Review of Chapter 3
- We learned that the word
serpent
should be translated asshining one
in the context of the verses. - We learned that the word
crafty
should be translated assneaky or scheming
in the context of the verses. - We learned that the
shining one
deliberately misquoted God in an attempt to mislead Adam and Eve. - We learned that Adam had put a fence around God’s command by adding the phrase neither shall you touch it regarding the forbidden fruit.
- We learned that (according to Jesus in John 8:44) the devil is not capable of telling the truth. He cannot even mix any truth into a lie, because there is no truth in him at all. He cannot even speak the truth with evil intentions. He can only lie.
- Keep in mind that the word die used in God’s command meant immediate physical death. If Adam ate the forbidden fruit, God would execute him.
Today, we will learn the consequences of placing a fence
around God’s word. Understanding fences
is a lesson that Christians today still need to know. It must have seemed like a good idea to Adam, and it still seems like a good idea to us today. I wonder if the devil looks at us and thinks to himself, Stupid humans, they never learn.
Genesis 3:4-6
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die,
5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that Eve is the only one whom the devil tempted. In all actuality, the devil tempted Adam as well. The devil was cleverly filtering the temptation through Eve, but it was directed straight at Adam. It was Adam who received God’s command, not Eve. It was Adam who fulfilled the roles of king and priest. Adam, as king, represented the entire human race that God created on the sixth day. If Adam continues to worship and obey God, so will all of humanity. If Adam should stop worshiping and obeying God, so will all of humanity. If the devil could get Adam to fall from grace, so would all of humanity. So keep in mind that while Eve is a target, she is not the target. The devil’s goal was to destroy Adam. If Eve got destroyed in the process, well, that was just bonus points.
I agree with Jesus that the devil is incapable of telling the truth. It is stunning how many theologians disagree with Jesus and treat the devil’s words in these verses as truth.
I could take up a lot of space with quotes from various theologians, but I don’t want to bore you. Please understand that in these lessons, I will treat everything the devil says as a lie.
Genesis 3:4
But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die,
The word serpent (Strong’s H5175 Hebrew word nachash) which can be translated 3 different ways depending upon the context of the sentence:
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 11:14 that Satan can masquerade or disguise himself as an angel of light. It makes sense to me that Adam and Eve were talking to Satan who had disguised himself as an angel of light. Disguising himself as a snake makes no sense. In my opinion, Adam and Eve would have fled in terror from a talking snake (with no vocal cords, they can only hiss). The International Standard Version translates nachash as shining one
in that version.4
The word woman (Strong’s H802) means woman, female, wife.
5 The context of these verses would allow us to translate this word as wife.
Now we come to the next lie6 , you will not surely die. In other words: you will not be physically executed.
As a reminder, in Genesis 2:17 God told Adam that if he ate the forbidden fruit, you shall surely die.
(lesson 14) God specifically stated that he would indeed be physically executed if he ate the forbidden fruit. The devil’s message: God lied; you won’t be physically executed.
In this simple phrase, the devil is calling God a liar. The devil’s best-case scenario was that if Adam sinned, God would execute him. The worst-case scenario was that God didn’t mean what he said (you shall surely die.
), which would be a win for the devil. God said physical execution
but if that’s not what he meant, the devil can still call God a liar. Do you see how easy it is for the devil to twist God’s words? Psst, he’s still doing it. Either way, the devil wins.
Adam now had a dilemma. Who does he believe, God, or the shining one?
The shining one had him scratching his head in doubt. At this point in time, Adam could have called on God to clarify the questions in his mind. I have no doubt that if Adam had called out, God would have immediately shown up. Unfortunately, that’s not what happened.
Genesis 3:5
For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
For God knows. How does the devil know what God knows? Does he? Think about that for a moment; does the devil really know what God knows? Keep in mind that everything the devil says is a lie. If the devil is telling you what God knows, it is a lie. Verse 5 is lie.
The word eyes (Strong’s H5869) means to see
and by extension, to understanding and obedience.7 In the context of this verse, the word would be better translated as understand.
The word opened (Strong’s H6491) means to open,
but specifically in the sense of to open the eyes (Genesis 3:5, Job 14:3) or ears (Isaiah 42:20): it describes a physical or mental ability to see or hear.8 It is also used in sense of being able to observe something. Figuratively, it refers to one’s eyes being opened to wisdom, understanding and reality.9
The phrase like God (like elohim) could probably more usefully translated like gods.
10 Note that the devil refuses to use the personal name of God. The devil never uses YHWH Elohim, but only uses the common noun, elohim. The common noun elohim can be used to refer to God, gods, or men who are in positions of leadership.
The word knowing (Strong’s H3045) means to perceive, to know,
but it is gained by the senses.11 It carries not only mental but an emotional perspective. In the Old Testament, knowing was more by the heart than by the mind, and that knowing comes not by mere observation, or reading about it in a book, but by active and intentional engagement through experience. Knowing involves understanding. Understanding involves doing. (This is why homework is effective.) Knowing involves knowledge gained through experience. God did not want humanity to experience evil.
The word good (Strong’s H2896) is a fairly generic word. It always speaks of something that is pleasant, beautiful, pleasing, nice, positive, best, bountiful, harmony, agreeable, etc.12 Anything that is good, must be in harmony with God, must conform to his nature and character. The ultimate standard of what is good, or what good is, is God himself, because he is good (Psalm 100:5; 106:1; 107:1; Luke 18:19). There is no higher standard of good than God’s own character and his approval of whatever is consistent with that character.13
The word evil (Strong’s H7451) means to be displeasing, bad quality, disagreeable, vicious, and harmful.
14 It is often thought of as the opposite of good. However, is not exactly the opposite of good, rather it is more of an absence of good, or anything that is not in harmony with God or goes against his nature and character.
Since Adam was made in the image of God, then he already knew what good was by God’s own definitions and standards. At this point in the story, Adam has only known, and experienced good
because everything in the garden is good.
Adam, at this point in the story, has not known or experienced evil. It’s not that Adam doesn’t know good (or what good is), because he does. What he doesn’t know is good and evil (emphasis on the word and). He had not yet internalized evil and made it part of his character. He knows the stove is hot, but, so far, he hasn’t touched it. He can see Eve reaching toward the hot stove but has made no move to stop her. All he had to do was push her hand away and say “God said no, and that means no.”
Everything the devil said in that sentence is a lie. Their understanding will not be enlightened. The devil knows that they are better off without this knowledge and without this wisdom.
There is no way a human can be like God. Sure enough, that did not happen. The exact opposite happened. Adam’s sin removed him from the relationship he had with God and pushed him about as far away as it could.
Everything the devil says is a lie. Please keep this in mind when reading these verses where the devil is talking. Ask yourself the questions: What is the devil saying? What is the lie? What is God’s truth in comparison to the lie the devil said? Also keep in mind that it is not possible for the devil to tell any truth at all (not even a half truth
). Also keep in mind that the devil will omit the truth in order to keep you blind.
Genesis 3:6
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Apparently, up to this point in time, Adam and Eve had not even thought about eating the forbidden fruit as food. It had always been off limits. Besides, there was plenty to eat in the garden and they lacked for nothing. The devil had to get them to look at what they had previously ignored.
The word saw (Strong’s H7200) implies more than just seeing with the eyes. It also means to perceive (to become aware of something through sight, sound, taste, touch, or smell, i.e. the senses).15 For the 1st time, Adam and Eve realized that the forbidden fruit looked good, smelled good, and might just taste really good as well. The tree that (up to then) had been off limits, was suddenly not quite so off limits
The word delight (Strong’s H2530) means to desire, to delight in, to passionately want.
16 In the Old Testament this word is often translated as covet.
The word usually carries with it the connotation of wanting to possess the desired thing or person.17 The word entails desiring something that we don’t possess but want to possess but that we should not possess. The point of the verse is not that the fruit was pretty to look at, but that Eve coveted, wanted to have, the fruit. She wanted what she wasn’t supposed to have. The root of coveting involves the emotions. It is a desire to attain that which we do not have, and perhaps, should not have. Desire itself is not necessarily good or evil, it is what we desire and why we desire it that makes the difference. For example, when we desire God, that is a good thing. When we desire what God forbids, that is a bad thing.
The word desired (Strong’s H2530) is the same word as delight
used earlier in this verse which means to covet.
This is telling us that Eve coveted the wisdom
that she didn’t possess but wanted to possess but that she should not possess.
The word wise (Strong’s H7919) means, wisdom, to prosper, to understand, to have success, to act with insight.
18 In a Biblical sense there is much more to wisdom than as defined in our English language. To us, wisdom is simply knowledge, information, and understanding. Dictionary.com defines wise as: having the power of discerning and judging properly as to what is true or right; possessing discernment, judgment, or discretion.
19
The devil was telling Adam and Eve that the fruit would make them wise. Was he telling them a lie or telling them the truth? It was a complete lie. According to Proverbs 2, wisdom comes from God. James 1:5-6 states that if anyone lacks wisdom, they should ask God for it. The devil was taking God out of the equation for getting wisdom. By eating the fruit they would essentially be saying, “God, we don’t need you for wisdom. We don’t need your wisdom. We’ll do this on our own.”
The devil was convincing them that God had been holding out on them. The devil was trying to convince them that very best fruit in the garden had been denied to them. Just look at the color of that fruit, Just smell the scent of that fruit. If God actually loved you, he would never tell you not to eat the most delicious thing in the garden. On top of that, the devil convinced them that God was withholding wisdom from them. He convinced them that God did not want them to be wise. Adam and Eve’s response: That’s not fair!
The word took (Strong’s H3947) means to take, seize, snatch.
20 The word picture here is of a greedy action. Like a shoplifter looks around to see if anyone is paying attention, and then snatches the product off the shelf and takes it for themselves. Eve took the initiative and plucked a fruit off the tree. She may have looked over at Adam to get his permission, or she not have, we don’t know. All we know is that she acted first.
The word ate (Strong’s H398) means to eat or consume or devour.
21 In other words, she ate the whole thing. She didn’t just take a bite, she consumed it. She didn’t just want a little bit of wisdom; she wanted it all. Then she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate (emphasis mine).
Please don’t ever get the impression that Adam was somewhere else in the garden, off naming bugs or something. He was right there with her. After Eve ate her fruit, she reached out took another and handed it to Adam. At this point Adam had a momentous decision to make. To eat or not to eat. To obey God’s command or disobey. To believe what God told him or believe what the devil told him. We have no idea how long he looked at the fruit that was in his hand, all we know is that he ate it. Like Eve, he didn’t just take a bite, he ate the whole thing.
Final thoughts
So why did the devil go through Eve to tempt Adam?
1) Eve’s role as helper.
Remember, Eve’s role was to be his ally and rescuer. She was supposed to be someone who came running when Adam cried out for help. She was to be the person who dropped everything to save Adam when he was in need, in other words, a hero. The devil wanted to destroy that role. He succeeded. Instead of Eve leading Adam away from sin, she led him into sin.
2) The devil apparently realized that Adam would never say no to Eve. His desire to please Eve was greater than his desire to please God. The devil would take great advantage of that weakness. He still does this today. If our desire for anyone or anything is greater than our desire for God, we present the devil with an opportunity to get us to sin (and keep sinning).
3) The devil wanted Adam to disbelieve and disobey God’s command (and God’s word in general). The easiest way for the devil to introduce doubt in Adam was by getting Eve to doubt. The easiest way for the devil to introduce disbelief in Adam was by getting Eve to disbelieve. And finally, the easiest way for the devil to introduce disobedience in Adam was by getting Eve to disobey.
4) The devil was able to use the fence
that Adam put around God’s command against him. Adam had Eve convinced that she would die if she touched the forbidden fruit. When she didn’t immediately die from touching the fruit, the next logical step was to eat the fruit. From her perspective, if God lied about the touching part, he probably lied about the eating part as well. The devil broke that fence with ease. We should be extremely cautious before putting fences around God’s commands. Perhaps we shouldn’t even do it at all …
Here is my paraphrase of the 3 verses we covered:
Genesis 3:4-6
4 But the shining one said to the wife, “You will not surely die.
5 For God knows that when you eat of it your understanding will be enlightened, and you will become like a god in that you also will understand good and evil.”
6 So when the wife perceived that the tree was good for food, and saw that it was worth possessing, and that the tree had what she coveted, to make one wise, she seized its fruit and devoured it, then she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he devoured it as well.
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