Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 1.djvu/74

42 of our nakedness. Let us therefore put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and then draw near with humble boldness.

11. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12. And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13. And the God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

We have here the offenders found guilty by their own confession, and yet endeavouring to excuse and extenuate their fault; they could not confess and justify what they had done, but they confess and palliate it. Observe,

I. How their confession was extorted from them: God put it to the man, v. 11, Who told thee that thou wast naked? "How camest thou to be sensible of thy nakedness as thy shame?" Hast thou eaten of the forbidden tree? Note, Though God knows all our sins, yet he will know them from us, and requires from us an ingenuous confession of them; not that he may be informed, but that we may be humbled. In this examination, God reminds him of the command he had given him: "I commanded thee not to eat of it, I thy Maker, I thy Master, I thy Benefactor; I commanded thee to the contrary." Sin appears most plain, and most sinful, in the glass of the commandment, therefore God here sets it before Adam; and in it we should see our faces. The question put to the woman, was, v. 13, What is this that thou hast done? "Wilt thou also own thy fault, and make confession of it? And wilt thou see what an evil thing it was?" Note, It concerns those who have eaten forbidden fruit themselves, and especially those who have enticed others to it likewise, seriously to consider what they have done. In eating forbidden fruit, we have offended a great and gracious God, broken a just and righteous law, violated a sacred and most solemn covenant, and wronged our own precious souls by forfeiting God's favour, and exposing ourselves to his wrath and curse: in enticing others to it, we do the Devil's work, make ourselves guilty of other men's sins, and accessary to their ruin. What is this that we have done?

II. How their crime was extenuated by them in their confession. It was to no purpose to plead not guilty; the show of their countenances testified against them, therefore they become their own accusers. I did eat, says the man, "And so did I," says the woman: for when God judges, he will overcome: but these do not look like penitent confessions; for instead of aggravating the sin, and taking shame to themselves, they excuse the sin, and lay the shame and blame on others.

1. Adam lays all the blame upon his wife. "She gave me of the tree, and pressed me to eat it, which I did, only to oblige her;" a frivolous excuse. He ought to have taught her, not to have been taught by her; and it was no hard matter to determine which of the two he must be ruled by, his God or his wife. Learn hence, never to be brought to sin by that which will not bring us off in the judgment: let not that bear us up in the commission, which will not bear us out in the trial: let us therefore never be overcome by importunity to act against our consciences, nor ever displease God, to please the best friend we have in the world. But this is not the worst of it; he not only lays the blame upon his wife, but expresses it so as tacitly to reflect on God himself: "It is the woman which thou gavest me, and gavest to be with me as my companion, my guide, and my acquaintance; she gave me of the tree, else I had not eaten of it." Thus he insinuates that God was accessary to his sin: he gave him the woman, and she gave him the fruit; so that he seemed to have it but at one remove from God's own hand. Note, There is a strange proneness in those that are tempted, to say they are tempted of God; as if our abusing of God's gifts would excuse our violation of God's laws. God gives us riches, honours, and relations, that we may serve him cheerfully in the enjoyment of them; but if we take occasion from them to sin against him, instead of blaming Providence for putting us into such a condition, we must blame ourselves for perverting the gracious designs of Providence therein.

2. Eve lays all the blame upon the serpent; The serpent beguiled me. Sin is a brat that nobody is willing to own; a sign that it is a scandalous thing. Those that are willing enough to take the pleasure and profit of sin, are backward enough to take the blame and shame of it. "The serpent, that subtle creature of thy making, which thou didst permit to come into paradise to us, he beguiled me," or, made me to err; for our sins are our errors. Learn hence, (1.) That Satan's temptations are all beguilings, his arguments are all fallacies, his allurements are all cheats; when he speaks fair, believe him not. Sin deceives us, and, by deceiving, cheats us. It is by the deceitfulness of sin, that the heart is hardened; see Rom. 7. 11. Heb. 3. 13. (2.) That though Satan's subtlety drew us into sin, yet it will not justify us in sin: though he is the tempter, we are the sinners; and indeed it is our own lust that draws us aside and entices us, Jam. 1. 14. Let it not therefore lessen our sorrow and humiliation for sin, that we are beguiled into it; but rather let it increase our self-indignation, that we should suffer ourselves to be beguiled by a known cheat and a sworn enemy. Well, this is all the prisoners at the bar have to say, why sentence should not be passed, and execution awarded, according to law; and this all is next to nothing, in some respects, worse than nothing.

14. And the God 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 shall thou eat, all the days of thy life. 15. 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.

The prisoners being found guilty by their own confession, beside the personal and infallible knowledge of the Judge, and nothing material being offered in arrest of judgment, God immediately proceeds to pass sentence; and, in these verses, he begins (where the sin began) with the serpent. God did not examine the serpent, nor ask him what he had done, or why he did it; but immediately sentenced him, 1. Because he was already convicted of rebellion against God, and his malice and wickedness were notorious, not found by secret search, but openly avowed and declared as Sodom's. 2. Because he was to be for ever excluded from all hope of pardon; and why should any thing be said to convince and humble him, who was to find no place for repentance? His wound was not searched, because it was not to be cured. Some think the condition of the fallen angels was