These words come from the previous chapter - the story about the creation of man and woman. The next episode is the story of the snake and the fall. You are taking this section that deals with why God made man and woman out of context and applying it to the next story to make your case that Adam’s motive for disobediance was so he would always be with Eve. Just because one story follows the other doesn’t mean they are linked.
JHow,
I would think that if you had been in “Adam’s shoes”, you would have thought the two chapters were “linked” in that the man and the woman were created with purposes and commandments planned as they were brought into being on the earth. Adam was taught about those purposes and commandments as shown in Genesis 2. So of course all that is very much on his mind in what happens in Genesis 3. He is a man of intellect, and Eve is a woman of intellect. Eve shows her devotion to God in terms of her thinking, in Genesis 4:1 when she rejoices in the gift of having a son “from the Lord”.
The full reply is this: “And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.”
Adam is asked by God a straightforward question (did you eat from the tree) and he provides a less than straightforward answer. This is all we have to go on here in the text.
Yes, that could sound less than straightforward, except that Adam knows God knows everything, so of course he knows that God already knows the answer to the question and even knows Adam’s motives. He would immediately perceive from the question that he was being brought to accountability–“what did you do?” but knowing that the obvious next question would be “why did you do it?” So he answered both accountability questions at the same time. He didn’t dodge the question. He said, “I did eat” and he also told why.
No. I supplied that word, justification, because that is what it is when you try to qualify disobedience to God, which is what Adam is doing: “YOU gave me the woman, SHE gave me the apple… and I ate it.”
When a person is brought to accountability for their choices, words, decisions, actions, then it is expected that they be truthful about their answers including the decision-making process and the actions involved. If every time someone is brought to accountability and they think the person they are accounting to is going to think “you’re really merely justifying your behavior” then I don’t think that works as a very good model for expecting honest accountability. It would seem that Adam would expect God to want him to be honest and be accountable for his choices and actions.
With a negative and biased view of the situation, an outsider reading the words or watching the situation could certainly say “he is merely justifying his bad behavior.” Or, they could read and say, “Oh–here is what was going on in this man’s mind when he did what he did.” (By the way, God did not chide Adam for dishonesty nor for “justifying” the choices he made. God did respond that the choices had consequences that were now going to go into effect.)
(And by the way, your quote left out the very key words that seem to be given such short shrift as though they are totally unimportant, just as your “quote” implied by leaving them out.)
“The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she…”
This is why I feel you are giving Eve the short end of the stick: according to you, Eve is making a conscious choice to sin; but, according to you, Adam makes a conscious choice with the additional (tragic) motive of wanting to be with Eve. You have introduced complications to Adam’s side of the story, while Eve was just sinning.
Eve is making a conscious choice about eating the fruit, and her choice has three motives, one of which is that she really and truly, deep-down in her heart, desires wisdom. (Genesis 3:6)
The verses I noted in my short earlier response said that Paul was familiar with the account of the fall of Adam and Eve, and Paul wrote (1 Timothy 2:13) that “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.”
Adam told what his motive was. Paul indicates that Adam did make a conscious choice, and Adam was honest in being accountable for his choice and saying why he did what he did.
Again, Eve had three motives. She certainly can not honestly or thoughtfully be described as “just sinning”.
I am reading his response as trying to suggest the possibility that perhaps he didn’t exactly know what he was doing - which is not true.
Adam knew exactly what he was doing, and knew the consequences that were coming.
In the Army I learned that the maximum effective range of an excuse is 0 meters. The only right answer to God’s question is: yes. All other information is an attempt to mitigate his action. This is my reading, anyway, and it is based on the text.
An Army leader certainly expects to be answered in a certain way, specifically and to the point with no more said than exactly what was asked for. “Yes, sir. No, sir.”
But Adam and Eve weren’t in the Army. I’ve already answered about the use of the word “justifying” and I disagree with the use of that word or the use of the word “excuse” or the words “mitigate his action.” When a person is called to accountability, they have a right to explain their motives–in fact, God of course wants us to be honest in our heart and thus explaining our motives (say, for example, when we pray to God) is precisely the thing that will always be a good thing to do. That is helpful for us to do that. It is not “justifying” or “excusing” our behavior. It is evaluating our personal decision-making and answering accountably for our choices.
(Continuation coming)
Why else do you believe Christ suffered and died, if not to atone for our sins? You think this was for something that we do by accident? Or do you think that sin is something that God wants? Really, what do you think sin is?