| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
| 31 And the serpent hath been subtile above every beast ofthe field which Jehovah God hath made, and he saith unto the woman, 'Is it true that God hath said, Ye do not eat of every tree of the garden ' |
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| 2 And the woman saith unto the serpent, 'Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we do eat, |
Of the trees – In the garden were all kinds of trees. R3925:3
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| 3 and of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden God hath said, Ye do not eat of it, nor touch it, lest ye die.' |
In the midst – One of marked peculiarity. R3925:3
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| 4 And the serpent saith unto the woman, 'Dying, ye do not die, |
Not surely die – This is the first affirmation of the doctrine of inherent immortality. SM129:1; OV215:T, R1642:6
This is the foundation of ancestor worship, purgatory and Spiritism. SM99:1; R3926:3
Satan probably believed this lie, having first deceived himself as most deceivers do. R1686:5
Whoever may be inclined to condemn Mother Eve should reflect that the great majority today are believing Satan's lie and rejecting God's message. R3926:2
Error, combined with Satan's falsehood, has made the waters of truth brackish, unpalatable, unhealthful. R4758:4, R5801:5
Christian Science is in full agreement with this lie. R4743:3
A falsehood perpetuated by the teaching that death is merely an avenue to another plane of consciousness. HG700:1*
Humanity of every grade and language has accepted Satan's deceptive statement. SM110:1; R4792:1
Our first parents chose to believe Satan and the responsibility was their own. God wished to teach a great lesson to angels and to men. OV394:1
Satan has very assiduously propagated this lie ever since. R5909:6; SM129:1
From the beginning Satan was a murderer and a liar. (John 8:44). Q765:4
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| 5 for God doth know that in the day of your eating of it your eyes have been opened, and ye have been as God, knowing good and evil.' |
Shall be opened – Confidence in their Creator should have been complete, and such disloyal thoughts promptly spurned. R5150:4
Shall be as gods – Shall be wise as gods. R2180:3
If you have a theory you want to prove to yourself, the great Adversary will be ready to assist you in every conceivable manner. R1223:1
Good and evil – She did indeed get a great increase of knowledge, but with condemnation, sorrow, pain and tears. R3925:5
Any knowledge which may come to us along any lines out of accord with the divine testimony would be costly knowledge indeed. CR65:4
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| 6 And the woman seeth that the tree [is] good for food, and that it [is] pleasant to the eyes, and the tree is desirable to make [one] wise, and she taketh of its fruit and eateth, and giveth also to her husband with her, and he doth eat; |
Was good for food – The serpent ate of the forbidden fruit in the sight of the woman and then manifested its wisdom, its sagacity. PD10/17; OV299:2; R5150:4
To make one wise – Satan endeavored to show that the fruit was most desirable to give wisdom, to make them as gods. PD10/17; OV15:6; Q706:T, R5150:4, R5238:6
Ambition to appear wiser and abler than others is a danger which especially besets the elders. F267
Satan's wisdom is "earthly, sensual, devilish." (James 3:15) R2180:3
Took of the fruit – Originally sin was inspired by Eve's desire to secure knowledge in advance of the Creator's arrangement. SM156:1
She surmised that her husband would not consent, so she ate alone. PD10/1 7; R5150:5
She was not deceived as respects the wrong doing, but was deceived regarding the results. R5150:5
And he did eat – The first tragedy of earth was disobedience to God. R5150:2
Adam could discern right from wrong, not from experience, but from the perfection of his being. CR500:2
"The man was not deceived;" he ate knowingly, to share his wife's penalty; he was a suicide. CR378:4; R5150:5, R2841:5; PD10/17
No doubt God would have arranged some way for the recovery of his companion. R3926:1
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| 7 and the eyes of them both are opened, and they know that they [are] naked, and they sew fig-leaves, and make to themselves girdles. |
They were naked – Eating the forbidden fruit evidently so engulfed our first parents in passion as to lead to a misuse of a knowledge of which previously they had not been entirely ignorant. R2840:3
Fig leaves together – Indicating penitence and an effort to establish and maintain virtue. R1610:5
Aprons – Typifying our own righteousness, the flimsy, worthless cove-ring for sins. R387:6
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| 8 And they hear the sound of Jehovah God walking up and down in the garden at the breeze of the day, and the man and his wife hide themselves from the face of Jehovah God in the midst of the trees of the garden. |
Voice of the LORD God – The Logos, the word or voice of God, our Lord Jesus in his prehuman condition. R5622:4; Q361:2
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| 9 And Jehovah God calleth unto the man, and saith to him, 'Where [art] thou ' |
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| 10 and he saith, 'Thy sound I have heard in the garden, and I am afraid, for I am naked, and I hide myself.' |
Hid – Motivated by the spirit of fear. R5093:6
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| 11 And He saith, 'Who hath declared to thee that thou [art] naked of the tree of which I have commanded thee not to eat, hast thou eaten ' |
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| 12 and the man saith, 'The woman whom Thou didst place with me she hath given to me of the tree and I do eat.' |
And I did eat – Adam did not blame the transgression upon his wife, he simply told the truth plainly. R2841:4
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| 13 And Jehovah God saith to the woman, 'What [is] this thou hast done ' and the woman saith, 'The serpent hath caused me to forget and I do eat.' |
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| 14 And Jehovah God saith unto the serpent, 'Because thou hast done this, cursed [art] thou above all the cattle, and above every beast of the field: on thy belly dost thou go, and dust thou dost eat, all days of thy life; |
Unto the serpent – Figuratively Satan, symbolizing all the powers of evil, everything adverse to humanity. R1610:5, R4963:3
Upon thy belly – Figurative of Satan; no longer upright, respected and honored among the angelic sons of God, as previously. R1610:5
No injustice was done to the serpent; God made the serpent a synonym for sin, and provided a lesson in humility. R5238:6, R5239:4
Shalt thou go – Literally, the serpent experienced some kind of change of form and locomotion. R3926:4
Dust shalt thou eat – Another way of saying "Lick the dust," "Bite the dust.". R2842:1
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| 15 and enmity I put between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; he doth bruise thee the head, and thou dost bruise him the heel.' |
And her seed – Jews and Christians understand the seed of the woman to be the Messiah. CR267:5; R431:3
Christ. SM88:1; F353
Christ and the Church, "the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." (Rom. 16:20) OV224:1; Q642:4; CR461:6
Not until the "marriage" when Christ and his Bride are made one will the promised seed be perfected. HG38:3; HG343:3
It – Christ, the seed of the woman, not the seed of the man. R1610:6
Bruise thy head – Bring vital injury , crush out all evil in due time. R5768:3; SM44:2; OV184:1, OV305:5; CR460:2; CR459:4; R4451:3, R4963:3, R3926:6
An intimation of the ultimate recovery of mankind from the power of Satan. A57, A98; SM88:1; PD12/20; R4964:6
The man Jesus did not bruise the serpent's head. CR460:2
Christ and his followers must be faithful unto death before they can enjoy their victory of crushing the evil one. R2778:1
There can be no crushing of the evil one and his power until all the sacrifice for sin, the ransom price, shall be paid. R2778:1
Bruise his heel – Not injure him vitally. CR460:2; R3926:4
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| 16 Unto the woman He said, 'Multiplying I multiply thy sorrow and thy conception, in sorrow dost thou bear children, and toward thy husband [is] thy desire, and he doth rule over thee.' |
And thy conception – The race has multiplied more heavily as it has become more degenerate and weak. F41
In sorrow – As a part of the curse. F558
And thy desire – Inclination to seek and obey righteous authority. F493
Rule over thee – This prophecy, that man in his fallen state would exercise tyranny over woman, has been abundantly fulfilled. R1548:6
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| 17 And to the man He said, 'Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and dost eat of the tree concerning which I have charged thee, saying, Thou dost not eat of it, cursed [is] the ground on thine account; in sorrow thou dost eat of it all days of thy life, |
Because thou hast – "Adam was not deceived." (1 Tim. 2:14). E22
Cursed – Unprepared to perpetuate human life. R3031:3
That is why we have all the disadvantages in the world. CR201:2
God left the earth outside Eden in an imperfect condition. R4973:1
Is the ground – All the ground outside this specially prepared garden in which you have been living, and from which you are now to be expelled. CR66:1; R4973:1, R5068:1, R3031:6
For thy sake – The earth in general is in its present imperfect condition for man's profit and experience. R1124:6, R5058:1; Q265:2
Idleness is injurious to fallen beings. PD34/45; R5376:3; A169, A337
The poverty of the world has assisted in keeping mankind back from greater depths of iniquity. R5058:1
Shalt thou eat – By feeding upon the less nourishing and poisonous foods of the unprepared earth man gradually suffered the penalty of death. HG509:6; HG510:1
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| 18 and thorn and bramble it doth bring forth to thee, and thou hast eaten the herb of the field; |
Thorns also and thistles – Obtainable without labor, choking the herbs which would only come by forceful labor. R1476:6
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| 19 by the sweat of thy face thou dost eat bread till thy return unto the ground, for out of it hast thou been taken, for dust thou [art], and unto dust thou turnest back.' |
Sweat of thy face – The curse, the result of sin. R4991:5, R5112:3, R5154:6
Being done away with by modern inventions.
For dust thou art – And in no sense of the word a spirit being. R2841:1
Shalt thou return – With no hint of any subsequent torment. SM28:1; R4552:2, R5063:6; F333; CR269:5
To die by gradual processes. R5417:6
A death penalty was effected by his being cast out of Eden. CR278:2; SM88:T
There could be no escape from the divine sentence except through Jesus. R5578:3
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| 20 And the man calleth his wife's name Eve: for she hath been mother of all living. |
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| 21 And Jehovah God doth make to the man and to his wife coats of skin, and doth clothe them. |
Made coats of skins – Suggested a future covering provided by the death of some unknown Redeemer--the seed of the woman. R5768:5; A57; R1614:2
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| 22 And Jehovah God saith, 'Lo, the man was as one of Us, as to the knowledge of good and evil; and now, lest he send forth his hand, and have taken also of the tree of life, and eaten, and lived to the age,' |
One of us – The Elohim. R5210:4
To know good – Before the entrance of sin into the world. A120
And evil – As a result of the curse. A120
For Adam and Eve, first good, then evil; for their posterity, first evil, then good. HG393:5
Proves that God knows good and evil. R5210:4
Also of the tree – Trees or grove (plural). Q6:2; E340, E390
And live for ever – By eating continuously they would have lived forever, even though sinners. Q6:2; R5150:1; E340
Though Adam was perfect in his organism it was necessary for him to sustain life by partaking of the fruit of the trees of life. HG330:3
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| 23 Jehovah God sendeth him forth from the garden of Eden to serve the ground from which he hath been taken; |
Sent him forth – So that the death penalty might take effect. A209; R4792:5, R5417:3
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| 24 yea, he casteth out the man, and causeth to dwell at the east of the garden of Eden the cherubs and the flame of the sword which is turning itself round to guard the way of the tree of life. |
Drove out the man – The death sentence was upon all of Adam's race from the time he was cast out of Eden. R5150:1, R5179:2
Of the tree – Grove, woods, orchard. R2840:1
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