Things That Were Written Aforetime...

Satan's Temptation of Eve

“Adam was not deceived” (1 Tim. 2:14). There is in that statement a very serious question surrounding the temptation of Eve. Later, Adam was criticized for heeding and sanctioning his wife’s decision (Gen. 3:17). This leads us to ask: “Why did Adam choose to partake of the fruit?” and “What explanation did Eve give for having made the decision to disobey God so blatantly?” Can we say that Satan spoke to Eve in secret because she was the weaker vessel? Her admission to being deceived is really a thinly veiled complaint (a poor excuse) that God did not give her the ability to discern between right and wrong. It (her admission) does not take into consideration, or at least it attempts to bypass the fact, that she simply sinned against the commandment of God.

Human foibles aside for the moment, we have a more ominous and distressing lesson from the temptation of Eve: Satan has not changed his ways. His mission will be discussed more in the section, “The Fall Of Man,” but when we view his methodology from the beginning we can find the telltale signs of a vicious liar at heart who has studied man quite intently.

We need to look closely at what allowed Satan’s temptation of Eve to succeed. Why was he so capable of implanting in the heart of Eve such an act of open and careless disobedience? The answer lies in a close reading of the text. It states:

“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, 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 gods, knowing good and evil.”

Here we read the deceiver’s words--”you shall not surely die”--as a promise of immortality. Has Satan given Eve a hope that God did not mention? Was she unaware or unwilling to accept what was inherent in the Tree of Life? She is clearly rebellious against God through her defiant action. Her hope is perhaps that she (and Adam) can have immortality without the “restrictions” placed on them by their Creator.

This mentality continues to exist today in a variety of “isms” and religious ideologies, but we get a first hand view with the scenario given in Genesis 3. Satan then tells Eve, “your eyes will be opened.” One might think of the overt vanity of those whose works, words, and ideas flourished in the “Age of Enlightenment.” Here for the first time the full frontal attack (enticement) is made on man’s desire for “additional” knowledge to reach another realm or dimension of being.

This continuous desire of man for that which is forbidden was developed in a book by Roger Shattuck (Professor of Modem Languages and Literature at Boston University) titled, Forbidden Knowledge. H Shattuck reads John Milton's poem, "Paradise Lost,"

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