"And unto Adam, He said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of they wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life" (Genesis 3:17).
Genesis 3:14-19
Part 6
Yesterday: God’s Penalty for the Man’s Sin, (a)
“And unto Adam, he said.”
“Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife.”
We should never follow someone into their sin! There are many voices today, we must be careful who we listen to!
Today: God’s Penalty for the Man’s Sin, (b)
We have been looking at the first part of Adam’s sentence for his role in The Fall. This penalty involves God’s curse upon the ground. We see that making a living on God’s earth has become considerably more difficult for Adam (and for us, his children).
“And hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it.”
God said to Adam, “You may eat of all the trees but this one. Do not eat of this tree.”
Adam must have thought, “I will eat from that tree if I want to!” And he did.
It’s the age-old story beginning with Lucifer. “I will do whatever I please, and no one will tell me what I can and cannot do!” “I will be my own authority!” “I will rule my own life!”
How many times has it been said by a naïve young person, “If I had been Adam, I would not have sinned!” Older and wiser believers just grin and shake their heads. At one time or another, almost all of us have said it or at least thought it. And yet, the truth is, we all have behaved like Adam. Each time we have chosen our own way over what we have been told to do by a God-given authority, we have sinned. God set up our leaders at home, in the government, at church, or even on the job. Because these leaders are appointed by God, they can expect to be obeyed. When we choose to do our own thing, we have in spirit done the same thing Adam did when he disobeyed God. In the history of the world, there was only one person who never defied what His Father told Him to do. It is Jesus. Of all the rest of us, it is said, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way, and the LORD hath laid on Him [Jesus] the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). Yes, Jesus was sinless; we all are sinners like our father, Adam. This is why we need Jesus, to be our Savior.
Because Adam disobeyed and sinned, God said,
“Cursed is the ground for thy sake.”
After Adam’s creation and before his sin, all he had to do was walk over to the next tree if he wanted to eat. The fruit was there for his picking. His life was nearly effortless. It was an absolute pleasure for him to live in Eden. His work was a joy to him. But now, his life on the “outside” of the garden is so different. Now he must work until exhausted. Adam’s family’s survival will depend upon his tilling the soil and growing his own food. God has just cursed nature. Suddenly the earth is changed drastically. All of mankind has suffered for Adam’s sin.
Some generations after Adam, showing that God’s penalty was still in effect, Lamech, Noah’s father named his son for this reason,
“And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed” (Genesis 5:29).
Many years after Adam and Noah, Solomon, the wisest man said,
“Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:11).
“Therefore, I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit” (Ecclesiastes 2:17).
No longer does nature cooperate with mankind as before in the garden.
“By listening to his wife, when deceived by the serpent, Adam had repudiated his superiority to the rest of creation. As a punishment, therefore, nature would henceforth offer resistance to his will”[1] (K&D).
As seen by our world’s weather patterns, man does not control nature. Occasionally nature cooperates somewhat with us. But as a rule, we have come to expect typhoons, volcano eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, storms, tornados, floods, blizzards, forest fires, avalanches, and mudslides. These all take their toll on our civilization. These events not only destroy life but make it exceedingly difficult for the survivors. Man has no answers for these “natural disasters,” or “acts of God,” nor can he prevent them. These are the horrible groanings of our planet awaiting God’s re-creation, that will come after these end times (Romans 8:18-23).
Come back tomorrow when we look to see what the cursed ground does for mankind. See you then.
Quote: Noah made an offering to the LORD when the flood was over. “And the LORD smelled a sweet savor; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more, everything living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:21-22). Wonderful promise!
[1] Keil & Delitzsch, Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament, the electronic version in eSword. Genesis 3:16-17). The emphasis is mine.