Most readers of Genesis 3 come to the fall looking for an explanation of why bad things happen.

That is understandable. But it is not what the chapter is primarily doing.

Genesis 3 is a covenant lawsuit. The Great King had established a treaty with two vassal representatives in his garden-sanctuary. That treaty contained one stipulation—one prohibition among an abundance of permissions—and the stipulation was violated.

What follows in Genesis 3 is the Great King conducting the formal examination that every treaty breach requires: calling the parties, hearing their testimony, and pronouncing the covenant consequences. And then, before the consequences have finished echoing, the Great King does something that no ancient Near Eastern covenant document prepared anyone to expect.

He promises a deliverer.