Eve, the garments of skin, and the guarded way (Genesis 3:20–24)
Says The man calls his wife's name חַוָּה, which sounds like חָי, living. The reason given uses a perfect verb; the BSB has she would be the mother of all the living (3:20). The Lord God makes כָּתְנוֹת עוֹר, garments of skin, and clothes them. He says the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; the sentence breaks off, marked in the BSB by an ellipsis (3:22). He sends the man out to work the ground, the verb of 2:15, and drives him out. He causes the cherubim to dwell מִקֶּדֶם, east of the garden, with the flame of the whirling sword, to guard the way to the tree of life. See the Hebrew note and the variant note.
Uncertain What the naming, the garments and the expulsion show is treated in the Hebrew note: hope, rule, or an explanation of the name; provision and covering, or a first sacrifice; judgment, or mercy that prevents life without end in sin. Keil reads the naming as faith in the promise, the garments as mercy, and the expulsion as “a punishment inflicted for man’s good”; Irenaeus says God removed the man from the tree of life in pity. The cherubim and the east-facing entrance recall the tabernacle and the temple; whether the garden is pictured as a sanctuary is open, as in the notes on Genesis 2. No lean is taken here, and no typology is drawn. Early readings are gathered in the historical note.
Claims
- SaysThe man calls his wife's name Chavvah, which sounds like living; the BSB has she would be the mother of all the living. The Lord God makes garments of skin and clothes them; he says the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil, and the sentence breaks off; he sends the man out to work the ground and stations cherubim east of the garden to guard the way to the tree of life.
- UncertainWhat the naming, the garments and the expulsion show, and whether the garden is pictured as a sanctuary, are treated in the Hebrew note; Keil reads the naming as faith in the promise, the garments as mercy, and the expulsion as a punishment for man's good, and Irenaeus sees pity in the expulsion. No lean is taken here, and no typology is drawn. Early readings are gathered in the historical note.
Citations
- BSB public domain Gen 3:1–24
- OSHB CC BY 4.0 Gen 3:1–24 (WLC/OSHB), cantillation removed
- LXX (Swete) CC BY-SA 4.0 Gen 3:1–24, vol. 1, pp. 4–6 (oldtestamentingr01swetuoft, viewer leaves n35–n37); Swete numbers ENG 2:25 as 3:1a and ENG 3:1 as 3:1b; read on the page images
- Keil–Delitzsch, Pentateuch 1 public domain Keil, Pentateuch vol. 1 (Clark, Martin trans., 1868), on Gen 3:20–24, pp. 106–107 (n109–n110); read on the page images; “a punishment inflicted for man’s good” quoted, otherwise paraphrased
- Irenaeus public domain Haer. 3.23.6, p. 457 (n474) (ANF 1; CCEL anf01.ix.iv.xxiv); read on the page image; paraphrased
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2026-11-10
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