Genesis 3:9-13

Genesis 3:9-13

We are in Genesis chapter 3 and we have divided the chapter as follows,

1. The Temptation, vs 1-5.
2. The Fall, vs 6.
3. The Immediate Consequences, vs 7-8.
4. The Divine Confrontation, vs 9-13.
5. The Adamic Covenant (long term consequences), vs 14-19
6. The Expulsion from the Garden, vs 20-24.

Last time we examined verses 7 and 8, where we learned of the immediate consequences of Adam and Eve’s transgression of eating the forbidden fruit. We noted several things,

1. Their eyes were opened. This means they immediately acquired a new understanding of the world—and it was not a good one, for they now knew evil experientially. It is one thing to know of something objectively, i.e. I can know a stove is hot without my having to put my finger in the burner. It is another thing to know something experientially, to actually touch a hot burner and get burnt.
2. They realized they were naked. Whereas in Gen 2:25 Adam and Eve were together naked and unashamed, they now know shame. There is a difference between guilt and shame. Guilt is the painful emotion of knowing that you did something wrong, therefore guilt focuses on a specific action. Shame internalizes that feeling and affects your notion of self-worth. It says you are bad, hence it leads to self-condemnation and withdrawal. Adam and Eve now see each other in an unpleasant and tragic new way.
3. They cover themselves. In a desperate attempt to fix this new dynamic in their lives, they sew fig leaves together to cover themselves. And it is noteworthy that they cover their loins, the source of life and pleasure, which now embarrasses them to be exposed.
4. They try to hide from God. They hear God walking and immediately try to run and hide from Him. They are ashamed and do not want to be found.

 We concluded by noting how God’s promise of death for disobedience to his command given in Gen 2:17 was fulfilled.

1. Adam and Eve began to die physically.
2. They died morally, as they now had chosen to obey Satan and desired to be like God, the same trap Satan had fallen into in Is 14. Their inclinations of the heart were also corrupted and now became self-serving and self-glorifying.
3. They died relationally (or socially), to God and to each other.
4. They died mentally, as their thoughts now become corrupted. They knew evil and as we shall note in Gen 6:5, with each subsequent generation the thoughts of mankind became increasingly evil.

Verses 9-13 describe God’s confrontation of Adam and Eve after their sin. The context for verses 9-13 are given in verse 8, When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man^[a] and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. God now seeks his hiding children to confront them of their sin.

But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” ¹¹ And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” ¹² The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” ¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.

Note God asks Adam three questions found in verses 9 and 11, and then asks Eve one question in verse 13.

Vs 9, But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

Note God calls to the man. This is a recognition of the man’s headship and as leader of his family, the man is responsible and accountable to God for his and Eve’s sin.

Then God asks the first question, where are you? Remember, God is omniscient, so God knows where they are hiding. This is more a question of, what have you done? It is a statement that is seeking an admission. God uses this same method in Gen 4:9 when after murdering his brother Abel, God asks Cain, Where is Abel your brother? Or in Gen 16:8, God asks Hagar, where are you going? God knew where Able was and He knew where Hagar was going, but he asked the question seeking an admission from them, and He does so here as well. God knew where Adam and Eve were hiding. You cannot play hide and seek with God. Prov 5:21 says for your ways are in full view of the Lord, and He examines all your paths. Heb 4:13 says, nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. God is asking where are you? in an effort to get them to admit what happened.

Vs 10a, He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid.

Note Adam does not answer where he is, rather he answers the implication of the question and states he was afraid. Adam admits to an emotion he did not have just a few hours earlier. What a shock this must have been, to suddenly experience a range of emotions never before felt; fear, shame, guilt, blame, and on it goes.

Vs 10b because I was naked; 

And then he gives the reason he was afraid, for Adam admits he was naked. Now Adam and Eve had been naked before God for since they were created. And at this point they were not really naked for they had covered themselves with fig leaves. So the fear was not based on the fact they were physically naked. It was rather that Adam knew he was in sin and his shame was exposed and naked before God. His guilt had been uncovered. God knows all our secret sins. We cannot hide them from him. Best just to get them out there and lay them all before Him. As David said in Ps 32, When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. ⁴ For day and night your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.^{[b] 5} Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin. Or in Ps 139, Search me God and know my heart, test me, and know my anxious thoughts, see if there is any offensive way in med, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Vs 10c, so I hid.”

Note Adam answers for himself. The admission is all in the singular. I was afraid and I hid. Note the attention on himself –I was afraid and I hid. Adam has become self-focused (which is the essence of sin). Now Adam is aware of his shame and guilt, and he wants to hide it. We all know this for our first instinct after sin is to hide it. Do you know we honor God when we confess. Remember Achan in Josh 7? The Israelites were commanded to destroy everything in Jericho and not take any of the treasure they found there. But in Josh 7 we read that Achan took some of the plunder and hid it and told no one. Then Joshua sent troops to destroy Ai but they were defeated. Joshua was stricken and tore his clothes at the news of the defeat and fell prostrate before the Lord. Then God reveals to him that Israel has sinned and through a process Achan is found out. Then Joshua confronts him in Josh 7:19, Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and honor him. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me.” ²⁰ Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: ²¹ When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia,^[c] two hundred shekels^[d] of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels,^[e] I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” Here is the lesson, when you sin, don’t hide it. Get it out there and confess. 1 Jn 1:9 says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Vs 11a, And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? 

In verse 11a God asks Adam the second question, and that is who told you that you were naked? Nakedness is a condition of which one is normally aware. So God asks Adam, who told you that you were naked? In other words, where did you get the source of knowledge of your nakedness and the guilt and shame that accompany it? Note there is no answer given. So God asks, Adam a third and final question in verse 11b.

Vs 11b, Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

Now God asks Adam the third question, have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from? God, in his omniscience, God knew this was the case. However, the question is meant to bring about a confession. We employed a similar line of questioning with our kids. When they had done something wrong we would ask, what did you do? (even though we knew what they did—we wanted them to articulate it). Then we would ask, was it right or wrong? In order to get them to self-condemn. In verse 12, Adam confesses.

Vs 12, The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

In verse 12, Adam confesses. Note he first indirectly blames God by saying, the woman you put here with me. In other words, God, if you had just left my rib alone and had never made that woman, this never would have happened.

Then Adam blames his wife, she gave me some fruit, and I ate.

Vs 13, Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done? The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Having obtained a confession from Adam, God now directs his attention to Eve and asks her the same question that I use to ask my kids, what is this you have done?

Eve now confesses. Note, her answer is less accusatory that Adam’s as she does not blame God. However, like Adam, she tries to shift the blame for her transgression to someone else, in this case the serpent. It was his fault for he deceived me. Scripture confirms this was the case as Paul notes in 1 Tim 2:14, and it was not Adam who was deceived by Satan. The woman was deceived, and sin was the result.

Note at the very end of the sentence she finally acknowledges what she did when Eve says I ate. Sin has corrupted both of them so that neither one of them gives a straight up simple confession and takes responsibility for their actions.

What do we get out of this? There is bad news and good news.

The bad news,

1. Sin always creates guilt
2. And with guilt comes shame.
3. With guilt and shame comes the desire to hide. We hide from God, from each other, and ourselves.

The good news,

• God pursues us even though we sin! He calls for us even when we try to hide.
• But when he finds us, he wants a direct and truthful answer.
• God forgives our sins.

Next time we will examine the Divine judgement imposed on all involved in this sordid affair, the serpent, Satan, Eve, Adam, and the creation He had made for them. These collective judgements are known theologically as the Adamic covenant, and that is what we will study next time.