Lesson 2

Synopsis

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Genesis 3 sets up the plot for our story by presenting us with the crisis. Deceived by the serpent, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and broke their communion with him. The plot thickens in chapter 4 because we read how this first sin opened the floodgates to an avalanche of even more sin. By the end of chapter 11, God’s plans for his creation and humanity have been completely ruined. The rest of the Bible tells us how God will save us from this situation. This is why the story of the Bible is called “The History of Salvation”.

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Learning Objectives

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You will have successfully completed this lesson when you can: 

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• Describe the nature and effects of Adam and Eve’s sin.

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• Explain how sin spread throughout the whole world.

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• Explain how God brought about a new creation through the flood and describe the differences between this and the first creation.​

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Introduction

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One of the purposes of a good introduction is to set up the plot for the rest of the story. Remember, a plot is the storyline, that is, the sequence of events that make up a story. It starts with a crisis, that is, a conflict or problem which arises and needs to be resolved.

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In the previous lesson we look at the initial setting for our story. We saw that God not only created a paradise for Adam and Eve to live in, he also invited them to enter into a covenantal relationship with him, to become part of his family. He gave them the gift of freedom so that they could freely accept this offer and love him in return. Love, however, has to be proven. Adam and Eve were to prove their love by obeying one, simple command. Unfortunately, as we will see, they failed, and by doing so, they broke their communion with God and died a spiritual death. This situation sets up the plot because the history of salvation is the story of how God will overcome this crisis to reestablish our communion with him.

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The Fall

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The Catechism tells us that the “account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms a primeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of man” (CCC 390). What caused Adam and Eve to disobey God? In short, it was pride. The Catechism puts it succinctly:

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Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God's command. This is what man’s first sin consisted of. All subsequent sin would be disobedience toward God and lack of trust in his goodness. (CCC 397)

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In that sin man preferred himself to God and by that very act scorned him. He chose himself over and against God, against the requirements of his creaturely status and therefore against his own good. Constituted in a state of holiness, man was destined to be fully “divinized” by God in glory. Seduced by the devil, he wanted to "be like God”, but "without God, before God, and not in accordance with God.” (CCC 398)

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The devil, in the form of a snake, began to tempt Eve by posing an apparently reasonable request for information: “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” (Gn 3:1). This question was dangerous because it contained a lie. God had not forbidden them from eating from any of the trees in the garden, only from one of them. The dialogue that followed led Eve from doubt to mistrust. The devil presented God as a rival, jealously protecting his divine prerogatives.

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And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Gn 3:2–5)

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With her heart enflamed with a prideful desire to be like God, Eve succumbed to the temptation and ate the fruit of the prohibited tree. She then caused Adam to fall with her. Instead of becoming like God, “the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons” (Gn 3:7). The irony is that God was inviting them to become like gods, but under his conditions. They chose instead to scorn him and ended up weak and vulnerable in their nakedness.

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The Effects of the Fall

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When they heard God walking in the garden, they became afraid and hid from him. God asked Adam, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” (Gn 3:11). Instead of humbly recognizing his sin, Adam blamed Eve. “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate” (Gn 3:13). Therefore, God punished all three:

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The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,

    cursed are you above all cattle,

    and above all wild animals;

upon your belly you shall go,

    and dust you shall eat

    all the days of your life." (Gn 3:14)

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To the woman he said:

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“I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing;

    in pain you shall bring forth children,

yet your desire shall be for your husband,

    and he shall rule over you.” (Gn 3:16)

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And to Adam he said:

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“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,

    and have eaten of the tree

of which I commanded you,

    ‘You shall not eat of it,’

cursed is the ground because of you;

    in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you;

    and you shall eat the plants of the field.

In the sweat of your face

    you shall eat bread

till you return to the ground,

    for out of it you were taken;

you are dust,

    and to dust you shall return.” (Gn 3:17–19)

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Each of the punishments affected the individuals involved. The snake became cursed among all animals; from now on, the woman would give birth in pain; and the man lost his immortality (“to dust you shall return”). The ultimate consequences of this sin, however, were not just individual.

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There was another more profound consequence that affected not just Adam and Eve. As we have seen, God created us to become part of his family, living in a loving communion with him and others. Adam and Eve’s sin damaged the relationships necessary for this communion. We all suffer the repercussions of this. The first relationship that was damaged was our relationship with God. Instead of loving and trusting him, we are now often afraid of him and hide from him, just like Adam and Eve.

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And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. (Gn 3:8)

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The next relationship that was damaged is that between man and women. Instead of being loving and mutually supportive, it is now tarnished by dominion. “Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”

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Our relationship with nature has also been affected. “Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you.” Even our inner harmony was broken by this sin. The Catechism summarizes the effects of sin in this way:

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The harmony in which they had found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul's spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination. Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation has become alien and hostile to man. Because of man, creation is now subject "to its bondage to decay". Finally, the consequence explicitly foretold for this disobedience will come true: man will "return to the ground", for out of it he was taken. Death makes its entrance into human history. (CCC 400)

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The New Setting

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The Fall also changed the setting for our story. As a consequence of their sin, God expelled Adam and Eve, and their eventual descendants from the Garden of Eden.

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The Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. (Gn 3:23–24)

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From now on, they will live in exile, far away from the garden. We will see how much of the action will take place in the desert and the wilderness. These become the new setting for our story. But despite this, God never abandoned Adam and Eve. He continued to take care for them.   

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The Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them. (Gn 3:21)

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The Plot Thickens
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Genesis chapter 3 gives us the crisis that sets up the plot for the rest of the story. Deceived by the serpent, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and therefore broke their communion with him. However, we read in chapters 4 to 11 how the plot thickens as sin extends its dominion by spreading throughout the whole world.

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Cain and Abel (Gn 4)
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Chapter 4 tells us the story of Cain and Abel. Adam and Eve had two sons. “Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground” (Gn 4:2). They both offered sacrifices to God, but God only preferred Abel’s.

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In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. (Gn 4:3–5)

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God wasn’t being arbitrary by this. We read that Abel gave God the best he had while Cain did not. Enraged with jealousy, and ignoring God’s warning, Cain killed his brother. Sin had damaged another key relationship, that of brotherhood. God punished Cain for his sin, and he was exiled from the land. But, as with Adam and Eve, God did not completely abandon him. He continued to care for him and protect him.

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And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength; you shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me this day away from the ground; and from thy face I shall be hidden; and I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will slay me.” Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If any one slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who came upon him should kill him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden. (Gn 4:10–16)

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Cain and Seth’s Descendants (Gn 4:17–5:32)​

 

After Abel’s death, Adam and Eve had a third son whom they named Seth. Chapters 4 and 5 list Cain and Seth’s genealogies. We may often feel tempted to skip over the many genealogies listed in the Bible, but we should not do this because they are important. They are a literary device which offers many important clues and helps us focus on the key characters in the story.

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Genesis 4:19–24 lists the line of Cain’s descendants. We read:

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And Lamech took two wives; the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah… Lamech said to his wives:

“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;

    you wives of Lamech, hearken to what I say:

I have slain a man for wounding me,

    a young man for striking me.

 If Cain is avenged sevenfold,

    truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”

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In this line, sin continued to grow. Lamech was the first person to commit polygamy, further weakening the relationship between husband and wife. He was also a murderer, even more violent than Cain. It is no coincidence that in his genealogical line Lamech was born in the sixth generation. As we have already seen, the number six is used in the Bible to describe those who reject God.

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Seth’s line is different. The Bible tells us that already in the time of his son Enosh “men began to call upon the name of the Lord” (Gn 4:26). Another of his descendants, Enoch, “walked with God; and he was not, for God took him” (Gn 5:24). The text implies that Enoch entered into the covenantal family and, instead of dying, was taken up into heaven because of his righteousness. Enoch, by the way, was born in the seventh generation.

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So, we see two very different lines of descendants: Cain’s and Seth’s. Cain’s line was an evil line with his descendants rejecting God. Seth’s descendants, on the contrary, were holy. They invoked God’s name and walked with him. The listing of Seth’s genealogical line is interrupted in the narrative by the story of Noah and the flood.

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Noah and the Flood (Gn 6–9)​

 

The story of Noah and the flood is well known, yet for modern readers this event can be quite perturbing. We would like to know whether this really happened and wonder how a good God could do something like this. These are certainly valid questions that need to be taken seriously. Giving an exhaustive answer exceeds the purpose of this course. But reading the Bible as a continuous story can also shed light on this problem. The story of the flood can be divided into four acts.​​

 

 

Act One

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The first act describes the spread of sin throughout the whole world. This is narrated in a language that is strange to us.

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When men began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they took to wife such of them as they chose. Then the Lord said, “My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for he is flesh, but his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown. (Gn 6:1–4)

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Who were the sons of God and the daughters of human beings? What are the Nephilim? Some have stipulated that the sons of God were other heavenly beings, perhaps angels. This, however, does not make sense. Angels don’t have bodies; they are pure spirits. Therefore, they couldn’t have had sexual relations with women.

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When we read this passage within the context of the genealogies of Cain and Seth the answer becomes clear. The sons of God were the descendants of Seth who walked with God and entered into his covenantal family. The daughters of human beings were the descendants of Cain. What the text is telling us is that the two lines intermarried, and the bad blood of Cain’s line mixed with the good blood of Seth’s line, causing evil to spread throughout the world. The Nephalim were the offspring of these mixed marriages. The word literally means fallen ones.

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The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. (Gn 6:5–6)

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How did God respond to this situation? The answer is given in the second act.

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Act Two​

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Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled with violence through them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” (Gn 6:11–13)

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God acted by bringing the world back to its original state of chaos, as it was at the very beginning, before the six days of creation, when “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit [or wind] of God was moving over the face of the waters” (Gn 1:2).

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God saved Noah and his family from the flood because he was the only person in the world who was righteous and blameless. God told him to make an ark. Once it was ready, Noah and his family entered it. They were followed by the animals and then the birds (cf. Gn 6:13–14). This sequence is important. It reverses the order of creation given in chapter 1. In that account, the birds were created first, then the animals and finally mankind. The text is describing a reversal of creation, bringing things back to the chaos of the beginning.

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Once all creatures had entered the ark, the Lord shut them in, and the flood began.

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In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. (Gn 7:11)

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God opened the dome he had created in Genesis 1:6 so that it no longer held back the waters from above. The waters from below also rose, no longer respecting the boundaries set by God. The waters continued to grow for forty days until they eventually covered everything, even the highest mountains. The earth was no longer habitable, it had returned to a state of chaos.

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Act Three​

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After this, God proceeded in the third act (Gn 8) to renew or re-create the world. To do so, he followed the pattern established in Genesis 1. Just as the wind swept over the waters in the beginning, so too did it sweep over the waters again. 

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But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided; the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained. (Gn 8:1–2)

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The waters continued to subside until eventually the land was exposed (cf. Gn 8:4). This text doesn’t explicitly mention light, but we can imagine that once the storm ended, the sun must have shone again. When Noah opened the hatch, its light would have entered the ark, dispelling the darkness inside. The narrative then mentions birds and plants (the raven, dove and olive branch) in Genesis 8:7 and 8:11, creating another parallel the first creation account. When the dove failed to return, Noah saw that the land was dry and ready to house people and animals once again. He then came out of the ark with all his family and all the animals (see Gn 8:13–19). 

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Act Four
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In the fourth and final act (Gn 9), God gave the same blessing and command he had given in the beginning. “God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth’” (Gn 9:1). He also renewed the covenant.

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“Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you,  and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:  I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.” (Gn 9:9–13)

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However, the terms of this new covenant were different. In the first covenant, mankind was to live in harmony with the animals and only one simple law was given, not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Now, in this new covenant things became more complicated. Animals now feared people because God had given us permission to eat them.

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The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every bird of the air. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. (Gn 9:2–4)

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Murder was explicitly forbidden, as a reaction to Cain murdering his brother.

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Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image. (Gn 9:6)

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God, on his part, promised to never destroy the earth again and established the rainbow as the sign of the covenant.

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I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will look upon it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.” (Gn 9:11-17)

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What we see here is a new creation, with a new family, a new covenant, and new laws. Unfortunately, despite all of this, sin was not eradicated from the world.

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Noah and Ham’s Sin
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Noah sinned by getting drunk.

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Noah was the first tiller of the soil. He planted a vineyard; and he drank of the wine and became drunk, and lay uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his nakedness and told his two brothers outside. Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it upon both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said,

“Cursed be Canaan;

a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers.”

He also said,

“Blessed by the Lord my God be Shem;

    and let Canaan be his slave.

 God enlarge Japheth,

    and let him dwell in the tents of Shem;

    and let Canaan be his slave.” (Gn 9:20–27)

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Ham’s sin is difficult to understand. What was so bad about seeing his father’s nakedness? And why did Noah curse his son, Canaan, instead of Ham himself?

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Although the exact nature of Ham’s sin is not clear, one possible interpretation is that he committed incest with his mother as an act of rebellion against his father. The expression “to uncover (or see) someone’s nakedness” was an ancient idiom for having sex. To uncover your father’s nakedness meant having an incestuous relationship with his wife. We find this idea in the Bible:

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None of you shall approach any one near of kin to him to uncover nakedness. I am the Lord. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness. (Lv 18:6–8)

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If this were so, then Canaan was the fruit of this incestuous relationship. This would explain why Noah cursed him.

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Chapter 10 then continues the genealogy of Seth’s descendants, interrupted in chapter 6 by the story of the flood. This genealogy is important because many of Noah’s grandsons and great-grandsons went on to found nations and cities that would play an important role later in the story. The Canaanites, the descendants of Canaan, would eventually become Israel’s principal enemy. The genealogy is once again interrupted by the story of the Tower of Babel.

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The Tower of Babel (Gn 10 – 11)
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Unfortunately, sin and wickedness continued to spread throughout the world, as we now see in the story of the Tower of Babel.

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Now the whole earth had one language and few words. And as men migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” (Gn 11:1–4)

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This is a repetition of Adam and Eve’s sin, the sin of pride. Just like Adam and Eve wanted to become gods, but without God, so too did the people of Babel want to make a name for themselves but while ignoring God. That is, they wanted to enter heaven by their own means and on their own terms. God promptly punished them for this. 

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And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. (Gn 11:5–9)

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This sin further damaged our human relationships. As a consequence of it, God confused the people’s language so that they could no longer communicate with each other. Then he scattered them throughout the earth. The people of Babel became the Babylonian empire, which, later on in the story, will destroy Jerusalem and exile practically all Jews to Babylon. Chapter 11 continues the genealogy of the descendants of Seth, ending with Abram.

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Conclusion
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We have reached the end of this lesson on the growth of sin in the early world. We have seen how chapters 3 to 11 set up the plot for the History of Salvation. This first part of the Bible ends like a cliff hanger. Sin has spread throughout the world like an avalanche and disrupted God’s original plan. The communion he intended at the beginning seems to be completely destroyed. Is there hope for mankind? Can God overcome this situation? How? We must continue reading the Bible, to answer to these questions. Genesis 1 to 11 is truly a great introduction. 

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Assignments
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• Read Genesis 3 to 11.

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• Describe the nature of Adam and Eve’s sin.

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• How does their sin set up the plot for the story of the Bible?

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• What is the meaning of the flood within the context of the story?

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• Do you think that Genesis 1 to 11 makes for a great introduction? Explain your answer. 

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