Oil on Canvas 200cmx150cm, 2017
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ADAM AND EVEGod banishes Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden for “He (Adam) should not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.” Thus, Adam and Eve went from perfect peace, walking in God’s presence every day in the Garden, into the state of Fallen Man.
Modderman’s painting shows a rebellious and proud Adam, challenging God’s judgment and punishment. Eve, fully aware of her disobedience repents, looking down in sorrow and disbelief. In Adam’s vertical posture and Eve’s horizontal position over him, Modderman is foreshadowing the need of the Cross of Redemption. |
The Story behind the Painting
Genesis 3
God told Adam that he was free to eat from any tree in the Garden with the exception of the tree of “the knowledge of good and evil”. “For when you eat of it you will surely die.” Satan enters the scene in Genesis 3. He twists God’s instruction to Adam by posing the opposite question: "Did God really say that you must not eat from any tree in the garden?” He insinuated a falsehood, trying to deceive Eve to doubt God’s word. Eve corrects Satan by repeating what God had instructed and she adds "and you must not touch the fruit.” Satan omits part of God’s instructions whereas Eve adds to God’s instructions.
Now that both Satan and Eve have distorted God’s instructions, Satan continues distorting God’s directive by making false statements. “You will not surely die, (a blatant denial of God’s pronouncement) for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened (now they would see their shame and lose their innocence) and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Their consciences made them aware of evil, evidenced by being afraid and hiding from God’s presence.
Adam accuses both God and Eve (“the woman you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate”). Through Adam’s disobedience the ground was cursed; “through painful toil you will eat of it”….“it will produce thorns and thistles”…. “you will return to the ground, for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
Genesis 3
God told Adam that he was free to eat from any tree in the Garden with the exception of the tree of “the knowledge of good and evil”. “For when you eat of it you will surely die.” Satan enters the scene in Genesis 3. He twists God’s instruction to Adam by posing the opposite question: "Did God really say that you must not eat from any tree in the garden?” He insinuated a falsehood, trying to deceive Eve to doubt God’s word. Eve corrects Satan by repeating what God had instructed and she adds "and you must not touch the fruit.” Satan omits part of God’s instructions whereas Eve adds to God’s instructions.
Now that both Satan and Eve have distorted God’s instructions, Satan continues distorting God’s directive by making false statements. “You will not surely die, (a blatant denial of God’s pronouncement) for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened (now they would see their shame and lose their innocence) and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Their consciences made them aware of evil, evidenced by being afraid and hiding from God’s presence.
Adam accuses both God and Eve (“the woman you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate”). Through Adam’s disobedience the ground was cursed; “through painful toil you will eat of it”….“it will produce thorns and thistles”…. “you will return to the ground, for dust you are and to dust you will return.”