Bible Analysis: The Book of Genesis
Genesis 3:1-13 gives the story of the serpent tricking Eve in to eating the fruit from the forbidden tree. The serpent tells Eve that the reason that God does not want her to eat from the tree is because then she will be all knowing as God is, and that God does not want them to have that knowledge. The serpent tries to deceive Eve in to thinking that God is “power hungry,” and that he does not want his creations to know all as he does. Eve seems as if she is in accordance with what the serpent is saying, and decides to eat fruit from the tree. She then brings the fruit to Adam and tells him to eat also. It is only then, when they eat the fruit, that Adam and Eve realize the world which they live in. They then realize that they are naked, and proceeded to hide from God when he appears to confront them. God asks Adam if they ate the fruit, and Adam replies saying yes and that Eve gave it to him.
The context of the passage is the Garden of Eden, a place where only Adam, Eve, and God exist. The Garden is a utopia that God created to house all of his creations, with special attention to man who God favored. At this point the “society” of the passage was only composed of these two people, and there was no formal political structure. The only interpretation of a political structure could be that God was in control over the Garden and those who inhabited it. There was no economy in the Garden, and there were no circumstances presented due to problems arising from an economic perspective. The Garden was simply a paradise created by God for all of his creations, there was no good or evil, birth or death, what existed in the Garden was to remain in perfection in God’s eyes.
A particularly interesting theory that was brought up by the Woman’s Bible Commentary was: “What if one notices that the snake does not lie to the woman but speaks the truth when it says the consequence of eating from the forbidden tree is gaining the capacity to distinguish good from evilâÂ?¦” (Newsom p. 14). This theory of the serpent persuading Eve to disobey God by using the truth adds a different perspective to the entire theme behind the Fall. If Eve was not “deceived” with lies from the serpent, then was the serpent’s motive truly “evil’?
The sentiment that people who read the Bible often feel is that Eve is blamed for the downfall of man in the Garden. Genesis 3:12 states “The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” This statement indirectly blames the eating of the forbidden fruit on Eve, and also indirectly describes her as an object that Adam has in his possession. There is no follow up in the scriptures stating why Adam decided to eat the fruit even though he knew which tree it came from. After Adam accused Eve of being the reason that he ate the fruit, God then asks Eve “What is this that you have done?” (Genesis 3:13). Adam’s placement of blame on Eve seems to be sufficient to the Lord, and then the Lord turns to Eve to find out why she disobeyed him. There is no further inquisition by God to Adam as to why he followed through with eating the forbidden fruit when he knew where it came from. It should not matter who initiated the fruit-eating, but more so the fact that Adam and Eve both consensually ate the fruit which they were instructed not to eat by God.
The idea of the serpent tricking Eve was not only based in evil, “The test of the serpent was an ethical one” (Hughes pg. 11), meaning that it not only was to make Eve deliberately disobey God, but it was also to create an urge with in her to want the fruit that God had forbidden her to have. It was a decision between blindly obeying the order God had set and choosing the path of free will. The serpent “âÂ?¦had argued that restrictions were not good and had told Eve that because God’s plan contained restrictions, it was flawed.” (Hughes pg. 11) which was exactly what Eve needed to hear to be deceived by the serpent. The serpent knew that if it persuaded her with a logical reason that would make her feel controlled by God, that it could then manipulate her to do things which she would otherwise not have done.
The original form of Genesis 3:1-13 was that it was told as a story, a story of religious heritage, and it was used to convey a point to the listener/reader. It was inspired to Moses, who was then instructed to relay it to the God’s people. The story itself does not differ much when compared to other materials; it remains a story about the deception of man and the fall from the grace of God’s paradise. The only different version that I found was in the children’s bible, which was different only in the wording used, instead of serpent the word snake was used, and instead of fruit it was the apple. This is not extremely detrimental to conveying the meaning behind the story and in no way jeopardizes the impact of the story’s message. The wording difference was simply so that younger children within the church could understand what the story is about, since larger words are often confusing to a child’s ears.
The introduction of the serpent’s voice in this story is also extremely significant in the Bible, because “Up to this point, God’s word is the only word that has been at work, creating and commanding.” (Wiersbe pg. 15). The voice of God was exclusively heard until this point in the Garden. Adam and Eve had no choice other than to listen to everything that God commanded of them. When the serpent’s voice appeared it opened a door of opportunity for then to disobey God by. I am not arguing that this was a good opportunity, but rather an opportunity other than what was already in existence in the Garden for Adam and Eve. Versus 1-6 are often referred to as the Voice of Deception, due to the fact that the Serpent’s voice is introduced and is used to persuade Eve to disobey, whereas versus 7-13 are referred to as the Voice of Love, because God is speaking to Adam and Eve about their sin and does not kill them as he said he would. God has mercy on Adam and Eve and he does not punish them to the extent that he had originally said, but he still dispels punishment on them, one of the prominent ones being the pains of labor on Eve when she gives birth.
There are a few key words in the passage that are detrimental to the meaning which is to be conveyed. The word serpent is in the passage numerous times, but the interesting thing is that in Genesis the “serpent” does not seem to actually be Satan, but rather a voice of evil. I was always under the impression that the “serpent” was Satan who had come up to the Garden to trick Eve, but with a closer look at the passage and some interpreting I have found that the “serpent” does not mean that the devil came to the Garden, but rather the “serpent” was a gateway for evil to enter the Garden.
The significance of this story in the Bible is that it gives an account of how God created life, and how our world came in to being. It helps to give an answer to those who seek one with in the realm of religion. It is a story that gave people hope and faith in God, someone who loved them enough to create them. People look at the story of Genesis for an explanation of not only how we came in to existence, but also to see the examples set of how God feels about the creatures that he has created. When God did not kill Adam and Eve like he said he would, he revealed a compassionate side to Him and this is conveyed to those who read it. We learn that God will be there to forgive us even when we turn our back in sin. That is why the message of Genesis 3:1-13 has remained the same throughout time, it will be a constant reminder of a God who loved us enough to create us, and a God who was compassionate enough to forgive us when we have done wrong.
I feel that Genesis, for these reasons, should be looked at as one of the most important books in the Bible, because it conveys crucial aspects of the God/Man relationship, and displays to the reader that we always have a home with God, no matter what we have done. For a religious person who has faith in the Lord and His word, Genesis represents a story of our miraculous creation. It represents a God who wanted to share life with a world that he created, and who wants to be there to accept us with open arms no matter what mistakes we have made. This is a very important story because it also foreshadows that constant relationship between Mankind and God of sin and forgiveness. Through out the rest of the Bible the battle of good and evil will continue, and it is extremely important that God was established as all-loving in the very beginning. People who have faith in God and rely on the Bible as an important tool in their religious life need to understand that God’s love is awesome, and that we have it unconditionally.
