Genesis 3:17 And to Adam he said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying… The words do plainly show God's offence and displeasure upon occasion of Adam's miscarriage; and are in themselves partly declaratory and convictive, partly minatory and instructive. 1. They are declaratory and convictive. What! thou that art but dust, that so lately received thy being from God, not to listen to Him, but to follow thy own will, and rebel against the law of thy Sovereign? So they are declaratory and convictive. 2. They are minatory, and consequently instructive. For when God threatens, His meaning is, that we should repent, and turn to Him (Jeremiah 18:7). But to come to the words them. selves, "Dust thou art." Of this I shall give you an account in two particulars. 1. The meanness of it. For dust is a thing of little or no perfection, nor of any esteem, account, and value. Dust we are, every day sweeping away, as the refuse, as that of which there is no use. Dust, the ultimate term of all corruption and putrefaction. Dust — you cannot resolve a thing into anything of less entity and being. Yet all of man is not here to be understood, but only his worser part. 2. "Dust thou art," which respects the weakness of this bodily estate. For dust can make no resistance. It may offend us, but it is of itself so light and empty that it is scattered up and down of every wind, as it is said (Psalm 18:42). Who can defend himself against the arrow that flieth by day, or the pestilence that walketh in darkness, or the plague that destroyeth by noonday? Neither is this all, but we have a principle that tends to corruption and putrefaction within us. To which also let us add the violence that we are exposed to from abroad, either by the contagion of others or from the force and violence of those that can overpower us. For we are so weak, that if any man despise God and the laws, he may soon be master of our lives. For all that they can do is but to inflict punishment upon the transgressor. But that will make us no satisfaction nor restitution. When we are assaulted by any sickness, then we are sensible of this our weakness; and we cry out with Job, "What is my strength, the strength of a stone, or my flesh of brass" (Job 21:23). Though, when our bones are full of marrow, we put the thoughts of sickness far from us, yet so it often falleth out that "One dieth in his full strength, being in all ease and prosperity," as Job speaketh (Job 21:23). Furthermore, what are we when bodily pain approach? So weak and frail are we, that we are not able to hold up our heads; and. if to all this we shall have the sense of guilt upon our consciences, our condition will be intolerable.Now for application. 1. It is a ground of humility. If it be so, that "Dust we are, and unto dust we must return," it is fit that we know it so to be; and that upon three accounts. (1) That we be not proud and conceited. (2) That we do not trust to ourselves or any fellow creatures whatsoever. (3) That we may take the best course we can to make a supply. 2. It is matter of satisfaction to us to know that we are but dust; and that lies here, that God doth not look for much from us, but accordingly — not more than He did at first make us. He knows that we were finite and fallible; and therefore, as the Psalmist saith, God "considers our frame, He remembereth that we are dust" (Psalm 103:14), and makes allowance accordingly. 3. It is matter of great thankfulness to God that He doth so much consider such worms as we are; that He hath regard to us, that are but dust; and that He hath such patience with us, who are so inconsiderable, that He might bring us to repentance; and that He doth graciously accept from us any motion towards Him, or any good purpose, and that He is so ready to promote it. 4. This will give us an account of the folly and madness of those men who neglect themselves. We are dust. If there be not the remedy of culture and education to tame the wildness and exorbitancy of man, he will grow savage, wild, and ungovernable, unless the established government of reason shall be set up in his soul. Wherefore, let our great care and daily employment be to refine our spirits, by entertaining the principles of religion; and to inform our understandings, and to regulate our lives, by holding ourselves constantly to the measures of nature, reason, and religion. (B. Whichcote, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; |
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