Echoes of Eden: Moses Explains Adam
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| "The first leaf of the Mosaic record has more weight than all the folios of men of science and philosophers." - Jean Paul. |
Narrative Linking Using the Early Genesis Accounts
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| The burning bush where God called Moses to deliver His people from Egyptian bondage. |
Moses Reveals Adam's Fear: "Who Am I ... ?"
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”— Exodus 3:11
Previously, Moses fled from a prior Pharaoh in fear for his life after killing an Egyptian taskmaster who mistreated a fellow Hebrew.
God reassured Moses that He would be with him and promised that he and all of God's people would return to Mount Horeb/Sinai one day.
So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”— Exodus 3:11-12
If we view Moses as replaying Adam, it might reveal that Adam discounted God's empowering ability and, therefore, feared confronting the serpent figure, much like Moses feared confronting Pharaoh. Adam's mission and commission were to serve and protect the sacred garden space from defiling forces.
The Lord God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden in order to have him work (serve) in and guard it. (ISV)— Genesis 2:15
It is assumed that God would equip Moses for the task, as is shown elsewhere in Scripture with other Biblical figures. After King David was delivered from his enemies, including King Saul, who tried to kill him on several occasions, he expressed his faith in God's saving presence and deliverance.
You have armed me with strength for the battle;
You have subdued under me those who rose against me.
— 2 Samuel 22:40
When oppressive forces threatened the southern kingdom of Judah, King Jehoshaphat gave us a great example of what Adam could have done.
Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
— 2 Chronicles 20:3
Jehoshaphat fasted in contrast to Adam, who avoided the confrontation and ate of the forbidden tree. Because Jehoshaphat recognized his fear and sought the Lord for the solution, God reassured him that He would fight the impending battle.
Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
— 2 Chronicles 20:14,15
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| The garden temptation contrasted with Christ's temptation in the wilderness. |
Moses Shows Us How Jesus Undoes Adam
... And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”
Notably, Adam and Eve had every tree but one at their disposal in paradise, yet they pridefully deferred in disloyalty to God the serpent's offerings. They feared the serpent and, most likely, feared missing out on what was forbidden more than they feared God. In contrast, during a life-threatening hunger in the wilderness, Christ remained loyal to His Father and humbly refused to abuse His position as the Son of God by turning stones into bread. He demonstrated to us what fearing God looks like. In this sense, I think Jesus makes it evident that fearing God includes fearing the loss of a relationship with Him. Fearing God is loving Him so much that you can't imagine life without Him. You know His commands are good. You know they are all based on His love for you and the best possible outcomes. The second temptation in Matthew's version zooms in on the pride and presumption of this act.
Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the Temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:
'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and,
'In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'”
Jesus said to him, “It is written again,
'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’"
— Matthew 4:2-7
Did Adam presume that God would save him even if he disobeyed and ate from the forbidden tree? If so, Adam leaped off the cliff, at an unfathomable cost, to his inevitable death.
Jesus clearly demonstrates that obeying and fearing the Lord cures fear of anything else. Early-1900s Scottish evangelist Oswald Chambers makes the same observation.
"The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else."
G. K Chesterton, an early 1900s apologist, also echoes this thought with the following statement.
"We fear men so much because we fear God so little"
Ultimately, fear is faith in God that results in obedience. Fearing anything else results in disobedience. King Saul illustrates what this looks like in practice. During Israel's battle with the Philistines, Saul's army feared for their lives and began hiding in caves, holes, and pits. Saul was supposed to wait for the prophet Samuel to arrive, offer a sacrifice, and then be instructed in accordance with God's will. But Saul grew anxious and did not wait, and offered the sacrifice, which was strictly forbidden. Only the priesthood was allowed to do this. Samuel arrived while Saul, in disobedience, offered it, and confronted him about it. Saul admitted he feared losing the people and blamed Samuel for not showing up on time. Saul was loyal to his own reputation as opposed to God's good and right commands.
Saul said, "When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, then I said, 'The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.' Therefore I felt compelled (I made myself ) and offered a burnt offering."
— 1 Samuel 13:11-12
Saul's disobedience and disloyal fear don't end there. Two chapters later, God commanded Saul to destroy the Amalekites utterly, but instead preserved their king, Agag, alive as a war trophy. Once again, Samuel arrives to confront Saul about his disobedience, but Saul is busy in Carmel building a monument to himself. When Samuel finally found him, Saul tried to make it sound as if he had done it all for the Lord, but when challenged, he admitted he feared the people's opinions more than God's commands, leading to his disobedience.
Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
— 1 Samuel 15:24
Subsequently, the Amalekites show up in the book of Esther when Haman the Agagite, a descendant of an Amalekite, attempted to annihilate the Jews. This may also give us a glimpse of the far-reaching consequences of Adam's passivity in not confronting the serpent.
Moses's and Adam's fears almost seem pitiable. Still, Christ's temptation reveals it as a prideful rebellion that acts independently of God, without regard for His will or His power to defeat such enemies.
In the case of Moses, his independent act of saving his people by killing an Egyptian and burying him in the sand was at the root of this fear. There was no command from God to execute the salvation plan this way. Like Eve, he "saw" and seized an opportunity to do something that he thought would be good in his own eyes.
Jesus faced this same identity question twice more at the end of His ministry: once when the high priest interrogated Him before the Sanhedrin, and again when those who passed by asked Him as He died on the cross.
... And the high priest arose and said to Him, “Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?” But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!”
— Matthew 26:62-64
... And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.
— Matthew 27:39-40
This question of identity brackets the beginning and the end of Christ's mission on earth to undo Adam's transfer of loyalty to the serpent and turn it back to God. Regarding Moses, God didn't need him to be anything or anyone. He didn't need him to be reputable with Pharaoh or his people. God's salvation plan, carried out through Moses, required only that he follow and obey.
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| Moses observed an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave. He decides to execute justice in his own way by killing the Egyptian and burying him in the sand. When Moses witnesses fellow Hebrews fighting, he tries to interrupt them but is rebuked by one of them. Illustrations by Sweet Publishing |
The Second Fear: Not Being Respected as an Ambassador for God
Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”— Exodus 3:13
God gave Moses the complete speech he should deliver to Israel to persuade them, including the revelation of God's name, which relates to His loyal covenant love and promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, their forefathers. (See Exodus 3:14-22 for details.) Moses's fear that the people might not accept his God-given commission parallels Adam's possible fear that Eve might not respect his God-given commission and leadership. This may explain why he may have related God's command to them differently than it was originally given.
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| Moses fears the serpent and flees from it. It is perhaps a retelling of Adam's reaction to the snake in Genesis 3. Illustrations by Sweet Publishing |
The Third Fear: "Suppose They Will Not Believe Me?"
The third time Moses resisted God regarding His call and commission, Moses expressed concern that God's people wouldn't believe him.
Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you."
— Exodus 4:1
Regarding Adam and Eve, Adam received the garden's protocols and instructions before Eve's creation. Adam most likely relayed the freedoms and prohibitions to Eve. Was he fearful that she wouldn't believe what God had told him about the command not to eat from the forbidden tree?
And the Lord 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, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
— Genesis 2:16-17
Did he add to God's command about not eating from the tree, saying that she shouldn't even touch it out of fear she wouldn't listen?
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.’ ”
— Genesis 3:2-3
God's reply to Moses confirms this fear of being a respected authority and ambassador for God. To comfort him, God gave Moses a demonstration to substantiate the claim.
So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.” And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it.
— Exodus 4:2-3
In the Biblical world, the rod symbolized authority and identification. The Hebrew word for a rod is matteh (מטה). It appears for the first time in Genesis chapter 38, when Judah refuses to give his youngest son to Tamar under the Levirate marriage protocols, fearing he would die like his first two sons. Her first husband died, as did Judah's second son, who took his place. Only one son remained who could carry on the name and legacy of Judah's clan. Determined to fulfill her mission of building a family, Tamar tricked Judah into sleeping with her by pretending to be a veiled prostitute, producing a child who would continue the family line.
Then he (Judah) turned to her by the way, and said, “Please let me come in to you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. So she said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” And he said, “I will send a young goat from the flock.” So she said, “Will you give me a pledge till you send it?” Then he said, “What pledge shall I give you?” So she said, “Your signet and cord, and your staff that is in your hand.” Then he gave them to her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him. So she arose and went away, and laid aside her veil and put on the garments of her widowhood ... When she was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, “By the man to whom these belong, I am with child.” And she said, “Please determine whose these are—the signet and cord, and staff.”
— Genesis 38:16-19, 25
The signet, cord, and staff were all forms of identification in the ancient world. The staff, in particular, also recognized tribal authority. It was the tribe of Judah that was supposed to carry the Messianic line, and like Adam, he feared, failed, and cast away his authority.
Returning to Moses, the rod becoming a serpent symbolized Adam's loss of authority when confronted by the snake. Although Eve converses with the serpent being, Adam is present, saying and doing nothing, most likely out of fear.
... She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
— Genesis 3:6
Moses shows his fear of the serpent by fleeing from it, illustrating that he should have taken authority over it, as Adam should have. Adam was supposed to reach out and take that thing by the tail.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), “that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
— Exodus 4:4-5
The key phrase in the above verse is "that they may believe." Would Eve have believed and not been deceived if Adam had taken the serpent by the tail? Our New Testament application is found in the book of James. James admonishes that humble submission to Christ is the key to overcoming our spiritual battles.
Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
— James 4:7
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| Moses fears the commission God gives him, perhaps giving us a glimpse into Adam's first mission. Moses and the Burning Bush by Sebastien Bourdon |
The Fourth and Fifth Fears of Moses
Then Moses said to Yahweh, “Please, Lord, I have never been a man of words, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am one with a hard mouth and a hard tongue.”— Exodus 4:10
Yahweh made it clear that He was not expecting anything more from him than to do what God asked, whatever the case might be. God reassured him again that He would be Moses's mouth and instruct him.
And Yahweh said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, Yahweh? So now, go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth and will instruct you what you shall speak.”
— Exodus 4:11-12
Moses's fifth and final resistance was a flat-out plea: please send someone else to do this.
But he said, "Please, Lord, send now the message by whomever You will."
— Exodus 4:13
This perhaps reveals the reason for Adam's silence during the conversation between his wife and the serpent being.
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| The bookend events of the wilderness temptation and the Garden of Gethsemane test. |
Concluding Application
Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.
— Matthew 4:11
Additionally, Jesus perfectly illustrates this in His own garden experience at Gethsemane, as He undoes Adam's garden event once more. He begged His Father in heaven three times to take the cup of His impending suffering from Him, yet each time He submitted to what He knew was the Father's painful will, the only way to save humanity from its sinful state. As Jesus submits, an angel appears to strengthen Him.
Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him
— Luke 22:43
Temptations and successfully overcoming them mark the beginning and end of Christ's ministry on earth. In both instances, an angel strengthens Him to continue His mission. Jesus completed what Adam did not. He revealed that had Adam confronted the serpent and resisted his advances, God would have provided everything Adam needed to do so. Adam and Moses feared because they trusted in themselves rather than in God.
As it applies to us, God's call usually requires more than we can give apart from Him. Throughout Scripture, God consistently reassures His servants that all things are possible through Him.
And Jesus said to him, “If you can? All things are possible to him who believes.”
— Mark 9:23
He also reminds His servants not to fear because He is with them.
‘You are My servant; I have chosen you and not rejected you. Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will make you mighty; surely I will help you; Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
— Isaiah 41:9-10
We will conclude with the following encouragements. The first is from the book of Joshua, before he enters the promised land. Like Adam, he is commanded to subdue the land and represent God's goodness to the surrounding nations.
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be in dread or be dismayed, for Yahweh your God is with you wherever you go.”
— Joshua 1:9
This thought is carried into a New Testament application in Paul's letter to the Ephesian church.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the might of His strength.
— Ephesians 6:10
© 2023 Tamarajo
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