“And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” (Genesis 3:11, KJV).

Adam was under pressure and highly vulnerable when he voiced these words. Yet, they forever echoed in humanity and cannot be taken back. Unfortunately, these were his final words to God as we know them and his last words to his Woman. In the following chapter four, Eve and the children were recorded speaking but not Adam. 

This scene at the tree is the one instance when two people are talking with God that I know of in the bible. There are instances when an individual speaks to God, like Moses (Exodus 33:11) or Abraham (Genesis 18:22), but not a third person present.

I can only imagine Adam's pressure, as those words sounded careless and defensive. He had already admitted that he was naked and afraid (Genesis 3:10). God demanding accountability from Adam at that moment broke him, and he deflected. 

He felt afraid before; now, he might feel exposed and cowardly. In a moment of panic, everything fell apart for him. I’ve always wondered if Adam regretted his words and wished he could take them back. Or wished he would have crushed the serpent between the eyes and not let it heckle his Woman. Did he ever recognize his sin or dwell on hers?

Did he continue his narrative that he had no choice as she gave him the fruit? Continuing the blame and focusing on her sin instead, like the teachers of religious law and Pharisees, who brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus to see what He would do (John 8:4). I’ve always wondered why her lover was never dragged to the scene. Was he hidden in the crowd as a bystander? Maybe he’s the minister that was sent to her for confession, like the minister in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn. 

Jesus doesn’t condemn women but teaches them with his words. He had always pointed her toward the Water of Life (John 4:14) and His Words (Luke 10:42). 

One can interpret that Adam sees a flaw in the woman God made to be with him (Genesis 2:22). I see too many women injecting foreign things into their faces and bodies from a perceived flaw. This broken narrative carries into our world as women reconcile with the Sons of Adam, who denied and cursed her. They don’t want her, only what she can offer. He lives with continuous turmoil of wanting his woman yet condemning her for his failures.

"Make me a different one!” I can hear Adam say those words. To God, Adam cursed His generosity. Unable to admit to his failure, he disrespected the God that gave him everything he Had. He displayed his childishness and his inadequacies of the responsibilities bestowed upon him. 

This narrative reminds me of the parable of the Three Servants in Matthew 25:24-25, “Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.” This servant was sent to utter darkness because of his laziness and wickedness.

The servant's heart is ungrateful for the gift he was given, and the privilege of what was entrusted to him parallels Adam’s narrative. God doesn’t respond well to a heart that curses Him, and wickedness stems from poisonous seeds of ungratefulness and entitlement. God’s response will be, “And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 24:30).

Adam’s statement was a statement of fact. There’s no fault found there. It does reveal his immaturity and his lack of capability to comprehend the fullness of the situation. The serpent’s statement to the Woman at the beginning of the chapter was not false either. Its’ desire was to deceive, while Adam’s desired to deflect the situation onto his Woman.

Image: Kandinsky, Wassily. Impression VI (Sunday). 1911