Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 3:8

"And they heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah God amongst the trees of the garden." — Genesis 3:8 (ASV)

And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden. —The matter-of-fact school of commentators understand this to mean that there was a thunderstorm, and the guilty pair, hearing for the first time the uproar of nature, hid themselves in terror and interpreted the mighty peals as meaning their condemnation.

Indeed, this is in admirable keeping with the whole narrative. Jehovah appears here as the owner of Paradise, taking His daily exercise in it; for the verb is in the reflexive conjugation, and means “walking for pleasure.”

The time is “the cool (literally, the wind) of the day”—the hour in a hot climate when the evening breeze sets in, and people, rising from their noontide slumber, go out for labor or recreation.

In this description, the primary lesson is that until then man had lived in close communication with God. His intellect was undeveloped, and his mental powers still slumbered. Nevertheless, there was a deep spiritual sympathy between him and his Maker. This is the nobler side of Adam’s relationship to God before the fall.

Hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God. —This does not imply a visible appearance, for the whole narrative is anthropomorphic. The Fathers, however, saw in these descriptions proof of a previous incarnation of the Divine Son (see Note on Genesis 12:7).

Next, we find in their conduct an attempt to escape from the further result of sin. The first result was shame, from which man attempted to free himself by covering his person. The second was fear, and man sought to cure this by departing still further from God.

But the voice of Jehovah reaches him and, with rebuke and punishment, also gives healing and hope.