Place: The Garden of Eden, somewhere in Mesopotamia. Exact location unknown.
Major Characters: God, Adam, Eve, Serpent
Biblical Text: Genesis 2-3
"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?'" (Genesis 3:1)
In this passage, God places Adam in "a garden in Eden in the east" (Genesis 2:8), and causes trees to sprout from the ground, bearing all kinds of fruit to nourish him and the wildlife in the garden. However, God warns Adam, "You may freely eat of every tree in the garden-- except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die" (2:16b-17). Afterwards, God says it is not right for a man to be alone, and so decides to get a helper for him. God brings all of the types of animals to Adam, and he names each one, but no suitable partner is found for Adam. God then decides to make a partner that is like Adam, made from him. This partner is the first woman, who would later be named Eve.
Next, we are introduced to the serpent. It is implied later in the Bible, and generally accepted by Bible scholars that this particular serpent was actually Satan, or the Devil, a fallen angel originally called Lucifer. The serpent twists God's words, asking Eve if God actually said she cannot eat any fruit of the garden. Eve replies, saying that there is only one tree whose fruit is forbidden, and that God said she will surely die if she eats from it. The serpent tells her that she won't die, and that God is only trying to keep her from becoming like Him, because if she eats from the tree, she will have knowledge of both good and evil, as He does.
The serpent is definitely deceiving Eve here, but not as straightforwardly as one might think. If Eve ate the fruit, she would learn of good and evil, and she would surely die, but not in the way we think of. The Bible teaches multiple kinds of death. The word "death" in the Bible is close to our definition of "separation." The most commonly thought-of type of death, physical death, involves separation of the spirit from the body. But the type of death being talked about here is not physical death, but spiritual death, which involves separation of the spirit and body from God. The serpent in Genesis 3 seems to take advantage of this confusion of definitions in order to convince Eve that she will not die.
Eve sees the fruit of the tree and thinks it is beautiful and it looks delicious. She also wants the wisdom it will give her. The serpent's last words in the chapter are enough to get her to eat it. Eve gives in to temptation, initiating the Fall of mankind. Eve desires to share her newly found wisdom with her husband, so she shares some of the fruit with him. Adam and Eve then realize they are naked, which they did not even understand the meaning of before, so they cover themselves with fig leaves in their shame. They then hear God walking in the garden, and attempt to hide from Him in the bushes. God calls out to Adam "Where are you?" Now obviously God knows where he is, and He knows what Adam and Eve have done, but it is very likely He is testing them to see if they will confess.
Adam comes out from behind the bush and tells Him that he heard Him walking in the garden, so he hid himself. He says he was afraid of God seeing him because he was naked. God asks how Adam knows he was naked (again, he shouldn't even know what "naked" is) and also asks if he ate from the forbidden tree. Adam confesses, but blames Eve for giving him the fruit. When God goes to Eve, she blames the serpent for deceiving her. Adam and Eve both blame someone else for their sin, as people still do so commonly today. For these first sins, God gives a different punishment to each of them. First, He curses the serpent, "Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live" (3:14). This seems to imply that the serpent had legs before the curse, which means that it was not actually a snake, as it is so commonly depicted as, but probably some other reptile, closer to a large lizard. It likely became a snake as a result of its curse.
Next, the woman is cursed. Her pain in pregnancy is sharply increased, and her bond with her husband will be marred by a desire to control him. Finally, the man is cursed. He will struggle to cultivate the earth and obtain food from it. The ground is cursed because of him, growing thorns, thistles, and poisonous fruits. Finally, God banishes Adam and Eve from the garden for two reasons. For one, sin cannot exist in the presence of God, so by that logic alone, Adam and Eve had to leave His presence. The other reason was that the garden had another special tree in it called the Tree of Life. As the name implies, those who ate from this tree would live forever.
Contrary to the way it may seem, God was not cruel in the way He punished Adam and Eve. He punished them only as much as He had to. His gentleness in their punishment is shown by the fact that he gives them fur clothes in chapter 3, verse 21. These fur clothes would not only be more effective than the fig leaves Adam and Eve were using, but also much more comfortable. Also, God does not prevent Adam and Eve from eating from the Tree of Life as punishment, but rather so that they are not forced to live forever in a state separated from God. That way, they could be reconciled to Him eventually. For now, mankind had fallen and was separated from God, but there was hope if they placed their faith in Him.
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