The Fall
Let’s move on to the fall of Adam…the infamous bite of forbidden fruit that introduced
sin into the human race…and consequently, handed dominion of the earth over to Satan.
“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’?”
(Gen. 3:1)
Let’s look at this thing a little bit. First of all, if you’ll recall, God never told Eve not to
eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He told ADAM not to eat the fruit.
It was Adam’s responsibility, as Eve’s husband, to share that commandment with her.
Apparently, he did so, because Eve responded to the serpent’s question…but that’s
getting a little ahead of ourselves!
Who did the serpent approach? Not the husband….but the wife! He didn’t attempt to
get Adam to be disobedient directly…he attempted to get Adam to disobey by using
Eve. Had Satan approached Adam directly, there may have been a better chance that
Adam could have mustered a little more resistance. But that crafty ol serpent knew
that, so he went after Eve…not because she was the “weaker sex”, as some may
suppose…but because it’s easier to get anyone by sneaking in the back way, than
it is to approach em head on…
So the serpent went to Eve…the subtle, indirect way to get to Adam. And it worked.
Let’s look at his tactics. The first thing that ol serpent did was to go to someone close
to his target (Adam). The indirect approach. The second thing he did was to plant
doubt. “Did God REALLY say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”
“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.’” (Gen. 3:2,3)
Whether it was Eve that added that the tree couldn’t be touched, or whether Adam
added it as he passed God’s instructions on to his wife as they sat around the camp
fire one night, the word of the Lord was ever so slightly distorted for the first time.
In any case, as we know, Eve took a bite, then “She also gave some to her husband,
who was with her, and he ate it.” (Gen. 3:6)
It’s interesting to note verses 6 and 7 of chapter3:
“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the
eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave
some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them
were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together
and made coverings for themselves.”
Eve ate the fruit and nothing obvious happened. But when Adam ate the fruit…”THEN
the eyes of both of them were opened…”. Eve, in a sense was a victim of the serpent’s
con. Adam was simply disobeyed God and his one simple command: “Don’t eat the
fruit from that tree!”
It’s worth mentioning that “Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who
was deceived and became a sinner” (1 Tim. 2:14). Eve was DECEIVED. Adam was
DISOBEDIENT. He was standing right there beside Eve when she chomped into
that fruit. At any time, he could have taken it away, slapped it out of her hand, asked
her to stop, COMMANDED her to stop…but he didn’t. He wanted to see what
would happen. He wanted to eat that fruit, too, but he wanted to see what would
happen to Eve first.
And when he saw with his natural eye, that she still appeared to look the same, he
decided to take a bite, too….”THEN the eyes of both of them were opened…”
