Everything was going well in the Garden of Eden – until the day the serpent showed up. This devotional reading looks at the serpent and his initial question to the woman.
Nuggets
- Satan was disguised as a serpent when he went to tempt the woman.
- Satan asked a question for clarification, getting the woman to articulate her faith.
The man and the woman had a cushy job. They were caretakers of the Garden of Eden. We don’t know how long they were able to enjoy this job.
God gave humankind one law. It was all about obedience – or rather we should say, disobedience.
We may think that the only moral character being addressed was integrity. Really, though, this change of character resulted in depravity and alienation from God.
And this wasn’t only for the man and woman but also for all their descendant – including us.
What God really wanted to know was what their relationship with Him looked like.
Yep, that didn’t end well.
Let's Put It into Context
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Devotions in the Celebrating Creation’s Story series
Let's Put It into Context #2
What was the original state of man? We like to think that the man and woman were adults.
We also like to think that they were also steak adults. This is especially true if we think the Day of the Lord will lead us back to the Garden of Eden.
Look what Alexander said. He wrote we have the delusion that, during their Garden tenure was, their “… intellectual and moral nature was in its highest degree developed ….” Nope. That is a delusion.
Alexander was right. Highly developed does not equate to being naked.
Reality, according to Alexander, was something else. He wrote, “Man, as he came from the hand of his Maker, was a free, intelligent, self-governing agent, capable of development, and needing experience, trial, and use in order to attain both the proper growth of his physical and mental faculties, and the strengthening, maturing, and perfecting of his moral nature.”
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The process of experience, trial, and use our what we call sanctification.
Remember, sanctification is a process. It is a slow, life-long process.
But that growth is built on our choices. We have to choose who we are going to be. We have to choose if we will obey or disobey God.
The Serpent
“The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made. One day he asked the woman, ‘Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?’ ‘Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,’ the woman replied. ‘It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, “You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”’ ‘You won’t die!’ the serpent replied to the woman. ‘God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.’ The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves” (Gen. 3: 1-7 NLT)
Satan was disguised as a serpent when he went to tempt the woman.
Satan’s fall from God’s grace would have already happened, although we aren’t told about it in Genesis. We don’t know where he went after he got kicked out of Heaven.
The enemy of God knew about our world. He has been known to roam earth. “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (I Pet. 5: 8 NLT).
What was Satan’s sin? Pastor Steve said in a recent sermon, “Satan’s sin was wanting to be like God and take over Heaven.” Hold that thought.
But let’s dive into Satan’s sin a second. This uncredited sermon really got me thinking.
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Satan tempted humankind to sin. Who tempted Satan to sin?
It wasn’t God. Yes, God tests us, but we never read of God testing the angels.
Satan’s sin came from himself. He didn’t have any external nudging, pushing, or prodding.
Ooo, baby. When I think about that, it gets me. Satan had it made in the shade in Heaven — and that wasn’t good enough for him.
Instead, Satan wanted to be God.
But there is more. Satan convinced supposedly one-third of the angels to believe he was a god, turn into demons, and left with him (Rev. 12: 4).
What if Satan had remained faithful to God? Would humankind still have sinned? Would Adam have become Satan?
Remember, temptation isn’t a sin. It is completing the sinful act that is evil.
Bottom line is Satan is real regardless of how he presents himself. His actions are real.
Back to the Genesis 3.
Surprised that Satan presented himself as a serpent? Well, that is probably by design.
Satan’s goal is to manipulate us so that we will sin. Satan is good at disguising himself so that his true character is concealed from us.
Satan hides in plain sight. Spiritual warfare attacks us through our thoughts.
Most of us have queasy stomachs when we think about serpents – or snakes, as many of us call them. But back in the Garden of Eden, I don’t think there was any fear among the different species.
True, there were wild animals. “God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good” (Gen. 1: 25 NLT).
They were tame enough for them to come to Adam to be named. If there were fear on either side, they wouldn’t have come to him.
So, I don’t see the woman being afraid of the serpent.
We don’t know if animals were able to talk after they were first created or not. Was the serpent speaking in Genesis 3: 1 a one-time shot or a last-time deal?
Either way, language was, as Jacobus said, a revelation. Even there, humankind could not depend on its intelligence to implement a language.
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Boardman’s argued that some see language anywhere from a man-made invention to an issue of convention to imitation of sounds of nature. Was it a gift, or was it taught?
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No, I don’t see the last one. Yea, animals probably have a way to communicate among species. But our language is a higher form than that of animals.
Bottom line is we don’t know how language was introduced and to whom/what.
But think about it. Language — on its own — isn’t much of a thing. We have to add in thought, knowledge, and memory. Then there is an evaluative process of what we hear and of what we say based on emotions and feelings.
Then we get into self-talk and interpersonal communication. Our evaluative process really kicks into gear when we are communicating with someone else. That adds the complexity of listening and speaking — and jumping back and forth.
He Said
“… One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” (Gen. 3: 1 NLT)
Satan asked a question for clarification, getting the woman to articulate her faith.
I think we first have to talk about why Satan hated humankind so much that he decided to tempt the man and woman to sin.
Law thought Satan was jealous of humankind. He was kicked out of Heaven while they were given this beautiful garden in which to live. Not only that, but they were also very happy in their lives.
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Don’t we know people like that? They are not at peace, so they will not allow us to be at peace — if they have anything to say about it!
Satan is not one to back down from a challenge when we resist him. He may finally back down, but not before he has tried the most daring, reckless, foulest temptations.
We cannot discount Satan’s power.
- “We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one” (I Jn. 5: 19 NLT).
- “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God” (II Cor. 4: 4 NLT).
- “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (I Pet. 5: 8 NLT).
Back to Genesis 3.
Satan’s first volley was masterful. He didn’t accuse God of being mean or selfish. He made it sound like he honestly wanted to know what God said.
It was cleverly worded. It was a lie shaded with the truth.
Did Satan know God’s Word is true? Of course, he did. He was an angel!
It was a leading question because he knew that God had not said that. He knew good and well that God had not put all the trees off limits.
In fact, Satan knew that it was almost exactly the opposite. God had given the humans permission to eat freely of all the trees — except the one, which they were supposed to leave alone.
Do we know of people who can and will debate whether the sky is blue, and grass is green? Oh, they know, but that doesn’t stop the argument.
To Satan, it wasn’t the point how many trees on which God placed restrictions. The point was God had put something off limits.
Ooo, baby. We don’t like being told no. We hate restrictions. Satan wants us to think that we shouldn’t have any standards, laws, and commandments of which we must follow.
We have to be very careful when we address God’s restrictions of something. We can’t say there is nothing wrong with the thing being restricted so we can go ahead and do what we want. His restrictions may be a test of obedience.
Pastor Steve nailed it in a recent sermon. He said, “Satan did not get Adam and Eve to doubt God, just God’s Word.”
We have to be doubly careful when we start to debate God’s Truth.
The problem is we want to have options. We’ve got that little thing called free will.
We should want to make the right decision.
We have to be very careful when Satan starts tempting us. If we don’t know exactly what God said in His Word, we might fall for his lies as the woman did.
We need to know God’s Word to know what is Truth.
Wardlaw had an interesting observation. He said that Satan didn’t really say that God shouldn’t give humankind laws. He was questioning the severity of the law. He wanted to show the restriction as not in humankind’s interest.
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But still, Satan doesn’t outright attack God. He knew the woman had a good relationship with her Creator. He didn’t want to trash Him outright.
Satan also knew humankind had an intelligence that other animals did not have. He had to approach her acknowledging this ability, not trashing her, either.
But let’s think about something. Why was the fruit off limits? There was nothing wrong with it, such as it being poisonous.
God told the humans that they couldn’t eat the fruit just because. (Ooo, baby. Don’t we hate it when our moms said that to us?)
God doesn’t have to put restrictions on something only because it is hazardous to us. He can use anything to test us.
The Protoplast told us to remember God can’t produce something that is evil. Well, yes and no.
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- “But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil. Will you wink at their treachery? Should you be silent while the wicked swallow up people more righteous than they?” (Hab. 1: 13 NLT).
- “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things” (Isa. 45: 7 KJV).
The NLT translates the create evil in Isaiah 45 to mean God allows the bad times to happen. That is true.
But I think that, even if God did not create sin, He create the opportunity for us to choose not to obey Him — which is a sin. Satan’s disobedience and consequently ours gave sin its power.
So, isn’t it almost the same thing?
Making the Connections #1
“But the Lord God warned him, ‘You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden — except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die’” (Gen. 2: 16-17 NLT)
Was it a good thing that God gave humankind this one law? If God knew that the man and woman would disobey Him, did God set them up for failure?
Yes, it was and no, God didn’t. He provided them with grace to strengthen them. “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God” (Eph. 2: 8 NLT).
Wait! What???? That is a New Testament verse? How can we apply it to the Old Testament????
But can’t we? “And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith” (Gen. 15: 6 NLT).
What did Ephesians 2:8 say? “… grace when you believed …” (Eph. 2: 8 NLT).
The bottom line is humans — each individually — make their own choices. God gives us grace to strengthen us to make the right decision, but God does not force us to choose. Him.
Because He knew the choices, God set up Ephesians 2: 9 and several other verses.
- “Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it” (Eph. 2: 9 NLT).
- “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved” (Ac. 4: 12 NLT).
- “You must not have any other god but me. You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea” (Ex. 20: 3-4 NLT).
- “Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me’” (Jn. 14: 6 NLT).
Only through faith in Jesus can we be fully restored to being made in the image of
God. We can get back to there – if we believe.
God went from Adam’s covenant to Christ’s covenant.
Making the Connections #2
We sort of touched on the fact that we don’t know timing of these events. We don’t know how long it was between the time God formed the man and made the woman. We don’t know how long they lived in the Garden of Eden.
Since this is Chapter 3 (and chapter and verse are manmade designations) of fifty chapters, we assume it is early on in the history of humankind. But we don’t know for sure.
Part of me thinks God would want the test of our obedience right away. Are you surprised at that?
It would be easy to think that God would want the perfectness of the Garden to last as long as possible. Well, it would be easy to think God wouldn’t want it to happen at all.
If it wouldn’t be allowed to happen at all, that would make God a dictator. God isn’t that.
The man and the woman were offered a choice starting in Genesis 2: 15-17. We had to now right away what their choice will be.
Look at Ainger’s definition of righteousness. He wrote, “The righteousness which the Scriptures reveal is the knowledge of a communion with God.”
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Righteousness is the comprehension of a kinship with God. We understand that we were not only made in His image but that we also have to have His character.
How Do We Apply This?
- Don’t give Satan the opportunity of even a toe hold in our lives.
- Fortify ourselves against Satan’s charm.
- Don’t be fooled by Satan’s lies.
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Father God. Satan is so devious. May we be strengthened by burying ourselves in Your Word so that we can obey You when we are tempted. Amen.
What do you think?
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