The lie did its deadly work in the soul of Eve. She believed the devil and distrusted God, and hence the temptation of the forbidden fruit assailed her in all its force. It appealed to the lust of the flesh in her, for she saw that it was "good for food." It appealed to the lust of the eyes, for "it was pleasant to the eyes." It appealed to the pride of life, for it was "a tree desirable to make one wise."

Under this threefold appeal, "she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate" (Genesis 3:6). Thus God was abandoned for a moment of self-pleasing. The seed was sown which was to bear so fearful a harvest. The deed was done.

Its consequences began to appear immediately. Self-consciousness, slavish fear of God, the disposition to prevaricate and even to blame God Himself for what had happened are all manifest in this third chapter of Genesis.

Nor do we have to go outside this chapter to find the governmental consequences of disobedience as regards the serpent, the woman, and the man. Each receives an appropriate sentence under which they are to this day and which no art nor ingenuity of man can lift. The garden of delights is lost forever.

One other thing in the chapter we must not forget. It contains those first words of hope as to the coming of the woman's seed who should reverse the issues of that fatal day. As instantly as the dark night of disaster fell, the first star of hope was lit by the divine hand in man's sky. The whole of Scripture, particularly the New Testament, is the working out in detail of all that was involved in Genesis 3:15.

Frank B. Hole