.
†. Gen 3:1b . . He said to the woman,
A characteristic of Eden's world was not only a lack of human death, but also
a lack of fear. Man feared neither himself, nor the other creatures, nor the
dark, nor the boogie man.
The woman displayed no recorded astonishment whatsoever when the
Serpent spoke to her; which suggests it had conversed with the Adams on
other occasions before this incident; and possibly had become a close family
friend. Before making its move to wreck their life, the Serpent more than
likely spent some time in advance nurturing a rapport with the Adams so the
woman would have no cause for alarm when it approached; and would.
therefore not suspect its intentions.
Being an innocent who had never been exposed to evil, the woman would
certainly never suspect one of God's creatures to be anything but honest and
truthful. Up to this point, Eve wasn't even aware that something called a lie
existed. And actually, she didn't even know what honesty was either
because nobody had taught her anything about it yet.
†. Gen 3:1c . . Did God really say: You shall not eat of any tree of the
garden?
Catching the woman alone, away from her husband's oversight, the Serpent
began subtly introducing a concept which neither she nor Adam had even
imagined before: it is actually possible for a creature to question its maker.
However; that is not a particularly good idea.
†. Isa 45:9 . . Shame on him who argues with his Maker, though naught but
a potsherd of earth!
†. Dan 4:32 . . All the inhabitants of the earth are of no account. [God] does
as He wishes with the host of heaven, and with the inhabitants of the earth.
There is none to stay His hand or say to Him: What have You done?
Why didn't the Serpent attempt to trick the male before turning to Eve?
Well, who says he didn't? To assume otherwise is cave to the logic of what's
known as an argument from silence; which essentially attests that if
something isn't clearly stated in the biblical record, then it's inferred from
the silence that there was nothing to state. But Adam was a tougher nut to
crack because he got his intel straight from the horse's mouth and knew the
truth very clearly and without ambiguity. But the woman quite possibly was
instructed second hand, in conversations with her husband; who was, in
effect, her personal rabbi. So it would be fairly easy to convince Eve that
maybe she didn't hear her husband correctly.
Of course it was ridiculous to suggest the humans were forbidden to eat of
"any" tree. But the Serpent was slowly sneaking up on the woman with
subtle suggestions. Probing for weak points, the Serpent tested her
understanding of God's instructions by asking a question that she should
have been able to answer with relative ease. In response; the woman
bounced right back and quoted God like a pro (or so she thought).
†. Gen 3:2-3 . . The woman replied to the serpent: We may eat of the
fruit of the other trees of the garden. It is only about fruit of the tree
in the middle of the garden that God said: You shall not eat of it or
touch it, lest you die.
oopsie! Where did God say Adam couldn't "touch" the fruit? He didn't. (cf.
Gen 2:16-17)
The woman adulterated God's instructions by reading something into them
that He didn't actually say. She fell prey to a very human weakness-- not
only of adulterating God's testimony, but of a tendency to make the laws of
God more cumbersome and more strict than they really are.
Adulteration changes the meanings of God's sayings and inevitably leads
people into error. While often containing a kernel of truth, adulterations are
nevertheless not pure truth, but amalgams of truth and human error that
falsify God's teachings and direct people off in the wrong direction; leading
them to believe, and to repeat, things that aren't true. Adulterations are also
very useful for manipulating people to favor the Serpent's wishes rather than
the Lord's. Thus, without their knowing it, they fall in line and become the
Serpent's sheep instead of Christ's.
†. Gen 3:4 . . And the serpent said to the woman: You are not going
to die,
Having already tested the woman's interpretation of God's instructions, and
found it in error, the Serpent was understandably encouraged to push on
and attempt to introduce some additional bogus concepts. The woman's fall
is typical. First she adulterated God's instructions. Then she listened to
someone refute them. Next, she will accept the refuter's argument, and then
she will break with God.
†. Gen 3:5a . . but God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes
will be opened and you will be like divine beings
The Hebrew word for "divine beings" is 'elohiym (el-o-heem') which is the
very same word for man's creator in Gen 1:1. If someone presented you
with an opportunity to be a God; wouldn't you take it? I think so; especially
if you didn't know any better.
The Serpent insinuated that creation's God was withholding the tree, not
because it was poisonous or anything like that; but to despotically keep the
humans in check. In effect, the Serpent was saying that God got His wisdom
from that very same tree and that's why He didn't want to share the fruit
with them; because then they might become savvy enough to go out on
their own without depending so much upon their maker.
The woman was inexperienced, and certainly no match for the Serpent's
intelligence. But her defeat wasn't inevitable. She could have easily resisted
the Serpent by simply sticking to her guns and parroting God's instructions
over and over again until the Serpent got disgusted and gave up. But no,
she dropped God's instructions early on; and thus set the stage for the utter
ruin of her own progeny.
Cont.
/
†. Gen 3:1b . . He said to the woman,
A characteristic of Eden's world was not only a lack of human death, but also
a lack of fear. Man feared neither himself, nor the other creatures, nor the
dark, nor the boogie man.
The woman displayed no recorded astonishment whatsoever when the
Serpent spoke to her; which suggests it had conversed with the Adams on
other occasions before this incident; and possibly had become a close family
friend. Before making its move to wreck their life, the Serpent more than
likely spent some time in advance nurturing a rapport with the Adams so the
woman would have no cause for alarm when it approached; and would.
therefore not suspect its intentions.
Being an innocent who had never been exposed to evil, the woman would
certainly never suspect one of God's creatures to be anything but honest and
truthful. Up to this point, Eve wasn't even aware that something called a lie
existed. And actually, she didn't even know what honesty was either
because nobody had taught her anything about it yet.
†. Gen 3:1c . . Did God really say: You shall not eat of any tree of the
garden?
Catching the woman alone, away from her husband's oversight, the Serpent
began subtly introducing a concept which neither she nor Adam had even
imagined before: it is actually possible for a creature to question its maker.
However; that is not a particularly good idea.
†. Isa 45:9 . . Shame on him who argues with his Maker, though naught but
a potsherd of earth!
†. Dan 4:32 . . All the inhabitants of the earth are of no account. [God] does
as He wishes with the host of heaven, and with the inhabitants of the earth.
There is none to stay His hand or say to Him: What have You done?
Why didn't the Serpent attempt to trick the male before turning to Eve?
Well, who says he didn't? To assume otherwise is cave to the logic of what's
known as an argument from silence; which essentially attests that if
something isn't clearly stated in the biblical record, then it's inferred from
the silence that there was nothing to state. But Adam was a tougher nut to
crack because he got his intel straight from the horse's mouth and knew the
truth very clearly and without ambiguity. But the woman quite possibly was
instructed second hand, in conversations with her husband; who was, in
effect, her personal rabbi. So it would be fairly easy to convince Eve that
maybe she didn't hear her husband correctly.
Of course it was ridiculous to suggest the humans were forbidden to eat of
"any" tree. But the Serpent was slowly sneaking up on the woman with
subtle suggestions. Probing for weak points, the Serpent tested her
understanding of God's instructions by asking a question that she should
have been able to answer with relative ease. In response; the woman
bounced right back and quoted God like a pro (or so she thought).
†. Gen 3:2-3 . . The woman replied to the serpent: We may eat of the
fruit of the other trees of the garden. It is only about fruit of the tree
in the middle of the garden that God said: You shall not eat of it or
touch it, lest you die.
oopsie! Where did God say Adam couldn't "touch" the fruit? He didn't. (cf.
Gen 2:16-17)
The woman adulterated God's instructions by reading something into them
that He didn't actually say. She fell prey to a very human weakness-- not
only of adulterating God's testimony, but of a tendency to make the laws of
God more cumbersome and more strict than they really are.
Adulteration changes the meanings of God's sayings and inevitably leads
people into error. While often containing a kernel of truth, adulterations are
nevertheless not pure truth, but amalgams of truth and human error that
falsify God's teachings and direct people off in the wrong direction; leading
them to believe, and to repeat, things that aren't true. Adulterations are also
very useful for manipulating people to favor the Serpent's wishes rather than
the Lord's. Thus, without their knowing it, they fall in line and become the
Serpent's sheep instead of Christ's.
†. Gen 3:4 . . And the serpent said to the woman: You are not going
to die,
Having already tested the woman's interpretation of God's instructions, and
found it in error, the Serpent was understandably encouraged to push on
and attempt to introduce some additional bogus concepts. The woman's fall
is typical. First she adulterated God's instructions. Then she listened to
someone refute them. Next, she will accept the refuter's argument, and then
she will break with God.
†. Gen 3:5a . . but God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes
will be opened and you will be like divine beings
The Hebrew word for "divine beings" is 'elohiym (el-o-heem') which is the
very same word for man's creator in Gen 1:1. If someone presented you
with an opportunity to be a God; wouldn't you take it? I think so; especially
if you didn't know any better.
The Serpent insinuated that creation's God was withholding the tree, not
because it was poisonous or anything like that; but to despotically keep the
humans in check. In effect, the Serpent was saying that God got His wisdom
from that very same tree and that's why He didn't want to share the fruit
with them; because then they might become savvy enough to go out on
their own without depending so much upon their maker.
The woman was inexperienced, and certainly no match for the Serpent's
intelligence. But her defeat wasn't inevitable. She could have easily resisted
the Serpent by simply sticking to her guns and parroting God's instructions
over and over again until the Serpent got disgusted and gave up. But no,
she dropped God's instructions early on; and thus set the stage for the utter
ruin of her own progeny.
Cont.
/
