God turned to Eve with this question. “What is this thou hast done?” ( From Genesis 3: 13) or “What did you do?” It seemed severe to ask her this. She had just been blamed for the whole incident that turned the world on end. She had no place to hide and was clothed in fragile fig leaves. There she was standing alone in front of God. She was guilty. She pondered the question. Her brain was working on this. Feeling ashamed, guilty, and alone; a bad place for one so new to the earth.
Where was her man when she needed him? He had left her.
Where was her God? He was asking a question that was too hard for her to answer right now.
Where was that serpent? She thought, YES! That’s it! Blame the serpent!
“The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” She told God (Genesis 3:13).
She conceded that she was deceived. And she did the thing that was forbidden. She had no place to turn but to admit she did it; but not without bringing someone else down with her (Adam taught her that). That serpent.
Now God’s attention is off her for the time being. He turns to the serpent.
Eve must have felt very small. I see her shrinking into a crumpled mess on the ground after this encounter with God. He had always been so nice and kind. Adam had too! She looked at him still hiding behind the bushes. He would not look at her. He said she was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh (Gen 2:23). He claimed her as his to love and to hold. Where was he now? Cowering in the corner. This was a sorry turn of events. She had never been this alone. She had never felt these feelings before. She was alone, shame-faced, and guilty of disobeying God.
Let’s go back to when Adam received the gift of Eve. He was so ecstatic! He proclaimed his love for her in many ways. At least it was the only way he knew how to proclaim “love.” It was probably more like he had a crush on her. (Remember he had no example of what real love was. No parents, no siblings, only God, Who is love, but Adam did not have this understanding to know real love yet).
(Genesis 3:1) “…the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made”. This serpent posed a simple question.
Remember here that God made our brains work to answer questions with the information it has. It is a mature person that will take time to consider all the possibilities before they answer. Eve did not have this capability at this time. She was a new creation, without a lot of experience. Adam did not have time to take her by the hand and teach her about her new home. If he did have the time, he probably showed her the creation and told her the names of the animals. Sure he mentioned the tree, but not so that Eve knew exactly what God told Adam about it. He did not give her all the information she needed. Adam had no idea that the serpent was subtle. Adam named him but that doesn’t mean he knew what the serpent was capable of.
Eve, who didn’t have her name yet, was fair game for this foe. He homed in on her and left off Adam. Adam knew too much. The serpent went for the easy prey. He asked a question as we stated before. Eve was struggling with this question: “yea, hath God said, ‘Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’”
Eve had no reason to be suspicious or skeptical because these emotions hadn’t been needed yet. They came after sin, shame and guilt came into the world. She was naïve and innocent in her conversation with a serpent.
The serpent’s question was crafted to cause doubt in God and doubt in her husband. If Eve knew who she was, she would have trust built into her relationships with them both. It is important to think of Adam and Eve as much different than we are today. They were innocent. They were experiencing everything as adults without a childhood. It is not accurate for us to criticize either of them for the fall. We need to learn from it.
Eve answers the question with a misinterpretation of what God had said about the tree/fruit of the garden, saying we cannot “touch it” (Gen 3:3).
Then the beguiling serpent asked, “Ye shall not surely die?”
Eve’s wheels were turning again. She had not been with a deceiver before and was not used to measuring the meaning behind the words. He continued to spin her into thinking that she might be missing out on something. That maybe God was doing the deceiving here. Maybe she wants this thing that she did not know existed before talking with this intriguing creature. With his words, this serpent gave her a different outlook on the forbidden fruit of the beautiful tree. She was the perfect prey for this serpent. He led her by his words, and of her own free will, she took the fruit ate it, and shared it with her man.
What happened next is what we do every day as human beings. We try to fix the problem with our own know-how. Adam and Eve suddenly realized they were naked. They were obviously standing near a fig tree. (It might be the tree they ate from was not an apple but a fig tree?) It must have been a flustering and confusing time as they wove together fig leaves to cover their problem (sin). There. They fixed the problem! (Not really). The fix was very temporary and probably uncomfortable. They never completely solved the problem. Later we see God’s covering for them make more sense. Adam and Eve could not have figured this out on their own. God had to kill (or sacrifice) something in order to cover their hides (Or to cover their sin). This covering had significant symbolism, but it did help them both to later manage life outside of the garden and was a way that helped them do the hard work they now had to accomplish to live. It helped them to move forward in their relationship with each other and with their children. The awkwardness of sin was at least hidden but it still stood as a reminder to them of that fateful day.
“What is this that thou hast done?”
This question is for us to make sure that we know and own our disobedience, our sin, our shame, and our guilt. Once we do this, we can then ask for forgiveness from God and others. Then we can walk in repentance because of the redeeming actions of our Savior Jesus Christ. When He died for us, we got permission to be clean from all our dirty and wrongful actions. Jesus gives us the gift of undoing the actions, and sometimes the consequences of those actions. First, we must come into a relationship with Him. Sometimes we must endure the consequences just like Adam and Eve did here after the garden was closed to them. But the God of Love loved them in all of this. He did not extinguish their lives but made a way for them to continue to live. Their lives were shortened, and they did see death. Death of all kinds. They had to work harder for their food and for their lives to continue. Childbirth was through pain and suffering now. Above all, it paved a way for Jesus to save us!
What have you done? Be honest. Be sincere.
Interesting fact: “sincere” means to be “without wax.” In days gone by, a potter would make a vessel and if he were dishonest, he would seal the cracks in the vessel with wax. You would not know it until you got it home and started using it. Then it would leak from the cracks as it was warmed and used.
The potters selling their wares started putting up a sign that said, “sincere” and you would know they did not use wax to seal the vessel but that what they sold you was true, honest, and solid as a vessel should be.
Be sincere. Without wax in your cracks. Be honest with yourself before God, Who can see all your cracks and loves you anyway.
Please leave a comment below.
Very interesting. This made me really think. Adam and Eve have never been deceived, lied to, or any other negative influences at all. They just walked in pure life, and the love of God. How could she know that the serpent was Lying, she never heard one!