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Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 3:4

Ye shall not surely die - Here the father of lies at once appears; and appears too in flatly contradicting the assertion of God. The tempter, through the nachash , insinuates the impossibility of her dying, as if he had said, God has created thee immortal, thy death therefore is impossible; and God knows this, for as thou livest by the tree of life, so shalt thou get increase of wisdom by the tree of knowledge. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 3:5

Your eyes shall be opened - Your understanding shall be greatly enlightened and improved; and ye shall be as gods, כאלהים kelohim , like God, so the word should be translated; for what idea could our first parents have of gods before idolatry could have had any being, because sin had not yet entered into the world? The Syriac has the word in the singular number, and is the only one of all the versions which has hit on the true meaning. As the original word is the same which is used to... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 3:6

The tree was good for food - The fruit appeared to be wholesome and nutritive. And that it was pleasant to the eyes. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 3:7

The eyes of them both were opened - They now had a sufficient discovery of their sin and folly in disobeying the command of God; they could discern between good and evil; and what was the consequence? Confusion and shame were engendered, because innocence was lost and guilt contracted. Let us review the whole of this melancholy business, the fall and its effects. From the New Testament we learn that Satan associated himself with the creature which we term the serpent, and the original... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 3:8

The voice of the Lord - The voice is properly used here, for as God is an infinite Spirit, and cannot be confined to any form, so he can have no personal appearance. It is very likely that God used to converse with them in the garden, and that the usual time was the decline of the day, היום לרוח leruach haiyom , in the evening breeze; and probably this was the time that our first parents employed in the more solemn acts of their religious worship, at which God was ever present. The time... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 3:10

I was afraid, because I was naked - See the immediate consequences of sin. 1. Shame, because of the ingratitude marked in the rebellion, and because that in aiming to be like God they were now sunk into a state of the greatest wretchedness. 2. Fear, because they saw they had been deceived by Satan, and were exposed to that death and punishment from which he had promised them an exemption. How worthy is it of remark that this cause continues to produce the very same effects! Shame and fear... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 3:12

And the man said, etc. - We have here some farther proofs of the fallen state of man, and that the consequences of that state extend to his remotest posterity. 1. On the question, Hast thou eaten of the tree? Adam is obliged to acknowledge his transgression; but he does this in such a way as to shift off the blame from himself, and lay it upon God and upon the woman! This woman whom Thou didst give to be with me, עמדי immadi , to be my companion, (for so the word is repeatedly used), she... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 3:14

And the Lord God said unto the serpent - The tempter is not asked why he deceived the woman; he cannot roll the blame on any other; self-tempted he fell, and it is natural for him, such is his enmity, to deceive and destroy all he can. His fault admits of no excuse, and therefore God begins to pronounce sentence on him first. And here we must consider a twofold sentence, one on Satan and the other on the agent he employed. The nachash , whom I suppose to have been at the head of all the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 3:15

I will put enmity between thee and the woman - This has been generally supposed to apply to a certain enmity subsisting between men and serpents; but this is rather a fancy than a reality. It is yet to be discovered that the serpentine race have any peculiar enmity against mankind, nor is there any proof that men hate serpents more than they do other noxious animals. Men have much more enmity to the common rat and magpie than they have to all the serpents in the land, because the former... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 3:16

Unto the woman he said - She being second in the transgression is brought up the second to receive her condemnation, and to hear her punishment: I will greatly multiply, or multiplying I will multiply; i.e., I will multiply thy sorrows, and multiply those sorrows by other sorrows, and this during conception and pregnancy, and particularly so in parturition or child-bearing. And this curse has fallen in a heavier degree on the woman than on any other female. Nothing is better attested than... read more

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