The Fall
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 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.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 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. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (Ge 3:1–7). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
There was a curiosity stirring inside of her. A faint calling rising in the depths of her soul. It was the call of the wild. It began only as a whisper. But she could hear the call all the same. There was a quiet voice calling out to her. “There is more to all this than you are being told,” the voice whispered in her ear. It was a muted voice for sure, but it was enough. It was enough to cause a questioning to form in her. It was just loud enough to cause a curiosity to grow in her, and it was just strong enough to make her doubt. The next day, the doubt still loomed in Eve’s thoughts. The question still popped into her mind throughout the day. The LORD GOD sensed the change in her that day during their time together. He knew the voice. He had dealt with that voice before. He also knew the outcome of this ordeal. He would have loved to have stopped this path she was on but He wouldn’t intervene. He had created them to choose, and choose they must. They must decide freely to obey Him. He would not coerce them into obedience. He would not force them to live on His Wisdom alone. So He let this day play out without His interruption. That day as they worked side by side the voice became stronger in Eve’s ears. The curiosity was compelling. Slowly, step by step, she allowed Adam to go on ahead of her in their work. Soon she was able to wander off by herself to discover on her own this Garden God had placed her in. Or so she told herself. She excused her action explaining to herself it was her right as an individual to explore on her own. Eventually she found herself alone in the center of the garden. She stared at the tree of knowledge of good and evil, of blessing and calamity. “Enticing isn’t it,” Eve heard a sinister voice approaching her from behind. She recognized the voice immediately. It was the same one that had called out to her in the deep recesses of her thoughts. It was the voice of doubt. It was a call to the wild side. She turned and saw the Serpent approaching her. She wasn’t surprised by his presence. She had seen him lurking in the shadows of the trees. He was rubbing his hands together as if he had caught something in a trap. He subtly approached her. She noticed shrewdness and craftiness in his walk. “Can it really be that God has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the garden?” he asked her. He was hoping to convince her God was so unreasonable. “How I hate the Creator,” he thought to himself. “I hate Him and I hate all this He has created. I hate this creature before me because He loves her so. Look how stupid she is. How easily duped she can be. I will convince her to disobey. It won’t be that hard. I will just play on her innocence. She has left Adam’s side. She is alone. She is vulnerable. She has innocence. I will attack that area.”
The woman stood firm before him and said to the serpant, “We may eat the fruit from the trees of the garden.” She spoke confidently to the serpent. But then she made her fatal slip. “We may eat of any tree in the garden but this one. This is the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the knowledge of blessing and calamity. We must not eat of this tree. In fact we must not even touch it.” And in that declaration, the serpent knew he had her. He had found his opening. His plan of attack was before him. She had a vulnerability. She had added to the command she had received about the tree. He thought to himself, “She must also think God is unreasonable if she added to His command. She must not have heard the command straight from God. She is not prepared. She is weak in her knowledge of what God commanded concerning this tree. Here is where I will pounce. At this point I will trouble her thoughts about God.” He then walked over to the tree and touched it. Then he shook it so that some fruit fell from its branches. “See,” he said to Eve. “You will not surely die.” And then his craftiness and jealousy of God spewed from his mouth. “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and calamity. This is what God is keeping from you. This is what He is afraid that you will discover on your own.” And he held a piece of its fruit and waved it before her, under her nose so she could breathe the aroma in. Eve saw that the tree was good and suitable and pleasant for food. The serpent tempted all her senses with the fruit. She saw, she felt, she smelled that the tree’s fruit was desirable to look at. The fruit of this tree could make her as wise as God. She did not turn away from the tree. She allowed the tree to pull her in. She felt as though she was being sucked into it. She succumbed. She touched. She took the fruit. And then she ate. For the second time in her life, she heard a cock crow. “Adam must try this,” she thought. So she took the fruit to him. And he ate. Somewhere in the farthest part of the garden the cock crowed a third time. “How simple that was,” the serpent supposed to himself. “How smart I am. See Creator. I am wiser than you. I will make them all fall.” But he could not foresee the One who would defeat him by the Word of God. He could not know of the woman’s descendant who would crush his head, Jesus Christ Son of God. He was not omnipotent. He was not all knowing as the LORD GOD is.
The moment they ate the fruit together, Adam and Eve knew something terrible had gone wrong. What had they done? What had they allowed themselves to be talked into? They felt the shame rising from their souls. Their mind, their soul, their whole being knew how wrong this decision had been. Then their eyes were opened. Their innocence had been lost. Their mind knew that they were naked. They tried to cover their nakedness with fig leaves. They sewed these fig leaves into an apron and girded it about their loins like a belt. It didn’t work. The belt revealed the truth. Each knew the other was still naked. They knew they themselves were still naked. They were at a loss. They had no idea how to cover their nakedness. They had no idea how to cover their shame and guilt.