by Jen | Dec 31, 2024 | 1-24, DISO studies, Genesis 3, Introduction
Welcome to this Digging into Scripture Ourselves (DISO) study of Genesis 3. Thanks for joining me here!
As I mentioned last week, this is the first of a series of seven studies I’m calling Restoration. These are passages I studied years ago using the original “20 Questions” version of DISO, but those posts are no longer available online. To avoid confusion, I’ve decided to work through the passages again with the newer process rather than simply republishing those old posts. I’m excited to see what the Holy Spirit reveals now and compare that to what I discovered previously!
Let’s Study Genesis 3!
This week, I’ll begin by praying and surveying Genesis 3. If you want to work along with me, here’s what I recommend you have ready:
- A copy of Genesis 3, plus access to the entire book of Genesis.
I like to refer often to the text I’m studying and sometimes make notes on it, so I copy the passage from www.blueletterbible.org, paste it into a word processing program like Google Docs or MS Word, change the formatting to suit my preferences, and print it out. If you want to use the ESV translation, here’s a pdf of my Scripture study sheet with lots of room for doodles and notes.
- A study journal.
We’ll spend the next seven weeks immersed in and learning about Genesis 3, and the work we’ll do each week builds on what came before, so plan to record at least some highlights from your work over the coming weeks. I’m old-school and like the pen-and-paper method for journaling my studies, but it’s okay if that doesn’t work for you. If you don’t have time to write out or type your notes, consider dictating them into a notes app, or recording audio files, instead.
Or, you may decide to just read the posts I publish here. That’s good, too because it will help you become more familiar with the process and show you how the Spirit speaks to my situation. You may find that’s enough to make it worth your while to keep checking in with me, even if you can’t dig into Genesis 3 yourself this time.
Dig-In Challenges
So, here’s how I’ll be studying this week:
- PRAY: I’ll be creating a prayer that I can pray every time I study Genesis 3. I’m going to write it in my study journal, so I’ll have it handy each time I study.
- SURVEY: And then I’ll read Genesis 3, noting anything that makes me say, “huh?” (as in, “I wonder what that means?”) or “wow” (as in, “that is so awesome!”). I’ll record these and later ask the Spirit to direct me to the one I should dig more deeply into right now.
If you’d like more information about these steps, check out this printable summary of the process I’ll be using over the next eight weeks. Or, you can always reach out to me with your questions through my contact page or at [email protected]. I’m looking forward to sharing what I discover in this process with you, along with snippets of my previous study from 2020 as appropriate—I hope you’ll keep checking in with me each week!
GO TO WEEK 2 >
by Jen | Jan 7, 2025 | 1-24, DISO studies, Genesis 3
NEW TO THIS STUDY? START HERE.
Hello again. I hope your new year has already been full of blessings! Mine has, and I’m giving God all the glory for that!
Last Week’s Work
MY PRAYER
For this study, the Spirit inspired me to pray:
Father God, thank You for the chance to re-explore this favorite chapter of mine with Your Holy Spirit. Give me eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand the treasure You’ll show me in this passage. I love You and I love Your Word! Help me use it to grow so others can see its treasure in my life. I ask this in Jesus’s name. Amen.
HUH? and WOW! MOMENTS
Next, I read Genesis 3, focused on my reactions, and noted what caught my attention. Here are most of the points I recorded:
HUH?s
- Did the serpent really think God had told the man and woman they couldn’t eat any fruit in the garden (v1)?
- Did God really tell them not to touch the fruit (v4)?
- They knew good through their experience of God. How did opening their eyes give them knowledge of evil (v5)?
- How did the woman see “the tree was to be desired to make one wise” (v6)?
- Did God really not know where the man was (v9)? But if He did know, why did He ask where they were?
WOW!s
- Verse 1 seems to imply God made the serpent, too.
- Maybe they could “not die” (v4). I know of two biblical men who didn’t: Enoch (Genesis 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11).
- The first thing they “knew” was their vulnerability (nakedness) (v7). And they immediately tried to overcome it on their own.
- Hiding from God seems to be an acknowledgement that their fig leaves weren’t enough to protect them (v8).
- The man was honest about his fear (v10).
- God wanted to know who changed their perception of their circumstances and whether they’d disobeyed Him (v11), though surely, He already knew they had.
- In verses 9-13, God doesn’t accuse, He asks questions.
- Serpent’s punishment: he became the lowest of all creatures, the woman and her offspring were above him (vv14-15).
- Woman’s punishment: she must perpetuate the species through childbearing (which will be painful); she’ll disagree with the man; but he’ll prevail (v16). And she will die. (v3).
- Man’s punishment: he had to provide their food (v18), and he will also die (v3).
- Animal(s) died when God made clothing from skins to cover their nakedness. Apparently, covering wasn’t necessary before they disobeyed (v21).
- Once they knew good and evil, God prevented them from eating from the tree of life (v22).
Even though I’ve studied this chapter before, the Spirit has shown me so much more this time! I can’t study it all, though. By next week, I know the He will help me figure out where to concentrate my attention.
Dig-In Challenges
If you’re studying the passage, too, listen to the Spirit this week, and choose a personal Huh? or Wow! to dig more deeply into. Going forward, I’ll refer to this as your personal treasure from Genesis 3. It can be something you noticed in your study, one of the items I’ve listed above, or anything else the Holy Spirit has laid upon your heart as you think about Genesis 3. Write this treasure in your study journal and note the verse(s) most relevant to it. As we study, we’ll consider everything in the chapter, but we’ll gradually narrow the focus to the relevant verse(s).
Then:
- PRAY.
- MINE: Dig into the facts recorded in Genesis 3. This week, we’ll focus specifically on the setting (who’s involved, and where and when the action took place). Note anything the Spirit emphasizes.
I’m looking forward to sharing what I discover with you next week!
GO TO WEEK 3 >
by Jen | Jan 14, 2025 | 1-24, DISO studies, Genesis 3
NEW TO THIS STUDY? START HERE.
Welcome back and thank you for checking in with me this week! In addition to studying, I have been praying for those in the path of severe weather and wildfires here in the United States, that they may see God’s love even in the pain of suffering and loss.
I can’t help but think about how wonderful this world would be if Eve had found a way to ignore that serpent. Yet I realize it happened to her so that we can learn from it and not perpetuate the same mistakes. So here are a few things I discovered from Genesis 3 in the past week.
Last Week’s Work
MY PERSONAL TREASURE
I had a lot of observations from my survey of Genesis 3 last week. As I read through them the last few days, I felt the Spirit directing me to the phrase “your eyes will be opened, and you will… [know] good and evil” in verse 5. As I thought about that knowledge, the Spirit nudged me that Adam and Eve already knew “good” because they knew life walking with God, taking care of the garden, and otherwise enjoying life. What they didn’t know was “evil.” So I’ll be focusing on that, especially in verses 7-8, 10, 12-13, 16-19, and 21-22. These, plus verse 5, will be my target verses for this study. That’s about half the passage! But I feel the Spirit with me on this, and I know He won’t ask me to do more than I’m able.
WHO (CHARACTERS)
These are the characters I noticed in Genesis 3:
- Serpent. Introduced and described, then interacted with woman, contradicting God’s warning (vv1-4); first to be punished by God: cursed over all livestock and beasts: no legs, eat dust (v14); enmity with woman and her offspring: “he shall bruise your head [mortal wound] and you shall bruise his heel [non-mortal wound]” (v15).
- God. Bad press from the serpent (surprise!) in v5; confronted man and woman with questions (vv9, 11, 13); punished the serpent first (v14), then Eve (v16), then Adam (v17-19); reasoned the man might override death with tree of life (v22), so drove him out of the garden (v23) [and Eve and the serpent, too based on their punishments (vv15-16)], and placed cherubim and flaming sword to guard the tree (v24).
- The woman. Told by the serpent eating the fruit will open her eyes, make her like God (v5), so she ate and gave it to her husband (v6); accused of providing the fruit by the man (v12); asked about it by God and admits deception by the serpent (v13); punished by multiplied pain in childbirth, contrary desire to man, subordinate to him (v16); named Eve by man (v20).
- The man. Not mentioned till v 6 when the woman [whom he “was with,” so it’s possible he witnessed the exchange with the serpent and her disobedience?] gave him fruit to eat; LORD God asked him “Where are you?” (v9); responds he was afraid because he was naked, and hid (v10); identified as Adam (v21); kicked out of the garden (vv23-24).
- Both [Adam and Eve]. Eyes opened and nakedness discovered, made loincloths from fig leaves (v7); heard God walking in the garden and hid themselves (v8); God made superior garments (of skins [dead animal(s)]) and clothed them (v21).
WHERE (LOCATIONS)
- The main location is the garden. It’s where all the action happens in this chapter.
- Adam’s punishment included eating from the field because the ground was cursed (vv17-18). I don’t know if these are two distinct places or maybe the field is a particular portion of the ground? In verses 19 and 23, Adam is sentenced to return to the ground from which he was taken.
WHEN (TIMEFRAMES)
- in the cool of the day (v8), when God was walking in the garden and the man and woman hid from him; and
- all the days of your life (vv14, 17), how long the serpent’s and Adam’s punishments last.
I also created a simple timeline diagram of significant events with verse references. Feel free to download and use it if you like.
Dig-In Challenges
Here’s what I plan to do this week:
- PRAY before I study using my prayer from last week.
- MINE: Look for repeated concepts in this passage, including synonyms and pronouns referring to those concepts.
- MINE: Locate any special statements (blessings, commands, curses, prayers, promises, requests, and/or warnings) in the passage. This time, I’m also going to notice another category: questions.
- MINE: Note any lists (3 or more similar items) mentioned in Ruth 4.
If you’d like more detail about these challenges, download this printable summary of the DISO process. Hope you’ll join me next week!
GO TO WEEK 4 >
by Jen | Jan 21, 2025 | 1-24, DISO studies, Genesis 3
NEW TO THIS STUDY? START HERE.
Hi, again: check out what I found this week!
Last Week’s Work
REPETITION
- Eat and related terms appear in more than half the verses in this chapter!
It appears in the rule discussed between the serpent and Eve (vv1-3, 5), and in v6 when they disobeyed.
In vv11-13, it’s mentioned three times as Adam, Eve, and God discuss what they’ve done.
In v14, God cursed the serpent saying he will eat dust the rest of his life.
In vv17-19, God declared Adam must work hard to eat for the rest of his life. So, every time they ate, they’d be reminded of their transgressions.
Finally, in v22, God was concerned they might also eat from the tree of life.
- Die appears twice: Eve said disobedience will result in death (v3); the serpent says it won’t (v4). Related terms include return to the ground (v19) and maybe dust? God says the serpent will eat dust all the days of [its] life, which reminded me of “bite the dust,” jargon meaning “to die.”
In v19, God tells Adam he’s dust and to dust he will return. I think this references death of Adam’s physical body.
- Naked in vv7, 10, 11. After Adam and Eve disobeyed, they saw they were naked (7) and tried to cover themselves and hide from God. Adam admits nakedness was partly the reason (with fear) they hid (10), and God’s reaction was to ask how they knew about their nakedness (11).
- Life, in vv14, 17 describes the term of God’s punishment for both the serpent and Adam. In v20, the woman was named Eve because she was the mother of all living. Interestingly, a footnote in the ESV translation says Eve sounds like the Hebrew word for life-giver and resembles the word for living. Ironic considering she’s responsible for all mortality.
In v22 and 24, it describes the tree God wanted to prevent Adam and Eve from eating, because doing so would enable them to live forever.
I can’t wait for the Spirit to reveal more about these concepts!
SPECIAL STATEMENTS
I noticed these special statements:
- One command discussed in vv1-3 and disobeyed in v6: You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree … in the midst of the garden… with a warning: lest you die.
- Several curses:
on the serpent: he’d crawl on his belly, eat dust till he dies, there will be enmity between him and the woman and between their offspring;
on the woman (v16): increased pain in childbirth; contrary desire to her husband, who will rule over her; and
on the ground (vv17-19) so it will yield thorns and thistles, forcing Adam to work hard for food and eat plants of the field until he dies (returns to dust).
NOTE: Eve isn’t told directly she will die as are the serpent and Adam.
- And Five Requests in the form of questions:
Serpent to Eve craftily asking about the tree (v1)
God to the man: where are you? (v9); who told you … you were naked? And have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? (v11)
God to the woman: what [have] you done? (v13)
LISTS
- Three general steps to Eve’s temptation:
Serpent engaged her (v1)
He her she wouldn’t die, her eyes would be opened, and she’d be like God, knowing good and evil. (vv4-5)
She saw the tree was good for food, it was a delight to look at, its fruit was desirable to gain wisdom (v6)
- Six results of disobedience:
Eyes opened
Knew nakedness/vulnerability
Tried to cover themselves (v7)
Heard God
Feared Him
Hid (v10)
- Serpent’s four punishments:
cursed above all other livestock and beasts
made to crawl on belly
eat dust (v14)
enmity w/woman and her offspring (v15)
- Woman’s three punishments:
increased pain in childbearing
contrary desire to husband
subordinate to man (v16)
- Man’s five punishments:
ground is cursed; painful to work it (v17)
will yield thistles and thorns,
forced to eat field plants (v18)
work for food
will return to the dust [which the serpent must eat!] (v19).
It’s interesting to me that this wasn’t specifically mentioned for Eve, too.
Dig-In Challenges
Next week, we’ll wrap up Step 3 by:
- PRAYING: As always, start with the prayer we wrote for Step 1.
- MINING: Read through the passage again looking for comparisons in or related to your focus verses. Look for similarities using like or as, quantitative/qualitative comparisons using more or less, and/or contrasts.
- MINING: Next, look for causes or motives by focusing on key words or phrases I call cause connectors.
- In this chapter, look for the connectors lest, for, and because.
- Then check the text surrounding the connector for an action and the reason for that action.
For example: I went to the store because I was out of milk:
the action = I went to the store because the reason = I was out of milk.
NOTE A: for doesn’t always connect an action and a reason. To determine if it does here, read the sentence replacing for with because. If the new sentence makes sense and means the same as the original, make a note of the action and its cause.
NOTE B: Most often the action will occur before the cause connector and the reason will follow it (like the example above).
If you have questions about this or any other part of the study, please reach out to me at [email protected]!
- MINING: Finally, look for conditions or methods the author describes. For example, does the text say if or when a certain condition is met, some outcome will happen (e.g., whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith (Matt 21:22)? Or does the author describe a particular method by which something happens—for example, specific steps taken to achieve something, or more generally by or through attributes or actions (e.g., saved by grace, through faith (Eph 2:8)? Does he use any adverbs (-ly words) that describe how action was accomplished?
These exercises are more involved, I know, but I’m confident you can do this with the Holy Spirit! Don’t forget to check your How to Dig Into Scripture Ourselves guide, and you can always reach out to me at [email protected] if you have questions.
GO TO WEEK 5 >
by Jen | Feb 4, 2025 | 1-24, DISO studies, Genesis 3
NEW TO THIS STUDY? START HERE.
Hello again, my friend. I can’t wait to share what the Spirit showed me this week!
Last Week’s Work
WRITING TYPES
In addition to narrative, I observed:
- Instruction. Specifically, God’s command not to eat from the tree in v3. Also, from my adult learning work, I recognized experiential training (aka, “learning the hard way”) in vv6-7, and God’s “debrief” in vv9-13. Finally, punishment (vv14-19 and 22-24) is also a learning technique.
- Law. I consider the command (v3) as law, too. I thought it was interesting the serpent didn’t argue against it. Instead, it convinced Eve the punishment wouldn’t be so bad (v4). The Spirit reminded me I’ve also succumbed to the same reasoning—I’m not supposed to do this, but the consequences won’t be that bad. Like Eve, I’ve learned to recognize that deception the hard way.
- Prophecy. I found this in the punishments: they’re all predictions of what will befall the actors, and at least some also apply beyond them. For example, he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel is widely recognized as a promise of the coming Redeemer.
Based on these writing types, I understand your eyes will be opened, in v5 to mean more than eyesight: that they’d soon have plenty of insight into the consequences of evil, beginning with feelings of shame and vulnerability (nakedness), fear of authority, and the need to pass/spread the blame. They learned what deception was, and would also discover pain, strife, inequality, toil, frustration, and mortality. But I also noticed God acting to protect them, too (v21, and possibly v24).
LITERAL CONTEXT
Reading chapters 1-2, I noticed Genesis 1:3-27 describes the six days of creation, with the beasts of the earth (v25) and mankind (v27) created on the sixth day. So, this incident with the serpent must have happened on or after Day 6. Also, I read that God saw what he’d made, and it was all very good (1:31). If that’s the case, how could the serpent do what it did?
And, in 1:28, God issued the first commandment, be fruitful and multiply… and have dominion over… every living thing that moves on the earth. That surely included the serpent; yet through trickery, it got the upper hand.
In chapter 2 I found God’s actual command: of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die (2:17). I also noted from 2:25, the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. How things changed! In chapter 4, the Spirit highlighted God’s warning to Cain, which to me echoed Eve’s punishment: [Sin’s] desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it (4:7). And, in Cain’s punishment, I saw you are cursed from the ground… When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength (4:11-12), which reminded me of Adam’s punishment.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Tradition holds that Moses was the author of Genesis, and he wrote for the Israelites who fled Egypt. According to the ESV Global Study Bible Introduction timeline, that would have been sometime after 1446 BC. From the summary, Genesis is the story of God’s people from creation until Joseph’s death in Egypt. I can see why Moses wanted to preserve this history: by the time the Israelites left Egypt, the ancestors who’d remember those stories would have all died out.
INTERLINEAR RESEARCH
Verse 5: eyes will be opened. From Hebrew H5869 eyin H6491 paqach. In my research I discovered these words are used to refer to both eyesight and insight. Another instance is Psalm 146:8 (the LORD opens the eyes of the blind), which led me to an interesting discovery: nearly all the miracles Jesus performed were also performed by other Biblical characters, except restoring sight: only Jesus healed the blind. Even in the account of Saul’s recovery from blindness, Ananias says, “the Lord Jesus … has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 9:17).
Verse 7: knew they were naked. The word for knew (H3045 yada) is the same word often used for deep relational, experiential, even intimate knowledge of someone or something. And the word for naked (H5903 erom) differed from the one used in Genesis 2:25 (H6174 arom) where Moses notes the couple was naked but unashamed. The first indicates exposure, shame, disgrace, while the second one does not.
Verse 8: hid themselves. This word (H2244 chaba) denotes physical hiding (e.g., oneself) or metaphorical concealment, like emotions, intentions, truths. Verse 10: was afraid. H3372 (yare’) means fear, terror, dread, or reverence/awe. This is the first time afraid appears in God’s Word.
Dig-In Challenges
This week, let’s wrap up the second half of the Refine step by examining cross-references and other translations.
- Don’t forget to begin with your prayer from Step 1.
- REFINE: Then consult a concordance or online cross-reference study tool (I’ll be starting at this blb.org page) to find and read through the available cross-references for the verses you’re most interested in and log what the Spirit shows you.
NOTE: if you’re interested in other verses, follow the above link, then point to the TOOLS button to the left of the verse you want to study, and choose Cross-Refs from the menu.
- REFINE: Finally, compare at least a few other translations’ version of the same verses and write about what you find in your study journal. I’ll be comparing ESV, AMP, NIV, and GNT using this biblehub.com page. You can compare your own verses from that link by entering them in the Enter Reference or Keyword box at the top of the page and clicking the spyglass icon there.
I’m looking forward to sharing what I discover with you next week. I hope you join me then!
GO TO WEEK 7 >
by Jen | Feb 11, 2025 | 1-24, DISO studies, Genesis 3
NEW TO THIS STUDY? START HERE.
Here we are again, just one week from concluding another study. I’m so grateful you’re digging into Scripture with me, and I pray the Spirit is showing you awesome revelation from God’s Word either from your own work or something I’ve written here.
This past week, I did things differently as I felt the Spirit leading me. You might remember I identified treasure in fourteen verses from Genesis 3:1-24. They proved to be too many to thoroughly explore, so I started reviewing the translation comparisons of those verses and asked the Spirit to help me focus before I dug into cross-references. Normally I reverse those steps: cross-references first, then translations. But I’m so glad I switched them: check out what He showed me below!
Last Week’s Work
OTHER TRANSLATIONS
First, I compared the ESV, AMP, NIV, and Good News translations for the fourteen verses I originally focused on. Unfortunately, I didn’t see a lot of difference among them. As I reviewed major parts of this story, though, I sensed a shift in the direction of my study: away from my previous focus on Adam and Eve’s learning curve, and toward God’s loving responses to what happened. In particular, the Spirit drew me to see how:
- Verse 9: God pursued them in the garden, asking, where are you?
- Verse 15; God planned to reconcile mankind to Himself through Eve’s offspring who would bruise the serpent’s head.
- Verse 21: God provided protection for them using garments of animal skins.
- Verse 24: God prevented them from living forever in the shame, fear, condemnation, deception, pain, toil, frustration, strife, and inequality of their existence by removing access to the tree of life.
CROSS-REFERENCES
Since the shift in focus, I reviewed the cross-references for verses 9, 15, 21, and 24, and found the most relevant connections to verses 15 and 21. Regarding verse 15, in Hebrews 2:14-15, death is mentioned as the method used to destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil. In 1 John 3:8, I found the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. Two other references in Revelation mention a great dragon, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, (Rev 12:9, 20:2), that was conquered … by the blood of the Lamb [Jesus] and by the word of [our brothers’] testimony (Rev 12:11).
In verse 21, protection from the elements is provided by animal-skin garments. In Isaiah, I found a similar reference to being clothed in garments of salvation and covered with the robe of righteousness (Isa 61:10). Romans 3:22-25 explains how Christians obtain this covering of righteousness: it’s available through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.
In all, I’m left with a very different picture of God from what I previously perceived. Before, my emphasis has been on the other characters: the sneaky serpent, and the innocent, trusting man and woman. But now, I see a God who gave the man and woman free will—the choice to follow His command or seek their own way. Even after they chose not to follow His guidelines, He still called out to them, He gave them cover for their nakedness, He prevented them from living forever in their punishment, and He provided, in due time, a way to repair the damage done. I am overwhelmed by these gestures of love He showed to them—and that He still shows to all of us—even knowing in our own power we can’t help but make the same kind of bad decisions.
Dig-In Challenges
This coming week, let’s wrap up our study of Genesis 3 and align with what we’ve discovered in Chapter 3:
- PRAY: Read the prayer we created in Step 1.
- ALIGN: Review our study notes and other work, focusing specifically on what we’ve learned in this process.
- ALIGN: Then, considering those “lessons learned,” think about how the Spirit has convicted us through this study. In other words, where has He shown us misalignment between what we’ve discovered and how we practice our faith?
- ALIGN: Next, let’s look to God’s Word for guidance to correct that misalignment. This is often—but not always—a verse from the study text or from one of the cross-references.
- ALIGN: And finally, I’ll reflect on how I can change my thoughts or actions to align more closely with what I’ve discovered here. To really make this work, I commit to changing something and do my best to act on that commitment every day for at least three weeks.
That may seem like a lot to consider in one week. If you’re working with the Spirit, remember you can do this at your own pace. Don’t worry about keeping up with me—just do what you can when you can. I know the Lord will bless any time you spend in His Word!
