Commentary on Genesis 3:1-24
[From my book, The Women’s Lectionary, coming in October 2020 from Westminster John Knox Press.]
When preaching this text, the preacher’s first task is to de-familiarize the story. So much doctrine has been inserted into the narrative of the Garden of Eden that listeners probably think they know what it says and means. However, this is a much stranger story than the children’s version! To begin with, the serpent is not a devil or a demon—just the craftiest animal (3:1). There is also no mention of original sin. In this text, the reader is left to wonder: what does it mean to be “like God”? What are God’s motives in providing the two trees and forbidding the humans from eating the fruit of one? The preacher can help the congregation pay attention to what is actually in the text by retelling the story.
In the dialog between the serpent and the woman, the serpent is cunning and manipulates the woman into questioning God’s motives (3:1-3). The serpent tells the truth: they will not die when they eat the fruit, but instead know good and evil (3:5).[i] Although the woman has often been portrayed as a temptress in this story, she is actually the protagonist.[ii] She is the one who moves the story forward. Unlike her passive husband, the woman is curious and thoughtful and she makes a decision to learn more. Curiosity and knowledge can complicate simple narratives, but that is not a reason to avoid them. This is a story of growth and change, with real life consequences. The woman sees for herself that the tree is good for food, and she eats it and shares the fruit with her husband. This may reflect women’s role in feeding her family.[iii] After this, the woman takes on the role of creating new life out of her own body and part of the man’s, continuing God’s creative process.
This text provides a different image of God than in earlier chapters. This is a God who walks in the garden at the time of the evening breeze (3:8), suggesting a God who is embodied and enjoys the feeling of the cool breeze in the evening. God also calls out to the man, asking, “Where are you?” (3:9). Does God not know where they are? Is this a God who is all-knowing? Finally, this is a God who acts as a judge, understanding that the humans have violated the command to not eat from the tree, and responding with curses and judgment (3:10-19).
Although the judgment from God is written as a curse, it also provides an explanation for how people went from an idyllic garden to the hard life the writer knows. It also explains why the serpent goes on its belly instead of feet: because it tricked the woman! (3:14). Much has been made of the curse against the woman. Interestingly, the labor that the woman has in childbirth (3:16) is a parallel to the hard labor that the man has in working in the fields (3:17). Both will labor and struggle in this new order. In addition, the woman will still long for sexual intimacy, even with the risks of pregnancy and childbirth.[iv] Historically, some have interpreted this passage as making women subservient to men. If that is the case, that subservience is part of the punishment rather than God’s original ordering of the world. Everything has changed, and all of creation yearns to return to an earlier, easier time.
For preachers, this kind of idealizing of the past may sound familiar. When things are difficult in the present, it can be tempting to look back on a time when life seemed simpler. It can be easy to make the transition to ask, whose fault is this? Unfortunately, people at the margins often receive the blame, such as immigrants and refugees, queer people, and people of color. In this story, we see how the woman is punished for her curiosity. Preachers can use this text to challenge their congregations about idealizing the past and blaming marginalized groups.
• What seems new in this familiar story?
• When God says, “Your desire shall be for your husband, but he shall rule over you” in Genesis 3:16, that is a punishment. Why do some people make it a goal?
• When do we idealize the past because the present is difficult? Who gets the blame?
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[i]. Joel B. Green, CEB Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Common English Bible, 2013), 9 OT.
[ii]. Susan Niditch, “Genesis,” in Women’s Bible Commentary (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012), 31.
[iii]. Carol Meyers, Women in Scripture (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Co, 2001), 81.
[iv]. Terence E. Fretheim, “The Book of Genesis,” in The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, Vol. I (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2015), 53.