Many seem to think that the creation established in the beginning was later altered by God and that He instituted physical death, in response to the Fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden.

However, upon careful examination of the stories found in Genesis 1-3, I draw a different conclusion.

In the Garden of Eden

Genesis 2 tells us of the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil that existed in the Garden of Eden.

The created man (both male & female) was placed in that garden. And while the man was told by God that he could eat of any tree therein, he was forbidden to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil, lest he surely die.

The Fall of Adam

Genesis 3 tells the story of a serpent speaking to Eve in the garden. While she reiterates what God had said concerning the forbidden fruit, she is led astray by the serpent and ultimately partakes of that fruit. And she gives the fruit to Adam, and he eats it as well.

Shortly thereafter, the two are confronted by God about their misdeeds. The blame game unfolds with she gave it to me and the serpent deceived me, and God responds.

In this post, I focus specifically on what was told to Adam at this point.

Consequence for Adam’s Sin

In Genesis 3:17-19 it says,

“And unto Adam he [God] said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, “Thou shalt not eat of it”: cursed is the ground for your sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it was thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

As I said in the beginning, many seem to think Creation was altered and physical death was instituted at this point of the story.

While I address the notion that Adam’s DNA was altered as a result of his sin in my study, For All Have Sinned*, published in 2017 — concluding that it did not, today I’d like to specifically address the Land and the institution of physical death.

[*Please note: my position has changed since this study was published concerning these two latter points, thus, today’s post.]

Did God really change the way the Land that brings forth vegetation operates from His original design & creation, or did He simply change the position of Adam on the Land?

And…

Did God really institute physical death for Adam after Adam ate the forbidden fruit, or was Adam’s mortality part of his original design?

Religious indoctrination would have us believe the former is true on both points, but a closer examination reveals otherwise.

Regarding the Land

It Is Finished; God Ceased

At the conclusion of the creation story, following the point that God saw all that He had made and beheld that it was very good, we’re told in Genesis 2:1-3,

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested [or ceased] on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.”

When it says that these works were finished, in my understanding, this included how they operated. He didn’t just create stuff; He established an order to them that caused them to function according to His design so that His work would carry on into the future.

Some would have us believe the Creator changed something in His creation after Adam’s sin in the Garden. However, this text clearly states that He was done.

Please note, unlike all the enumerated days of creation that preceded the 7th day laid out in Genesis 1, there was no mention of “and there was evening, and there was morning” following this 7th day to indicate the dawn of another day. The Creator did all that He set out to do in that work in six days.

Cursed is the Ground?

This next point is where I think this false notion of the Land being changed as a result of Adam’s sin comes from.

I believe the statement, “Cursed is the ground for your sake.” is severely misunderstood.

Many apparently think that God put some kind of a hex on the ground — as if that is what the word “cursed” means in this passage. I know I thought this myself for most of my life. And if you do an Internet search on the word, “curse”, you may find a definition that aligns with that thinking. But I don’t believe that is what the author is saying in this passage.

The Hebrew word translated there as “cursed” is arar (H779), and according to Strong’s Definitions, it is a primitive root that means to execrate, which means to abhor, utterly detest, curse.

When we consider the usage of this word throughout the Old Testament, it is clear that the definition “to execrate, abhor, utterly detest” fits far more than to put a hex on.

Therefore, I believe that former meaning ought to be applied to this passage. And to me, the passage makes more sense given the immediate context of this story, which I think you will see as I elaborate going forward.

A Change in Adam’s Personal Environment

In Genesis 2:8, we’re told God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. The chapter continues, describing this place, which is clearly a finite space somewhere on the Land. And all that takes place in Genesis 3 is in this finite space — that is, until Adam & Eve are ejected from the garden “to till the ground from whence he was taken.”

Adam’s personal environment changed. Therefore, his method & means of acquiring food was changed.

Given this change, execrated, abhorred, & utterly detested was the ground. Why? Because from that day forward Adam had to till the ground, which was filled with the bringing forth of thorns & thistles, for his daily sustenance.

It literally takes blood, sweat & tears to work a field filled with thorns & thistles to obtain food to eat — with no shopping center, no garden/farm/feed store stocked with tools, equipment & sundry supplies, no knowledge of working with livestock to manage the Land, no irrigation, no idea of what’s what outside of the Garden and no family members or neighbors to help in any way.

Given this, particularly after having inhabited a lush well-established garden with trees laden with fruit all of one’s life, I think it’s clear as to why the ground would be considered execrated, abhorred, utterly detested or cursed.

Physical Death

The Cycle of Life

Given my near 15 years of personal exposure to homesteading, I believe death must have been a part of creation on the earth from the beginning.

In order for God’s creation to be deemed very good, there needed to be death to make room for life to carry forward long into the future, lest the finite Land & Seas become overpopulated with living creatures.

Not to mention, the decomposition of organic matter is what feeds the earth, keeping the Land fertile & fruitful.

I can no longer believe there was a finite Land & Seas ecosystem of reproductive life without death.

The Reference to Die is Meaningless without Death

When God told Adam the consequence for eating the forbidden fruit was that he would die, he had to have had some kind of understanding of what that word meant or else the punishment would have been meaningless to him.

Given these two points pertaining to physical death, I believe Adam being told that he would “return unto the ground” was not a new development. It was already established that his days were numbered, and he would eventually die. It was just now going to be a rougher way of life for him going forward than what he was previously enjoying.

Further Proof: Adam Didn’t Physically Die That Day

Another proof to make this point is found in what the text actually says.

Adam was specifically told when he would die if he ate of the forbidden fruit.

“…for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

However, Adam did not physically die that day. He went on to live at least another 800 years!

“And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image; and called his name Seth: And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:  And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.” – Genesis 5:3-5

This leads me to believe that there was another kind of death that was being referred to in Adam’s punishment for sin.

A Different Kind of Death

When Eve told the serpent what God had said the punishment for eating the forbidden fruit was, the serpent replied, “ye shall not surely die…”

And later, when Eve answered God’s question as to what she had done after having eaten the fruit, she replied “the serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.“

How was Eve beguiled (or deceived)?

Notice, Eve did not say that the serpent lied to her. She said he beguiled (or deceived) her.

Eve naturally must have thought the consequence for eating the forbidden fruit was physical death, and the serpent responded to that thought, saying she was not going to (physically) die, which was the truth.

And then the serpent proceeded to tell her what would happen — “that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil“, which again, was the truth, considering what God is recorded as saying later in verse 22.

And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: 

But a different kind of death was evidently going to take place, and the serpent didn’t tell her of that. Thus, she was beguiled.

So, What Was the Death Adam Experienced?

While I believe the opening of Adam & Eve’s eyes (and the realization of their nakedness) was a consequence for their sin, I don’t think that was their punishment.

I’ve heard the predominant teaching on this subject is that the punishment for Adam’s sin was a separation from God. However, according to the text that’s not what we see.

While Adam & Eve may have apparently felt guilt & shame as a result of what they had done, hence the reason they hid themselves, they were not expelled from God’s presence.

Rather, the separation that took place for them was from the Tree of Life. And I think that was the death they experienced.

The question then becomes, what is “the Tree of Life”? I’ll leave that for you to decide what that answer is, but I’ll say this much, based on what we read in the next chapter it doesn’t appear to be “God”.

The Bottom Line

According to what the Bible says, I don’t believe it teaches that Creation changed after the Fall of Adam — it was very good before the Fall, and it remained very good afterward.

And it appears to be self-evident from the text that the mortality of man was part of the Creator’s original design, making each day man draws breath precious.

Is there a physical life after physical death? I don’t know.

What I do know is that there is a physical life before physical death. And it’s clearly here, now, on the Land beneath the Heavens.

I say, let’s embrace it and make the most of every day we have to live it. 🙂