Really, Is that True?

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

REALLY, IS THAT TRUE?

 

Gen 3:1-7

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, 3 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.'" 4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 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 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. 7 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.

NIV

This is one of the most interesting and perhaps one of the most important stories of God in the whole bible. We do not know the identity of this serpent, although there is the school of thought the devil had some play in this, but the text that follows with the punishment metered out to the serpent does not support that thinking. So then who was this serpent who had the power of speech? We would have to think this serpent stood upright with legs and perhaps arms and the other interesting fact is that Eve was not surprised to have a conversation with it, or we are not told she was taken back when the serpent spoke to her. We also know that Adam was the one who named this created being by God, just as Adam had named all the created creatures of God. This would mean that Adam had already met this serpent and for all we know it spoke at the time of its creation by God. Could it have been both Adam and Eve had previous conversations with this serpent? The other point here is the serpent was more crafty, more sly than all the others. The Hebrew word `aruwm has a direct meaning of subtle, meaning fine, not immediately obvious or comprehensible, difficult to detect or analyze, often through being delicate or highly refined, subtle scent. Is it any wonder Eve was not either surprised or suspicious when the serpent approached her? Also, this serpent did not bring up the tree of the knowledge of good and evil at first, it merely asked a question casting some doubt about what God said about the trees in the garden. Eve is the one who brought up the tree in the middle of the garden. However, the point of this whole narrative brings us from the previous statement that although Adam and Eve were both naked, they felt no shame. They were perfectly innocent beings, pure in thought, word, and deed. Once, they ate from that tree, all the purity went away, for now they saw their nakedness and covered themselves. We know good and evil and we know how subtle it can be. The devil may not come at us with a full frontal attack but slide in slowly and sleek, so we do not notice him and his schemes to get us to doubt the truth of God, and slip up in our thoughts, words, and deeds. This is why we need to always be in God's word, to keep ourselves alert to the truth, and thus be more conscience of the schemes of the evil one so that with the aid of the Holy Spirit and being fully dressed in God’s armor, we can more resilient against those schemes. Let us not be surprised or drawn into doubt by the words of that old serpent, the devil, when he asks, really, is that true?