And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him,
Where are you?
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Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
What then does he mean by “Adam, where art thou?” Does he not mean “in what circumstance” are you; not, “in what place?” It is therefore not a question but a reproof. From what condition of goodness, beatitude and grace, he means to say, have you fallen into this state of misery? You have forsaken eternal life. You have entombed yourself in the ways of sin and death.
Insofar as a rebellion of the flesh against the rebellious soul prompted our parents to cover their shame, they experienced one kind of death—God’s desertion of the soul. It was this death that was intimated when God asked Adam, who was beside himself with fear and in hiding, “Where are you?” This was not asked, of course, because God did not know the answer. Rather, it was asked in order to scold Adam by reminding him that there really was nowhere that he could be, once God was not in him.
“Where are you, Adam?” Are you trapped in the imagined godlikeness that the serpent falsely promised you? Or are you prepared for the death that I, the Lord, decreed for you? Would that you had considered the fruits! Suppose, Adam, that instead of a serpent who might be the most despicable creature of all, an angel or a god had come to you? Would you have despised the commandment of him who gave you all these things, heeding instead the counsel of one who had not yet done you any good? Would you then have considered evil the very One who formed you out of nothing? Would you despise the One who made you a second god over creation? Would you dare instead to consider good the very fallen one who gave you only a verbal promise of some good? If another god were to come to you in power, should you not have rejected his advice? How much more then in the case of a serpent who came to you with no power, with no wondrous deeds but with only the empty word that it spoke to you? Commentary on Gene...
Where. In what state have thy sins placed thee, that thou shouldst flee from thy God? (St. Ambrose, C. 14) Some think it was the Son of God who appeared on this occasion, St. Augustine; or an Angel. (Calmet)
From the very enquiry it behooves us to marvel at God's surpassing love, not so much that he called him, but that he personally called him something human beings would never stoop to in the case of their fellows who share the same nature with themselves. I mean, you know that when they take their seat on the lofty tribunal and do justice to those guilty of felonies, they don't consider the accused worthy of having a reply made in their own person; consequently, they let them see how much disrepute they have incurred through committing these crimes. While the judge makes his response somebody else stands up and relays the words of the judge to the accused, and in turn reports his words to the judge. Such you would see to be the practice of judges the world over. With God, however, this is not the case. Instead? He calls personally: "The Lord God called Adam," the text says, "and said to him, 'Adam, where are you?'"
See how much force lies concealed in this brief expression. You see, th...
You see, since he was not unaware of the truth when he asked them but rather knew, and knew very well, he shows consideration for their limitations so as to demonstrate his own loving kindness, and he invites them to make admission of their faults.
God calls out to Adam, Genesis 3:9, 11 Where are you? as if ignorant where he was; and when he alleged that the shame of his nakedness was the cause (of his hiding himself), He inquired whether he had eaten of the tree, as if He were in doubt. By no means; God was neither uncertain about the commission of the sin, nor ignorant of Adam's whereabouts. It was certainly proper to summon the offender, who was concealing himself from the consciousness of his sin, and to bring him forth into the presence of his Lord, not merely by the calling out of his name, but with a home-thrust blow at the sin which he had at that moment committed. For the question ought not to be read in a merely interrogative tone, Where are you, Adam? but with an impressive and earnest voice, and with an air of imputation, Oh, Adam, where are you?—as much as to intimate: you are no longer here, you are in perdition—so that the voice is the utterance of One who is at once rebuking and sorrowing. God put the question wit...
