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Following the serpent, Eve also adds to the word of God, "and ye shall not touch it",
at the same time minimizing the penalty of disobedience from "surely die" (2: 17) to "lest
ye die" (3: 3). (The expression "thou shalt surely die" is literally, "dying thou shalt die",
an emphatic figure which shows the certainty of death, if disobedience occurs.) Note
how the woman has been already influenced by the Devil's opening words in which he
has implied severity and unreasonableness on the part of God. She herself makes His
commandments more severe ("and ye shall not touch it"), whilst suggesting that God
cannot surely mean certain death ("lest ye die"), that being unreasonable. She also
omitted the gracious emphasis "freely" (2: 16 with 3: 2).
The mind of Eve is now already prepared for the serpent's next words, "God does not
really mean what He says". She has herself failed to give His words their full weight,
now the serpent takes her a further step:
SERPENT. "Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof,
then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil."
Here is a direct contradiction of the word of God, but with the cunning twist that,
although God may well have spoken of the certainty of death, this was only said to deter
Adam and Eve from partaking of a fruit which offered so much; God was in fact
withholding something from them which would make them like Himself in knowing
good and evil. The serpent does not suggest for one moment that there might be a very
good reason for the withholding of this knowledge at this time, but simply presents God
as one who has made an idle threat to keep mankind from it.
In examining the words used by the serpent in 3: 4, 5, it will be noticed that, apart
from the first statement, "Ye shall not surely die", the rest is truth (see 3: 22). This
cunning mixture of truth and error, which contains the root of the temptation put before
Eve, is too much for her:
EVE. "And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to
the eyes, and the tree was desirable to make one wise, and she took from its
fruit, and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. And the
eyes of them both were opened . . . . ." (3: 6, 7).
Here in this final step lies the triumph of Satan. The word of God has been misquoted,
doubted and openly contradicted, and now the woman turns from it altogether to her own
judgment ("And the woman saw"). The tree appeared to have everything to offer; it
looked appetizing, was aesthetically pleasing, and perhaps even more important, it
offered knowledge. She judged that it was alright to partake of it; she was "thoroughly
deceived" (I Tim. 2: 14, Weymouth).
Satan's triumph through the serpent came about for at least two reasons, both of which
are relevant to what Paul builds on this tragedy in I Tim. 2: 11-15:
(1)
The woman stepped out of the position allotted to her in the good pleasure of God,
and usurped the authority of the man (given him in Gen. 2: 15-17), taking a
place for which she was not fitted.