Genesis 1-3

Why does the ESV Study Bible indent some verses? For example, Genesis 1:27; 2:4; 2:23; 3:14-19  are all indented. They do not all do so because they begin a new pericope. Why then these typographical considerations? I don’t see anything in the preforatory material or in the study notes.

Another ESV-SB question: There are some study notes in green, shaded boxes I understand that some of the shaded boxes introduce a section. However, not all do so. Some (e.g.: Gen 2:4-4:26 study note) are simply shaded to let you know this conforms to the ESV-SB outline printed before each book. This is not helpful; it is distracting. Why highlight (i.e.: shade) something so trivial? Your eye goes right to something that really isn’t very important. This in itself may seem trivial but readability is important. These shaded boxes are annoying. It’s like they’ve riddled the study notes with exclamation points.

On to the text itself… I like how the story changes from God telling Adam not to eat of the tree of good and evil or he will die. When the serpent asks Eve (ironically, the mother of the living) what the threat was, she says it is a tree in the midst of the garden that they shouldn’t eat. Not only that; they shouldn’t touch the tree either or they would die. It’s God whispered something in an elementary-aged child’s ear, who then whispered it into the next kid’s ear, and then next child until the message had gone all the way around the room and morphed into something altogether different.

If that wasn’t enough, the serpent whispers back: It’s all a lie; you won’t die. And the mother of all living believed and we all died because of sin (Rom 8:10). Chop down the tree of life and make it into a casket.