And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
As we ended last time, we see that Satans tactics have been the same since the beginning. In one form or another, he will tempt you with the following atatements:
1. Did G-d really say that?
2. G-d didn't really say that
3. Actually G-d doesn't want you to do that because he doesn't want you to enjoy things. This is especially true when he taps into one of your desires.
We see this exact modus operandi during his encounter with Eve.
1. Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2. We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.Ye shall not surely die: And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
3. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
One of Eves hidden desires or lust was the need for knowledge beyond the here and now or Satan would not have so easily and successfully tempted her. The proof is in the meaning of the Hebrew word, ta'avah, translated here as pleasant. Its root meaning is the longings of one's heart, ones lust, appetite and covetousness.
Eve fell due to her ungodly lust for whatever the fruit of the tree would give her. However, that is not the most incredible part of this story. Notice that Eve was tempted but Adam was not. All Adam had to do was to step back and say, "Girl...you're in trouble." and start pointing the finger, but he did not.
Adam freely took of the fruit and entered into Eves predicament. The penalty for disobedience, death. Was he stupid or was it an incredible act of love? If we step back and look at it, we see that it emulates the exact thing that G-d would do for us approximately 4000 years later.
G-d saw our predicament and took upon himself our death penalty of our sin. G-d gave himself as the only legitimate sacrifice. What an incredible act of love. In the same way Eve was given a new lease on life, we too have that same option. All we have to do is accept the gift.
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