THE TEMPTATION – 3:1-5

Genesis 3:1 introduces the tempter, whose major characteristic is described: now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field. The serpent is connected with Satan. The creature here is a literal serpent, a literal snake that Satan used to carry out this temptation. Therefore, Satan and the serpent are connected in other passages such as II Corinthians 11:31, Revelation 12:9 and 20:2. In fact, one rabbinic interpretation of the passage is also that this serpent is Satan. (A second interpretation by the rabbis is that the serpent represents the evil inclination.) The Hebrew word for “serpent” is nachash. It is the same root as another Hebrew word, nechoshet, which means “bronze.” In Numbers 21:9, where God told Moses to make a bronze serpent, the Hebrew words used for “bronze serpent” are nachash nechoshet. Later, in II Kings 18:4, it was called Nechustan because of that same connection. The serpent’s connection with bronze indicates that the snake appeared as a shiny luminous one similar to the way Satan appears as an angel of light (II Cor. 11:14). That is the meaning of the word nachash as a noun. As a verb, the word means “to practice divination” and “to observe signs” (Gen. 30:27; 44:5, 15; Lev. 19:26 and Deu. 18:10). Also, as a noun, it has the meaning of “divination” (Num. 23:23 and 24:1), showing the very close connection between the occult world and Satanism. In fact, divination practices of the ancient Middle East often included the use of a serpent.

Moses goes on to write that the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field. The Hebrew word for “subtle” is arum. This is a wordplay with Genesis 2:25, which states that Adam and Eve were arumim, meaning “naked.” So, Adam and Eve were arumim, but Satan was arum. In other words, in 2:25, before the Fall, human nakedness was not something that was problematic, because there was no lust involved. Now, the integrity of humanity became the target of Satan’s attack. Their nakedness means that they were oblivious to evil, and they did not know where the traps lay, but Satan, of course, did. The same word used of Adam’s and Eve’s nakedness is used of the serpent’s craftiness, because he will use it to take advantage of their integrity. The Hebrew word has a wide range of meanings: subtle, crafty, shrewd, sensible, prudent and cunning. There is a mixture of good and bad. In a good sense, it has the concept of being “prudent,” and that is its usage in the Book of Proverbs (1:4; 12:16, 23; 13:16; 14:8, 15, 18; 22:3; 27:12). It is also used in an evil sense, meaning “crafty” (Job 5:12; 15:5). In Hebrew, the word is neutral. Shrewdness is not evil in itself, but shrewdness can be used in an evil way. Because the serpent was more subtle or “more shrewd” than all the other animals, Satan chose to use the serpent. Satan’s aim in using the shrewd serpent is to try to regain his authority over the earth, something he had lost when he fell.

The verse goes on to say, which Jehovah God had made, and God did create the serpent. God made the serpent shrewd, but, again, “shrewd” can be used in a good sense as well as an evil sense. In this case, it is used in a neutral sense, because there was no evil within the animal kingdom at this point. The rabbinic interpretation of the phrase, “which God hath made,” says that God had intended for the snake to be elevated above the creatures of creation as a servant of mankind and, so, gave him human characteristics. The snake, the rabbis teach, had the power of speech and walked upright. That is the rabbinic view. Parts of it are accurate, but parts of it are questionable. God created the snake with the neutral characteristics of prudence or shrewdness that Satan will now use for sinful purposes.

The length of time between verses 2:25 and 3:1 is not specified, making it impossible to know how long they lived in the garden when the temptation took place. However, this temptation (contrary to many liberal theologians) is viewed as a historical event. Much of what the New Testament teaches on this passage is based on its being a true historical event (Jn. 8:44; Rom. 5:21 and 16:20; I Cor. 15:21 and II Cor. 11:3-4; I Tim. 2:14).

In this temptation, Satan launched two separate attacks. The first attack is at the end of verse one: And he said unto the woman, with Satan speaking through the snake. Then came the first question recorded in the Scriptures: Yea hath God said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden? It was a query that questioned the integrity of God: Has God really said you shall not eat of any tree of the garden? Satan’s initial method was to question the reality of the command. What God had actually said was quite clear. Now, “Satan the theologian” is going to make it unclear so that it becomes a matter of debate, when, in reality, even he knew there was only one tree which was forbidden to them.

Eve’s response (vv. 2-3) contrasts the permitted from the prohibited. The permitted is in verse two: Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; so there is a recognition by Eve of divine liberty. As she was not yet in existence when God gave the order to Adam, she obviously received it by oral instruction from her husband, Adam.

Verse three contains the prohibition: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it. She also reveals a recognition of divine limitation to the earlier liberty given. So, Eve clearly understood what the prohibition was. She could not eat of this tree, and she adds, neither shall ye touch it. Some have claimed that here she added to the Word of God, but this need not be taken as an addition on Eve’s part, for this, too, might have come to her by oral instruction. Remember, she was not yet present when God had given the commandment to Adam. At any rate, the fact that she could not eat it or touch it shows that she clearly recognized the strictness of the prohibition. She confirms this with the words, lest ye die. There is also a recognition of the penalty for disobedience. All of this shows clearly that Eve understood the situation quite well. A rabbinic interpretation of this verse says that the serpent pushed Eve until she touched the tree and when she did not die, she said to herself, “now as there is no death in touching, there is no death in eating.” I offer these rabbinic interpretations not because I agree with them (except for where they correspond with the text), but simply to give you a Jewish perspective on these things. Nevertheless, our final authority, as always, is the written Word of God.

Verses 4-5 describe Satan’s second attack: a denial of the penalty. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. Here is the first lie recorded in Scripture, and it came from the mouth of Satan. This is why Jesus called Satan “the father of lies” in John 8:44.

Satan moved from a perverse question to a clear, outward denial. In verse five, there is a denial of God’s integrity: for God does know that in the day that ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God. As he launched this temptation, Satan said that God knows if she partakes of this tree, she will be like God. He wanted to create a motivation within Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit so that she will proceed to do it. And the motivation is to be like God. According to Isaiah 14:14, it was this desire that caused the fall of Satan. Prior to Satan’s fall, he declared five “I wills,” the fifth of which was, I will make myself like the Most High. It was Satan’s desire to be like God which caused his own fall, and now Adam and Eve’s desire to be like God will cause their fall as well. One leading rabbi, Rashi, interpreted this phrase to mean “they wished to be like God in being able to create the world’s universe.” The specific way they will be like God is by knowing good and evil. Satan tried to convey to Eve that it is God’s knowledge of good and evil that makes Him God. In other words, the knowledge of good and evil is what will make them like God.

This was a bold Satanic denial of God’s goodness, with Satan accusing God of selfishness and jealousy. He charged that the good God Who gave them good is now withholding from them the greater good. Satan tried to convey this impression: Man was capable of knowing good and evil as perfectly and as completely as God knows it, and so man could be like God. Furthermore, God was jealous of His knowledge of good and evil and did not want to share it with anybody else. So, Satan’s method was to raise doubts concerning the wisdom of God, the justice of God, and the love of God. He made a direct contradiction to the command of God. He declared that disobedience to God will result in the highest good. But the fact will be that they would know good and evil only from the standpoint of sinners, not from the standpoint of being God. Romans 7:19 teaches that they will know good but will be unable to do it. They will know evil but will be unable to resist it.

THE FALL – 3:6

Satan tempted Eve in three areas, the same three areas in which he always tempts. According to I John 2:16, there are three areas of temptation: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. All three categories are found here. First, the woman saw that the tree was good for food; here, then, is the lust of the flesh, with the focus on the physical, something which was physically appealing to her. Second, it was a delight to the eyes; here is the lust of the eyes, with the focus on the aesthetic, something which was aesthetically pleasing. Third, the tree was to be desired to make one wise; here is the pride of life, and the temptation was in the realm of the spiritual and the mental. This would be mentally transforming. It would give them instantaneous knowledge, making them akin to God. It was to be desired. The Hebrew word for “desired” is nechmad, which is the same root as “to covet.” Eve was coveting God’s position and knowledge. She felt that eating the fruit would give her something she did not now possess. This is always the essence of covetousness – to obtain that which one does not now possess.

This led to the fall of man in two stages. The first stage was the fall of Eve. The text says, she took of the fruit thereof; and the touching did not cause her death. Though in Gentile traditions, the fruit is often pictured as an apple, the primary views of rabbis are that it was either grape vine, or an etrog (citron), or a fig. She did eat, and when she ate of it, she failed to exercise her subordinate role. She committed the sin of initiation, and that caused her fall. Then came the second stage, the fall of Adam: She gave also unto her husband with her. Eve now became to Adam what the serpent had been to Eve. The serpent had tempted her, thus, she now tempts Adam. Those two words, “with her,” show that Adam was present all along and did not try to stop her. While she failed to exercise her subordinate role, he failed to exercise his headship. He did eat, and became guilty of commiting the sin of acquiescence.

Both Adam and Eve fell, but the Bible distinguishes their fall (I Tim. 2:13-14). The distinction is this: Eve was deceived, a point also made in II Corinthians 11:3, but Adam sinned with full knowledge; for him, it was an act of rebellion. The Bible clearly places the responsibility for the fall upon Adam as the representative head (Rom. 5:12-21; I Cor. 15:20-24). This marked the breaking of the Edenic Covenant (Hos. 6:7).

SPIRITUAL DEATH – 3:7-8

The key result of the fall was spiritual death, defined as separation from God. Verse seven states the initial result: the eyes of them both were opened. This means they came to a certain understanding, but it was not what the serpent had led them to believe. It says, they knew that they were naked, not “they had a knowledge of evil.” There was a recognition of a new relationship to each other, embodied by a self-consciousness. Instead of knowing good and evil in a positive sense, they now knew that they were naked in a negative sense. In Genesis 2:25, that which was a sign of a healthy relationship now became a sign of shame. Indeed, while the Hebrew word for “naked” in 2:25 and 3:7 is the same word, its spelling is slightly different to emphasize the loss of innocence, because lust was born. The passage goes on to state, and they sewed fig-leaves together. The knowledge they had gained was actually overwhelming them. They sewed fig leaves together. The Hebrew word for “sewed” here is used only three other times in the Hebrew Bible (Job 16:15; Ecc. 3:7; Eze. 13:10). Why did they choose fig leaves? Probably because in the context of the Middle East, this was the largest leaf available, providing the most covering. The rabbis say that the fig leaf was used because the fig was the forbidden fruit. The Talmud says, “Where they would have sinned, they also made amendment.” From these things, they made themselves aprons. The Hebrew word means “girdles.” It is used of an article of woman’s dress in Isaiah 3:24. It is also used as the belt of a warrior (II Sam. 18:11; I Kgs. 2:5 and II Kgs. 3:21). They now attempted to hide their nakedness. They tried to cover their genitals, because there was now a clear recognition that the very source of human life had been contaminated by sin. Now, through sexual intercourse, not only will they continue the race of humanity, it also would be the means by which the sin nature will be transmitted from generation to generation (Psa. 51:5). They succeeded in hiding the nakedness from each other but, of course, not from God. Now, nakedness before someone other than one’s mate will be shameful (Gen. 9:23; Exo. 32:25; Rev. 3:18).

Verse eight deals with the actual separation from God, beginning with the hearing. And they heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. The fact that they heard the voice of Jehovah God shows that the Shechinah Glory made a daily manifestation in the garden to fellowship with Adam and Eve. There was a daily visible manifestation. Up until this point, they had heard the voice before they saw the brightness. The text says, “walking in the garden”; the Hebrew word for walking means “walking to and fro.” It is a habitual aspect, meaning that God regularly did so. Where it says, in the cool of the day, it would mean toward sundown in the context of the Middle East. After the hearing came the hiding: and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah God amongst the trees of the garden. Adam and Eve tried to hide from God’s presence, because fellowship was no longer possible. There was a recognition of a new relationship with God. There was now guilt and fear of punishment. Instead of hiding their nakedness from each other, they tried to hide it from God. This they could not do.