NO BIBLE NO BREAKFAST DAILY BIBLE REFLECTIONS AND MORE

GENESIS 3:14-21

The serpent cursed, Eve and Adam punished by God for disobeying Him. 

The theme for today’s reflection is a curse. A curse is a solemn utterance intended to invoke a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or something. In Genesis 2:15 we learn that “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” This was the only caveat given to Adam who was the steward of the garden. “But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths”(Genesis 3:4-7)

Adam and Eve obeyed the serpent and disobeyed God because of their curiosity and eagerness to satisfy the desire of their flesh. The characters in the drama of disobedience suffered the direct consequences of their actions. It is important to note that the word cursed is used in relation to the serpent and the ground but not relation to Adam and Eve. To the serpent, God said “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field;”(Genesis 3:14), and about ground, when God was speaking to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you;( Genesis 3:17)

From a critical reflection of today’s Scripture we realise that God cursed the serpent who led Eve and Adam into temptation and  as a result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience the ground or earth which God had hitherto blessed to provide food is cursed. Even when God was invoking curses on the Serpent and the ground he was gracious to Adam and Eve who actually deserved to be cursed for disobeying God. God has a strong disapproval for a person who becomes the source of downfall to others and this is seen in the curse of the serpent. To support the claim that a person who leads others into temptation and suffering would incur the wrath of God is seen when Jesus said in Matthew 26:34 that “The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” Remember Adam and Eve were the first human beings who were led into temptation but fell and suffered punishment hence the curse of the serpent. The lesson here is that God will not hesitate to bring upon you a curse if you willfully disobey Him by becoming the source of temptation leading others into temptation and consequently causing them to disobey and the fracture of their relationship with God. 

We will realised the punishment of Eve and Adam is only an introduction of hardahip in their already existing natural state of affairs. Eve is a woman and naturally is created to give birth with some appreciable level of pain but her punishment is that her pain will be multiplied. God said to Eve “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.”(Genesis 3:16) Again, being a wife and partner to Adam, she did not give him good counsel on this occasion becuase  of her personal interest in the forbidden tree. She lured Adam into disobeying God therefore her punishment is that “Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”(Genesis 3:16)

In the same manner we learn Adam was already working in the Garden because Genesis 2:15 says “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” His punishment for disobeying God was that he is now to work harder with pain becuase “cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”(Genesis 3:17-19) Death is certain since that is the way to eternity. God is reminding humanity of their end for which reason we must not rely on the things of the world but trust and obey God.

We have learnt that God cursed the serpent who planned and executed the fall of humanity but as God the Judge was delivering His judgment he did not curse humanity but introduced hardship and pain in their already existing state of affairs. Indeed, in humanity’s pain and hardahip God still cares. This is essence of grace, we have disobeyed and deserved to be cursed beyond redemption but He continues to care and offered the greatest sacrifice, Jesus His son so that all who have suffered on this earth will be saved if only they believe in Him.  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (John 3:16-18).  May His grace continue to abide with you. Shalom.

 PRAYER 

 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Amen. (Roman 8:1-4)

Jean-Paul Agidi (Rev)