For this part 3, we continued study and discussion on Genesis 2:16-17 and the rest of Genesis 2, as well as Genesis 3:14-24.
You can review the study video at the following link, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV16OYz9zP0
Genesis 2:16-17 – “the death of Adam”
(Arguments against “death that day”)
Book of Jubilees/Thousand Years mention
One article said, “The problem with this interpretation is that God told Adam that because he had eaten of the tree that his body would return to dust (Gen. 3:17-19), signifying a physical death” and went on to say “There is another possibility as to why Adam lived for many days after eating of the forbidden fruit. Perhaps Adam died not in that day indicating a twenty-four hour period,but in that day indicating an epoch or more specifically a millennium.” (2 Peter 3:8)
Jubilees 4:29-30:
…he was the first to be buried in the ground. He lacked seventy years of one thousand years, for a thousand years are one day in the testimony of heaven. Therefore it is written about the tree of knowledge: “For on the day you eat from it, you shall die.” Therefore he did not complete the years of this day because he died during it.
Church father Justin Martyr confessed:
Now we have understood that the expression used among these words, ‘According to the days of the tree [of life] shall be the days of my people; the works of their toil shall abound’ obscurely predicts a thousand years. For as Adam was told that in the day he ate of the tree he would die, we know that he did not complete a thousand years. We have perceived, moreover, that the expression, ‘The day of the Lord is as a thousand years,’ is connected with this subject.
Popular Belief/Assuming
One person said: “Well we have no idea how long was alive until Eve was introduced on the scene. We know he was approximately 130 years old when he had his first child. He did name all the animals, so it wasn’t a short period. And it’s popular belief that he didn’t start to age until he sinned
I feel it’s safe to assume he saw multiple animals die and come and go. I don’t think the concept of death was totally foreign.
And we know from scripture he was banned from the garden so he wouldn’t eat from the tree of life and live forever. Thus losing or not being able to have eternal life.
Death Postponed
One person said, “Certainly. It was the physical death that was postponed, but also, Adam did not receive the office that he would have had he been faithful. The “wind” that visited the Garden was the Spirit of God—Adam missed out on his personal Pentecost. All he had was the natural breath God had breathed into him. (Jesus also breathed on His disciples as a promise of the supernatural breath from heaven. A Son of God has both—mediating between heaven and earth). This ordeal was for the purpose of qualifying Adam to be God’s legal representative—basically a prophet. Since he was disqualified, not a single word from his mouth after the fall is recorded for us. Instead of Adam being allowed to eat—and thus unite— the priestly and kingly trees, the ministry was split (in the same way that the circumcision split humanity into a priest-king bifurcation, and Israel itself was split for the same reason) and carried out by his sons. Cain’s sin was pushing in and making the kingly offering before Abel’s priestly one—the Land version of his father’s sin in the Garden.”
- “We are not talking about biological death here. Focusing on the wrong death here has caused a huge problem in Christianity”. – Richard S.
- The death is “relationship severed” and the need for “restoration” – Edward H.
- “Covenant death”. – Vicki C.
Genesis 3:14-24 – “Because you have done this…”
A few years ago, 2014 to be exact I posted; Jesus came to REVERSE THE CURSE. Amen?
So when reading through Genesis chapter 3 in Bible study last night- I realized we need to be able to explain the specifics in a “covenantal” manner about the reverse.
1.) We know “DEATH” & “SHAME” were immediate results. I would explain that Adam’s relationship with God was “dead” in that moment and this brought forth “shame”/ futility.
2.) God cursed the serpent with crawling instead of walking?!?!?
3.) To the woman, God speaks of childbearing. However if this is physical then why do women today still bear in pain today?
4.) Because of Adam the ground was cursed and he would bring forth sustenance by the “sweat of his brow”.
How do you explain these things?
- Serpent – cursed above cattle, on your belly you show go, dust be your food, enmity between the seeds; future bruising
- Woman – multiply pain in childbirth, desire shall be for your husband (cf. Rom. 7:1-3)
- Man – Cursed is the ground because of you, thorns and thistles, by labor, return to dust (carnality, idolatry) (cf. Rom. 8:18-23; Isa. 35:6-7; 55:10-13; Hebrews 6:7-8)
Notice that these are relational changes (when understood in the ANE context)
Covenantal themes in the next few verses
v. 8,11 – tree’s all through Scripture; Jer. 3:13
(cf. Leviticus 26:12) – covenant language/promise
(prior to “the fall”)
v. 20 – Eve = “Mother of All Living” (cf. 2:23 – woman/ flesh of flesh)
cf. similar to “Abraham’s only son” in Gen. 22:2 (“prophetic”); Dan. 12:7 ; Isa. 65:23-25 (notice the reversal)
v. 21 – garments of animal skin – “coverings” (allusion to Law of Moses)
v. 22 – “like us, knowing good and evil” – self-righteousness, shame,
“Eat of tree of life and live forever”; cf. Isa. 59:6
v. 23 – sent out of the Garden, “cultivate ground from which he was taken”
v. 24 – “to guard the way to the tree of life”
Hosea 6:7 – “like Adam, they violated the covenant”
(Talk through this a bit; Israel’s narrative)
Genesis 2; 3 and Isaiah 65:17-25. (Rev. 21)
- Genesis 1:1 cf. Isa. 65:17
- Serpent – Isa. 65:25
- Woman – Isa. 65:18, 23; Isa. 62:4-5
- Man – cf. Isa. 65:21-22; 55:13 (cf. Dan. 12:2; Isa. 26:19; Eph. 5:14)
Prep for next session:
We will talk through the picture of death and curses as magnified through the Law of Moses, specifically looking at texts such at Leviticus chapter 26 and Deuteronomy 28:25-19.