Most Christians Get This WRONG About the Serpent - Answers in Genesis

Was the Snake of Genesis 3 a Spiritual Being? - Dr. Michael S. Heiser

Wisdom is good, and we can safely assume that God did not intend to withhold it from humanity. But true wisdom must be acquired through a process, generally from instruction by those who are wise. The fall is defined by the fact that Adam and Eve acquired wisdom illegitimately (Gen 3:22), thus trying to take God’s role for themselves rather than eventually joining God in his role as they were taught wisdom and became the fully functional vice-regents of God involved in the process of bringing order. If humans are to work alongside of God in extending order (“subdue” and “rule” [Gen 1:28]), they need to attain wisdom, but as endowment from God, not by seizing it for autonomous use. If…from the start people were mortal, and pain and suffering were already a part of a not yet fully ordered cosmos, we cannot think of death and suffering as having been foisted on us by Adam and Eve’s malfeasance… Instead, we can have a much more charitable attitude toward Adam and Eve when we realize that it is not that they initiated a situation that was not already there; it is that they failed to achieve a solution… that was in their reach. Their choices resulted in their failure to acquire relief on our behalf. Their failure meant that we are doomed to death and a disordered world full of sin. These are profoundly significant consequences for what was a serious offense. In contrast, Christ was able to achieve the desired result where Adam and Eve failed. We are all doomed to die because when they sinned we lost access to the tree of life. We are therefore subject to death because of sin. Christ succeeded and actually provided the remedy to sin and death. Some would follow this same line of reasoning to suggest that what we call original sin is the result of our ancestors “pulling out of the program” prematurely. James Gaffney identifies these approaches as involving a view that our human condition is underdeveloped, failing to achieve the intended goal because we wanted to do it our way—“not paradise lost, but, as it were, paradise ungained. —JOHN H. WALTON, THE LOST WORLD OF ADAM AND EVE, 144–145.

The way you conceive of a story’s beginning will determine what you think the story is about and how you think the problems will be solved. Understanding what the actual problem is will shape what you think Jesus came to do and what he’s there to resolve —Tim Mackie -The Bible Project

The Sound of Yahweh Walking with the Wind of the Day

Theophany - Appearance of God

qol / לוק - The sound/voice of Yahweh

“The wind of the day” (Heb. ruakh hayom / םויה חור)

The time of the Lord‘s visit is often translated as ”the cool of the day” or ”the time of the evening,” but the text reads only ”at the wind of the day.” Indeed, nothing in the context suggests that this refers to a time of day. In the light of the general context of the picture of God‘s coming in judgment and power, the ”wind” which the author envisions is more likely intended to resemble that ”great and powerful wind” which blew on the ”mountain of the LORD” in 1 Kings 19:11. Thus the viewpoint of the narrative would be much the same as that in Job 38:1, where the Lord answered Job ”from the whirlwind. —JOHN H. SAILHAMER, THE PENTATEUCH AS NARRATIVE: A BIBLICAL-THEOLOGICAL COMMENTARY, P. 105.

Exodus 19:18-19

Yahweh’s Seven Speeches and Many Questions

[T]he question, “Where are you?,” is essentially rhetorical.היא “where?” is often used in this way in poetry (e.g., Isa 33:18; 36:19; Ps 42:3, 10), and a very close parallel is found in Gen 4:9, where “Where is Abel your brother?” is followed by “Listen, your brother’s blood is crying to me from the land,” showing that God knows perfectly well what has happened to Abel…. Just as a parent who sees where his children are hiding may shout out, “Where are you?,” in effect inciting them to come out, so does God. [W]e presume that this is what happened here: the couple emerge shamefaced from the trees. Their reply to God’s inquiry shows that they understood the question as an invitation to come out and explain their behavior. —GORDON J. WENHAM, GENESIS 1–15, 77.

John 3:20-21