In the previous post we studied the role of the serpent in the narrative of Genesis 3.1-7. We saw that the serpent need not have been a literal walking and talking animal, but that it was chosen to represent mystical religions, which promote an inward focused spirituality to gain wisdom, knowledge, and healing that would preclude humans from fulfilling their God given vocation of being the image of God and representing God to the rest of creation. Now, in the second post on Genesis 3.1-7, we look at the nature of the temptation the first humans faced.

Hebrew text:

1 וְהַנָּחָשׁ֙ הָיָ֣ה עָר֔וּם מִכֹּל֙ חַיַּ֣ת הַשָּׂדֶ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשָׂ֖ה יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהִ֑ים וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ אֶל־הָ֣אִשָּׁ֔ה אַ֚ף כִּֽי־אָמַ֣ר אֱלֹהִ֔ים לֹ֣א תֹֽאכְל֔וּ מִכֹּ֖ל עֵ֥ץ הַגָּֽן׃

2 וַתֹּ֥אמֶר הָֽאִשָּׁ֖ה אֶל־הַנָּחָ֑שׁ מִפְּרִ֥י עֵֽץ־הַגָּ֖ן נֹאכֵֽל׃

3 וּמִפְּרִ֣י הָעֵץ֮ אֲשֶׁ֣ר בְּתוֹךְ־הַגָּן֒ אָמַ֣ר אֱלֹהִ֗ים לֹ֤א תֹֽאכְלוּ֙ מִמֶּ֔נּוּ וְלֹ֥א תִגְּע֖וּ בּ֑וֹ פֶּן־תְּמֻתֽוּן׃

4 וַיֹּ֥אמֶר הַנָּחָ֖שׁ אֶל־הָֽאִשָּׁ֑ה לֹֽא־מ֖וֹת תְּמֻתֽוּן׃

5 כִּ֚י יֹדֵ֣עַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים כִּ֗י בְּיוֹם֙ אֲכָלְכֶ֣ם מִמֶּ֔נּוּ וְנִפְקְח֖וּ עֵֽינֵיכֶ֑ם וִהְיִיתֶם֙ כֵּֽאלֹהִ֔ים יֹדְעֵ֖י ט֥וֹב וָרָֽע׃

6 וַתֵּ֣רֶא הָֽאִשָּׁ֡ה כִּ֣י טוֹב֩ הָעֵ֨ץ לְמַאֲכָ֜ל וְכִ֧י תַֽאֲוָה־ה֣וּא לָעֵינַ֗יִם וְנֶחְמָ֤ד הָעֵץ֙ לְהַשְׂכִּ֔יל וַתִּקַּ֥ח מִפִּרְי֖וֹ וַתֹּאכַ֑ל וַתִּתֵּ֧ן גַּם־לְאִישָׁ֛הּ עִמָּ֖הּ וַיֹּאכַֽל׃

7 וַתִּפָּקַ֙חְנָה֙ עֵינֵ֣י שְׁנֵיהֶ֔ם וַיֵּ֣דְע֔וּ כִּ֥י עֵֽירֻמִּ֖ם הֵ֑ם וַֽיִּתְפְּרוּ֙ עֲלֵ֣ה תְאֵנָ֔ה וַיַּעֲשׂ֥וּ לָהֶ֖ם חֲגֹרֹֽת׃

Transliteration:

1 wə·han·nā·ḥāš  hā·yāh ‘ā·rūm, mik·kōl  ḥay·yaṯ haś·śā·ḏeh, ’ă·šer  ‘ā·śāh Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·hîm; way·yō·mer  ’el- hā·’iš·šāh, ’ap̄ kî- ’ā·mar ’ĕ·lō·hîm,  lō ṯō·ḵə·lū, mik·kōl ‘êṣ hag·gān.  

2 wat·tō·mer  hā·’iš·šāh ’el-  han·nā·ḥāš; mip·pə·rî  ‘êṣ- hag·gān nō·ḵêl.  

3 ū·mip·pə·rî  hā·‘êṣ ’ă·šer bə·ṯō·wḵ-  hag·gān ’ā·mar ’ĕ·lō·hîm,  lō ṯō·ḵə·lū mim·men·nū, wə·lō  ṯig·gə·‘ū bōw; pen- tə·mu·ṯūn.  

4 way·yō·mer  han·nā·ḥāš ’el-  hā·’iš·šāh; lō- mō·wṯ  tə·mu·ṯūn.  

5 kî  yō·ḏê·a‘  ’ĕ·lō·hîm,  kî, bə·yō·wm  ’ă·ḵā·lə·ḵem mim·men·nū,  wə·nip̄·qə·ḥū ‘ê·nê·ḵem; wih·yî·ṯem  kê·lō·hîm, yō·ḏə·‘ê ṭō·wḇ wā·rā‘. 

6 wat·tê·re  hā·’iš·šāh kî  ṭō·wḇ hā·‘êṣ lə·ma·’ă·ḵāl  wə·ḵî ṯa·’ă·wāh- hū lā·‘ê·na·yim,  wə·neḥ·māḏ hā·‘êṣ lə·haś·kîl, wat·tiq·qaḥ  mip·pir·yōw wat·tō·ḵal; wat·tit·tên gam- lə·’î·šāh  ‘im·māh way·yō·ḵal.  

7 wat·tip·pā·qaḥ·nāh  ‘ê·nê šə·nê·hem, way·yê·ḏə·‘ū,  kî ‘ê·rum·mim hêm; way·yiṯ·pə·rū  ‘ă·lêh ṯə·’ê·nāh, way·ya·‘ă·śū lā·hem  ḥă·ḡō·rōṯ. 

NIV:

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 

3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 

5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 

7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Study:

We have only just been introduced to the serpent. He does not appear in the narrative before Genesis 3.1. However, the first words he says to the woman are, “Did God really say?” This is a strange way to start a conversation unless it is not the start of the conversation but a continuation of an earlier one. How could the serpent have known the restrictions placed on the humans unless the humans had told him? 

It should not surprise us that this is the case. If we are to believe that there was a walking and talking snake then it is not too much of a stretch of the imagination to think that the humans would have engaged in conversation with him. After all, if his purpose was to make the humans disobey God, then he had to first build credibility. The humans had to trust him first if he were to succeed in making them disobey. 

The first thing the serpent does appears to be innocuous, as though he were simply gathering information. “Let me get this clear,” he says. “God has not allowed you to eat from any tree in the garden?” The woman then responds to clarify the matter. “Of course, we can eat! It would be ridiculous for God to prohibit us from eating from all the trees. But, yes, there is one restriction. We are not allowed to eat from that tree in the middle of the garden lest we die.”

A lot has been made of the added restriction of not touching the tree. The restriction had been spelled out in Genesis 2.17, which was before the woman was created. So presumably the man told the woman about the restriction at some later time. One of them or both perhaps came to the conclusion that, if this tree were so dangerous then it was best to avoid it altogether and even refrain from touching it. I don’t think we should view this negatively as adding to God’s command. Rather, I think we should view it positively as an indication of how serious the humans were about taking God at his word and avoiding situations in which they could be tempted to disobey God.

The serpent responds by declaring, “You will not certainly die.” The Hebrew text has a strange idiom that reflects a Hebraism that is often seen in the bible. The word ‘certainly’ in the NIV is not in the Hebrew text. Rather, we encounter the phrase לֹֽא־מ֖וֹת תְּמֻתֽוּן (lō-  mō·wṯ tə·mu·ṯūn), which literally would read “you will not die to die.” The repetition of the word adds the emphasis and we see this in phrases like ‘king of kings’ and ‘lord of lords’. Whereas God had told the man, “You will die,” the serpent tells the woman, “You will not die,” thereby directly contradicting God’s word.

Of course, just directly contradicting God’s word was not enough. The serpent had to give reasons for which he was contradicting God’s word. And so he goes ahead to say, “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Did the serpent lie? Many Christians think he did. But actually, he did not lie for later in v. 22 we read, “And the Lord God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.’” According to v. 22, God claimed that, after eating the forbidden fruit, the humans had gained knowledge of good and evil and had become like God.

In other words, what the serpent said to the woman was true. However, the way he framed it was not. God knew that the humans would become like God and gain the knowledge of good and evil if they ate the forbidden fruit. But the serpent claimed that the reason why God had placed the prohibition was that he did not want the humans to become like him. When God first gave the prohibition in Genesis 2.17, he did not give the man the reasons for the prohibition. Presumably, when the man told the woman the prohibition, he too did not give any reasons for he had none to give. 

While the narrative in Genesis 2 and 3 does not ever specify why God places the prohibition, the serpent casts doubt not about the content of the prohibition, but about the spirit behind it. He claimed that God did not permit them to eat from that tree because he did not want them to gain a certain power and become like God. In other words, he frames his attack in terms of God feeling threatened by the humans and wanting them to remain in a powerless situation, totally dependent on him. According to the serpent, God did not want any rivals and, therefore, forbade the humans from eating from the tree. 

What the serpent has done is show the humans that there is something that God possesses that he does not want them to have. Since the humans were created to represent God, they had an innate drive toward mimicking God. And they saw here one deficiency. They could be like God in this one aspect as well. But God had placed that out of bounds. This awoke mimetic desire in the humans as seen in v. 6 where the woman suddenly finds the fruit desirable. 

It is important to note that the desire awoken in the woman is not an evil desire. It is the desire to be like God. The humans see that the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil could give them the knowledge of good and evil, making them like the one they were made to represent. In other words, the temptation was not to do something that violated God’s word, even though the serpent does contradict God’s word. Rather, the temptation was to become like God. 

Once again, this had been viewed negatively. However, as creatures made to bear the image of God, wanting to be like God is in our bones. The serpent capitalizes on this good desire that the humans have, shows them how they could be like God but tells them that God does not want them to be like him. This is the quintessence of temptation. We are shown something that is good, something that promises to enable us to become more fully who we were created to be, but something that is out of bounds for us at the moment. The dissonance this creates in our innermost being is what temptation is. We are offered a path of least resistance as an alternative to a path of enormous resistance. 

Prayer:

Our loving, heavenly Father. We thank you that you have made us to desire to be like you. We thank you for the good drive we have in us that pushes us to become like you. But Father, we are also aware that this desire can be corrupted when we are offered a path that is at odds with the path you have shown us. We ask, as Jesus taught us, to keep us from temptation because we are weak and unable to withstand the dissonance created by the temptation. We ask you, in your mercy, to give us wisdom each day so that we can ascertain the path you desire for us to take and to give us the strength to follow that path despite the difficulties. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.