Monday, September 9, 2013

"Knowledge of Good and Evil" International Sunday School lesson for Sept. 15, 2013

       “Knowledge of Good and Evil”
International Sunday School Lesson for September 15, 2013

Scripture Text: Genesis 3:8b-17
Purpose: To realize that our choices can have widespread consequences

Bible Lesson
background Genesis 3

Genesis 3:8b-17  (CEB)
The man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God in the middle of the garden’s trees. 9 The Lord God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?"
10 The man replied, "I heard your sound in the garden; I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself."
11 He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree, which I commanded you not to eat?"
12 The man said, "The woman you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate."
13 The Lord God said to the woman, "What have you done?!"
And the woman said, "The snake tricked me, and I ate."
14 The Lord God said to the snake,
"Because you did this,
you are the one cursed
out of all the farm animals,
out of all the wild animals.
On your belly you will crawl,
and dust you will eat
every day of your life.
15 I will put contempt
between you and the woman,
between your offspring and hers.
They will strike your head,
but you will strike at their heels."
16 To the woman he said,
"I will make your pregnancy very painful;
in pain you will bear children.
You will desire your husband,
but he will rule over you."
17 To the man he said, "Because you listened to your wife’s voice and you ate from the tree that I commanded, ‘Don’t eat from it,’
cursed is the fertile land because of you;
in pain you will eat from it
every day of your life.


My Thoughts by Burgess Walter

I suppose most of us have heard the old story about God approaching Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and questioning them about what had happened. Of course Adam blamed Eve and God for giving him Eve. Eve blamed the serpent, and when God inquired of the serpent, he didn’t “have a leg to stand on.”

If you read the first verse from this chapter there is an interesting statement from God, (Genesis 3:1) “The snake was the most intelligent of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. Note that this was only true of the wild animals. There was no way this snake should have been able to outwit the woman.

The woman had to help in this endeavor. She was titillated by both the risk/ reward aspect and by what she and Adam might obtain by eating from that tree.

Note that God ask two questions back to back, "Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree, which I commanded you not to eat?" Because these questions are linked, there was an obvious cause and effect between the eating from the tree and realizing they were naked.

Nakedness was not a sin, God had made them naked. So how did eating from the tree make them afraid to face God. It could be that in their new enlightened state, sexual desires may have been aroused. Something about their nakedness was a hinderance to their relationship with God. Something in addition to the disobedience. One could make the case for this being the first sexually transmitted disease, SIN.  Because the condemnation of death has been passed down from that day to the present. In addition, the desire for more than what God has given, continues to be a stumbling block to all of humankind.

Verse 15 becomes a great theological statement that will take centuries to be fulfilled. The offspring of the woman, and the serpent will be in constant friction. But eventually the offspring of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. This was partially accomplished on resurrection morning, and will be fully realized on the day of the great judgement when satan will be bound forever.

Because of Adam and Eve’s sin, childbirth will always be a painful experience and man will always have to work for food and shelter. But, because Christ was born to a virgin, was crucified, dead and buried and the third day arose, Gods plan for eternal life, is again our hope. Life in the garden will be restored.

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