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Genesis 3: 1–7 — The Serpent and the Forbidden Fruit · A Tithe of Time Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to a tithe of time, verse by verse.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Today we begin Genesis 3, 1 to 7, the serpent and the forbidden fruit.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Reading from the ESV.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: He said to the woman, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's look closer.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Who is the serpent?
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Does this passage identify him as Satan?
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Genesis introduces him as a serpent, more crafty than the other beasts of the field that the Lord God had made.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: It does not name him Satan here.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Later, Revelation 12, 9, and 22 identify the ancient serpent as the devil and Satan.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: That later identification connects the serpent with Satan, but Genesis 3 does not explain how Satan's involvement worked or how the serpent could speak.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: The serpent does not begin by directly denying God.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: He begins with a question.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Notice how the question changes the command.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: God had given the man freedom to eat from every tree except one.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: The serpent makes it sound as though God had forbidden every tree in the garden.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: The woman corrects part of that, but her answer also includes something not stated in the command we read in Genesis 2, neither shall you touch it.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Genesis does not tell us whether God gave that additional instruction elsewhere or whether it was added later.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: We know she said it, but we do not know where that part came from.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Then the serpent moves from questioning God's word to directly contradicting it.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: He says, You will not surely die.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: God had warned the man that eating from the tree would bring death.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: The serpent tells the woman the opposite.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: He then challenges God's motive.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: The temptation is no longer only about the fruit.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: The serpent presents God's command as though it is keeping them from something beneficial.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 6 shows how the tree now looks to the woman.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: It is good for food, a delight to the eyes, and desired to make one wise.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: What God had forbidden is now being judged according to what appears good, attractive, and desirable to her.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Then she takes the fruit and eats.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: She also gives some to her husband, who was with her, and he eats.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: That phrase tells us Adam was with her when she gave him the fruit.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: It does not tell us how long he had been there, whether he heard any of the serpent's conversation, whether he saw the serpent at all, or whether she gave him the fruit immediately after eating or later.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: It does not specify the exact location of the handoff.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: We should not turn those unanswered details into facts.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: The passage tells us that she ate, she gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: The serpent had promised that their eyes would be opened.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Their eyes are opened, but the first thing the passage tells us they recognize is their nakedness.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: That creates an immediate contrast with the end of Genesis 2.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Before eating the fruit, the man and woman were both naked and were not ashamed.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: After eating, they recognize their nakedness and sew fig leaves together to cover themselves.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: This concludes Genesis 3 1 7.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Next, we'll continue with Genesis 3 8 13.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, tithe your time.