Blame and Shame

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." Genesis 3:6-10

There is a lot that could be made here. One point that I always find interesting is the fact that we see Adam here with Eve. Where was he at all this time? Was he listening to the serpent with Eve? We have no indication of that. If he was, why didn't he object to the whole conversation? If he wasn't, how is it he shows up now, and why doesn't he object now? No matter how you look at the situation, Adam fails to stand up to temptation, and evil, and his own wife! Much is made of Eve's failure by being the first to sin. But the sin here is just as much, in fact even more, Adam's responsibility. He was the one who could have prevented Eve from even getting to this point. In fact, the scriptural witness is that death entered the world through Adam (1 Cor. 15:22). In addition, it should be noted is that God held Adam responsible. God calls to him. God expects Adam to answer when God calls. Adam himself knows that God is going to hold him responsible at least with equal weight to Eve. It was Adam who was afraid of God and therefore hid himself, along with Eve.

Notice also the immediate result of eating the fruit. Before this, both of them were naked and not ashamed. Now, true shame enters the picture once they "knew that they were naked." Now, they see the condition of nakedness as one of shame that needs to be covered. It is a condition that will continue with every sin from now on and with every human being. It produces today what Adam and Eve felt then, a need to hide the sin from God, to cover it up somehow.

Finally, notice God's first action. It was not asking Adam "Where are you?" His first action was to seek out Adam, to reach out to him, to go looking for the man. By the way, God wasn't asking for Adam's location when He said "Where are you?" He was lamenting the fact that the Adam He knew was no longer "there." God was not asking WHERE are you. Rather He was saying "Where are YOU, Adam?" Yes, God knew what was happening, indeed He knew that it would happen beforehand. But He also was in mourning for the entry of sin into paradise. He was sad because Adam and Eve were no longer pure and would suffer as a result. And it may be that God was also saddened because of what would have to happen for humanity to become free from the consequences of sin. As we shall see later, those consequences are huge and grave indeed.

Your Joyfully Loquacious Believer,
LEE