A Garden, a Choice, and a Promise
Humanity’s first choice—and God’s promise to make it right.
The first two chapters of Genesis depict God ordering the chaos into earth, sky, and sea, and then filling them with life and beauty. Then, God creates a mountain-top Garden where He places humanity and calls them His image. This means humans are commissioned to reflect God’s character and manage creation God’s good way. In this world arranged God’s good way there is peace and plenty.
Then, in Genesis 3, faces a test—a choice to trust God or go their own way. Up to this point, God has defined what’s good and what’s not good. But now, humans are faced with a decision: Will they trust God’s definition of good, or will they define it for themselves? Will they manage creation God’s good way or their own way?
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ”
A Serpent
The first I noticed is that a new character shows up—a serpent. There’s no backstory on this guy, other than he’s a creature God made. But it quickly becomes clear that this snake is in rebellion against God and wants to recruit the humans to join him. The serpent tells them that eating from this tree won’t bring death; instead, it’s the way to a better life; to being like God.
A Choice
In verse 6, to the woman, the fruit of the tree looked good. She wanted it. So she took it. She ate it. Her husband joined her. And together they chose to define good and evil for themselves. They chose to go their own way.
Tragedy
In verses 7 to 13 we see how this choice immediately wrecked three relationships:
Their relationship with each other is fractured. They suddenly feel unsafe, unsure if they can trust each other. There’s finger-pointing, blaming each other for a bad choice they made together.
Their relationship with themselves is damaged. They feel embarrassed and ashamed. They make clothes to cover their bodies.
Their relationship with God goes cold. God calls to them, wants to be with them, but they run away and hide.
Then God describes the tragic things that will happen because they’ve rejected God’s way and redefined good for themselves. In verse 16 — Instead of peace, there will be conflict. Power struggles, domination, and fighting will now characterize the relationship between men and women. This isn’t God’s design. It’s what happens when humans go their own way and define good for themselves.
In verses 17-19 — Instead of plenty, there will be scarcity. People will experience want, and it will be difficult to provide enough for everyone. Again, this isn’t God’s design. It’s what happens when humans go their own way and define good for themselves.
A Promise
Conflict instead of peace. Scarcity instead of plenty. It’s pretty awful stuff, right? But there’s hope.
God tells the serpent that his victory is only temporary. God promises that one day a descendant of the woman will come and stomp the serpent’s head. In that confrontation, the descendant of the woman will be pierced by the serpent.
The promise of a wounded warrior who will defeat the serpent gives us hope. God hasn’t given up on humanity. Despite their decision to redefine good and go their own way.
As we read the Old Testament, we see conflict and scarcity on every page. Remember that these things came from a choice. These things can still be birthed from our choices.
But also, as we read, we’re to keep a lookout for the warrior who will arrive someday to crush the serpent and heal everything with his wounds. Things are going to get dark, but help is on the way.
Question
Who’s definition of good am I trusting today?
