Early
on, by way of necessity, Adam probably took his helper suitable for him (Gn 2:18, NASB), Eve (a woman, Gn 2:22), and pointed
out to her the object of the one and only prohibition in the garden and
conveyed to her in no uncertain terms of the lethality of eating the forbidden
fruit thereof (cf. Gn 3:2-3). She may have concluded on her own,
“How
can you eat any fruit without touching it?”
So,
it is likely she may have rationalized,
“Given
the danger of eating this fruit, it is best not to even touch it because that
precedes the eating thereof!”
If
this is how she rationalized the additional human caveat to the divine
prohibition, then she was right about the obvious physical process of touch-eat
but wrong in expanding its lethality to “touching” the forbidden fruit. The
serpent jumped all over that when tempting Eve to violate the restriction by
God (cf. Gn 3:3, 4). Yeah, the serpent was right if it was referring to
touching the fruit, but a blatant lie if it was referring to eating the fruit. Surprise!
Surprise! Satan is the father of lies (cf. Jn 8:44), yes?
There
is a view that this forbidden fruit probably had no literal or chemical poisonous
properties. There is no doubt that it was there in the Garden as a matter of
testing the obedience of Adam and Eve; spiritually speaking, the deadly poison
was in the disobedience to the one and only prohibition. But if we make the
claim that the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not chemically
poisonous but only spiritually poisonous, can we say the same of the life-giving
potency of the
tree of life (cf.
Gn 3:22)?
I agree with the testing aspect as an explanation as to why the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was placed in the Garden by Yahweh in the first place, but this fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was toxic, spiritually as well as physically. We know the immediate consequence of Adam and Eve violating the prohibition, in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die [literally, dying to die], included spiritual death immediately upon transgression (Gn 3:7-8, 21) the very moment they ate of the forbidden fruit. But it also included physical death as well, but that was obviously not immediate, but the process of dying to die physically had begun.
It
is the same for us, yes? Once we are born, we are on a trip to the grave (cf. Heb
9:27). My father has been on that journey for 93 years now and my mother for
90. It would be much later before Adam and Eve physically separated from their
bodies. We know Adam lived to be 930 after the fall (Gn 5:5), but we have no
idea when Eve passed away into eternity. For the first human beings on planet
earth, physical death was a long-drawn-out process probably due in large
measure to Gn 1:28.
Again, spiritual separation was instantaneous, but also, in a sense, so was physical death; the moment sin entered the world the process of physically dying began, but the separation of the soul and spirit from the body would ultimately be realized in the future known only to God. All you have to do is read the genealogy of Adam in Genesis 5, and note the repetitive clause, and he died. What Yahweh warned Adam about and Adam warned Eve about came true. God always keeps His word, unlike the evil one who is a deceiver and a liar.
Before
looking at the process of Eve’s downfall, we have to look at the setting. I
have a different take on Gn 3:6 than most conservative interpreters, and
normally, that should present a red flag to the reader when I or anyone differs
from the conservative pack! Admittedly, this is a very rare thing that I do,
but hear me out before throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Red flags are a tool, not a guarantee of heresy!
Many
interpret v6 as a sequential event (Eve ate then Adam ate), but I see it as a
simultaneous event even though the translation is rather awkward and would lead
the reader to believe that Eve ate the forbidden fruit prior to Adam. For v7 to
happen simultaneously, v6 had to be a simultaneous event as well. I interpret Adam
and Eve eating the forbidden fruit at the same time, not at different times as
we are led to believe by the grammar in v6 and their eyes were opened at the
same time. It makes sense to me in light of the context; so I seek no other
sense.
I
also believe that the serpent approached Eve one-on-one without Adam being
present in Gn 3:1-5. This is based on the fact that Adam is not mentioned, and
the serpent asked the woman, not Adam, a question. In addition to that, I believe
that the serpent did not approach Eve at the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil.
The serpent showing up at the tree might come across as too aggressive to Eve and arouse suspicion of a questionable
motive! Of course, we know that the serpent had a shady motive! He was seducing Eve to
violate the prohibition contrary to the Creator’s imperative. We also know that the
serpent was very cunning (Gn 3:1a), yes? Cunning (Heb., arum) is the same Hebrew word in Prov 12:23 (translated prudent), cunning = prudent. So, the
cunning or prudent serpent asked Eve this infamous question,
Has
God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden (Gn 3:1b)?
Just
a couple of tidbits here on the serpent’s part before getting back to its question.
(1)
A third of the angelic host had already fallen with Lucifer as suggested by the
appearance of the serpent in an unfallen world (Gn 3:1). Their fall did not
impact creation; the fall of Adam and Eve did on an unfathomable scale (cf. Rom
8:20-23).
(2)
The serpent only refers to Yahweh Elohim (LORD God) as Elohim (God) three times.
On its part, it comes across as impersonal and detached and perhaps a hint of
envy on Satan’s part that Yahweh, the great I AM is the Most High. Compare Isa
14:14, I
will be like the Most High.
Satan
is forced to recognize Yahweh’s authority, but he hates it. We never read of Satan
nor his demons referring to the Almighty as Yahweh which speaks of a covenant
relationship. We know that Yahweh is the personal name of God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
(3)
The serpent is taking the initiative to solicit Eve in violating the one and
only prohibition in the Garden. He doesn’t have to do much walking about at
this time (cf. 1 Pet 5:8), yes?
Satan
and all of his demons have only two people in the world to get them to eat the
forbidden fruit. This is a tempting morsel that even Lucifer cannot pass up to
be personally involved in the scheme rather than relegate it to a lesser demon,
but that is not to say he hadn’t dispatched them for some unsavory purposes.
(4)
The serpent emphasizes the negative: You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? versus what Yahweh
actually told Adam, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but… The serpent draws
Eve’s attention to the very thing that is hazardous to her health without
mentioning it as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
(5)
The slithering serpent tells a half-truth by challenging what God has said (Gn
3:3) in Gn 3:4, You will not surely die. Nothing was said about dying from touching
the forbidden fruit in the prohibition. The serpent intentionally failed to
make that distinction, no astonishment there; it has an aversion to the truth, period!
(5)
Now the serpent is in a flat-out lying mode: For God knows that in the day you eat
of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and
evil (Gn
3:5) versus for
in the day that you eat of it [the tree of the knowledge of good and evil] you shall surely die (Gn 2:17, emphasis mine).
It avoided talking about death or separation. Satan is a misquoting,
half-quoting snake! The evil one passed that legacy down to the offspring of
Cain who treats Genesis 1-11 as allegorical rather than reality!
(6)
Mission accomplished. The serpent left Eve alone, physically speaking. The
scene changes in Gn 3:6 with Adam and Eve being at the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil. I believe Eve brought Adam back to the tree a short time later that day or the next day (exact
time unknown). In some respects, Adam and Eve are Satan’s first lab rats. His
solicitations to the sons and daughters of Adam to run contrary to the will of
God numbers into the billions and that thought does not even include the number
of solicitations to evil per person! Think about your own experiences with a
solicitation to evil to violate the will of God from the world, the flesh, the
devil?
So,
what was Eve’s reaction to the words of the serpent?
Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden (Gn 3:1)?
You will not surely die (Gn 3:4).
For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil (Gn 3:5).
To
be clear here, our enemy cannot make us do anything against our will any more
than he could Adam or Eve. He can make it very tempting showcasing an offer you
can’t refuse by appealing to the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes,
and the pride of life. Should we cave to our desires, just remember Paul’s
words to the Corinthians (1 Cor 10:13),
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it (cf. 1 Jn 1:9; 2:1).
Yahweh’s response to the fall of Adam and Eve (Gn 3:16-19) reveals there is no acceptable excuse. Her initial response to Gn 3:1-5 was to toe the line in accordance with the prohibition, but she walked away with a lot to think about; just what the seed planter wanted, hoping it will germinate and take on a life of its own! It did because of what we read in v6. <><
