Hucksters have a way of promoting themselves or their products and convincing people to buy in. They promise, but they never deliver. They walk away with all the profits, and their victims bear the cost.
Satan came to Eve in the Garden and convinced her to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—the one tree God told them to avoid. She saw it was good for food, delightful to look at, and desirable for obtaining wisdom (3:6). What she didn’t stop to consider was: all the fruit in the Garden was good for food, all the fruit was delightful to look at, and she already knew good and evil because God had told them what to eat and what to avoid. Satan convinced her she was lacking when she wasn’t.
Eve convinced Adam, and they both paid the price. They realized they were vulnerable, and they now feared Yahweh rather than welcoming His presence with them. Their disobedience cost them more than they ever imagined. In grace and mercy, God banned them from the Garden so they would not eat of the tree of life and live forever separated from Him. He was going to make a way to destroy the power of sin and rescue His people.
Genesis demonstrates that sin is always crouching at the door (4:7b), looking to rule over and destroy its victims. Sin promises abundance but, instead, brings a curse on the good things God planned for each person (3:16-17 4:11). Praise God for grace and mercy that overcome sin.
