Genesis 3

Notes on the verses

Ver. 21. To the idea of sacrifice being now instituted, it has been objected, that but two animals of a species had been created, and there had been no time for their increase. For the former assertion, however, we know of no authority, nor of any reason why every species should spring from a single pair, as in the case of mankind. God hath made of “one blood all nations.” Adam was the covenant head of his posterity; but nothing of this kind is said of animals, of whom, probably, at least as many were created as entered Noah’s ark. See (Genesis 7:2). Ver. 22. Lest he…. take of the tree of life, and live for ever — Another question arises here; had the tree such a property in the state of innocence? Though man might, in a certain sense, be created naturally immortal, yet from the very nature of matter, the body might be subject to accidents; as in the use, for instance, of sharp instruments, in pruning, &c.

Now this circumstance seems alluded to by Ezekiel, in speaking of this tree in the future paradise. He says, “the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.” And so St. John, “The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” (Ezekiel 47:12). (Revelation 22:2). It is hinted, that the serpent might have suggested this. On looking into Lord Byron’s “Cain,” we find he makes him suggest this to Adam, to whom he blasphemously says, “And wherefore pluck’d ye not the tree of life? Ye might have then defied him.” Of this history of paradise, and of the fall, there are a variety of traces in the oriental writers, who preserve a tradition of many of the circumstances. See S. Burder’s Oriental Customs, and Oriental Literature.