Genesis 3:8 - Homilies By R.a. Redford

The working of the sin-stricken conscience.

I. GOD THE JUDGE REVEALING HIMSELF . The voice of the Lord God represents to men the knowledge of themselves, which, like light , would be intolerable to the shamefaced.

II. MAN HIDING FROM THE JUDGE BECAUSE UNABLE TO MEET HIM . While the darkness of the thick foliage was regarded as a covering, hiding nakedness, it is yet from the presence of the Lord God that the guilty seek refuge.

III. MAN 'S SELF AGAINST HIMSELF . The instinctive action of shame is a testimony to the moral nature and position of man. So it may be said—

IV. GUILT is itself God's witness, comprehending the sense of righteousness and the sense of transgression in the same being. (Perhaps there is a reference to the working of the conscience in the description of the voice of God as mingling in the facts of the natural world; "the cool of the day " being literally the "evening breeze," whose whispering sound became articulate to the ears of those who feared the personal presence of their Judge.)— R .