davidbowerkingwood

The Ruler of the World

Adam had been given something no other man has ever achieved, complete control over all the earth and every living thing that lived on the earth! This will not happen again until the Lord Jesus Christ rules over all the earth as King of kings and Lord of lords!

(Another key factor in the creation of Adam, was his creation in the image of God; just as God is eternal, Adam, and all his descendants are also eternal and will always exist in some form somewhere! In case you’re wondering, yes, that includes you and me!)

As a condition of his serving as supreme ruler, he was given one command:

“¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:17

In retrospect, that doesn’t seem to be an unreasonable command, there was an abundance of alternate food sources available so there was absolutely no danger of Adam going hungry! This one tree was off-limits, everything else could be eaten as desired.

At some undisclosed point, the Trinity, referred to as God in the Bible, determined that man should not be alone, in Genesis 2:21-22 it is written:

“²¹ And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. ²² Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.”

One can only imagine the joy, happiness and excitement when Adam saw Eve the first time, it is recorded in Genesis 2:23

“²³ And Adam said:

“This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”

It is important to note, the command, concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was given to Adam, not to Eve.

The Passage of Time

The Bible provides no details on the timing of the activities of Adam and Eve after her creation. I suspect Adam brought Eve up to date on life in the Garden of Eden and warned her of the prohibition about eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

In Genesis 3:1-3 we read of a conversation Eve had with the serpent (Satan) when, I’m convinced, Adam was not present:

“3 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

“² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; ³ but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

Please notice the addition to God’s command, whereas God had told Adam not to eat of the tree, Eve adds, “nor shall you touch it.”

I suspect there was a history behind that addition on Eve’s part; I would guess there had been many discussions about the “forbidden fruit” to the point where Adam, in a moment of frustration, told Eve, “don’t eat it, don’t even touch it!”

My Speculation on Genesis 3

While this is pure speculation, it could explain Eve’s addition of the touching part when she is challenged by Satan. I suggest, by way of further speculation, that between verses 4 and 5 that even more time passed. I suspect that Eve was fascinated by the tree and watched it while birds and animals ate of its fruit with absolutely no ill-effects.

At some point, I believe Eve ate of the fruit, when Adam was not present, and absolutely nothing happened to her. How much time passes before Eve decided to share her big secret with Adam is unknown, but eventually Eve told Adam what she had been doing.

We can only imagine the flood of thoughts that went through Adam’s mind when he heard Eve’s story; had he misunderstood God, how could Eve be alive after eating of the tree, what would happen if he ate the fruit of the tree?

This is where the details of God’s command come into play, death would come when Adam ate, not Eve! Let us theorize Adam and Eve then went to the tree; Eve wanted Adam to watch the birds and the animals enjoying the fruit with impunity, Eve then eats of the fruit and before Adam’s astonished eyes, nothing happens; then Adam eats of the fruit and they both die spiritually on the very spot!

Direct disobedience to God’s command was the cause of Adam’s spiritual death, not a harmless bit of fruit. When Adam decided to intentionally disobey the only command he had been given, he then lost the earth, killed his own spirit, Eve’s spirit, and the spirits of every person subsequently born of a human father!

The Biblical Consequences of Disobedience, The Walking Dead

Thorns and Thistles

While, in the preceding section, I indulged in some speculation; the Bible is quite clear on the consequences of Adam’s disobedience.

Although spiritual death came instantly, physical death was delayed but inevitable; every human being would now be born spiritually dead if they had a human father and, after an allotted life span, would, (with two notable exceptions, Enoch and Elijah) die physically as well. (It is important to recognize the eternal essence breathed into Adam by God is passed on to all succeeding generations and will never die!)

God’s judgment is described in Genesis 3:8-19 where it is written:

“⁸ And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

⁹ Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

¹¹ And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”

¹² Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

¹³ And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴ So the Lord God said to the serpent:

“Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.
¹⁵ And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”

¹⁶ To the woman He said:

“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
In pain you shall bring forth children;
Your desire shall be for your husband,
And he shall rule over you.”

¹⁷ Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:

“Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
¹⁸ Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
¹⁹ In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.”

Next, we will consider the impact on humanity and the critical changes that have taken place as a results of Adam’s forfeiture of world ruler-ship to Satan!