Emmaus Road Fellowship

Genesis 3:8 says, “They heard the sound of the Lord God walking about in the garden in the evening, and both Adam and his wife hid from the face of the Lord God in the middle of the tree of the garden.”

That would suggest that God was in the habit of walking with Adam in the garden. Is that reading into the text? Possibly, but consider this. The text suggests that Adam and Eve hid from God because of the guilt of their sin. Adam’s answer to God for why he was hiding was because they were naked and ashamed. Adam said that he heard God walking in the garden. If that hadn’t happened before, then how would Adam recognize that sound?

Or look at it this way, if God were not in the habit of walking with Adam in the garden, then wouldn’t it make more sense that Adam and Eve were hiding because they didn’t know who else would be in the garden? Why would Adam say they hid because of the shame of their nakedness since they had already covered themselves? And why be ashamed in front of a stranger? No, the One they were hiding from was one they were familiar with walking in the garden.

God communicated many things to Adam. He could have done it audibly from the heavens, or He could have spent time with Adam in the garden. The reasoning for this conclusion may make more sense in the next post on Cain and Abel.