God" the word Elohim being exactly the same in the opening of verse five "for God" as

in the close "as God". That "God" not "gods" is intended, Gen. 3: 22 bears its

In article No.7 of this series, a word or two has been given on the words "good and

evil" to which the reader's attention is drawn should he feel in need of a further gleam of

light on a difficult subject. The consequences of disobedience to the Divine prohibition

were immediately manifest. Their eyes were indeed "opened". They "knew" but what

they knew produced shame and a sense of guilt. In the process something that belonged

to innocency had been forfeited. "They knew that they were naked."

Here is a pair of innocents, tricked into disobedience, lured into the belief that they

were being cheated of their due, whereas, it is clear from Heb. 5: 14 that the knowledge

of good and evil would most surely have been given to them, after a period had elapsed,

when being "perfect" and "of full age" and having their "senses exercised", they would

have advanced as knowledge kept pace with responsibility. This "short cut" is not only

evident in Gen. 3:, it re-appears in the temptation of Matt. 4: 8, 9 and it underlies that

other and similar temptation "let us do evil that good may come".

We now approach the centre or the heart of this great chapter, the portion that contains

the great primeval promise, namely  Gen. 3: 15.

The guilty pair are addressed

individually, first Adam, then his wife and finally, the Serpent.

GENESIS 3: 7 - 21

A | 7-11. They made themselves aprons.

B | 12. The Man, I did eat.

C | 13. The Woman, I did eat.

D | 14. The Serpent cursed.

D | 15. The Serpent enmity.

C | 16. The Woman. Sorrow in conception.

B | 17-19. The Man. Thorns, thistles, sweat.

A | 20, 21. The Lord God made them coats of skins.

Not only does the subject matter fall into this obvious correspondence but the section

it will be observed is divided into two parts. In the first half which ends with the curse

upon the serpent, there is no hint of Redemption. The guilty man and woman could

expect nothing but death, as already announced in Gen. 2: 17. With the opening of the

second half comes the promise of the Seed of the Woman Who should bruise the

serpent's head. Instead of hearing the sentence of death pronounced, the man and his

wife hear of childbirth, and of cultivating the soil, until some distant date when they

would return to the dust from which they had been taken.  True, conception and

childbirth was to be accompanied by sorrow, and the equality of Eve with her husband

suffered a reduction in status "he shall rule over thee"; true the soil that was to produce

bread, would also bring forth thorns and thistles, and sweat of face. True, the food thus