Tag: serpent

Eve’s Punishment

What did Eve get? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

So Eve has taken of the fruit and ate and so has Adam. The serpent receives the first sentence, but we’re not going to look at that except for one part relevant to the woman. We are told that her seed will crush the seed of the serpent. Now some look at this and say that this is a proto-evangelium of the virgin birth (Which I do affirm). After all, women don’t have seed. Right?

Not so fast. Hagar is said to have seed in Genesis 16:10. Rebekkah is said to have seed in 24:60. The term refers to offspring in Genesis many times, although it can certainly refer to seed as in plant life. Now while I do affirm the virgin birth, this passage could be evidence of it, but the term seed of woman, does not necessitate it. Not only that, if we take the serpent to be the devil, do we really want to say that the devil has seed like that?

However, let’s look at the punishment now of the woman. The first punishment she gets is that her pain in childbirth will not just be increased, but it will be multiplied. I leave it to the readers to debate the nature of pain before the fall. For my view of the garden, this isn’t a problem. I fully accept the universe was not created perfect for God knew we would fall.

However, some think that this refers not just to physical pain in giving birth, but also to the pain of having to raise a child. How many times do you hear parents talk about how exhausting it is to raise children? If you are a parent, you’ve probably said it yourself. Would we have this problem if we lived in a sin-free world? You would not have to discipline children or teach them to be good. You would not have to protect them from evil people who wish them harm.

Children are also something that is usually most precious to a woman. Generally, if you ever want to see a woman get angry, go after her children. Mama bear will come out normally and it will not be a pretty sight. Of course, I know not all mothers are like this, but many are.

Today, the feminist movement really embodies the second part. The husband will rule over the wife. In the fall, Eve took the lead and gave to her husband. Now in reply, she will be the one who submits to him. It as if saying “You failed at leadership. Now he will lead.”

Now I do believe headship was already there, but this is just a way of saying that the desire will be frustrated. Today, feminists many times want to rule over and control men. Submission is thought to be a dirty word and the way it is used by too many Christian men today, rightfully so. Hint guys: If you have to use the word submission, odds are you’re probably not leading your family right anyway.

Eve has it rough, but as we shall see, Adam has a greater sentence. After all, he should have stood up to the serpent and yet he did nothing. He sat by silently. What does he get? We’ll see that next time.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)

Adam’s Laziness

Why is Adam sitting on the sidelines? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

In Genesis 3, the serpent comes to Eve and tries to get her to eat the fruit from the forbidden tree. Eve is regularly said to get the commandment from God wrong as God never said to not touch the fruit. For all we know, they could take the fruit from the tree and juggle them if they wanted to, just as long as they didn’t eat from it. I suspect what really happened is that Adam told her to not touch it just to make doubly sure she didn’t go near it.

Unfortunately, that advice worked against him.

The serpent calls into question what God has said. In the book, Struck Down But Not Destroyed, which is an excellent book on dealing with anxiety, the author says the root of sin is ultimately distrust. Here, the serpent tries to get Eve to distrust in what God has said.

The sad reality is that he succeeds. I suspect once Eve touched the fruit and saw that nothing happened, it was an easy step for her to eat the fruit from that tree. At that point, we have the first sin that is committed by a human as she eats of the fruit. Then, she takes some and gives it to her husband who is with her.

Wait. Wait. Wait.

Did the text say that Adam was there with her?

It’s hard to avoid that conclusion after all. The text says that her husband was with her. Earlier I wrote about the loneliness of Adam. Today, we are looking at the laziness of Adam.

Adam was apparently sitting here the whole time watching what was going on and listening and what do you see him saying or doing? Nothing. Do we see him standing up to the serpent and telling him to leave his wife alone? Not a bit. He is entirely passive in the whole exchange.

Adam was put in the garden to tend to it and care for it and we can presume the same was given to him when he was given a wife. Do we see him doing that? No. Perhaps we are wrong in thinking the first sin was the taking of the forbidden fruit. Perhaps the first sin was really Adam being a passive wimp.

Some people have suspected that Adam knew that his wife had messed up and he took the fruit because he knew that she would likely be banished from the garden and he chose to be with her. That could be and I am entirely open to it. However, he could have avoided that if he had just stood up at the very beginning.

Today, we who are men also need to stand up for our wives and families. If we are single, we need to stand up for the women around us. We’ve already seen an example of what happens if we don’t do that. The whole world goes wrong at that point. Perhaps every time we stand up for what is right, we are putting the world right again.

So let’s put it right again.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)