Now the serpent was more crafty1 than any other wild animal2 that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, 'You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?"3
The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.'"
But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die;4 for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God5, knowing good and evil."6
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,7 she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her,8 and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened,9 and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
They heard the sound of the LORD God walking10 in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?11"
He said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.1213"
He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"
The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.14"
Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?"
The woman said, "The serpent tricked me, and I ate."
The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you among all animals and among all wild creatures15; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.16 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.17"
To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.18"
And to the man he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.20"
The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living.21 And the LORD God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them. Then the LORD God said, "See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil;22 and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"23--therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.24
[1] I want to understand the implications of "crafty" in Hebrew
[2] The serpent really sounds like a wild animal here. I'm so used to the interpretations of the serpent as Satan, that I just assumed it was there, but that implication isn't in the text anywhere. If we're going to interpret the serpent as Satan here, then we're really going to have to use other parts of the Bible to do it.
[3] Starts with a question - that's the crafty part.
[4] Is he right? I mean, they don't die, do they?
[5] Tempts the consistent human desire to play the part of God.
[6] What is his motivation? Why does he want to tempt the humans? Why does he want them to disobey God?
[7] The stomach, the eyes, the ego. The woman came up with all of these things herself - the serpent didn't even have to imply them to her. Even today, these are all attributes that sin often appears to have.
[8] The man was with her! She didn't go off and tell him what happened - he saw the whole interaction, heard all the same things she did, and never tried to stop any of it.
[9] In this case, eyes being opened is a bad thing. That seems unusual.
[10] What does it mean for God to be walking? A literary device to move the story forward? God clearly doesn't walk, right?
[11] Does he really not know? Or is he just letting the man answer for himself? Or is this a deeper message about what God is saying to us when we are hiding and ashamed?
[12] And he does answer honestly at least.
[13] So he hid because of shame at the awareness of his nakedness - not for fear of God or shame of sinning. Or is "nakedness" a metaphor for being ashamed at the openness of his sinful state?
[14] The man does answer honestly...but he blames the woman for the predicament.
[15] Still sounds like a wild animal here.
[16] Does this mean anything? Is it just a curse that matches what we see of snakes today, or is there a deeper meaning here?
[17] At face value, I don't see the Christ analogy. This, instead, sounds like the way that humans and snakes interact today.
[18] At the time, the two greatest issues women faced - the health dangers of pregnancy and childbirth and oppression from men.
[19] And now the greatest issue men faced - the difficulty of their work and the need to procure food. So work was once good - now it is made a curse. Are we freed from this, and is work once again good for us? The thorns and thistles are certainly still there.
[20] There's that dust again. And it's true.
[21] Where did this come from? It feels so out of place.
[22] So we're back to the "knowing good and evil" question. Why is this bad? What does it mean exactly?
[23] So it would be bad for the man to live forever? Why? And again, why didn't he die when he ate the fruit of the tree? Interesting, the man appears to be the focus here, not the woman - another cultural emphasis.
[24] What does the cherubim represent?
Take-home: We can be deceived, but much of our sin and disobedience is self-deception. Some things that can lead us into disobedience are our stomachs, our eyes, our ego...possibly our desire to "play God". The hard things we face in life can be the result of our past disobedience. I think there is even more here that I do not understand.
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