3:8-13 — 8Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking1 in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?"
10He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."
11And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?"
12The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."
13Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
[T - OL ]
God walking in the Garden would have been an opportunity for the First Couple to walk with Him. To walk with God, or in His ways, is one of the most important expressions in the Bible signifying faithfulness, obedience and friendship with Him. Now the First Couple could not walk with Him; instead they hid from Him.
The first recorded piece of conversion humans had with God opened with a question, "Where are you?" Everyday we greet people we meet with "How are you?" It has become an empty question. It meant well, for it enquired after the person's well-being. We tend, however, to equate well-being with how we feel, and since our emotions behave like a yo-yo, most of us do not care anymore to give an honest answer. In fact, only infrequently do we even pause to wait for an answer. Perhaps we should change things around by switching to the question, "Where are you?" It is a question that drives to the heart of our human well-being.2
Yahweh asked the question. He, of course, had no need to ask; He would not be God if He did not know where the First Couple were as He took his stroll in the cool of the day. God's questions are gifts of grace. Here it opened the door for the couple to come clean with what they had done; the door to possible restoration and healing.
"I heard you in the garden . . . I am naked, so I hid." No "I am sorry I disobeyed."
Yet another gift of grace: "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?" Another door open to possible redemption.
Yet the First Man dragged his feet. Instead, he shifted the blame for his disobedience to his wife, and in so doing reflected that blame back to Yahweh, "the woman you put here with me." The three questions from Yahweh had so far elicited no contrition or remorse.
Yet Yahweh persists: "Then the Lord God said to the woman, 'What is this you have done?'" Bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, she shunts the blame to the serpent before admitting, almost as an after-thought, "I ate."
What both of them were saying was "I listened to the serpent," "I listened to my wife." What neither of them would say was "Sorry, I did not listened to You." The sin consisted, therefore, as much in the pride of their response when confronted as it did in what they had done. This is true rebellion.
You may wish to read the following commentaries-expositions:
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, 2016