By: Curtis Baker
One of the most riveting scenes in scripture comes in the first three chapters of the book of Genesis. After God had created the world with the power of his Word he looked out over that world and declared it to be good. He seemed especially pleased with those two creatures that had been made in his image. It is a mystery how long Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden. Some say it was many years, while others think it must have been a matter of minutes. My own guess is it wasn’t very long. But however long they lived in the perfection of paradise it only took seconds to destroy the good that God had made.
It is hard to say why the serpent approached Eve first. Speculation abounds, and for the most part I think it is unimportant. What is important is not why God chose the woman first; what is important is how the serpent took down both the woman and the man. Notice the serpent’s approach. First, he asks Eve a misleading question: “Did God really say you could not eat of any tree of the Garden?” This is clearly not what God said, and so Eve corrects the serpent by stating that they were only prohibited from eating of the tree in the middle of the Garden because they would die if they did so. (Gen 3:1-3)
However, observe the serpent’s next move. While he allows Eve to correct the false question that he leads with, in his crafty way he attempts to inject doubt into Eve’s mind: “You will not surely die,” the serpent says, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Do you see what the serpent has done? Not only has he injected doubt into Eve’s mind about what God really said, but he has made it appear like God has an ulterior motive for doing so. He makes it seem as if God is trying to keep something good from them, and indeed if she would only eat of it, she would be equal to God herself. (Gen 3:4-5)
When Eve (and no doubt, Adam along with her) considers the point that the serpent has made, and sees all the benefits (she thinks) that eating that fruit would give her, she gives some to her husband and they both eat of the fruit. When they do so their eyes are suddenly opened and they now understand not only good, but also evil, and the result of their actions is they are ashamed and realize they are naked. The serpent had succeeded in helping God’s highest creation rebel against his commandments.
What we see in the serpent’s temptation of Eve is a portrayal of the form that all temptation to sin takes. In every instance sin presents itself in the following way: if you do not do whatever it is that you are tempted to do you will be missing out on something. Satan always tries to persuade us that God is withholding something from us and we would be better off taking things into our own hands. Sin basically is taking the source of our own life, happiness, and security into our own hands and becoming our own god. But in each case sin always has the same result: it does not deliver what it promises.
When Adam and Eve sinned they realized two things: they were ashamed and they were naked. This is also the inevitable result of sin. It leads us to shame because we know we have done wrong, but even deeper than that, when we assume the position of God and take our life into our own hands, we soon realize how truly vulnerable (naked) we are. We do not have God’s wisdom…only God, who is the source of life, knows everything that needs to be known. He is the only reliable source for the knowledge of how to live to our fullest potential.
(curtisbaker@hotmail.com)
Write to: P.O. Box 157, Slaton, TX 79364
