You would expect a created being be loyal to its creator. Also the Elohim Jehovah God, the Divine Creator, wanted His creatures to be faithful to Him.
All the fullness of the Godhead was and is still thereto be that of mankind to make them complete. The Divine Creator made us in His image but did not endow us with the attributes of Deity. Though He had given man the possibility to give names to all things and to govern this world. He provided His omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, immutability and infallibility, for our defence. Man had to be satisfied with favour and full of the goodness of the Lord.
The first man (1° Adam) felt lonely and ‘fancied’ some accompaniment. He willingly or readily was quite ready to admit to his Creator that he loved somebody to talk to and to share ideas with. It was ‘of pleasure’ to have somebody of is equality around him. ‘Obliging’ or ‘willing’ he ‘on his own accord’ let his ‘mind wander’ to have a partner which he did not find in those already created creatures. His ‘spirit’ was ‘willing’ to have somebody who could be with him and help him.
Genesis 2:18-25 NHEBJE Jehovah God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.” (19) Out of the ground Jehovah God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. (20) The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a helper suitable for him. (21) Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall on the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. (22) He made the rib, which Jehovah God had taken from the man, into a woman, and brought her to the man. (23) The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” (24) Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh. (25) They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
There was no need to be ashamed because their thoughts were still pure and innocent in conscience. The covering of our body is the ensign of our bad thinking and going wrong or our sin. There was no proneness to lust or sin: they were and everything was “very good”.
Genesis 1:31 NHEBJE God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.
They got habitual to their environment, a planted garden in a place called Eden, which was in the east, in which they also saw the tree God had planted and had asked them not to eat of its fruit.
Genesis 2:8-9 NHEBJE Jehovah God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. (9) Out of the ground Jehovah God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:16-17 NHEBJE Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; (17) but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it; for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die.”
God ordered man something He knew they would be able to follow. It was not that God demanded more than man may cope. (Because that is not something God does.) God’s commandments are rules given to man in the knowledge that they should be able to keep them. In case God would have created human beings of which He knew they would not be able to keep or to observe His commandments that would have made Him to be a Creator of imperfect beings and also a cruel God or cruel Father, because when He cursed those who are at fault when He knows they cannot keep His rules He would have asked more than they can bear or demand more than they can do.
God had created the human beings with a free will. You may notice above the ‘signs’ of the feelings and the thoughts of man. It was the free mind and the capability of man to think and to reason that may have brought them to question their Maker.
From the man was taken a bone and as such being flesh of the man’s flesh the mannin or wo-man came living next to him and reasoning with him. They had all sorts of things pleasant in their sight and should have had no reason to complain.
With the tree of knowledge of good and evil in their sight, both Adam and Eve were confronted with the idea that they might also get the same insight as God and could come to know the good and evil. Though for them God having said that they should not eat of it, neither to touch it, lest they’ll die, seemed as if God was holding something back from them which they also could deserve.
The inner feelings or thought about that tree became very tempting. It was as a reptile creeping in their head, coming to their heart, making them to believe they could gain a knowledge which they did not have yet. The word ‘serpent‘ which can be found in many English translations stands for the Hebrew word that indicate “quickness of perception” or “to hiss, to divine”, in Greek, “to see” or also as the Hebrew meaning for a “voice of flesh”. It was an act of expressing (a negative view or reaction) disapproval, contempt, or dissatisfaction. They showed discontent with their situation God having the right to touch the tree of knowledge and to eat that fruit whilst they were forbidden to come near it.
The original wording in the books of Moses show there was such a sound uttered as an exclamation of derision, contempt, etc, which made them doubt God and go against His Wishes. Such going against the Will of God is called sin and makes the person an adversary of God, for which the word ‘satan‘ is used. Satan is an act (and not a person as such) of taking on adversary or offering resistance or opposition. Adam and Eve felt an aversion against their Maker the Most High Elohim and this brought them to eat from the fruit of the tree of knowledge.
Their backbone was not strong enough. Their willpower was not so strong they could resist their inner thoughts of trying out what it would give if they ate from that tree. By absence of consensus ad idem Adam gave in to the will of the woman and with her, tried to eat from what they thought would give them more power and would bring them on the same line as God.
It is this act of wanting to become like God and disobeying His commandment what brought to mankind the first sin or mortal sin and the fall of man.
Selfseeking in the hope to gain something he thought God kept secret for him man out of selfishness, self-willed went his own way , headstrong or high-handed his self-complacency and conceitedness brought him to take the fruit. With his own hands man took the fruit like the woman had done in the hope to receive self-satisfaction, knowledge and more power.
The first human beings their mind had become adverse to or at enmity with God.
Genesis 3:1-8 NHEBJE Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Jehovah God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?'” (2) The woman said to the serpent, “Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, (3) but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'” (4) The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t surely die, (5) for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (6) 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 gave some to her husband with her, and he ate. (7) The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. (8) They heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah God among the trees of the garden.
Psalms 12:4 NHEBJE who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail. Our lips are our own. Who is lord over us?”
Now they had found a liar in themselves. (Proverebs 30:6) Their idea of becoming like God made that they gained knowledge of good and evil, like God had warned them. Every thing that is desirable to be known could have been that knowledge. But with it came also what they thought God would not bring over them. This means that they thought God was not telling the truth or that God was a liar. But God always tells the absolute truth and does not tell lies. This means that those who love God believe that God is always clear in His speaking and does not hide something but always says how it is.
Eve doubted of the certainty of what God had said whilst her partner the 1° Adam plainly and cleanly impugned it. God’s veracity was attacked first, than the truth of God’s Word was doubted and God‘s benevolence and goodness toward humankind was also further attacked (Genesis 3:5).
In a way it is ironical that mankind tried to grasp from God what was already his and was not willing to be patient enough to see everything evolve. The rabbis say that the eyes and ears are windows of the soul and what we let in, grows in our heart until the fateful act is committed. Eve is the first example given to us and should also be a warning to be alert and to not let us be carried away by our bad inner thoughts.
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Preceding posts:
The very very beginning 2 The Word and words
A multifold of elements in creation and a bad choice made
Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 1
Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 2
Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 3
Genesis – Story of creation 5 Genesis 3:1-12 Eating of the fruit-tree of knowledge
Genesis – Story of creation 6 Genesis 3:13-24 Enmity and curse
Man in the image and likeness of the Elohim #8 The Formation of woman #1
Man in the image and likeness of the Elohim #9 The Formation of woman #2
Continues with: First mention of a solution against death 2 Harm or no harm and naked truth
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Additional reading
- Creator and Blogger God 2 Image and likeness
- Creator and Blogger God 3 Lesson and solution
- Creator and Blogger God 5 Things to tell
- An anarchistic reading of the Bible (2)—Creation and what follows
- Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #1 Creator and His Prophets
- A god who gave his people commandments and laws he knew they never could keep to it
- The faithful God
- Story of Jesus’ birth begins long before the New Testament
- You Need Light for Your Path
- God’s wisdom for the believer brings peace
- Dignified role for the woman
- Satan the evil within
- The Devil Not A Personal Super-Natural Being
- Messenger of Satan
- Epicurus’ Problem of Evil
- The Existence of Evil
- The Soul confronted with Death
- Lord in place of the divine name
- People Seeking for God 2 Human interpretations
- To be carried away – meeslepen of laten verleiden
- Immortality, eternality – onsterfelijkheid, eeuwigheid
- Getting to know the Truth
- The naked truth is always better than the best dressed lie
- How to look for and how to handle the Truth
- The truth is very plain to see and God can be clearly seen
- Thy Word is Truth
- Bible, helmet of health, salvation and sword of the spirit
- Determined To Stick With Truth.
- Truth never plays false roles of any kind, which is why people are so surprised when meeting it
- It is a free will choice
- Sincerity not a test of truth
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Further reading
- 1. Creation
- Whence Creation…
- In the Garden
- Ferenc Helbing (Hungary, 1870-1958), The Garden of Eden
- Seated in the Clouds, Ruling in the Earth
- Bible Study: Insights in Genesis: Adam and Eden
- Bible Study: Insights in Genesis: Adam Dominates
- Adam and Eve
- Adam, Eve and Lilith
- Adam, Eve, and Mara
- Adawn and Eve nun
- Was Eve really made from one of Adam’s Ribs?
- Out of a rib
- Genesis 1-4: The Tree of Life and the Protoevangelium.
- What does the Story of Eden Tell Us? Is it about Sin?
- A Compromised Free Will in John Milton’s Paradise Lost
- The Faulty Foundations of Faith Alone – Part 2: Original Sin?
- Surviving the generations
- Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 1)
- Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 3)
- Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden (Part 5)
- Eve and the Apple of Doom
- Genesis 3:20, Life in a Dying World
- Genesis 3:21,Yes, There is Hope for Us Yet
- Swords Genesis 3:23-24
- The Simplicity of the Gospel
- Did Adam’s Garden Have a Talking Snake?
- Snake Dragon
- Snake in the Grass
- Exchanging the Truth of God into the lie…
- Alas, Poor Adam
- Let go
- Becoming a Man
- Pope Francis and the Search for Adam
- The First Kiss
- From Adam to Jesus
- Adam and Eve as a figure of Christ and the Church
- Know who you are in Christ, because Adam and Eve didn’t
- Is God a Feminist?
- What Does God Know?
- Human Beingness
- Hungry for God
- Are You a Playing Field for God or The Devil?
- Are You Free?
- We Do Not Inherit Original Sin from Adam
- Eve Makes Intercession And So Does Dawna~
- Giver Of Life!
- Motherly Love
- Improving Your Life
- A Poem to a Friend
- The Fake Apology & the Garden of Eden
- What does the Story of Eden Tell Us? Is it about Sin?
- In the Garden
- “Walking in the Spirit”…of Truth
- A Circle Has No Start or End
- Healing the Divide I – Death and Sin
Isis, the Kurds, and the Garden(s) of Eden- How Rival Gardens of Eden in Iraq Survived ISIS, Dwindling Tourists, And Each Other
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Messiah For All 
Chuck Link reacts:
25 mei om 23:38
I’m having first principle classes with an outsider who believes in a literal devil and yesterday we started discussing the devil. I noted that “devil” is not mentioned once in the KJV Old Test. That the devil is a personification of sin, just as wisdom is referred to as a she. I noted devil actually means false accuser, liar, slanderer, defamer. That sin is from within, etc. Said other things of course and will say more Lord willing, the next time we meet. The outsider noted several things in support of a literal devil:
1. the outsider observed that if the devil refers to the broad concept of sin why is the definition of the Greek word limited to “false accuser, liar, slanderer, defamer” which is much more limiting than the more global concept of sin. How should I best answer that?
2. the second observation by the outsider is in some instances it refers to “the” devil as opposed to “the” wisdom. Judas was “a” devil but in some instances the Bible refers to “the” devil which this person feels is more likely a literal devil. Any advice for addressing this as well?
Darren Sutcliffe responds to Chuck,
The best way for me when coming into the Truth to understand that there is no personal devil was learning first the difference between Immortality and Mortality, once I understood that, there is really no room for a devil. I think that would be a better angle, then once that is understood you could refer back to the meanings etc… I hope that helps….
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