| What the Devil told Eve? |
| (Genesis 3:1) Now the snake was the most cunning animal
that the Lord God made. The snake asked the woman, “Did God
really tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?”
From this question itself we can understand, the Devil’s intention
was to make Eve eat the fruit from the forbidden tree. The question
from the snake was not a straight one. |
| Eve replied in Genesis 3:2 “We may eat the fruit
of any tree in the garden, except from the tree in the middle of it.”
The reason Eve says for not eating from the tree in the middle is
that “God told us not to eat the fruit of that tree or even
touch it; if we do, we will die.” Here Eve made it clear that
if they ate from that tree, they would die. |
| Then the Devil who came in the form of snake replied,
(Genesis 3:4) “That’s not true: you will not die.”
When I read this, I found it full of lies. Through this statement
the Devil made it clear that man never dies if he rejects God’s
opinion about what is good and bad for him. When I go through the
words of the snake, I find that, the Devil is trying to say that God
is not a loving God, but a big liar and so one cannot believe God. |
| The snake continued (Genesis 3:5) “God said that,
because he knows that when you eat it, you will be like God.” |
| Through these words the Devil makes it clear that God
doesn’t like you becoming similar to him that is why he does
not allow you to eat the forbidden fruit that makes you similar to
God. Since you are not allowed to eat the fruit that makes you similar
to God, then God does not give value to you or love you. Man must
not to live with God, but he should live with the forbidden fruit
(money, power, material goods and social acceptance). It is these
that makes man similar to God. Man has to reach out for the gifts
of the forbidden fruit and not be with God. The Devil made it clear
that man never gets value or is unacceptable when he lives with God.
He explained that man is accepted only when he lives with God’s
forbidden ‘fruits’ (money, power and material wealth).
|
| In Genesis 3:5, The Devil said “and know what
is good and what is bad.” |
| The Devil explained that when you eat God’s forbidden
fruit then you become aware of what is good for you and what is bad
for you. Here the Devil is saying that the “forbidden fruit
will lead man into independence and so man doesn’t need to live
like a slave to God. God never wanted man to be independent, that’s
why man is not allowed to eat the forbidden fruit.” |
| Eve ate the forbidden fruit believing what the Devil
told her. She ate the fruit from the forbidden tree believing, what
God said was a lie. Eve believed that knowledge from this tree would
make man similar to God. Eve believed that God did not value man or
love him, when he forbid man from eating from the forbidden tree.
So both Eve and Adam decided to live with the fruit that makes human
beings similar to God. Eve and Adam believed that this fruit will
give them the knowledge of what is good and bad for them. |
| What actually happened when Eve and Adam ate the fruit
from the forbidden tree? Were they punished? That we shall discover
in the next chapter. |
