Evil רַע

In Genesis chapter three we find our word for today is רַע evil, distress, injury, calamity. It is used 347 times in the Hebrew Bible our Old Testament. This is the contrast to our earlier word טוֹב good that we saw back in chapter two it is also in this chapter used alongside רַע evil. In this chapter we see the serpent lie and lead Adam and Eve to sin against God. What is interesting is that the devil, as we find out later from the book of Revelation is the serpent of Old, never uses the relational name for God LORD, or YHWH but instead the more impersonal one for emphasis to make his plan to cast doubt on God’s care for Adam and Eve more effective. With this sin come consequences for every part of creation that God made. One is that the over-the-top very good creation is now broken and corrupted and the ultimate end of death. So before chapter three, we have God saying that his creation is very good now evil has entered His flawless creation and corrupted it. But in the middle of this backstabbing from God’s creation, we see a loving God who already has a plan to save us from our sins. We see the prediction in verse 15 referred to in the New Testament and applied specifically to what Jesus has done for us on the cross. We see in Romans 16:20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan underneath your feet.Also, the relational name God refers to himself continues to be used 8 times in this chapter. So even while God communicates the consequences of our sin to us and the future way, he will save us he never stops referring to himself with the relational, intimate, personal name because that is the kind of God he is. He loves us and wants us to be close to him. This is to me is amazing that even though our sinful actions changed everything in this life from being very good to corrupt God’s love for us did not change. God specializes in taking רַע evil and bringing טוֹב good out of it. That’s our God full of grace, mercy, and love.