February 29: Expulsion from the Garden
♫ Music:
Day 4 - Saturday, February 29
Lenten Lesson #4: EXPULSION FROM THE GARDEN
Scripture: Genesis 3:8-24
[Adam & Eve] heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” The Lord God said to the serpent,“Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life; and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” To the woman He said,
“I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you will bring forth children; yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you will eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face you will eat bread,till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—-therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
Poetry:
Ephemera
by William Butler Yeats
‘Your eyes that once were never weary of mine
Are bowed in sorrow under pendulous lids,
Because our love is waning.'
And then She:
‘Although our love is waning, let us stand
By the lone border of the lake once more,
Together in that hour of gentleness
When the poor tired child, passion, falls asleep.
How far away the stars seem, and how far
Is our first kiss, and ah, how old my heart!'
Pensive they paced along the faded leaves,
While slowly he whose hand held hers replied:
‘Passion has often worn our wandering hearts.'
The woods were round them, and the yellow leaves
Fell like faint meteors in the gloom, and once
A rabbit old and lame limped down the path;
Autumn was over him: and now they stood
On the lone border of the lake once more:
Turning, he saw that she had thrust dead leaves
Gathered in silence, dewy as her eyes,
In bosom and hair.
‘Ah, do not mourn,' he said,
‘That we are tired, for other loves await us;
Hate on and love through unrepining hours.
Before us lies eternity; our souls
Are love, and a continual farewell.'
EXPULSION FROM THE GARDEN
Imagine the world Adam and Eve inhabited.
A pristine ecosystem free of pollution and decay that God himself deems, “very good” (Gen. 1:30). The crowning creative act is to form two humans who reflect God’s image (Gen. 1:26). Adam and Eve experience a sense of interpersonal intimacy that is poetically described as “one flesh” (Gen. 2:24). This intimacy is not limited to each other, but also extends to their Creator. In the cool of the day, God metaphorically strolls through paradise to interact with all he has created—especially Adam and Eve.
However, in the narrative we learn that God has done a puzzling thing—he’s designated something strictly off limits to humans—the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. “If you eat of it you will surely die,” God asserts in an ominous tone. We read the tree was “good for food,” “pleasing to the eye,” and most importantly, “desirable for gaining wisdom” (Gen. 3:6). If the tree offered so much, why would God make it off limits? In Wendell Berry’s poem, “The Peace of Wild Things,” people live in a society that produces despair and anxiety. Berry’s remedy is to lie down in deep pinewoods and take in the beauty of nature—to observe how peacefully the Wood Drake lays on the water and how the trees and stars offer grace and freedom. In paradise, Adam and Eve live out what Berry suggests. The first couple was free of anxiety inhabiting an ecosystem that they were to not only care for, but enjoy. But not enjoy it fully. Why would God place this tempting restriction in the center of the garden and place above it a “Do not touch sign?” If the tree offered so much, why would God make it off limits? The serpent suggests that in eating the fruit, Eve’s eyes would be opened and she would be like God in her understanding of right and wrong (Gen. 3:4). Why would God not want Eve to have deeper moral understanding? Theologians note that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was only temporarily off limits to these first humans, a limitation that would be removed when they were developmentally ready for complex moral reasoning.
There are two misconceptions about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. First, eating of the tree would give Adam and Eve a god-like knowledge of both. Not so. The phrase knowledge of good and evil is a Near Eastern literary device that only suggests a deeper level of moral reasoning, not exhaustive knowledge. Second, we mistakenly assume the tree was permanently off limits. From God’s perspective, the issue was not should Adam and Eve gain deeper moral reasoning, but when. There is nothing wrong with the desire to cook over an open fire; it just isn’t for toddlers. The central question surrounding the forbidden tree was: Who was in the best position to judge if Adam and Eve were ready to handle this complex form of moral reasoning? Would the first humans submit to God’s timetable for deeper moral knowledge, or speed up the process?
Can you relate?
Have you ever wanted to speed up God’s schedule for you? Why do I have to wait to experience the good God has for me? God, can you hurry it up?
Lent is a time for us—like the first humans—to ask again, does God know better than us about human flourishing? Do we trust his timetable, not ours?
Prayer:
Father,
During this Lent season let us humbly and patiently wait on your good gifts. More importantly, let us submit to your timetable, which perfectly takes into account what most will add to our flourishing. Through the power of your Spirit, let us rebuff Satan’s attempt to usurp your timing and provision.
Amen
Tim Muehlhoff
Professor of Communications
Director of Resources at the Center for Marriage and Relationships
Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, poetry, and devotional writer selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
To learn more about the themes of this year’s Lent Project, please go to:
https://ccca.biola.edu/lent/2020/#day-feb-25
About the Art:
Expulsion from the Garden
Thomas Cole
Oil on canvas
100.96 cm × 138.43 cm
Museum of Fine Arts
Boston, Massachusetts
Thomas Cole’s Expulsion from the Garden of Eden along with his Garden of Eden (Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas) was first exhibited in 1828 at the National Academy of Design in New York, of which he had been a founding member. This rendering differs radically from traditional treatments of the subject from the past by situating the event in a vast, monumental landscape that dwarfs Adam and Eve as they are thrust out of Eden. By bisecting the painting, the difference between the paradise they were given and the hostile world outside is plain. Eden’s verdant green flooded with light and color stands in stark contrast with the ravaged and desolate landscape shrouded in murky darkness. At the bottom front, a lone wolf paces restlessly at the cliff’s edge, a foreboding symbol of ominous threat, while a pair of white swans glide peacefully in a still pool on the other side of the vast chasm that divides them. The exiled Adam and Eve scurry across a narrow land bridge, hands clasped, just out of reach of the blinding shafts of light coming from the doorway to Eden, making the consequences of their choice that much more poignant.
About the Artist:
Thomas Cole (1801–1848) was an American painter generally regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School, a 19th century landscape movement largely influenced by Romanticism. Born in England, Cole’s family immigrated to the US when he was 17. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and in 1826 he helped found the National Academy of Design in New York. As his portraits did not sell well, Cole turned to painting landscapes, which earned him the attention of many wealthy art patrons. Among Cole’s famous works are landscape scenes of the Hudson River Valley, as well as a number of allegorical works. Hudson River School paintings generally reflect three themes of 19th century America: discovery, exploration, and settlement. They also depict the idealized American landscape as a pastoral setting, where human beings and nature coexist peacefully. In general, Hudson River School artists believed that nature in the form of the American landscape was a reflection of God, though they varied in the depth of their religious convictions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cole
About the Music:
“I Will Be Your Home” from the album Beatitudes
The Lyrics:
Draw near to me
And I will show you how to mourn
To offer up your wounds like prayers
Come closer now
Come look your sorrow in the eyes
The kindness of your God is there
Your pain runs river wide
My love is wider
Mountains on every side
I will be higher than a mother
Safer than a place to hide
I will be more than just your shelter
I will be your home
The bullets fly
All over Eden tonight
And blood cries out from holy ground
Our treasure is buried in these fields
And life will find a way out
Wars rage on every side
Death will not rob you blind
Oh I will be your eyes
I will be higher than a mother
Safer than a place to hide
I will be more than just your shelter
I will be your home
I will be your home
I will be your home
About the Composers/Lyricists:
Audrey Assad and Stu Garrard
Audrey Assad (b.1983) is the daughter of a Syrian refugee, an author, speaker, producer, and critically lauded songwriter and musician. She creates music she calls “soundtracks of prayer” on the label Fortunate Fall Records, which she co-owns with her husband. Assad is also one half of the pop band LEVV, whose debut EP peaked at #17 on the iTunes Alternative chart. In 2014, Assad released an EP, Death, Be Not Proud, which reflected on her recent encounters with loss and suffering--including her husband’s journey through cancer and chemotherapy. In 2018, after several years of personal pain and trials, Assad recorded the album Evergreen, which stems from a season of renewed creativity. The album celebrates with new songs of rebirth, identity, the rebuilding of trust, and discovery of joy and love.
http://www.audreyassad.com/
Stu Garrard is a guitarist, songwriter, producer, and soon-to-be author. Stu is best known as the guitarist for the British band Delirious? who, for nearly two decades, penned many of the best known worship songs in modern Christendom. He was also a member of the distinguished Compassion Art songwriters collective, which also boasted heavy-hitters such as Paul Baloche, Darlene Zschech, Steven Curtis Chapman, and Israel Houghton. Garrard is currently a member of One Sonic Society, with Jason Ingram and Paul Mabury. When not touring with Michael W. Smith, Garrard is writing, recording, speaking, and leading worship. Garrard lives in Nashville, TN, with his wife Karen, and is writing his first book. He relates that, “People are my energy and inspiration. It’s in people that I see why creation was such a good idea.”
http://www.stugworld.com/about
About the Performers:
Audrey Assad, Stu Garrard and Hassan Al Zoubi
The album Beatitudes is a compilation of songs on the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes starting in Matthew 5. The album features an incredible list of collaborators including: Matt Maher, Audrey Assad, All Sons & Daughters, John Mark McMillan, Amanda Cook, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, and Hillsong UNITED, among others. These songs are great messages for us to celebrate that our freedom from sin is based on our faith in Christ Jesus. The album shines a spotlight on today's meek, especially those who are marginalized and displaced, including the millions of refugees fleeing war-torn areas like Syria. Stu Garrard is joined by the daughter of a Syrian refugee and singer-songwriter Audrey Assad, and Syrian refugee and tabla/oud player Hassan Al Zoubi on the song "I Will Be Your Home."
http://www.hallels.com/articles/17492/20170531/the-beatitudes-project-shines-spotlight-on-refugees.htm
About the Poet:
William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) is widely considered to be one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. Although he lived in London for 14 years of his childhood, Yeats maintained his Irish cultural roots and identity in many of his poems and plays. He is considered a Symbolist poet, using evocative imagery and symbolism to create timeless, abstract themes in his work. In December 1923, Yeats was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation." His most important collections of poetry are The Green Helmet (1910), Responsibilities (1914), The Tower (1928), The Winding Stair (1933), and New Poems (1938).
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-butler-yeats
About the Devotion Writer:
Tim Muehlhoff
Professor of Communication
Director of Resources at the Center for Marriage and Relationships
Biola University
Tim Muehlhoff is a professor of communication at Biola University and the Director of Resources at Biola’s Center for Marriage and Relationships. In addition, he is the co-host of the podcast, The Art of Relationships and an author whose newest release is Defending Your Marriage: The Reality of Spiritual Battle (IVP) which explores how Satan wants to tempt all of our relationship.
To read a sample chapter see: timmuehlhoff.com