The wisdom of Adam before the fall

Gen. 2:19 "And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him."

The naming of all the animals tells us that Adam was endowed with great wisdom before the fall. To give a suitable name that applied to all the living creatures on the face of the earth required both a knowledge of those animals and wisdom to give them a name befitting their qualities and characteristics.

Further, this was no easy task, as there are literally thousands of creatures that required a name. No doubt this was a lengthy work and perhaps quite tedious. The end result is that every creature received a name and each of them still has that name today.

The giving of the law of sin and death

             Gen. 2:16 "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

            God had planted a garden of trees that were good for food and pleasant to the eyes in the Garden of Eden.  As the creator of all things, God has ownership of all things and has the sovereign right to make available or restrict whatever he pleases. 

            God, according to his sovereignty, gave permission to Adam to eat of all the trees of the garden except for one.  The trees belong to God and Adam belonged to God.  Adam had no inherent rights.  God could just as easily and with as much authority restricted Adam from eating of any of the trees.  The right to eat of the trees was a granted right that God gave to Adam. 

            It was the "LORD God" who gave commandment to Adam.  The word, God, is the title God used in creating the heavens and the earth.  The word, LORD, is the title God uses indicating that he is the covenant maker and covenant keeper.  LORD is the same as Jehovah or JHVH.  Thus, the commandment was coming from the almighty creator of the universe and from the covenant making and keeping God.  There is tremendous power and authority behind this commandment. 

            The commandment gave Adam permission to eat of all the trees of the garden except for one tree.  Without this commandment Adam had no permission to eat of any of the trees of the garden.  However, with this permission to eat of the trees came a restriction: Adam was not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  For Adam to eat of this tree would at the very least have been stealing from God and committing a trespass against God. 

            This commandment was given in the form of a law.  God is the lawgiver of all the earth.  All just laws derive from God.  He has the ultimately authority over all things.  A good law spells out the provisions clearly.  A good law is not vague.  The above law spells out the provisions clearly and is not vague.  There is no doubt that Adam was free to eat of all the trees of the garden but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Further, a good law will clearly set forth the penalty for breaking the law.  Again, the above law clearly sets forth the penalty for breaking the law: "in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."  The translators gave us a fuller meaning of the term "die" in the marginal reading: "dying thou shalt die."  The meaning is that there would be an immediate death upon eating of the tree followed by a later death.  This is exactly what happened when Adam ate of the tree.

            The nature of the deaths that Adam brought upon himself and his posterity will be brought out in subsequent studies.

            The above law is also known as the "law of sin and death."  In addition, it is also referred to as "the covenant of the law of sin and death."

            Some have suggested that since Eve was not yet created that this law did not pertain to her.  The error in that thinking is a failure to realize that Eve was created from the rib of Adam.  She was in Adam when the law was given!

Shame of nakedness associated with sin

             Gen. 2:25 "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." 

            Prior to transgressing the law of God, Adam and Eve were naked but they were not ashamed.  The scriptures lay out for us that the shame of nakedness is associated with sin.  So long as they had not sinned, they had no shame of their nakedness.  As soon as they sinned, they became ashamed of their nakedness and we read in Gen. 3:7 "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons."  Once they had sinned they tried to cover up their shame by sewing fig leaves together and making aprons.  What they were really trying to cover up was the shame of their sinfulness.  Sin is a shame that is upon all mankind.