The Crime

Genesis 3:10-13

10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

Adam had hid himself from God, which was unlike him. When God asked him how was it that he suddenly knew shame, Adam, like a 3 year old child, still reeling from innocense, blamed Eve.

This was his second mistake.

When King David sinned against God, he repented of his sin by taking responsibility for it and accepting the punishment like a man. This is why God said he was "a man after my heart". But, Adam was not such a man at this point.

And, neither was Eve. She blamed the serpent.

Did you notice that God did not ask the serpent about any of this? He knew that it was in the serpent's nature to do this. It did not prevent Him from being angry with the serpent for his role in all this, however. When we sin, God will settle for nothing less than repentence.

If Adam had said, "I ate the apple, please forgive me!", instead of, "It was all her fault!", he may have had a less severe punishment. It is the same with Eve. But, we will never know, because that is not the road that Adam took. We know this because when King David repented, God lessened his punishment, but he still had to also accept the consequences like a man, which he did.