This is a week of firsts, and so we began yesterday by looking at the first “imperative” in the New Testament, the word “behold.”  Today let’s behold the first negative command from God to mankind. If you know your Bible, then you know a little devotion like this won’t scratch the surface of what happened when God first said “Don’t.”  Still, as we march through our day, let’s refresh ourselves with God’s good Word.

The Text

“The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” ” (Genesis 2:16–17, NAS)

Death was just a bite away, according to God.  Perhaps you know the story.  Adam, following his deceived wife, ate the forbidden fruit, and they died in their relationship to God as a consequence.  It was a tragedy for our first two ancestors, but this fall and the “curse of the ground” went much farther than their fall; it brought death throughout the entirety of God’s good creation (Rom 8:19-21).  This story is not just a sad for Adam and Eve, those far-off people in the opening days of human history, it is personal for us.  We fell too, according to Romans 5:12.  Every hurt, every fear, every oppression, every wickedness that man has encountered since that day is a consequence of it.

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— ” (Romans 5:12, NAS)

“For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ” (Romans 8:19–21, NAS)

One might pause to think through this first case of unintended consequences of one’s actions on others.  How inconsiderate of them!  Yet they had no idea your sufferings in this fallen world would be precipitated by their snacking.

The first choice to disobey was complicated by the woman’s confusion after interacting with the serpent and the man’s willingness to follow her into error. But the simplicity of the choice is what I want to focus on today:  God set up this arrangement.  The Text of Genesis 2 does not say why, and we are left to conjecture about it.  Theologians often do well with their deductions, but here and now let’s just deal with the Text.[1]

Let’s observe the revealed mechanics:  God set up perfect environment and perfect humans as His image to “cultivate and keep” the garden He had planted.  Next He issued a negative command, the first known prohibition in human history.  Notice how this test worked:  There was a negative command, “Don’t eat,” with the added explanation as to why, “for…you will surely die.”  All they had to do was trust God’s word and obey His prohibition.

Genesis 2 narrates the first human interaction with the Creator in history, and God the Spirit through Moses initialized the Bible, the Living Word, with this presentation.  There are many more things we could observe about this event, but notice the nugget of the lesson:  trust God’s Word and obey His commands.

God’s Nature On Display

Many suggest that the Bible presents God as villainous, even sadistic, issuing “Thou shalt nots” for the sheer pleasure of denying us what we would otherwise enjoy. That view of the Creator is actually a projection of man’s fallen state onto the God from Whose gracious favor man fell! Everything God does in the Text in view is absolute Good. While Genesis 2 does not say why God set up the Tree Test in the first place—go check on that one in Gen 2—Moses certainly quotes God directly when He explained the reason for telling them not to eat from the tree of (unauthorized) knowledge.

Take the Text as written: God commanded them not to eat because He wanted them to trust and obey.  Yes, He knew from eternity past that they would disobey Him.  He had the solution to the Fall in Mind from everlasting.  But God presents Himself interacting personally with His created persons.  He wanted them to keep on living in His presence.  His preference for them is the more obvious by the explanation of His prohibition.  He did not say, “Don’t eat because I said so,” which would be legitimate given that the Creator is speaking.  Instead He said “Don’t eat because you’ll die.”  What kindness.  All they had to do was believe Him and so obey Him.

Three Thoughts

1. Theology proper (bearing directly on the character or essence of God):  God our Father does not issue prohibitions to make you unhappy or deny you what you (think you) want.  These commands, so often terse and even harsh, are given to His beloved creatures because He doesn’t want us to have to eat the death-dealing consequences of transgressing His character.  Think of a mother harshly rebuking a toddler for running towards a busy street.  Q:  What is the mother’s motivation behind her harsh words? A: 2 tons of hurtling steel vs. 40 lbs of priceless child.

2.  Sanctification: Regard God’s negative commands as loving protection against unwanted consequences.  Thank Him for saying “No” and “Don’t” as often as you encounter these negative commands.  He’s saying “no” to your cause because He’d rather you didn’t get the effect.  Also, notice that how you respond to God’s Word has consequences that may reach FAR beyond your reckoning, whether His declarative statements, prohibitions, or positive commands. Always trust Him and obey.

3.  Biblical Theology:  Do not begin with your observation of the Word with other men’s conclusions about it.  These are important, but if they are worthy conclusions, they came from somewhere—the Living Word.  Start with the Text and the Spirit Who inspired it, and then you have access to the theology that many able theologians have rightly built from it.

Text to Pray:  Psalm 19.

I want to inculcate this one.

Memory verse: Psalm 19:7-10

“The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. ” (Psalm 19:7–10, NAS)

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[1] By the way, dealing with the Text will demonstrate that this test in the Garden clearly had something to do with angels if you follow the evidence trail: the enemy of God (Satan) was certainly speaking through the serpent (Rev 12:9, 20:2), directly contradicting what God had said.  As the introduction of the central conflict in human history, the Fall obviously has implications far beyond our discussion here. The point of this discussion is to reflect on the Text and what it says.