What Does Genesis 24:67 Mean?

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. The triple evaluation that precedes the eating, good for food, pleasing to the eye, desirable for wisdom, is the creation's own vocabulary turned against the Creator's single command. The trees in the garden are "good for food and pleasing to the eye" (Genesis 2:9); the tree of knowledge is evaluated in exactly those terms and then one more: desirable for the wisdom it promises. Every criterion applied is a created good; the problem is not that the criteria are false but that they are applied to override a specific divine prohibition.

The giving of the fruit "also to her husband, who was with her" is the most revealing phrase in the account: the man was there. He was present throughout The serpent's speech and the woman's evaluation and took the fruit when offered. The silence of the man throughout the conversation, no recorded objection, no engagement with the serpent's distortion of the Word, no sign of the divine command, is the fall's other half. Paul in Romans 5:12 places the covenantal significance on Adam: "sin entered the world through one man." The man's passive reception of what the woman offered is the failure of the one who bore the primary responsibility for the word.

The opened eyes produce not wisdom but shame: "they realized they were naked." The promise of divinity that the serpent offered yielded only the awareness of vulnerability. The fig-leaf coverings are the human being's first self-protective response to the exposure that was formerly without shame. Jesus who bore shame without protection on the cross ("they crucified him, and divided his garments among them") is the reversal of the fig-leaf moment: the one who had no reason for shame took it openly so that those with every reason for shame could stand before God unashamed. The opened eyes at the fall find their healing in the opened eyes at the resurrection: "then their eyes were opened and they recognized him" (Luke 24:31).