And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day…
Genesis NKJ
The cool of the day was around four o’clock in the evening. It is the time when the evening breeze begins to stir. The Hebrew word translated cool in this verse is ruwach. Elsewhere in Scripture, this same word is translated breath, wind, breeze, spirit, and Holy Spirit.
God is a spirit. When the afternoon breeze began to stir in the Garden of Eden, God as a spirit came to Adam and Eve in the wind. Although it is not stated that this was a daily occurrence, most Bible scholars consulted seemed to feel that this was the case.
David Kimchi, a Jewish scholar living in Spain in the 12 century, wrote that Adam and Eve sinned around the four o’clock time. Satan’s strategy was to tempt Adam and Eve into disobedience, thereby creating a sin barrier between them and God.
Matthew-Henry, an 18th century scholar writes: “There is an evangelic not to this passage. God know they had sinned, but it did not keep Him from coming to meet them. Even though they had failed, miserably, He still came looking for them. He remained faithful to being “Good.” Our failures reveal His “Fail-fulness.” His compassion for them effected a reconciliation and the promise of the coming Messiah.
To this very day every human being still longs for the breeze, the wind, the Holy Presence of God to come to them. To those of us who believe in Christ we have received His eternal, never leaving presence into our lives and we know the comfort of His embrace.
As the breeze, wind blows around my deck this morning I am overwhelmed by the fact that He continues to come to me. In spite of human failure, His divine faithfulness covers me with His Present Grace.
