Monday 05 November 2012
- Bible Book:
- Genesis
"Then the eyes of both were opened and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loin cloths for themselves." (v. 7)
Background
When we read the book of Genesis we need to remind ourselves ofan obvious yet significant fact - namely that no human being waspresent at the beginning. So these stories (like much early MiddleEastern folklore) seek to explain why things are as they are.Chapter 3 echoes a theme already introduced in Genesis 1, namelythat the humans created by God were not readily inclined to live ina way God intended. Human nature showed its colours very early!
Interestingly the story in today's passage shows the snakereversing the relationship in creation. Instead of humankindexercising a benign stewardship over creation, here we have acreature exercising a malign influence over people!
An old adage says, 'the difference between God and us is thatGod never thinks he is us". Adam and Eve were naïve more than evil.They succumbed to the wiles of the snake, ate the forbidden fruitand their eyes were opened (verse 6). Yes, they gained knowledge ofdeciding between good and evil but this gives them neitherhappiness nor wisdom. Yet they do realise that they have exposedthemselves so they seek to hide, both their nakedness andthemselves among the trees (verse 7).
Their fig leaves did a pretty poor job - as fig leaves usuallydo. The relationship between human beings and God and betweenhumans and the natural world had bad been messed up.
To Ponder
- How far do you think this story is unfair to Eve and hascontributed to difficult gender relations down the years?
- Can you think of a modern equivalent of where increasingknowledge has led to anything but wisdom in dealing with a problemor issue? What is it?