The harmony of Paradise was broken: fear of God, blaming God and the woman, and blaming the serpent.

He said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” The LORD God then turned to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” And she blamed the serpent: “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” (Gen 3:7-13). But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ And he said, ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself’.” God asked, “Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man then had the nerve to blame both God and the woman. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. Our ancestors fell for Satan’s temptation to disobey God and the effects of the fall into sin were felt immediately in the loss of innocence and the breakdown of harmonious relationships. The serpent will later be identified as “that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world” (Rev 12:9). Living in Paradise (cosmos) our ancestors were tempted by the serpent to disobey God’s command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Chaos becomes evil with human rebellion against God. In fact, God called the “seas” and even the “great sea monsters” “good” (Gen 1:10, 21). This original chaos was not evil God created it.

These words will be used in later Scriptures either individually or in combination to refer to some form of chaos.

Genesis 1 adds two more words that refer to chaos: “ seas” (v 10) and “ great sea creatures/monsters” (v 21). And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” These five italicized words describe the primeval chaos. Genesis 1:2 backs up to the earliest stage in God’s creation of the earth: “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. Genesis 1:1 reads, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” that is, the cosmos: “The world or universe regarded as an orderly, harmonious system” (Webster). Genesis 1 uses seven words to describe the good chaos with which God began his creation. This article is part of the 10 Things You Should Know series.

Binding of isaac chaos