“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”
Though the snake still has a part to play (both in the moment and throughout humanity’s history on earth), he takes a backseat to the more menacing problem at hand: an absence of thought and desire for God. As God recedes in the hearts and minds of Adam and Eve, as they willfully choose a way divergent from God’s command, what happens next makes sad sense.
The woman saw not God but a tree. It was a delight—not God but a tree. The tree was to be desired to make one wise, but God is the one who gives wisdom. She took of its fruit rather than God himself and his freely offered fruit of the Spirit. Adam saw her choice, knew it was wrong, and jumped into the abyss headfirst—and he ate. The first idol was born, and with it came a destruction of relationship between God and man.
And in that moment, the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. But the knowledge was not godly or righteous, as if they were primitive while naked and erudite while clothed with a mere loincloth. The act was a desperate coverup, a shameful flinch, a screech from the burn.
No, their opened eyes were not wise eyes but dulled ones. Something new entered the world. Where sin had not been, where corruption had not begun, where lust, pain, suffering, sadness, anxiety, loss, grief, distress, chaos, terror, and all the like were unseen, unfelt, and nonexistent, they now had a place at the table with humanity.
From here, a deeper revelation of God begins. It is certainly one we might wish had never been, but, nevertheless, God’s design reveals his deep love, mercy, grace, and justice. Adam and Eve anticipate God’s coming in the verses that follow. Even so, humanity anticipates God’s coming again. This time, for those looking upon the Lord Jesus Christ, clothed in Jesus’ own righteousness rather than the filthy rags of a dirty guilt-drenched fig leaf loincloth. This is God’s doing, and it must be marvelous in our eyes.