en_obs-sq/content/02.md

02. Sin Enters the World

What the Story Says

1. What did Adam and Eve need that they did not have in the garden?

   Adam and Eve had everything they needed in the garden. There was no sin or shame, and they were able to walk with God and speak directly to him (See: 02:01).

2. How did the snake convince the woman to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?

   The snake first questioned what God said (See: 02:02). He next called God a liar (See: 02:04). Finally, he told the woman that she could be like God (See: 02:04).

3. Why did the woman eat the fruit?

   Eve thought the fruit looked good, and she wanted to be wise like God. Therefore, she decided to disobey God and to eat the fruit.

4. What did Adam and Eve do after they ate the fruit?

   They were both ashamed, and tried to cover themselves with leaves. Then they tried to hide from God (See: 02:06, 02:07).

5. What answer did Adam give when God asked if he had eaten the fruit?

   Adam did not admit that he had sinned. Instead, he blamed his wife.

6. What answer did Eve give when God asked her what she had done?

   Eve did not admit that she had sinned. Instead, she blamed the snake.

7. What would the snake do to Eve’s descendant, and what would he do to the snake?

   Eve’s descendant would kill the snake by crushing its head. The snake would wound Eve’s descendant by biting him on the heel of his foot.

8. What did God use to cover Adam and Eve?

   God covered them with animal skins. Most scholars think this was the first animal sacrifice. God killed the animals and took their skins to cover Adam and Eve.

9. What did God want to say when he said that Adam’s body would return to the soil?

   God made Adam from the soil (See: 01:10). When he died, he would become soil once again.

10. Why did God send Adam and Eve out of the garden?

    God did not want them to eat from the tree of life in the garden and live forever as sinners.

What the Story Means to Us

1. How did the snake convince Eve to eat the fruit?

   The snake did not begin by telling Eve to disobey God. Instead, he asked questions that caused Eve to think about the one fruit that God had told her not to eat. Then the snake convinced her that God did not do the right thing when he told her not to eat the fruit.

2. Why do you think Eve forgot about all the things God had given her, and only focused on the one fruit that God told her not to eat?

   People often do not like someone telling them not to do something. They want to do whatever they want to do. Eve did not care that it was God who told her not to eat the fruit, or that God told her not to eat it in order to protect her.

3. Why do you think Adam and Eve tried to cover their shame and hid from God?

   When they disobeyed God by eating the fruit, they became sinners. They were so ashamed that they did not want God to see them.

4. How did Adam and Eve answer God when he asked them what they had done?

   Adam and Eve both blamed someone else for what they had done. Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the snake. Neither of them was willing to tell God the truth about what they did.

5. How did the curses match the way that Adam, Eve, and the snake disobeyed God?

   Adam ate the fruit, so God made it difficult for him to grow food. Eve caused Adam to sin, so God gave Adam power over Eve. The snake spoke as if he were wiser than God, so God made him crawl on his belly.

6. Why was it bad for Adam and Eve to know good and evil?

   Their knowledge of good and evil was knowledge gained by personal experience. That experience of making an evil choice caused them to be separated from God. Their fellowship with him was broken (See: 02:12).

Summary

God provided everything Adam and Eve needed in the garden. The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the only thing they could not have. The snake convinced Eve that God did not want them to be wise, and that was why God told them not to eat the fruit. So Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sinned by eating the fruit. They immediately were ashamed and hid from God. God cursed Adam, Eve, and the snake because of what they had done. Then God drove them out of the garden so they would not eat the fruit of the tree of life and live forever as sinners. But God also promised him that a descendant of the woman would later come and kill the snake.