Rebellion Manifested

Suppose for a moment that you had a tenant living on a property that you owned and that you had a set of conditions under which you would allow him or her to continue to live there. Then suppose that your tenant ignored you. You might well imagine that you would want to remove that tenant and get a better one.

Years ago, when we lived in New York, we new an old woman from Barbados. She did not have the kind of education that gave her many choices of occupations and when she was not involved in church work, she did house cleaning for people of greater means. But she was very prudent with her money and she finally saved enough money to buy a rental property with three or four tenants, the income from which she hoped to retire.

Her problem was the renters on the top floor, which she inherited from the previous owner. They caused so much damage, that she did not get enough money from the other renters to cover the costs. She tried to get rid of them, but they had been in the apartment for so many years that the law protected them from easy eviction. In the end, it proved impossible and she had to continue cleaning homes because of the violence of her tenant.

Well, our two tenants of the garden were like that tenant. How do we know?

Suppose that you came to my home, and in my estimation you had misbehaved, if I asked you to leave, what might you do? Either you could leave voluntarily or I would have to take some action to get you to leave, either on my own or by calling the police. But I would have little reason or justification to use force or assistance if you were willing to leave voluntarily.

But Genesis says that God drove them out - they were unwilling to leave, not surprising in view of their prospects and the safety they had known in the garden. And it was not enough just to drive them out, for God saw fit to place an angel at the entrance to keep them out.

They were now outside the garden in a scary new world, separated from the health that comes from fellowship with God.

Next: Why He drove them out.