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NASB | Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty (subtle, skilled in deceit) than any living creature of the field which the LORD God had made. And the serpent (Satan) said to the woman, "Can it really be that God has said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" [Rev 12:9-11] |
Bible Question:
Genesis 1:29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground - everything that has the breath of life in it - I give every green plant for food. Genesis 2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." (I can't help but notice God only commanded man not eat from this tree. The animals don't seem to be a part of this restriction. They were allowed to eat from every seed bearing plant and tree.) Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die." (It appears the serpent has already tasted the fruit and knows and its eyes have been opened) Genesis 3:14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals!" Is the serpent really satan? This is why God punished not only man, but animals too. But where is satan in this picture? |
Bible Answer: Hi Chynna The serpent is unregenerated man (man without Christ in his life)Heres my reasoning. GEN.3:1-7 Now the serpent was more subtil 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. Who is this serpent that is so subtil ( crafty , sly , shrewd ) and has the gift of speech? Unregenerated man ( man without Christ in his life ). Who else but man has the gift of speech , and can reason. You may say a parrot can talk but can it reason? Balaams ass spoke but it was God that opened her mouth NU.22:28 And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam. Nowhere is it said that God opened the mouth of the serpent. This serpent has the gift of speech and can still talk and reason today. Now some have said that the serpent lost its gift of speech as part of its punishment , but nowhere in the bible does it say this. Therefore we must conclude that the serpent can still talk today. Who else is this then but Unregenerated man. Now this serpent ( man ) comes and reasons with the woman to deceive her into disobedience to Gods command. Now in order to understand how the woman was deceived we have to look at what God says concerning the tree of Knowledge of good and evil. GEN.2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. What is this tree that can bring death to man? Now we know that death comes because of sin RO.5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. Therefore we can see that it is sin that brings death to man , but what brings us the knowledge of what sin is? The law. RO.3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Therefore the tree of knowledge of good and evil is the law for by eating of the tree death entered into the world. Now is the knowledge of good and evil ( the law ) sin RO.7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. So then if the eating of the law was not sin what was? Was it not in the breaking of the commandment THOU SHALT NOT, the fruit itself was not the sin , for after God created all the trees He saw that it was good.Gen.1:12 So then why did God command man not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil if there was nothing sinful in the fruit. Is it not because God placed a covering over man in the commandment THOU SHALT NOT , so that man would not see his sinful nature (remember man was created outside of the garden ) because when man sees himself though the eyes of a righteous God his sins overwhelm him and he runs and hides from God , just as Adam hid himself when his eyes became open. Where else do we find the phase THOU SHALT NOT is it not in the commandments that God set down for all men. (Ten commandments ) Therefore the phase THOU SHALT NOT is a commandment of covering , if we listen to it we do not eat of our sinful nature, but we have a foreshadowing of the covering that Jesus Christ gives us. Therefore it was not the eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that was mans sin but the breaking of the commandment THOU SHALT NOT.In Christ Scott |