Genesis 3:3 | 11
18
The Lord God said,“ It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a help er suit able for him.”
19
Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild an i mals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and what ev er the man called each liv ing crea ture, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the live stock, the birds in the sky and all the wild an i mals.
But for Adam a no suit able help er was found.
21
So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleep ing, he took one of the man’ s ribs b and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a wom an from the rib c he had tak en out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23
The man said,
“ This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called‘ woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”
24
That is why a man leaves his fa ther and moth er and is unit ed to his wife, and they be come one flesh. 25
Adam and his wife were both na ked, and they felt no shame.
The Fall
3
Now the ser pent was more crafty than any of the wild an i mals the Lord God had made. He said to the wom an,“ Did God real ly say,‘ You must not eat from any tree in the gar den’?”
2
The wom an said to the ser pent,“ We may eat fruit from the trees in the gar den, 3 but God did say,‘ You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in
a
20 Or the man c
22 Or part b
21 Or took part of the man’ s side discernment in humans, since they would need to possess this already to understand God’ s command. tree of the knowledge of good and evil No such tree appears in other ancient Near Eastern texts and traditions. This tree was located within Eden— the dwelling place of God and his heavenly host( see note on 1:26; note on 2:8). This particular tree represents a counterpart to the tree of life, which could bestow immortality( 3:22; see note on 2:9). you will certainly die This refers to the certainty of death, not to immediate death. Adam and Eve did not immediately die after eating from the tree, but they were cut off from the tree of life and driven from the garden after their disobedience( 3:6). Their immortality depended on remaining in God’ s presence, symbolized by the tree of life and its fruit. Driven out, they would inevitably die, as all mortals do( compare note on 3:22). 2:18 helper The Hebrew term used here, ezer, refers broadly to rendering aid. While used to refer to subordinates, the word does not necessarily imply inferiority: God is called Israel’ s helper( ezer in Hebrew; Hos 13:9). Ezer does not imply that the woman is inferior to the man, especially since Eve’ s creation was prompted by a perceived insufficiency in Adam to image God. Through wordplay, the term may also draw attention to Adam’ s inability to fulfill one of God’ s primary mandates: procreation( Ge 1:28). The pronunciation of ezer resembles zera’( often translated as“ seed” or“ offspring”), which expresses that Eve is an essential part of humanity imaging God as Creator of life. While the naming of Eve by Adam after the fall implies some level of authority on Adam’ s part( 3:20; compare 2:20), the purpose seems to be to bless Eve and properly steward his relationship with her( see note on 2:20). Eve’ s status remains equal as divine imager( see note on 1:27). Their equivalence( or equality) is indicated by Adam’ s response to Eve in 2:23— where he refers to her as bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh. In addition, the dominion( stewardship) mandate was issued to both the man and woman at the same time( see 1:28). This shows that Adam’ s relationship to Eve is not one of dominion; instead, it involves a difference in roles— he blesses creation through his naming of the animals, while she blesses it by continuing the life of humanity( 3:20). Eve comes alongside Adam to help him in his mandate to steward creation— Adam leads in the sense that he is already working with creation before she is created.
2:20 gave names to all the livestock In exercising his stewardship over creation, Adam names the animals. In ancient Israelite belief, knowing the name of a thing is what enabled one to do good for the thing named or to pronounce a blessing. In 32:26 – 29, the divine figure who wrestles with Jacob must know the name of Jacob before he can bless him. Adam also gives Eve her name( 3:20), but in the ch. 2 account, Eve is simply called woman, not given a proper name( 2:23).
2:21 – 23 The language used to describe the first man and woman in these verses indicates that they were human and needed all the things necessary to sustain human life. Due to their environment( Eden), Adam and Eve enjoyed perpetual, but contingent, immortality by being able to eat from the tree of life and not sinning against God’ s command. All of this ended with their fall( ch. 3).
2:21 one of the man’ s ribs The woman is made from the side( tsela’ in Hebrew) of the man. Usually used in architectural contexts( Ex 25:12,14; 26:20), this is the only occurrence of the word in reference to human flesh. 2:25 naked In light of the later events, the use of this Hebrew term here, arom, involves wordplay— the serpent is described as crafty( arum in Hebrew; 3:1). The parallel words indicate a contrast: innocence being transformed into shame.
3:1 – 24 The idyllic life of the first man and woman in the Garden of Eden is disrupted by the appearance of the serpent. This serpent tempts the woman to break God’ s command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Her choice to taste the fruit disturbs the order of creation and damages the relationship between God and his creation, because now part of his creation is out of order( or harmony)— humanity.
3:1 serpent The Hebrew word used here, nachash, means“ snake” or“ serpent.” The Hebrew word satan does not appear in this passage, but the NT associates the events recorded here with Satan( Rev 12:9; 20:2). The attribution of human characteristics( cleverness and speech) to the nachash suggests it is more than an ordinary member of the animal kingdom. Proper nouns of people or cities that include the Hebrew nachash indicate that the term may also mean“ bronze” or“ diviner.” Conceptual parallels