The Temptation of Eve

Genesis 3:1-6. There is just too much in Genesis 3 to comment on the whole thing in one post. I will split it in two. 

How do we know that the serpent is Satan? From the rest of the Bible (Ezekiel 28:13-19, Job, Isaiah, Revelation). One of the best ways to interpret the Bible is to use the other parts in the Bible. Satan really identifies with the snake and uses it a lot. Snakes aren’t innately bad; God created them. There was a pre-curse snake. I think snakes are sweet when they aren’t the biting, poisonous kind. Satan twisted the snake, like he does many good things, when he chose to use it. Serpents used to have legs, but God made them legless after this incident, presumably so they would be creepier, haha.

One time I heard the objection, “Snakes don’t have the anatomy required to vocalize words.” You see in several other Biblical passages that spirits are able to possess human and animal bodies. Satan picked the serpent and either whispered in Eve’s thoughts or made the voice appear to come from the snake, which isn’t that unbelievable if you believe any other miracle in the Bible. It wasn’t weird to Eve. She didn’t say, “Whoa, A TALKING SNAKE. I’M RICH.” Adam and Eve already walked and talked with God and possibly encountered angels or other spirits in the garden. We can’t know, obviously.

We see in Genesis 2:15-17 that Adam heard the command against eating from the tree directly from God, which would be powerful. Because Eve heard the command secondhand, from Adam, it had less punch to begin with. Then there is the possibility that Adam left a few words out of the “don’t eat it” discussion. Notice that when the serpent asks Eve what God commanded, her words are different from what God said to Adam. She doesn’t seem to know the name of the tree. It kind of sounds like Adam might have said, “Don’t touch that tree or you will die.” Perhaps if Eve had all of the information in God’s words, Satan would not have gotten that foothold when he said, “You won’t die.” The more you know about God and what God has said, the fewer footholds can be gained.

The foothold in the mind was followed by desire, as we will see. Lots of wars are first won in the mind. In Jane Eyre, Jane is being tempted to commit adultery with Mr. Rochester. He is questioning her about her feelings because she is very in love. She chooses to do the right thing, saying, “I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad—as I am now.” This is a great quote about the way the truth sometimes doesn’t feel right, due to your desires messing with your resolve. What you believe about God will define how you will act. Eve believed the devil subtly accused God of lying about whether Eve would die. Rather than cling to the belief that God was good and not in competition with her, Eve chose to believe that sinning was harmless and God was bad (which never happens nowadays, lol). It’s useful to us today to remember who God is (good and Holy) before we toss off commands due to our new, mad logic.

 Another mistake Eve made was even carrying on a discussion with Satan in the first place. I talked to an exorcist one time who told me that Rule #1 is not to talk to evil except to tell them to go pounds sand. Rebuking is all that’s useful. The way these entities work is that they tell a lie wrapped in truth, so you believe the whole thing. Look at those psychics who are total charlatans. They find out your birth order, tell you things that are true for all youngest children, and then you believe whatever they make up, because they seem to know you. Satan said, “Your eyes will be open” to Eve, which was true. Of course, he lied about the other stuff and left out the fact that her eyes would be open to things that SUCK. Still, the best lies have truth in them, and the devil knows just what truths and lies will work on your ego and desires perfectly. Does this extend to human beings who lie or want you to believe something you don’t think is true? Possibly to an extent. If a false teacher really knows how to manipulate, you should use discretion and think about your personality/mind before you hang out with him, if at all.

The snake then throws in the temptation to become God. This is controversial because most religions, in some ways, teach that we will one day either become like God or become Gods ourselves. There is a way to become like God that is bad and then there is a way that is good. Christianity, for example, tells us to be perfect as God is perfect. We have the Holy Spirit inside us. We are supposed to become like God. In some New Age circles, we are all little mini gods, equal to God. Etc. We get background on Satan in Ezekiel 28, which tells us that Satan was kind of a big deal among the angels. Isaiah 14 says that Satan wanted to be God or be greater than God. I think the line between bad and good is whether you become like God through obedience/following him or through following your own will. You don’t want to be in competition with God and you don’t want there to be any pride in your pursuits, like there was with Satan and Eve. 

When you seek to be like God, you have to know that 1) God is good, 2) he wants what is best for you, and 3) you are designed by him to fit with certain universal laws. In the Ten Commandments movie, Charlton Heston says, “You can’t break the law; you can only break yourself against the law.” You were made for these laws like a fish was made for water. When you rebel against God and try to create your own laws, you find yourself unable to thrive and breathe in the new laws you created. You wither and die, purpose unfulfilled. You have to realize that the reason you want to be more like God is so you can be closer to God. The best possible thing for us as we were created is to know God, not compete with him. Also, spoiler alert: we would lose. Double spoiler alert: Satan will too.

“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.” Jesus resisted a similar threefold temptation from Satan in one of my favorite Biblical passages. 1) Food, 2) emotions/desire, and 3) a pride issue. We see that Adam was with her. The New Testament tells us that Eve was deceived, but Adam was standing right there, had all the facts, had known God longer, was not deceived, and ate it either out of rebellion or romantic love for Eve. Possibly both. Either puts something above God and is wrong.

Some people say, “Man, it’s all Adam and Eve’s fault. If they hadn’t eaten the apple, we wouldn’t have all this suffering in the world or Nazism or anything.” But if you look through that pitch to Eve carefully and honestly, you might be able to point out times in your life when you fell for the same lies and appeals to your desires. If we do it now (let pride make you break God’s law), we’d probably do it in the garden, especially pre-Jesus and Holy Spirit. It’s all part of the big plan anyway.