     * * *     ". . . .said unto the serpent, . . . ." while the serpent cocked an eyebrow in expectation for the question, "How about you ?"     ". . . .Because thou hast done this, . . . ."     "Wait a minute," thought the serpent. "This isn't the right script. Where is my turn to make a statement?"     And the Voice of Judgment proceeded: "Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou. . . ." -- "Oh, oh," moaned the serpent, visibly wilting.     ". . . .cursed art thou above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. . . ." Like the tolling of a death-knell, each judgment syllable caused the serpent to sink down, lower and lower, until he was literally flattened to the ground.     And the Divine Sentence went on: "Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life;"     But there was more to pierce and sear the mind of the snake. Irony of ironies, the woman was to be the serpent's enemy. The woman, whom he had so easily and so greatly deceived, would rise up to hate him. And the woman's Seed . . . ("Oh," thought Satan, "so the woman will have offspring") . . . the woman's Seed will become the Champion Who, though wounded by the serpent in mortal combat, will deliver to Satan the death-blow.     "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed: He shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel."     And the serpent crawled away, in frustration and in disgrace.     * * *    Having explored the drama of the episode, it behooves us to look at some details of the Edenic judgment.     In the first place, let us note the expression, "The Seed of the woman." In itself, this is a most unusual statement. Almost invariably we find reference to the seed of the male. But here it is clearly stated: "the Seed of the Woman."     Many Bible scholars have long considered the words spoken to the serpent that day to be more a prophecy of future doom rather than immediate sentence. It is the prediction of an Executioner, here unnamed and unidentified, Who will both bear and deliver the Sentence.    It is the first intimation of the coming of a Divine Redeemer.    * * *  But more: ---   It is "the Seed of the woman." It is the promise that the Coming Saviour is to be the Product of a Virgin Birth.   As the serpent had initiated his attack upon the Creator and His creation through the locus of a woman, so the Living Omnipotent One elected to have the battle fought on the turf selected by the enemy. It will be on the Product of the body of the woman. God Himself thus decreed the supernatural introduction of His Champion.    * * *  God had previously told the man that death would result from ingesting the forbidden fruit, and that the death should come that day. Did it in fact come that day?     One goes into a rose garden on a June day, selects a red bud just starting to spread its petals, and with the swift motion of a clipper severs the rose-stem from the bush. When placed in a vase of water, the bud will seem to flower and last for several days before wilting. But:-- We may really say that the rosebud died at the moment it was clipped, for it was severed from the source of its life, even the sap from its bush.     But more -- When man (and woman) ate the fruit, they ingested a virus, a virus called "sin." It was a virus incurable. It was a fatal virus. It is written that "the sin, when it is fullgrown, bringeth forth death."   And when a child, Seth, was born, one hundred and thirty years later, it was specifically stated that "Adam. . . .begat a son in his own likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth." Note that the Scripture does not say "Adam and Eve begat a son," but only that "Adam begat a son."   So we may conclude that it is the seed of the male which transmits the virus of sin. Although the woman also ate the forbidden fruit and likewise ingested the virus, her "ovum" does not transmit the virus: it is only the male seed.     This makes the Virgin Birth of our Saviour a necessity. The body of Mary, herself a sinner (although pronounced "Blessed" ), did not, could not, transmit the virus of her sin to the Son. And this may be an added significance of the statement in Genesis 3:20, that "she was the mother of all living." Death cannot be the mother of life.   And just as the rosebud, when cut off from the bush, died, although the blossom seemed to survive for several days, so Adam and Eve ingested the virus of sin and death that day in themselves, although nine hundred and thirty years should expire before his physical end would come.   As a further illustration, when a murderer is convicted and sentenced to death, he is legally considered "dead" even though the actual execution of the sentence may be delayed for months and even years.    * * *  But even though Woman might be blessed to bear a Seed, Divine Justice would necessitate that pain must accompany childbirth. "In pain thou shalt bring forth children."   And as she had led her Man into sin, so Woman must now be subject to him: "Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."   * * *   And Man too, he who had so blatantly and willfully disobeyed, must also suffer before physical death should come upon him.   But strange to say, the curse did not seem at first to fall upon him, but upon the ground. It was to be cursed because of him. "Cursed is the ground for thy sake."   Now it is to be observed here that in the original language the word for "man" is (transliterated) "adam"; and the word for ground is (transliterated) "adamah." It is also to be remembered that the body of the man was formed from "the dust of the ground." "adam" and "adamah" have the same root. So the curse upon "adam" included a curse upon "adamah" of which he, Man, was a part.    (The sin we commit often involves consequences upon others besides ourselves - consequences of which we may not be aware, and sometimes upon others unknown to ourselves.)    A result of the curse was to cause the ground to lose some of its abundance of fruitfulness, instead producing thorns and thistles. "thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee."   And this curse may even reach to the animal world, also damaged for man's sake. For it is written, "We know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now; And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the firstfrults of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." (Romans 8:22-23.)     So Man has been committed to hard physical labour all his life, as the judgment went on to declare, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground;" ("adamah") "for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."    Now two additional thoughts here. (1) It may be that the judgment upon Man may have been a partial blessing upon him. To require hard, exhausting, physical labour upon him might serve to keep him busy, and thus provide a form of at least partial immunity from the temptations of the Evil One. For we must remember that war has been declared, and has been raging, between The Living Omnipotent One and the serpent Satan. God knows that Man's moral self has been weakened by his sin; and labour, if properly understood and used, may serve as at least a partial "way of escape" by means of which temptation may be resisted and overcome.   (2) All the words spoken, both in questioning and in judgment, were by God, and were therefore The Word of God, that is, the pre-incarnate Jesus. He it was who was pronouncing judgment. So, even in the Enclosed Orchard, was a fulfillment of the later words of Jesus: "Neither doth the Father judge any man, but He hath given all judgment unto the Son." (John 5:22.)   So, because it was Jesus Who was pronouncing sentence, The story of the Fall is a part of "The Book of the Life of the Slain Lamb," which came into existence before the foundation of the world. (See Revelation 13:8.)    * * *    Two more consequences of the sin: one a pure blessing from the ever-loving Living Omnipotent One; the other, though harsh in treatment, may have been a blessing in disguise.     Man and Woman still were standing there, side by side, frightened and forlorn. Their bodies, concerning which they had once not been ashamed, now drew attention to their condition by the ragged leaf-aprons which so poorly draped them. A pitiful, sorrowful sight they were!   In merciful concern and sympathetic kindness, the Living Omnipotent One took from the animal realm, killed, and Himself fashioned suitable garments for the couple. And by that act of grace, the Divine Being also taught several lessons:   (1) It was entirely proper that the couple be clothed. Modesty is according to God's will;   (2) The clothing of the couple followed a declaration of faith by the man. Adam heard the Word of God (when uttered to the serpent), and believed that God had a Plan which would be carried out; therefore he gave his Woman a new name, "Eve, because she was the mother of all living."   (3) Upon Adam's declaration of faith, God acted for their need. The totally inadequate work of the couple (fig-leaf aprons) was replaced by proper garments, providing both covering and warmth. God did for them what they could not adequately do for themselves.   (4) By killing of the animal(s), God taught that the covering of sin carried a price. In this case, it was the shedding of the animal's blood. It was the first, primitive lesson on the importance of shed blood because of sin. God will teach further, through sacrificial altars, a system of burnt-offerings and sin-offerings, and finally and supremely through the death of the woman's Seed, the ultimate Source "of all living."    *    Finally, the Living Omnipotent One acknowledged the truth which had been imbedded in the lie the serpent had told. "Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil."   So the Living Omnipotent One banished the pair, Man and Woman, from the outdoor temple, the Enclosed Orchard.   Cruel? No, for God had a reason: a profound reason, which was for the eternal good of the human beings, infected by the virus of sin as they were.   To leave the couple in the Enclosed Orchard would be to give them access to The Tree of Life. To live forever without eternal life would be cruelty indeed. And what is Eternal Life? Jesus would one day later express its essence: "This is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and Him Whom Thou didst send, even Jesus Christ."  (John 17:3.)   It is significant that when the couple left the Enclosed Orchard and the gate thereof was closed to them by the Cherubim and Sword, never again in the entire book of Genesis do we have the full name expressed: "Yahweh Elohim." Sinful man is not allowed to see God; for to see Him without forgiven sin means death. "He said, 'Thou canst not see My face; for man shall not see Me and live.'" (Exodus 33:20.)    And to make doubly sure that they could not return to the Enclosed Orchard, God placed the Cherubim and Sword, symbols of His holiness. God's holiness and sin are incompatible. And it will be only when the Seed of the woman, the Lord Jesus Messiah, having opened the door through His resurrection, and finally having defeated Satan and destroying Sin and Death, invites us in to the Holy City that we shall see the Tree of Life flourishing beside the Eternal River.     But first, there is a war to be fought. An eternal war, a war of eternity. And it must be fought on God's terms, not on the terms proposed by the serpent.              --- Norman L. MacLeod Jr.

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