directly approached, but he willfully disobeyed without being beguiled
as was the woman. The chief blame, therefore, fell upon him.

The Fall and Punishment. The fearful consequences of their sin are
felt at once. They are changed so that they are conscious of guilt and
endeavor to hide themselves from Jehovah. Thus they acknowledge their
unfitness for fellowship with Him. Their soul having lost communion
with God, they become corrupt. This is spiritual death. They were
banished from the garden and forced to struggle for food. Their bodies
became subject to pain and death by separation from the animating
spirit. They could not longer eat of the life-giving tree of the
garden. The earth was cursed so that instead of ministering to man's
pleasure and support, it would produce much to his hurt. The woman in
her unredeemed state was to be in subordination to her husband. The
sad story of downtrodden women in heathen lands of all times since
then, and even today wherever Christ is not known, tells something of
the awful results of her sin.

The Hope Offered. The gloom of this sad story of their punishment was
relieved by an element of hope. The man and his wife are not beyond
the pale of God's love. There is given a promise (3:15) which assures
the coming of one, who would contend with the tempter and would
finally crush his head and repair the damage of the Fall. All of the
rest of the Bible unfolds the plan and work of God in fulfilling this
promise. There is beginning with Cain and Abel and running through the
entire scripture a record of the conflict caused by the enmity between
the seed of woman and that of her seducer. This conflict is to end
when Christ the "seed of the woman" shall return to reign and shall
cast his adversary into the bottomless pit. Along with this promise he
also provided for them garments of the skins of animals such as were