God blesses Noah and his sons, and the command is given to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth.  The fear of humans is put into all animals, and they disperse to do their own filling of the earth.  Then God confirms his covenant with Noah and all his descendants (us) that he will never again destroy all the things on Earth with another flood.  The rainbow is the sign of this promise.

Commentary:

It is interesting that God blesses Noah & his sons, but once again there is no mention of the wives.  We have to remember that this was all written by Moses, in a time when everything was a very patriarchal society.  Numbers were tracked by how many “men” there were… not by total population, etc.  It sounds harsh to us now, but it was simply the culture.  I’m sure the wives of Noah & sons also received the blessing by default as well, although not specifically mentioned.  After all, a husband and a wife are considered to be united as “one flesh” before God.

1  …”Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”

I think we’ve all well accomplished that task.  I wonder what “fill” the earth means?  Supposedly it would be full once the Earth goes beyond what might be a naturally sustainable amount.  I’ll admit that I’m nervous about an ever accelerating world population.  Makes me wonder what happens when the commission of “fill” the Earth is actually reached.  Will God decide to return, or will natural causes (floods, earthquakes, diseases, etc.) simply become the balancing factors that limit population growth?  Perhaps fertility rates, as suggested in some science fiction movies, will drop to where having children will be increasingly rare?

2  The fear and terror of you will be in every creature…

I find this intriguing.  It means that before the flood, animals might not have been so scared of humans… perhaps even tame to some extent.  Now animals are going to flee from mankind, instinctually knowing that humans will kill them.  Of course, this is what we observe today in nature with wild animals… although we’ve managed to domesticate some (meaning they’ve lost the fear of humans).

3  Every living creature will be food for you…

This is a very tricky verse.  Does it mean that we can eat anything we want too?  Why then the distinction just previously in the Bible about clean & unclean animals entering the ark.  Also, the question is “WHEN?”  For example, if there is only one male & female wolf and you kill one and eat it…. there goes the wolf population forever!  So obviously even though it is said that every living creature will be food for you, how long would you have to wait to be assured that the “unclean” animals would still survive should you eat one of them?

This verse is followed by the comparison… just like I gave you the plants, I now give you everything.   But can we eat any plant we want today?  Heavens no!  There are many plants which are poisonous to humans.  I honestly believe the Lord is simply saying that He is allowing the eating of every living creature, but it is implied that some animals are clearly not fit for consumption (whether because there is only 1 pair of them, or that they might be poisonous like some plants).   It is also possible that mutations and evolution over time have changed some animals and plants enough that they are now poisonous today (although the original plants in Noah’s time might have been just fine.)

Bottom line:  I believe the Bible is truth, and that the Holy Spirit blesses us in understanding when we choose to study it.  My own interpretation might not fit for everyone, but I think it is relatively clear that it’s not a sin to eat any particular type of animal.  Obviously in this day & age, the foods we eat are not the last of their kind (that idea is naturally offensive to many — even endangered animals should be left clean alone).  The Lord gives us all flesh to eat, like the plants… which means there is definitely some kinds that are probably better for you than others.  This implies that we should apply principles of health & wellness to what we eat.  Later, at the time of Moses in the wilderness, specific rules were given on clean & unclean meats — probably because of the underlying potential health issues in this desert community.  So, if we try to eat with a health principle in mind… we should really not be eating meat AT ALL, or at the very least keep it to a minimum.  And the way meat is raised, slaughtered & prepared, it is all pretty much “unclean” unless you raise it yourself or get it direct from a very trusted source.

The command is clear, however, that you should not eat meat with it’s lifeblood in it (meaning while still alive!)  I think that is fair enough.  I don’t know anywhere in the Bible this is retracted.

So… enough on that subject.

11 I confirm my covenant with you that never again will all flesh be wiped out by the waters of a deluge

If you believe the flood was a localized event, how would you interpret this passage?  That never again would a local flood wipe out all flesh?  Kind of silly, since no localized event could wipe out “ALL flesh” right?  This promise, like all of God’s promises, has been kept –  even in the end times the destruction will not come by flood.  God does not break his promises.

13 I have placed My bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.

Ever seen a rainbow?  We know the scientific explanation of a rainbow, and now it has additional significance.  What I wonder is if the rainbow was something that God created after the flood, or if conditions before the flood were such that there was never a rainbow.  It sounds like either God created a new set of circumstances that would generate a rainbow in the sky, or that he shifted physics so that rainbows would now appear.  Since I believe in the consistency of the natural laws God established at creation, I believe that the antediluvian world was simply different.  Perhaps it didn’t rain — maybe with more moisture in the air it wasn’t needed.  I’m not sure… but however it came about God used nature and its rules to make something very significant of the rainbow.  What an awesome God!

God does not forget his promise to Noah, keeps him safe.  As the waters recede the ark comes to rest on the mountains of Ararat.  It takes months and months for the water to recede enough for dry land to show, and then for it to be dry enough to leave the ark.

Finally the Lord tells Noah to come out of the ark, a full year and 10 days after the rains began.  God says to bring out all the animals so they will spread and out multiply on the earth.  Noah builds an altar and makes a sacrifice of some of the clean animals, and the Lord then promises he will never strike down every living thing again.

Commentary:

I love thinking about how the waters would recede, considering that the entire Earth was covered.  What you can imagine is up to you, but the Bible talks about a wind passing over the earth, and the sources of water (above and below) being closed off.  So perhaps the atmosphere was completely emptied of moisture during the 40 days, and then evaporation started to rebuild the water in the atmosphere.  Also, we’re unaware how many new deep wells, ocean depths, etc. were opened up during the flood to which the waters could now flow and congregate.

In any case, it was a catastrophic event unlike anything before or since.  I’m sure the Earth changed on it’s face.  Likely the bodies of water grew significantly on the surface, and the movement of silt & soil could have created new mountains, lands or islands.  Even the tectonic plates could have moved greatly, breaking up and floating more rapidly and smashing into each other could have caused great mountains to begin growing rapidly.

Evolution science completely ignores the fact of great differences of nature in the past, allowing for “millions of years” to pass where things progress exactly the same from year to year to build up layers of silt.  Just from what we see with the power of natural forces to quickly and dramatically change the environment around us… does it not seem more plausible for catastrophic events to rapidly create grand canyons and carve out rock?  Let your mind try to wrap around this story as fact, and then fill in the possibilities of how it could happen and you’ll find it is indeed feasible.

One other important point that I like to mention is that at the point the Ark lands on the mountains of Ararat… we have no clue where that really is in relation to where Noah came from.  The mountains could’ve just looked like something they used to call Ararat… or perhaps it was called Ararat only after they’d landed there.  But floating on the waters of a completely covered Earth would mean that they could have drifted anywhere.  Trying to pinpoint any pre-flood locations (like the garden of Eden) would be impossible since we are not even sure Noah landed in a place he knew or recognized.  It is only after the flood that geography can begin to make sense.

The waters gradually recede during this chapter.  5 months to the day, the ark comes to rest on some high mountain range.  2 1/2 months after that are the mountain tops finally described as “visible”.  40 Days later Noah begins sending out animals, first the crow, then the dove with increasing good results.  When the dove comes back with an olive branch, I wondered how an olive tree grew so quickly.  But then I thought, would it not be possible that trees could have survived the flood?  Sure.  They might have needed some “dry time”, but I’m sure some trees resurfaced after the waters receded and that’s what the dove found.

If you look closely at the chronology… you’ll see that the earth was considered “dry” about 10 1/2 months after the flood began.  However, It wasn’t for another 57 days that the earth was dry enough for the Lord to command them to leave.  And once again, I like that the Lord in his wisdom knows what all the life on the ark truly needs to survive, and holds them until conditions are sustainable yet again.  I could only imagine the intense desire to leave the ark after over a YEAR bunched up in there… and we might have been inclined to run outside as soon as it even looked “dry”.  But the Lord had his timing, and Noah was obedient yet again.

The first thing Noah does when he leaves the ark?  Builds an altar and has a sacrifice of some of the clean animals (see, there was a reason to have extra animals for sacrifice).  The text is a little tricky in that it says, “Noah took some of every kind of clean animal”.  It could be misconstrued as Noah making this huge sacrifice of at least one of every single kind of clean animal.  But the key word is “some”, meaning that he could also have only picked out a few animals from every animal available.  This makes a lot more sense, as I’m sure the sacrificed animals were used for food (much like many sacrifices were used in the Jewish culture to feed the trip of Levi – the priests).

21 When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma….

I always find it weird to have a sacrifice being described as a pleasing aroma.  Does God really find joy in the death and cooking of meat?  Perhaps that is a human interjection?  After all, there have been many times when having a BBQ or something that I find the smell of cooking food quite pleasant.  So to us it’s a pleasing smell, and the Lord is simply accepting our sacrifice when done properly and with the right intentions.  In that setting, we might think the Lord smells the pleasing aroma too and accepts the sacrifice — but the Lord is merely accepting our obedience to the sacrificial system he setup for us.  And remember, the sacrificial system was a reminder that sin was punishable by death and SOMETHING had to pay that price (foreshadowing Jesus ultimate sacrifice for us on Calvary).

22  “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,
summer and winter, and day and night
will not cease.”

This is a powerful, powerful promise.  Many people know the rainbow promise, that the Lord will never destroy the entire earth with a flood ever again.  But this promise in verse 22 is much more broad.  He is saying that as long as the earth continues (ie. before He ultimately destroys and rebuilds it) we will forever have some sense of normal.  We will have the seasons, cold & hot, day & night, etc.  We can be assured that this Earth will continue to be a place where we can live with the ability to plant & grow food and survive.

Some might argue that Joshua stopped the day & night later on in the Bible… but we do not know the exact mechanisms of this event.  It could have been a time-warping bubble around Joshua which kept them in “normal time” while the rest of the world was paused.  Or the sun could’ve been made to appear as if it stopped in their local vicinity while the rest of the world moved on.  I don’t know, but the fact that the patterns of nature are so exacting that we can have laws of physics and time, and mathematically find the exact pull of gravity, etc. speaks to this promise being fulfilled since the days of Noah.  It’s pretty remarkable.

Noah enters the ark wtih his wife, sons and their wives.  Also entering the ark are 2 of every kind of animal (male & female) and 7 male/female pairs of the clean animals and birds of the sky.  God tells Noah it will rain for 40 days & 40 nights… and once again Noah does everything he is commanded to do.

The great flood begins in Noah’s six-hundreth year with water coming from the watery depths as well as the sky above.  The waters surge and grow until even the high mountains are covered with at least 20 feet of water.   All that were in the ark were saved, but everything on dry land was wiped out (it doesn’t mention the fish).  All human life was extinguished except for Noah and his family.

Commentary:

It’s interesting to see how things are first summarized, and then given additional details (the same technique was seen in the Creation account in Genesis.  First we’re told about the 40 days & 40 nights, the different pairs of animals, etc.  and then in verses 11-24 we get a much more detailed account of everything that was just summarized.

2-3 “You are to take with you seven pairs, a male and its female, of all the clean animals, and two of the animals that are not clean, a male and its female, 3 and seven pairs, male and female , of the birds of the sky – in order to keep offspring alive on the face of the whole earth.”

I often wonder about the clean and unclean definition here.  We are given the clean & unclean regulations in Leviticus, so by having this segregation here means two things:

1. That clean & unclean animals were already specified by God for the sacrificial system.
2. The author (Moses) is writing Genesis AFTER he had already been given the laws of Leviticus and so he inserts this knowledge into the text, although it has not happened yet.

Of those two options, I think #1 fits better overall.   Obviously if only two animals of every kind were brought on the ark, then none of the animals could be used for food… or for a sacrfice & food after the flood.  I think there were animals on the ark that ate other animals, and therefore the 7 pairs of “clean” animals were brought on in part to satisfy that need.

Verse 3 describes seven pairs of all the birds of the sky – which by Leviticus rules are not all clean animals.  So there was either a food supply there of unclean animals to give to the other animals… or these were sacrificial rules which were given to Adam & Eve and were not the same as Levitical rules.  Interesting questions, I don’t have a definite answer.

I always admire that Noah does everything the Lord commanded him.  How hard would that be, as bizarre as all these instructions are?  Faith on display once again.

Some argue that this couldn’t possibly have really happened because there are so many animals they’d never fit — even on a large, triple-decker ark.  We have to think about a few points here:

1. This is divine intervention, obviously, so the normal rules are not going to apply.  Nobody could ever go out and round up all the earth animals…. so God is hand-picking everything.
2. They could have all been small, baby animals.  Less food to feed them, and less space on the ark.  With divine intervention, they could’ve grown more slowly, eaten less food, etc.
3. All the “master” species were represented.  If you study creation science, we see that genetics eventually creates more specialized traits, but they can descend from the same original species.  For example… two wolves, male & female, could’ve been responsible for ALL the different dogs, wolves, and other closely related animal classifications we use now.
4. The FISH were not on the ark, which means there was still plenty to eat if you just went fishing. 

So considering those four things, it is not only possible but conceivable for us to comprehend the possibility that God hand-picked the baby animals to march onto the ark, and that their food needs were manageable and the genetic code classes sufficient enough to eventually give us the great animal diversity we now have on Earth.

Interesting that in verse 10 the deluge comes “seven days later” after the animals and Noah enter the ark, but in verse 13 it says “on that same day” shortly after describing the sky opening for 40 days & 40 nights.  At first glance this seems like a contradiction, but one easy explanation is that the “on that same day” part of verse 13 is not talking about the preceding discussion on the 40 days & 40 nights, but on the following verses about the animals entering the ark.  We actually know the animals entered the ark the same day as Noah, so with that knowledge the phrasing should read more like:
- “On the same day Noah entered the ark, so did all the animals”.

We are told repeatedly that all the animals entering are land animals, as well as birds of the sky.   The fish could obviously survive, and did… which is one more food supply QUITE available to feed the hungry crew on the ark.  However, everything that was left on land did indeed perish.

How could this flood be a local flood, as some have postulated?  Not only does EVERYTHING on land perish, but even the “high mountains” are covered with water to at least 20 feet deep.   What we don’t know is how much the flood changed the world.  Perhaps the pre-flood world had much more groundwater spread throughout the Earth, and more atmospheric water.  Perhaps those high mountains of Genesis were not as high as the peaks we have today (with tectonic activity, volcanoes and more).  It seems plausible that as the flood waters receeded into the Earth and gathered into oceans it shifted and carved up the land into more valleys, more extremes, lower lows and higher highs.  It was a massive shift!

Other questions:

Why did the 800-900 years of living disappear shortly after the flood?
If water covered the Earth, where did the “receeding” waters go?
How did the antedeluvian world differ from the post-flood world?

So many interesting questions and worth asking, but I feel we should (and can) answer them with the approach that the Bible speaks truth even as strange as it might seem to us today.

Mankind has already deteriorated into sinful and evil ways.  Those that were followers of God began freely mixing and marrying anybody they chose and quickly lost their distinction of being God’s followers.

The Lord was actually sorry that he had created man and expressed desire to wipe the Earth clean of their presence.  But Noah found favor with God, who promises to save him, his wife & sons and their wives.

God gives specific instructions on the size and dimensions of the Ark that is going to keep them safe in the coming deluge.  It is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, 45 feet high with three decks!  The reason for the size is that Noah will be sheltering at least two of every kind of animal (male & female).  It says in the Bible, that Noah does everything asked of him.

Commentary:

Genesis 6:1-4 actually presents some of the most strange and fascinating ideas in the Bible.  Who are these “Sons of God” who marry the “daughters of men”, and also the “men of renown” or “powerful men” or Nephilim.  Such interesting language and it is scarcely explained.

It seems to mean one of two things:

#1  – The “Sons of God” refer to the descendants of Seth who just previously in the Bible were said to be calling upon the name of the Lord.  This suggests a special designation already that there were some following God’s will, thus “Sons of God.” They began to intermarry with the “daughters of men”, or descendants of Cain’s line.  Naturally this caused corruption in following God, much like Jezebel brings idolatry to Israel later in the Bible.

#2 – Alternatively, some think it might indicate an unholy union between fallen angels (Sons of God) and human women (daughters of men).

Within context, it seems #1 is more likely, however the stranger part of this passage is the Nephilim, or the powerful men of old.  Why does it say they were on earth BOTH in those days and afterwards?  No humans survived the flood except Noah, so does this “afterwards” indicate a non-human spiritual existence?  It is strange.  In any case, these passages suggest that some of our modern legends like “Herculues” could come from a real time in history spoken of later and passed through the ages.

The Lord says that man is corrupt, that his spirit will no longer “strive” with them, and numbers their years to 120.  Is he talking about 120 years until the flood comes (yes), or is he saying humans will no longer live past 120 years old? (perhaps).  There is a drastic falloff in the ages of humans after the flood, but there are plenty of people who live past 120 years after the flood.  We’re left with Noah preaching and building an ark for 120 years!  That’s serious work.

I really enjoy how explicit God is with his instructions on the Ark.  I doubt anybody had bulit anything like the ark yet… and it must’ve seemed like absolute folly to those around him.  But God knew how much food & shelter Noah & the animals would need, and gave Noah the figures.  I appreciate that Noah simply “did ALL that God commanded him”.  That is awesome faith right there, and a great example to us.

Finally at the end of this chapter the decree that 2 of every kind of animal (male & female) are to be saved via the ark.  I wonder if that included fish?  It seems some huge sea creatures certainly survived the flood and were spoken of elsewhere in the Bible (the Leviathin in Job I’ve heard about).  What about dinosaurs?  Two of every kind, right.  I think there were definitely dinosaurs on the ark, just not full-grown animals.  Elephants and any other large animals could all have been small/babies to fit on the ark no problem.

Would love to hear your thoughts about the Nephilim, the Sons of God, and obedience to God in spite of what must’ve seemed ridiculous.  Thanks.

Here is our first genealogy summary that details the time of Adam up until the time of the flood (as we see soon in Genesis).  First we trace the line of Cain (so he does survive after all), and then we trace the line of Seth — the 3rd born male child of Adam & Eve.  Normally genealogies are traced by the first-born sons, but Cain killed Abel and then was banished, and Seth became almost like a new “first-born”.

Cain’s genealogy talks about how he built a city, and how his decendants became nomadic herdsmen, musicians (lyre & flute), and craftsmen (making bronze & iron tools).  Seth’s decendants trace down to Noah, with two very significant notes:
Enoch – who walked with God & then “was not there because God took him”
Methuselah – at 969 years of life, the oldest recorded human being in history.

Commentary:

I find it fascinating that descendants of Cain became nomadic herdsmen, musicians and blacksmiths.  Evolutionary theory would tell us that bronze & iron tools did not come about until much much later in history.  Yet here we are at a few generations from the first man and we are told Tubal-cain made all kinds of bronze & iron tools.  Again, you either have to pick the Bible or evolution… they do not co-exist.  However, picking the Bible does not mean you have to discard science either… simply that a lot of the “origins” science is guesswork and perhaps not accurate.

Another interesting verse comes at the end of Chapter 4:

26  …  At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord.”

That’s odd.  What were they doing up until this time?  Certainly they were calling upon the Lord, praying or talking with Him.  I think this is here to show that it was at this time that a greater distinction was begun… perhaps ceremonies or getting together or other things that would distinguish them.

We just finished reading about the line of Cain… and then we read about Seth & his first son Enosh.  Then the genealogy pauses for just a second to tell us about this “calling on the name of the Lord.”  It seems pretty clear that Seth’s descendants wanted to stick close to God, and thus they wanted to distinguish themselves from Cain’s line.  The separation between Cain & Seth is shown here by those calling upon the Lord (Seth) and those that didn’t (Cain).

Actually… this also helps us understand the “Sons of Man” and the “Daughters of Men” comment in Genesis 6, which we will soon read.  I’ll leave that until next time.

The other two stories that most Christians know about are the two men with small mention in Seth’s genealogy: Enoch & Methusaleh.  Actually, Methusaleh is not even commented upon, except that his age of 969 years crowns him as the oldest human in history.  I remember knowing his name from an early age, just like my children already are familiar with his name and age.  The importance of being #1 in just about anything is displayed yet again.

Now Enoch also has an interesting “end”.  After 365 years on the Earth the Bible simply says God took him.  The question remains “took him where?”  It very specifically does NOT mention that he died, even though the pattern of this entire chapter always ends with how many years a person lived and “then he died.” This is important, because the Bible is very clear in its wording that Enoch went somewhere without dying.

As Christians, we believe the Lord is coming back to take us home someday… just like Enoch.  In fact, Enoch & Elijah are the two humans in the Bible taken directly to heaven.  This inspires hope as it gives us an example, or type, of the possibilities of our after-life.

Finally… I like numbers, so I quickly added up the ages each person was alive before having their first kid… trying to figure out how many years it was before the flood hit.

Adam:  130
Seth: 105
Enosh: 90
Kenan: 70
Mahalalel: 62
Jared: 162
Enoch: 65
Methusaleh: 187 (late bloomer)
Lamech:  182  (Noah)

Noah is also listed as 600 years old when the flood came.  By my math, Methusaleh died the same year as the flood came (187 (for Lamech) + 182 (Noah) + 600 = 969). Poor Lamech actually died BEFORE Methusaleh… 777+187 = 964.  See!  Genealogies CAN be fun.

Using all these figures we get this total # of years before the flood:
130 + 105 + 90 + 70 +62 + 162 + 65 + 187 + 182 + 600 =  1,653

The only variable is how many years passed between Adam & Eve before Seth was born.  How long did they go before having Cain & Abel… and then how long after that before Seth.  So somewhere probably more around 1,900 – 2000 years perhaps… we don’t know exactly.

How did people live so long before the flood?  Some hypothesis:
1.  The Earth could’ve been much different in life-support (where DID all that water come from?)
2.  There was an old-age gene which was subsequently lost due to having only one line (Noah) after the flood.
3.  Proximity to the Tree of Life kept ages long.  Perhaps God removed the Garden of Eden from Earth before the flood, and even that had an effect on the ages.
4.  God simply decided mankind should not live so long as their evil ways were amplified with their acquired knowledge?

In any case, I love the old genealogies.  Fascinating stuff.  It does make me wonder how quickly the population of Earth might have increased in those days.  Sure they might have waited a long-time for their first-born… but after that they lived for hundreds of years, probably having many many children over those years.  Imagine going to see Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandpa Methusaleh!  haha.

Ouch!  Chapter 4 in the Bible, and we already have the first murder. Cain is the firstborn son of Adam & Eve, and Abel is the second.  Cain works the land and Abel is a shepherd.  When Cain and Abel present an offering to the Lord, Abel’s is accepted and Cain’s is not.  This makes Cain furious, and despite God warning him to master his sinful feelings, Cain attacks his brother in a field and kills him.

God curses Cain for his great sin, taking away the ability for Cain to grow anything from the Earth.  Being a farmer-type, this takes away Cain’s livelyhood, and fearing for his life he pleads with God.  Mercifully, God places a mark on Cain to protect him from being killed by others.

Commentary:

It pains me to read this story.  I have a brother, and although we fought growing up he is now one of my closest friends. I can’t even imagine his death, let alone doing it myself.  I just sit and ask why?  Why did Cain do it?  How could he be so evil just one-step removed from perfection?

First of all, why was Cain’s offering not accepted?  It doesn’t say specifically, but we get a hint later when God says:

6  … “Why are you furious?  And why are you downcast?  7  If you do right, won’t you be accepted?”

I love the fact that God is very plainly saying to Cain that he did something wrong, and yet offering the promise of acceptance if he just does what is right.  We can surmise, then, that Cain either presented the wrong offering (perhaps an animal sacrifice was the only appropriate one at this stage) or was just not giving his offering with the right spirit.

In any case, God then warns him that “sin is crouching at the door” and that he must master it.  Obviously God is looking at the potential for evil brewing in Cain.  We don’t know how long this went on, just that at some point Cain let his anger get the best of him and murdered Abel.  This is way before the ten commandments said, “Do No Murder” which illustrates that there have always been moral rules that are sinful to break.

Cain also lies to God when asked where his brother is.  “I don’t know?”  (Isn’t that still one of our favorite excuses?)  But God knows and has to punish Cain.  He curses his livelihood, taking away the ability for Cain to grow anything from the Earth.  Cain must be a wanderer and live from the fruits of others… which is why he is fearful he will be killed.  He’s just dead-weight until he can learn more skills.

God is merciful even to murderers!  He puts a protective mark on Cain and says if anybody harms Cain their retribution will be much worse.  Cain then has to leave for the “Land of Nod”, eventually marrying one of his sisters (there were no other choices) although we don’t know how long Cain was by himself wandering & scrounging for food or how far this Land of Nod was from where Adam & Eve lived.

I can’t even imagine the grief of Adam & Eve.  From perfection in Eden to seeing one son killed and the other banished in relatively short order (we know they only had two sons at this point).  They must’ve known that their sin caused this kind of grief in the world… how awful.

My last thought is how could this happen?  It’s not like a slow deterioration into sin… this is the first-born of “perfect at one time” Adam.  I think there was a disconnect from God at Eden that had to be restored only by Christ.  On the cross, Jesus bridged the gap for us, and allowed for an in-dwelling Holy Spirit.  The story of Cain & Abel suggests to me that just maybe things were different before Jesus.  Without the Holy Spirit fighting with the carnal nature of the body, it seems mankind moved towards evil extremely fast!  Just a thought… and one for discussion obviously as this is way-ahead of this part of the Bible. 

Other Links:

The Land of Nod

Where did Cain get his Wife?

Satan in the form of a serpent plays fancy with his words and tempts Eve into eating the ONE fruit in the entire garden that was forbidden by God.  Adam goes right along with her and they immediately feel “naked” or exposed by their sin.

God comes down to ask what they’ve done and they each try to pass the blame: Adam blames Eve, Eve blames the snake… the snake slithers off?  In any case, God explains the new hardships, challenges and difficulties they’ve brought upon themselves – including death.

Finally, because Adam & Eve sinned and now knowing good & evil they cannot have access to the Tree of Life and continue to live forever.  They are banished from the garden of Eden, which is guarded by angels with flaming swords (not going back THAT way!)

Commentary:

This is a major story which I’ll bet almost everybody in the world has either heard, or knows about.  I’m sure there are also many people who believe this is a myth — a convenient story tale to explain mankind’s current situation.   Personally I believe it to be true, and more importantly it is in the Bible specifically so we understand what we’re up against.

Think about it… a perfect garden with the greatest collection of animals and plants.  Freedom to walk around and eat from every tree but one, including the Tree of Life!  Immortality, peace, communion with God.  Sure, there was work to be done, but it must have been fulfilling and fun to “work the garden” and be the guardian of the animals.  Yet that one tree they were forbidden to eat from had Eve curious enough to explore further.  By venturing close to danger, she was thrust headlong into confrontation.

The serpent starts with a question to get her talking, which is obviously false:

1  Did God really say, “You can’t eat from any tree in the garden?”

This was obviously a ploy to get her to explain how they could eat from all trees except one, but it’s interesting that Eve adds to the words of God when she says “you must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.”   Perhaps Adam suggested the touch part to protect Eve, or perhaps this is just further explanation on God’s earlier command to Adam.  Not sure.

In any case, the crafty old devil comes back with the very first grandiose lie in human history:

4  “No!  You will not die, ” the serpent said to the woman.  5  “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God…”

Satan is not only lying about death, but appealing to the ego.  Satan (Lucifer) himself was kicked out of heaven for trying to be as great as the Almighty.  So naturally he tries to use the same desires on Eve that got him into trouble.  For whatever reason, it is convincing enough that Eve takes a bite of the fruit, discovers it is good for eating, and then gives some to Adam (who has been standing by this whole time not doing anything…bad husband).

Of course, they instantly realize they are naked.  Personally, I don’t even believe it has so much to do with the naked body, but that through sin they were separated from God for the first time and felt that intensely.  They try to hide from God because they know they are now “exposed” by losing that connection.  God cannot abide in sin, and when Adam & Eve sinned they lost their perfect communion.

God is merciful even now, giving them animal skins as clothing.  I wonder how Adam & Eve felt to have to wear a dead animal skin for the first time… knowing intimately all the animals and never having seen death before.  It must’ve been awful.  The losses continue to pile up:  woman will now have great pain in child birth, man will have to work the ground hard for his food and fight with weeds & thistles (and probably a bunch of moles, argh!)

The worst loss of all, however, is having to leave the special garden and go out into the wilderness.  We don’t know how long they were in Eden, but it doesn’t sound like it was a long time.  Therefore, we can assume that the rest of the Earth was still mostly growing up and developing (see Gen 2:5).  What a shock!  Finally, the garden was barred from entry by special angels with flaming swords… keeping them away from the Tree of Life and living forever.  Thus God fulfilled his promise “You will surely die”… for without access to the Tree, they were going to die for sure.

Some say Eden was taken back to heaven before the flood of Noah.  I think something like that is likely.  Eden is a reminder fo what was, and also a look forward.  At the end of time when God returns and renews the world to its original state, we will have Heaven on Earth in every sense of the word when once again we are surrounded by a garden of Eden existence.