The Fall and the Flood

Introduction

God said to Adam “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die” (May & Metzger, 1977, p. 3). Why was this temptation placed right in the middle of the garden where it would always be seen? God creates the heavens and the earth and everything in it, judges and punishes it for its sin, and starts over (just not completely).

Motivation of the serpent

“Chapter 3 [Genesis] brings readers into the middle of a conversation between a snake and two human beings (3:6 makes it clear that the man is present the whole time)” (Birch, Brueggemann, Fretheim, & Petersen, 1999, p. 55). The serpent would deceive them and get them to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge. The serpent is able to get them to question if God “could be fully trusted with their best interests” (Birch et al., p. 55). That trust is called into question because the serpent told them that they would not die. What motive could a serpent have on its own to do this? The serpent, which was actually Satan, wanted to take the man and woman away from God. Satan committed the original sin when he desired to be God and now he wanted to bring that into the world that God had created.

The participants – in the beginning

The man, whose name is Adam, and the woman, whose name is Eve, do not die a physical death. The death that God was talking about is the sin that separates man from God. In comparison to the wonderful life that Adam and Eve had enjoyed in the garden, this separation likely felt like death. Sin is something that is thought about before it is carried out. Adam and Eve had to think before they took that first bite. Cain had to think before he committed the first murder by killing Abel, his brother. Yet God was gracious. He did not put Adam, Eve, or Cain to death for disobeying him. He did, however, punish them. Adam and Eve were banished from the garden and Cain was sent to wonder the earth. Instead of looking at what God wanted for them and making their decisions, they chose to make decisions based on what they wanted. “The expulsion mirrors later Israelite banishments from the land because of disloyalty to God (see Lev 26)” (Birch et al., 1999, p. 57). These banishments, while undesirable, had to be preferred over the kind of death that was to be brought by the flood.

God

Between the fall and the flood the world would be populated as it is recorded in Genesis 5, “the book of the generations of Adam” (May & Metzger, p. 7). During this time man would become increasing separated from God because of sin. The sin of man would become so great that it is God’s judgment that all living things on earth would perish. "God intended to undo the creation and begin again" (Birch et al., 1999, p. 60). The text goes on to explain that God did not completely begin again, in fact everything that had been prior to the flood still existed. The only thing that was different was that the people had been reduced to Noah, his sons, and their families. The only person that God had found favor with was Noah, who "was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God" (May & Metzger, p. 8). So God stops just short of total destruction. It does not say that his sons were also righteous and that they walked with God. It is obvious that God knew this and expected man to fall again.

The participants – the new beginning

God instructs Noah to build an Ark in preparation for a flood. God has Noah take his family as well as male and female of every living creature onto the Ark. God caused it to rain for 40 days and nights, flooding the world killing every living creature that lived on land and breathed the air. Once the water had receded and the land was once again dry Noah, his family, and all the living creatures came off the Ark and would once again populate the world. God establishes a covenant with Noah and with all his descendants that he would never destroy the world by flooding the earth and gave the rainbow as the sign of this covenant.

Consequences

“It becomes clear that the flood has not cleansed the world of sin and the curse; the new Adam (Noah) and his sons get caught up in their spiraling effects” (Birch et al., 1999, p. 63). We do not know what the population of the world was in pre-flood days, but one would imagine that the world's population is greater today. Increased population means increased sin. Anyone who has read the Book of Revelation must wonder if we are nearing the end. Disasters are being reported at a greater rate than they were and with greater intensity. We see and read about fires, tsunamis, hurricanes, and other natural disasters. Toss in wars, terrorist attacks and the genocide of different people groups and there is a constant loss of life.

Jesus warns us that there will be wars, earthquakes and famines and tells us that they are only “the beginning of the birth-pangs (May & Metzger, pp. 1203-1204). Jesus also tells us that we (his followers) will meet with persecution and that it will not matter whether you are related or not for “brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death” (May & Metzger, p. 1233). The Voice of the Martyrs recently reported a Christian being beaten because he drank from the public water supply from which Christians are forbidden to drink.

Conclusion

“The world continues to live and breathe, and to establish families and nations, because God makes a gracious, unconditional commitment to stay with this world, come what may in the wake of human sinfulness” (Birch et al., 1999, p. 65). The tree of knowledge was in the middle of the garden the whole time until Satan introduced sin Adam and Eve had no interest in eating the fruit. They completely trusted God and that had been enough. One wonders if God allowed the sin because he does not want a bunch of robots as followers. God knows we are going to sin, but he still wants us to completely trust him. Trusting in God and being repentant of our sins has always had eternal consequences. If we choose not to listen to God, then we will be separated from him for eternity. Each time you see a rainbow let it remind you of God’s love, his covenant, and his desire for an eternal relationship with you.

References

Birch, B. C., Brueggemann, W., Fretheim, T. E., & Petersen, D. L. (1999). A Theological Introduction to the Old Testament. Nashville, TN: Abington Press.

May, H. G., & Metzger, B. M. (1977). The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha Expanded Edition and Revised Standard Version. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc.