The Eden Podcast with Bruce C. E. Fleming

Genesis 3:1-13 Attack and Betrayal

Episode Summary

The Tempter spoke to TWO at the Tree, using plural pronouns (you-both). Both ate and died. But they responded in very different ways. She ate only after being deceived. But the man joined Satan in rebellion against God. God noticed!

Episode Notes

Many blame Eve as the Temptress. This medieval idea is not what the Bible teaches. The Bible says the Tempter in the Garden was the serpent. That is why God cursed the serpent Tempter. And that is one of the reasons why, when we look for a curse on the woman in the Hebrew text, we find none.

Satan tempted both the woman and the man. The Hebrew text in Genesis 3:1-5 shows him using plural pronouns each time he says “you.” In other words, he wasn’t aiming his words at just the woman. He was saying you-two, y’all, you-both. And the man was right there listening to all he said. Neither the woman nor the man had ever heard a lie before.

The woman became a second-degree offender when she ate of the forbidden fruit. She did not sin on purpose. She ate only after being deceived. However, the man became a first-degree offender. He sinned on purpose.

There is a clear distinction drawn between first- and second-degree sinning in the Bible. God makes that distinction in the judgement of the three that comes next in the Garden of Eden.

GO DEEPER