Daily Scripture Reading Genesis 2:15 - 3:7
Many Christians read the account of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit and wonder how they could do something so foolish. After all, the command was clear, and they had other food to eat. Why did they eat from the forbidden tree?
The reality is many Christians today make the same mistake they made. The rationalizations we use to justify some of our actions are every bit as flawed as the justification that led to Adam and Eve eating from the forbidden tree.
Yahweh planted a garden in Eden. There were many trees in the garden, including the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Gen. 2:15 ¶ Then Yahweh God took the man and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
Gen. 2:16 And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may surely eat;
Notice what the man was allowed to do. He was allowed to eat from many trees.
Gen. 2:17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
The restriction placed on Adam was small. Out of all the trees in the garden, there was only one which was forbidden.
The verb die is in the imperfect form, meaning it is an ongoing action. In other words, in the day he ate from the tree he would begin dying.
Gen. 2:18 ¶ Then Yahweh God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”
Take note that Yahweh was looking for a helper for the man.
Gen. 2:19 And out of the ground Yahweh God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and He brought each to the man to see what he would call it; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.
Gen. 2:20 And the man gave names to all the cattle and to the birds of the sky and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.
Out of all the living creatures created to that point, none were a suitable helper.
Gen. 2:21 So Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.
Gen. 2:22 And Yahweh God fashioned the rib, which He had taken from the man, into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
Think about why the woman was created. She was created for the man. Paul wrote about this in 1Corinthians.
1Cor. 11:8 For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man. 9 For indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake.
Feminism tells women they don’t need a man and they should not serve their husband. Many feminists are also very unhappy and angry. That is because women were created for men. If a female wants to find true peace and fulfillment, she needs to embrace the purpose for which she was created.
Gen. 2:23 Then the man said,
“This one finally is bone of my bones,
And flesh of my flesh;
This one shall be called Woman,
Because this one was taken out of Man.”
Gen. 2:24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.
Gen. 2:25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
Gen. 3:1 ¶ Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which Yahweh God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
Think about how the serpent misrepresented God’s command. God told Adam he could eat from any tree except one. The serpent asked the woman if it was true that God had said they could not eat from any tree.
Gen. 3:2 And the woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
Gen. 3:3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, ‘You shall not eat from it, and you shall not touch it, lest you die.’”
The woman answered very accurately.
Gen. 3:4 And the serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
This was on outright lie.
Gen. 3:5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Gen. 3:6 Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, so she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
Notice the rationalization. We saw in earlier verses that the woman understood the command. She knew right from wrong. However, when she saw that the tree was good food, she decided the wrong thing was not actually wrong and she ate the forbidden fruit.
This is what humans have been doing all through history, and it continues today. We justify sin by rationalizing it away. The Bible says divorce and remarriage is adultery, but many Christians justify divorce and remarriage by saying it is too harsh to tell divorced people they need to stay unmarried the rest of their lives. The Bible says women must be silent in church, but many Christians justify women participating in church services by saying it is not fair that women can’t serve God in church. The Bible tells wives to submit to their husbands, but many wives point out the flaws of their husband to justify not submitting to their husband. The Bible says same-sex marriage is wrong, but some Christians justify that sin by insisting some people are born with same sex attraction. In all these cases, Christians today are making the same mistake that the woman made.
Gen. 3:7 And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
The man and woman clearly understood they were not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, when the woman saw the tree gave good fruit, she ignored God’s prohibition and ate from it.
We do the same thing today. There are many commands in the Bible which humans do not want to obey. We use rationalizations to ignore God’s commands just as the woman did.
What are other commands in the Bible that people rationalize away today?
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”