Journey through the Book of Genesis with me.  The plan is simple. Read ONE chapter a day. Blog or journal 5* things you learned that you previously didn't know and ask 5* questions about the chapter that you'll ponder all week. Let's go!

** You'll probably learn way more than 5 things and have more than 5 questions about each chapter. That's totally fine. The more the merrier! 

Genesis 3:1-24

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Question 1: At what point did Lucifer indwell the serpent? That must have taken several tries, thereby the suggestion that the serpent itself was a willing participant (which then explains why it is judged as “cursed above all livestock”, destined to crawl on its belly in dust for the rest of its existence) 

Question 2: what was Satan trying to accomplish in his deception? Perhaps the answer lies in what happens when those who are meant to rule and govern earth and all its creation within, decide to obey the created creatures instead. Cosmic law requires that they lose or (are stripped of) their delegated authority to the thing they listened to. Lucifer understood this! Adam and Eve did not!

Question 3: Why did Adam passively engage in this act of disobedience? Why not even put up a fight?

Question 4: It appears that their makeshift outfit to cover their nakedness (“…they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths” v.7). Shame runs real deep! Hence why God "fashions" "garments of skin” to clothe them? An innocent animal had to pay for this outfit! Something died so the stain of their sin could be covered, perhaps one of the animals Adam had recently named? This would be the first time Adam and Eve saw and experienced death, the painful consequence of sin. Ugly!

Question 5: Having lost his position as guardian in Garden of Eden, what was day one like a post-Eden? What did the first day of the fall look like? What would a couple fight about after something so tragic? Did the blame game continue? Silent treatment? Hostility?

WHAT I LEARNED

Insight 1: Was the serpent’s craftiness something God created it with or did its craftiness come from Lucifer’s indwelling? Since the serpent (the creature itself) is judged in verse 14; it couldn’t have been a passive participant, meaning, it willingly engaged in the process of the temptation by Lucifer.

Insight 2: The craftiness of the Satan/Lucifer is seen in how it falsely states God's instruction, "Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?" (v.2) [C’mon! You KNOW exactly what God said!!!] This raises the question: Could it be the presence of Lucifer already in the garden vicinity that God was warning Adam about in Genesis 2:15 when he instructs him to “work it and keep it?” (Not just as a gardener, but also as a guardian)?

Insight 3:  When Eve "saw"/ "desired" / "and took" the fruit, she had fully bought into the lie that God was holding back the best of the Garden from her and Adam. ("… The tree was to be desired to make one wise." – v.6) 

Insight 4: The fact that Adam doesn't put up a fight, or at the very least, propose an objection to Eve's offer suggests that the desire to eat from the tree had long been percolating in his mind. Either that or he surmised that as long as Eve is the one who touches it and eats it first, then it would be her fault and he could always just blame it on her! (Which is exactly what he ends up doing in verse 12). So it does not matter whether he was physically present or in the vicinity when she is being misled, he had very possibly already acted on the sin in his heart before he actually ate it.

Insight 5: When God shows up, He clearly knows what has taken place, yet he doesn't call right away to accountability Eve (the initiator) or the Serpent (the instigator), instead God first calls Adam, the one He left in charge, the one who is the representative head of the home (husband and wife relationship) - "But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” v.9

Insight 5b:  Curse in verse 16, "your desire shall be for your husband…" The word "desire" in this context is the same word used in Genesis 4:7 with Cain. It carries the idea of mastering something. So Eve(s) will constantly look for ways to try and manipulate her husband in order to control/master him. Adam(s), however [“will rule/domineer over you.” v.16]. Henceforth, Adam, instead of leading and guarding and caring for Eve, will want to domineer over her as is the case in many marriages today.

Insight 5c: God's mercy is replete throughout verse 20 to 22. He institutes death as an act of mercy because he doesn't want them to live forever in their condition and he covers their shame with clothing of his own.