Notes on Genesis | AdventAI

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 16, 1867

Notes on Genesis.

Chapter iii, verse 1. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

ADAM and EVE, perhaps, had noticed, that the serpent possessed an instinctive sagacity, which more resembled the effects of reason than that of any other creature did; and this might suggest to Satan the device of using this animal as his instrument in temptation. For in reality Satan spake by the serpent; as in the days of Christ, the unclean spirits employed the tongues of possessed persons. Common sense and the whole Scripture lead us to conclude that the serpent was only the instrument, Satan the real agent. The word of God reveals to us the world of spirits, holy and unholy, of which otherwise we should have had no certain knowledge. Faith avails itself of this information; but unbelief rejects it to the infidel’s irreparable detriment: as nothing better answers the purpose of the powers of darkness than to work in the dark; and none serve their interests more effectually than they who deny and endeavor to disprove their existence; for we never can guard against the attacks of unseen and unsuspected enemies. From the Scriptures we learn that ‘angels sinned, and kept not their first estate,’ and that, being created holy and happy, they by transgression forfeited the favor, and incurred the displeasure of their Creator, and became unholy and miserable. Being, however, still endued with vast capacities, profound sagacity, extensive knowledge and great power; and, wholly actuated by enmity, malice, envy, pride, ambition, and subtlety; they maintained determined rebellion against their Maker; and as they are very numerous, they have established a kingdom in opposition to his kingdom, under the dominion of the arch-apostate, the devil, or Satan; so that, as far as they are permitted, they are unwearied and insatiable in mischief, aiming at nothing less than reducing the whole creation to a state of rebellion, anarchy, and misery, and rendering all creatures as vile and wretched as themselves. Doubtless, the beauty of the recently created world, the glory of God, and the happiness of man, excited the envy and rage of these evil spirits, and suggested to Satan the malicious design of ruining the whole. The supposition that this serpent appeared so beautiful and resplendent that Eve supposed it to be an angel, and listened to it as a heavenly messenger, makes more excuse for the conduct both of Eve and Adam, than the Word of God authorizes; and certainly we cannot learn it from the narrative.—Scott.

Verse 5. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened; and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

As gods.] ‘Like God; so the word should have been rendered; for what idea could our first parents have of gods, before idolatry had being? The Syriac has the word in the singular number. The original word being that which is used, ch. i, to point out the Supreme Being, it seems the tempter’s object to persuade our first parents that, by eating of this fruit, they should become wise and powerful as God.’—Dr. A. Clarke.

Verse 8. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the cool of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.

Voice—walking.] ‘The sound made by the motion of the Shechinah, or glory of the Lord, approaching and waxing louder. For the walking may be referred to voice as well as to the Lord. Thus at Ex. xix, 19, where the voice (i. e. sound) of the trumpet is said to wax louder and louder, the Hebrew is walked, or increased and grew stronger.’—Patrick.

Cool of the day.] This is referred by Rosenmüller, and others, to the breeze, which commences in those oriental countries in the evening and continues during the night.—Jenks.

Verse 18. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.

Thorns also, and thistles.] ‘The amazing fertility of some of the most common species of these, renders them fit instruments to fulfil the curse God pronounced on the earth, because of the crimes of its inhabitants. The spinosa vulgaris is most mischievous. Scarcely anything can grow near it; it is thick set with prickles, very prolific, shooting out roots and

suckers on all sides, and, if permitted to grow, overspreading whole tracts of ground. Thistles multiply enormously. One kind produces above a hundred heads, each containing from three to four hundred seeds; and a few successive crops would fill the earth. Others, beside their swarms of winged seeds, extend their shoots around for yards, and stifle and destroy all vegetation but their own.’—Dr. A. Clarke.

Verse 21. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

Coats of skins.] Some conclude from this circumstance, that a considerable time had elapsed between the creation and the fall, and that the animals had already begun to increase, or none could have been spared to be slain: but this is mere conjecture; as are all other opinions on the subject, in which it has not pleased God to gratify our curiosity. It is extremely probable that some beasts, sacrificed by divine appointment, furnished the skins with which Adam and Eve were clothed: for, as they certainly had never slain any animals before the fall, and as we have no reason to suppose that any had died of themselves, it is hard to conceive in what other way these skins could be procured.—Scott.

Verse 22. And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

An opinion of a ‘learned man’ is mentioned with approbation by Dr. A. Clarke, importing thus: ‘And the Lord God said, the man who was like one of us [for so read the Sam. text, the Sam. vers., the Syriac and Sept.] in purity and wisdom, is now fallen, and robbed of his excellence; he has, by his transgression, added to the knowledge of good, the knowledge of evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever in this miserable state, I will remove him.’—Jenks.