Genesis 3

We left the man and the woman in the Garden of Eden yesterday, naked but unashamed. They were happy and blissful yet in chapter 3 we see a new individual brought into the picture - the serpent. The Serpent opens by questioning what God says and goes on to contradict God, stating that God wants the woman and the man to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil stating that they wouldn't die as God had said, but would instead become like God. This in fact turns out to be true, because in verse 22 God states, "the man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil". Unfortunately though, The Serpent was not wholly truthful because death entered the world as a result of the man and the woman's eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God doles out consequences for all three parties involved. God curses the Serpent by stating that it and its offspring will live in enmity between the woman and her offspring. God then says to the woman that her punishment will be to have painful childbearing in the future. The man's punishment is that he will now have to toil and work very hard for the food he must get out of the ground. It is interesting to note that only the Serpent is cursed, not the man or the woman. There is still some fondness between God and the man & woman enough so that the ground is cursed, but not the man or woman. In the end the man and the woman are banished from Eden so they cannot eat of the Tree of Life and thus live forever.

There are a couple of interesting points in this chapter to consider.

1. First, once again God refers to himself as "us". Does this again suggest a polytheistic existence in multiple gods or is it again a foreshadowing of the Trinitarian doctrine of Christianity? Or is it something like the royal we? 
2. God carries out his warning even though it seems as if God is merciful. He cursed the Serpent, but did not curse the man or the woman. This is the merciful side of God. Yet, God did say to the man He would die if he were to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil. In verse 19 God confirms that it is true when he states, "...until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." This is the just side of God. This is the holy side of God.