What did God say to Adam and Eve?

God then blessed them and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” This was said before sin entered the scene. Some have claimed that sexual union is sinful, but this is true only outside the marriage bond. At this time Adam and Eve were to rule over other animate creatures. By sin they spoiled this, so that man does not now have the same authority over animals, though Noah was told, “the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast” etc. (Gen. 9:2). This is a mercy of God, for otherwise animals could take terrible advantage of their superior strength to terrorize men.

We shall now consider man's place, as set over the works of God's hands. All having been set in order, one was needed to take the headship. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." My reader will observe the change from "him" to "them." We are not presented with the actual fact of the formation of the woman, until the next chapter; though here we find God blessing "them" and giving "them" jointly the place of universal government. All the inferior orders of creation were set under their joint dominion. Eve received all her blessings in Adam. In him, too, she got her dignity. Though not yet called into actual existence, she was, in the purpose of God, looked at as part of the man. "In thy book were all my members written, which, in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them."

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

After God had created Adam He put him in the garden of Eden, commanding him, saying, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:15-17). God, in His goodness, allowed Adam to eat of every tree in that wonderful garden that He had planted, where there was everything to delight and gratify his heart; to maintain His claim as Creator, God only reserved one tree for Himself. Moreover, it was best for man to remain in the condition of innocency in which God had created him, without the knowledge of good and evil, for in the bliss of innocency he could rejoice in all the work of God's hand without the exercises of soul that the knowledge of good and evil would bring.

"And Jehovah Elohim took Man, and put him into the garden of Eden to till it and to keep it. And Jehovah Elohim commanded Man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou shalt freely (eating) eat; but of the tree of knowing good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day of thine eating of it thou shalt surely (dying) die" (ver. 15-17).

Now we have, not the locality, its resources and surroundings, however far-reaching, but the moral aspect and end. The divine Governor took Man and put him into the paradise He had prepared. Though all was in unfallen order and beauty, and no taint in Adam or the subject creation, and of course not in its fairest scene, Man was put there to till it and to keep it. Lordly indifference would have been unbecoming, though Man was blessed and everything very good, and toil or sorrow unknown, and no sentence yet pronounced of death or curse, or even of eating bread in the sweat of his face. Still he was to dress the garden and keep it.

Man had been created by God and set up in a wonderful garden where there was everything to sustain the life God had given him, and to gratify his nature and affections. God had only reserved for Himself one of the trees in that great estate, that one tree signifying that the garden belonged to God, and the commandment forbidding the eating of it was but the maintenance of God’s right to have the obedience of His creature. The commandment of God was simple, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it;” and the sanction was plain, “for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17).

Let us mind God's words and never change to what we think is better. Now hear what the snake, the serpent said. First, "Hath God said?" Secondly, he comes out boldly and says "No" to God's word: "Ye shall not surely die." The serpent was speaking for the devil. When men doubt God's Word, and ask, Has God said?; then you know the devil is speaking. We must bear and believe every word in the Bible. Alas, the woman listened to the devil, and seeing that the fruit on the tree was good for food, and was nice to look at, and would make one wise, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave it to her husband, Adam, and he ate. Then their eyes were opened and they knew they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.

The LORD God came down in the cool of the day and walked in the garden. When Adam and his wife heard His Voice, they hid themselves amongst the trees of the garden. What a wonder it is that the great Creator should come down and talk with man! The LORD called to Adam. "Where art thou?" And he said, "I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." His own best doings, the fig leaf aprons, could not cover him. In the sight of God he was still a naked sinner. The LORD said. "Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?" Then he replied that the woman gave it to him. The LORD asked her what she had done. The woman said that the serpent deceived her. The LORD put a curse on the serpent so he should go on his belly always, and eat dust. And God would put hatred between him and the woman, and between her seed and the serpent's seed. The woman's Seed would bruise the serpent's head. The serpent would bruise His heel. And God told the woman that she would bear her children with sorrow, and that her husband would control her. The LORD God told Adam that because he had listened to his wife's words, and had eaten the fruit which God said he must not eat, the ground would grow thorns and thistles, and Adam would have to eat his bread by the sweat of his face, until he went back to the dust: because Adam came from the dust, and he must go back to dust. Adam named his wife Eve (meaning, Living) because she was the mother of all living people. We would have thought Adam would have called her the mother of all dying people, for sin had just come in; and with sin Death had come: but Adam, trusted in God, and called her Eve, the mother of all living.

Adam and Eve were permitted to eat of all the trees of the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: of the which if they ate, in the same day they should die. Eve, being beguiled by Satan, ate of that tree; and at her suggestion, though not deceived as Eve was, Adam also took of it. Their eyes were at once opened, they knew they were naked, and hid themselves from God. They were transgressors, had fallen from their state of innocence, and acquired a conscience, and with it the sense of their own evil and guilt. When questioned by God, Adam laid the blame on Eve, ungratefully saying, "the woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." The ground was then cursed for Adam's sake: in sorrow he should eat of it all his life: thorns and thistles should be produced, and in the sweat of his face he should eat bread.

3 But God will have sin out, and trace it to its source. "And Jehovah Elohim said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And Jehovah Elohim said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (v. 13-19).

"Unto the woman he said, Increasing (greatly) I will increase thy sorrow and thy conception: in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; unto thy husband [shall be] thy desire, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto thy wife's voice, and hast eaten of the tree [of] which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, cursed [be] the ground for thy sake: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all thy life's days; and thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat herbage of the field; in sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thy return unto the ground, for out of it wast thou taken. For dust [art] thou, and unto dust shalt thou return" (vers. 16-19).

As with the serpent, Jehovah Elohim speaks to the woman of the present governmental effects of her sin. Woman, more than any other female, was to have sorrow multiplied in her pregnancy and in her bringing forth offspring. Woman, not man, is the victim of reiterated sorrow in this respect. It was righteous, however sad. She first listened to the enemy, despising God and His word; then she drew her husband after her into the ditch. Henceforth she was to be subject; like a younger brother to an elder (Gen. 4:7), her desire was to be to her husband, and he should rule over her. The fall would make this hard. How different the original position of companionship! Sin made God a judge: before it, He simply blessed. But grace in Christ leaves Him free now in better and eternal blessings for faith.