They Took of Its Fruit – Genesis 3:1-7

Dan Allender suggests that all marriages may be graphed on a four-quadrant scale, with domineering or passive points on the quadrants for men and women.  Two passive members might exhibit, for example, a no-conflict (but not enriching) marriage, two domineering members might exhibit a chaotic marriage, etc.  Did all this begin in the garden?

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, 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, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. (Genesis 3:1–7, ESV)

The serpent was a beast of the field, and a rather crafty (shrewd, cunning) one at that.  Is this why Adam and Eve do not seem surprised that he speaks?  Was he in another form before God’s judgment, which said he would crawl on his belly and eat dust?  Though he is an animal, Revelation identifies him as the Devil and Satan (Revelation 12:9).  So it would seem Satan was possessing this creature and using him to speak vile things to the first woman.

The serpent’s approach is to cast down on and deny the truth of God’s statements (you will not die if you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil), thereby creating doubt about God’s goodness.  He asserts that God is keeping a great blessing from Eve, forbidding her to become like God who can determine what is good and evil. 

Eve “bites” the bait.  She does not understand that the tree is a test of obedience and trust, supposing the tree might be poison of some sort and that to touch it could be harmful.  But her reasoning (it is good for food, it is beautiful, and it will make her as wise as God) leads her to violate God’s rule.

Was Adam with her during this whole conversation?  If he was, or if he wasn’t, he nevertheless reacted passively, not choosing to rebuff Eve’s invitation to eat, not suggesting they wait and ask God to explain his side of things, not acting to resist the serpent or Eve in any way.  Many men have struggled since then with the same passivity, abdicating their leadership role.

Once they both eat, they realize they are naked, exposed and vulnerable, and make loincloths for themselves to cover their nakedness.  This may signal that in fact they have “died” in a spiritual sense, no longer confident in God and His protection, separated from Him and beginning to die physically (God will prohibit them from eating from the tree of life, verses 22-24).