Free Bible Commentary
“Genesis 3:1-7”
Categories: Genesis“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God said, “You shall not eat from any tree of the garden”?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.”’ The serpent said to the woman, ‘You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ 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 desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.”
--End of Scripture verses---
“The serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field…” (verse 1). We cannot know for certain what type of creature the serpent was or what it looked like, but was little doubt a member of the animal kingdom. Some or all of the animals must have looked and behaved much differently before the curse than they do today. It may seem astonishing to us when we read that a serpent was actually talking to a person, but to Eve this did not appear out of the ordinary in the slightest. We also know from the New Testament that the serpent was merely Satan’s fool and tool (2 Corinthians 11:3; Revelation 12:9). Part of the serpent’s subtlety and craftiness is revealed in the fact that it targeted the woman first and not the man. She had not received the command directly from God to refrain from eating the fruit of the forbidden tree as Adam had, and therefore she was likely much more vulnerable to this slippery character’s exploitation.
The first device the serpent used here was to have the woman focus on the negative, on what she could NOT do and have, instead of on her ample blessings: “Has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree…?’” If Eve had kept her focus on and her appreciation for all the things that God said she COULD do and have, what a different story this would have been! The fruit of EVERY tree of the garden but ONE! If she had only thought of all the good things she had at her fingertips her heart would have been satisfied, grateful and filled with love for her Creator. But she listened to the negativity of the nay-sayer and was coaxed into focusing on the restriction. This has ever been the tool of our adversary and serves to keep our eyes off the eternal prize still today. Manufacturers, the media, politicians, neighbors and others strive to keep our eyes and minds consumed and distracted by the things that we do not have, while the Bible encourages and commands us to be thankful for what we have and who we are in Christ (Philippians 4:6; Colossians 3:15-17; 1 Thessalonians 5:18). Lust and dissatisfaction are parts of human nature that pose some of the greatest threats to our spiritual wellbeing.
Eve should not even have allowed herself to be engaged in this conversation, but once lured into it she offered herself up as easy prey. When she answered the serpent’s trick question she went a step farther than God did in His prohibition. Either Eve made the addition to not “touch” the fruit herself, or Adam told her this to make sure she would stay far away from it. In either case, it was not what the Lord had commanded. It is never good to add to the word of God and for a variety of reasons, and in this instance Eve made the Lord appear to be severely and unreasonably forbidding. She got the punishment right for eating the forbidden fruit even so: She would certainly die.
The serpents first tactical response was to flatly deny that punishment and call God a liar: “You surely will not die!” (verse 4). But most people know a flat-out lie when they hear one and won’t fall for it so it went on to explain the motivation for God’s dishonesty: He was selfishly withholding something good from her. “God knows that…your eyes will be open, and you will be like God” (verse 5). The serpent told her that she would see things that she had never seen before, and experience things she had never experienced. That she would be like God and therefore have no need of His governance and limitations. Dennis Prager astutely observed that, “These three steps offer a classic presentation of the way people are often led to do wrong: Exaggerate, then denigrate the other side’s motives, then promise a reward.” While it was true that her eyes were opened, she soon found out that her newly found awareness was neither a blessing nor a reward!
Satan still tricks people into believing that we should defy God’s laws if we want to be free, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth. God has given each of us a free will to choose the road of rebellion against His loving commands or to serve Him in loving, trusting faith. But to opt for defiance and disobedience is to actually choose slavery of the worst kind. We are free to sin but there is no way to find freedom from the consequences, which often include earthly ramifications and always produce eternal, spiritual penalties.
But what does it mean to know “good and evil” (verse 5)? Adam and Eve already had some perception of right and wrong. They knew that disobeying God was the wrong thing to do and that eating from the fruit of that excluded tree was strictly forbidden. Deuteronomy 1:39, using the same Hebrew wording found in today’s text, states that “little ones” and “children” “have no knowledge of good and evil.” It seems clear that in this instance to have no knowledge of good and evil carries with it the connotation of possessing the innocence of children. To eat of the fruit forbidden by God would be to encounter evil in an experiential way, to despoil Adam and Eve's relationship with their perfect Creator, and to fall from their pristine state of sinlessness and innocence.
The woman “saw that the tree was good…” (verse 6). Everything that the Lord has made is good, but that doesn’t mean that it is good to do whatever we want with it. She perceived that it was “good for food” (lust of the flesh), “a delight to the eyes” (lust of the eyes), and “desirable to make one wise” (the pride of life). The Apostle John informs us that these three classes of sin comprise “all that is in the world” and will perish with world, will evoke God’s hostility, and will bring about our own eventual downfall (1 John 2:15-17). Unsurprisingly the Devil used the appeal to the same lusts and pride in his attempt to destroy our Lord and Savior Jesus and our hope of salvation with Him (Matthew 4:1-10, Luke 4:1-12).
The serpent told some partial truth. When they ate the forbidden fruit, “the eyes of both of them were opened…” (verse 7). But instead of producing satisfaction it only brought shame. Satan promised them enlightenment, the ability to be free-thinkers, and independence from God. Instead sin delivered darkness, humiliation, and isolation from the One who loved them the most. Sin always promises delight but always delivers destruction.
Please read Genesis 3:8-13 for tomorrow.
Stay holy my friends!
- Louie Taylor
