The Voice

They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.  Genesis 3:8  NASB

The sound – You’ll remember Avivah Kushner’s brilliant exegesis of this unusual verse (CLICK HERE).  She points out that this particular verbal construction describes not physical walking but a walking voice, that is, a sound that comes from all directions at the same time.  Adam isn’t trapped because God spies him hiding.  Adam is trapped because no matter which way he tries to flee, he encounters God’s voice.

This imagery suggests more than an ancient story about the results of the first sin.  It has compelling application for every one of us.  Our encounter with God begins with the sense of being overwhelmed.  That can become a moment of grace or a moment of condemnation.

“There are moments in which we feel the challenge of a power that, not born of our will nor installed by it, robs us of independence by its judgment of the rectitude or depravity of our actions, by its gnawing at our heart when we offend against its injunctions.  It is as if there were no privacy within ourselves, no possibility of either retreat or escape, no place in us in which to bury the remains of our guilt feelings.  There is a voice that reaches everywhere, knowing no mercy, digging in the burial places of charitable forgiveness.”[1]

Have you heard that voice, the sound coming from every direction at once, merciless, unremitting, incessant?  Have you been trapped despite your efforts to hide, to entomb those reminders of failure, defeat, disappointment?  “To die, to sleep – to sleep, perchance to dream – ay, there’s the rub, for in this sleep of death what dreams may come…”[2] There is no escape.

Heschel’s remark is followed by an insight into Adam’s failure and our test.

“This is the test of character—not whether a man follows the daily fashion, but whether the past is alive in his present.”[3]

Think about Heschel’s insight.  Is Adam’s past alive in your present?  Are you still hiding, twisting this way and that trying to escape the voice?  Or have you discovered God’s willingness to cover you?  Is your story stuck behind the leaves or has it moved forward?  Either way the past must be dealt with.  It’s not sufficient to simply follow the religious routine no matter how observant that happens to be.  If Adam is living in you today, you have a long way to go.  If you’ve discovered Abraham’s surprise deep inside your consciousness, you might have arrived.

Topical Index: voice, walking, Adam, Abraham, character, Genesis 3:8

[1] Abraham Heschel, Man Is Not Alone, pp. 145-146.

[2] Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1

[3] Op. cit, p. 162.