Parasha 2: The Fall of Man

"The Fall of Man" 

-- TORAH   P O R T I O N --

Introduction: 

What do you feel when you commit sin? How do you deal with it?

When we commit sin, it often brings about feelings of guilt, shame, and a sense of separation from God. Dealing with sin requires understanding its roots and seeking forgiveness and redemption according to the teachings of the Scriptures. 

 

Our Parasha deals with the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, the creation of Man and his fall into temptation. Today, temptation is one of the chief functions of Satan and his demons. Now the question is how did Man fall into sin? But before that, let's take a look at the strategy of Satan and I saw two D’s. To begin with, Satan made a Discussion that starts in verse 1b to verse 5. “And he said to the woman, 'Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that on the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Satan loves to use discussion as part of his bait and he did it also to Yeshua when he tempted Him in the desert. 

In addition, the next strategy that Satan used was Deception. Everytime he wants to deceive someone, he will wait for the perfect moment as he is more cunning than any beast of the field according to verse 1. Perhaps that perfect moment was when he waited for Eve to be alone and starving. If Adam was created first, why did Satan target Eve? Verse 18 says that God saw it's not good for man to be alone so He gave him a helper which in Hebrew is ezer. Since Satan knew that Adam was created first and Eve was his helper, Satan reversed his attack. God created man to woman, but Satan made his own way, Eve to Adam.  He prioritized the helper over Adam, and he succeeded in deceiving Eve, and she deceived her husband.

So how did man fall?

1. Man fell into sin because he entertained the temptation. Satan, being a fallen archangel obviously Eve was the object of his attack, being the weaker one and needing the protection of Adam. Satan found her alone. In effect Satan said "Has God said "You shall not eat of every tree of the garden and surely you shall not die".. for Eve, instead of running away from temptation, she entertained it. The classic example of running away from temptation was Yosef. He didn't entertain the wife of Potiphar. We are tempted to sin in the same manner. Satan will try to get us in the wrong manner because he is like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. During the time of temptation we have to remember James 4:7 "Resist(do not entertain) the devil and he will flee from you. 

2. Man fell into sin because he was deceived. In verse six of chapter three it says that Eve saw that the tree was good for food and pleasant to the eyes. She was deceived and decided that Satan was telling the truth and she misunderstood God. Apostolic writing confirms that Eve was deceived in 2 Corinthians 11:3 "But i fear lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted by from the simplicity that is in Yeshua.'' Satan was not successful when he tempted Yeshua because He used the Torah to combat Satan. For us to avoid being deceived by Satan's tactic, we must have a wise and strong foundation of His Torah. Psalm 19:7b says "The testimony (Torah) of the Lord is sure and making wise the simple." 

3. Adam and Eve fell because they did not support, encourage and strengthen each other. In Genesis 2:16-17 God commanded the man saying "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat"... it was a test of obedience by which Adam and Eve were tried so they had a choice to obey or not. Eve made the wrong choice. she partook of the forbidden fruit, and also Adam. Eve blamed Satan and Adam blamed Eve, they each bore the consequences as each had made the choice to commit sin. Indeed, sin is all about choices. It is important to understand and know right from wrong. But the main point here is Adam and Eve are one according to Genesis 2:23-24: “And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” If that's the case, why didn't Eve say to her husband, “Hey, the serpent is forcing me to eat the fruit that God forbids, what should I do?” As for Adam, why didn't he stop his wife, and why did he also eat the fruit? Adam and Eve seem to have lost each other's support and encouragement so they both fell. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow.”

Because Satan knows that Adam and Eve are one, he wants to destroy their relationship and even their relationship with God. John 10:10 says: “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.”

The Grace and Mercy of God

Now it happened that Adam and Eve disobeyed God's instruction. But the gracious and merciful Creator never neglected His likeness. That's why He said in verse 15 of chapter 3: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” A seed from the woman would crush the head of the serpent, and nobody can do this except Yeshua, and so our sins might be forgiven as well. 

We can also see the grace and mercy of God when He clothed Adam and Eve with tunics of skin. This is also a picture of Yeshua's blood that not only covered our sins, but He even paid it fully. Romans 3:24-25 says: “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Messiah Yeshua, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Yeshua.” And also in Isaiah 61:10: 

“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”

Just like Adam and Eve, we may even fall. But the good news is we have a gracious and merciful Creator who is always there to catch us. 

Psalm 37:24 NKJV

“Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him  with His hand.”

-- H A F T A R A H   P O R T I O N --

Now let us proceed to our Haftarah portion and let me give you a short background of Tyre. Tyre was an important Phoenician port and mercantile center in ancient times. It was an island, located half a mile from the Mediterranean coastline, approximately 30 miles north of Israel. with the reign of Hiram I (980-947 BCE), Tyre became the most important city and is best known for its Tyrian purple dye manufactured from the shell of the sea snail.

What was the proclamation of prophet Ezekiel about the king of Tyre if we are going to start in verse 1 to 10? That the king will be perished in the hands of the uncircumcised strangers. Why? Because the king was so prideful and arrogant. He thinks of himself as god. 

Now i noticed something about the word of Adonai that came to Ezekiel in verse 11 to 19 which is the story of Genesis 2 to 3 where Adam and Eve were dismissed from the garden of Eden, and God placed Cherubim at the east of the garden to guard the way to the tree of life. In Ezekiel it is the king of Tyre who was punished and dismissed from the mountain of God. 

Also, God is against Sidon. When He punishes them, He will be glorified. For He will send pestilence upon them, and blood will flow in her streets. Because of God's judgment to Sidon, and through this they will know God. 

Our haftarah portion ended with the future blessing of the children of Israel. For they will be gathered once again from the nations whom they are scattered, and God will bring them back to the promised land. Then they shall know that He is their God.

-- A P O S T O L I C   P O R T I O N --

In our Apostolic portion, Apostle Paul compares the actions and consequences of Adam, the first man and the redemptive act of Yeshua. Romans 5:12 starts by declaring that sin entered the world through one man, Adam. Adam's misdeed brought about a condition of wickedness and separation from God for all mankind. So death has spread to everyone, as all have sinned. Through Adam's disobedience, mankind became subject to the power of sin and its devastative result.

For Paul, sin entered through Adam while grace entered through Yeshua. Death reigns from Adam while righteousness reigns from Yeshua.

While Adam's sin resulted in condemnation and judgment, Yeshua's act of righteousness brought justification and salvation (verse 18). Through Adam, many were made sinners, but through Yeshua's obedience and sacrifice, many will be made righteous (verse 19). The impact of Adam's disobedience was broad, and affected the universe. Yet, the impact of Yeshua's obedience and sacrifice is even greater, offering forgiveness, reconciliation with God, and the promise of eternal life to all who believe in Him.

Verse 21 concludes this powerful difference by emphasizing the victory of grace. Sin once reigned in death, but now grace reigns through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Yeshua the Messiah. The power of sin and death has been effectively overcome by the fullness of God's mercy and grace, and the righteousness made available through faith in Yeshua.

Adam's sin resulted in condemnation while through Yeshua there is justification. Through Adam many were made sinners but through Yeshua many will be made righteous. One man affected the entire world and brought sin and death to mankind, but one Man affected the world who suffered, offered Himself and died on the cross and made righteousness and the reconstruction of life provided to mankind.

The connection of our Parasha is very obvious. In the Torah, man was tempted and sinned. In the Haftarah, the king of Tyre sinned because of his pride and imagined himself to be a god. In the Apostolic, because of one man sin entered the world, but because of one Man who died on the cross, salvation and eternal life became possible to us. 

Back to my introduction...What do you feel when you commit sin and how do you deal with it? Salvation is our greatest need. We need to be delivered from sin. We need to be forgiven and reconciled to God. We need the gift of eternal life, and the only solution is Messiah Yeshua.

Shabbat Shalom,

Topher

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-- S O U R C E S --

outorah.org

clintonnc.com

corechristianity.com

renner.org

revealedtruth.com

desiringgod.org

thelehrhaus.com

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