Genesis 3:1-5 Ye Shall Be As Gods
3 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 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. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 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.
5 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
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.”
God The Hebrew word used here, elohim, is plural
Depending on grammar and context, the plural form can be translated as plural or singular
God or gods (divine beings)
It is the most common word used in the OT to refer to the singular God of Israel (over 2,000 occurrences)
But elohim here may be translated as a plural because of v. 22, where elohim says (according to a literal rendering of the Hebrew)
“they have become as one of us.”
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.
That is to say, it is not because the fruit of the tree will injure you that God has forbidden you to eat it, but from ill-will and envy
He does not wish you to be like Himself
By eating the fruit, man did obtain the knowledge of good and evil, and in this respect became like God
This was the truth which covered the falsehood “ye shall not die,” and turned the whole statement into a lie
For the knowledge of good and evil, which man obtains by going into evil, is as far removed from the true likeness of God
which he would have attained by avoiding
the imaginary liberty of a sinner, which leads into bondage to sin and ends in death
from the true liberty of a life of fellowship with God
then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil
His words meant more than met the ear. In one sense her eyes were opened; for she acquired a direful experience of “good and evil”
of the happiness of a holy, and the misery of a sinful, condition
he studiously concealed this result from Eve
who, fired with a generous desire for knowledge, thought only of rising to the rank and privileges of her angelic visitants.
suggest that disobedience, far from bringing any disadvantages, will in fact bring an advantage—“you will be like God” (v. 5).
The motivation for God’s command is impugned by the serpent
In the wisdom tradition the adversary argues the same case in Job
God is not good and gracious; he is selfish and deceptive, preventing the man and woman from achieving the same position as “Elohim”
What are we to say of God’s actions?
Admittedly, the narrative presents a God who makes a peculiar demand, on the face of it out of “sheer irrationality.”
Hence the serpent made three counterclaims:
First, they will not die
Second, “your eyes will be opened,”
a metaphor for knowledge
suggesting a newfound awareness not previously possessed
finally, they will gain what belongs to God,
“knowing good and evil.”
Essentially he is contending that God is holding her back—a claim that is sometimes echoed today
When set in the larger context of the story, the serpent’s words are shown to be both true and false
They proved true in that the man and woman did not immediately die physically
Their eyes were indeed opened (v. 7), and they obtained knowledge belonging to God as the serpent had promised
However, the serpent’s half-truths concealed falsehood and led the woman to expect a different result altogether
The serpent spoke only about what she would gain and avoided mentioning what she would lose in the process
Though the man and woman did not die immediately upon eating the fruit, the expectation and assignment to death were soon enough
Furthermore, they experienced expulsion from the garden, which was indicative of death
Although their eyes were opened, they were rewarded only with seeing their nakedness and were burdened with human guilt and embarrassment
Although they became like God in this one way, it was at an unexpected cost
They achieved isolation and fear
The couple was cut off as well from the possibility of life, the one feature of divinity for which otherwise they were destined
They obtained “wisdom” in exchange for death
The climax is a lie big enough to reinterpret life (this breadth is the power of a false system)
dynamic enough to redirect the flow of affection and ambition
To be as God, and to achieve it by outwitting him, is an intoxicating programme
God will henceforth be regarded, consciously or not, as rival and enemy
He promises them advantage by it
they would be such fools as to venture upon the security of one that had himself become a bankrupt
he undertakes they shall be gainers by it
unspeakable gainers
He could not have persuaded them to run the hazard of ruining themselves if he had not suggested to them a great probability of bettering themselves
He insinuates to them the great improvements they would make by eating of this fruit
And he suits the temptation to the pure state they were now in, proposing to them, not any carnal pleasures or gratifications, but intellectual delights and satisfactions
These were the baits with which he covered his hook
[1.] “Your eyes shall be opened
[2.] “You shall be as gods
[3.] “You shall know good and evil
[4.] All this presently: “In the day you eat thereof
[1.] “Your eyes shall be opened; you shall have much more of the power and pleasure of contemplation than now you have
you shall fetch a larger compass in your intellectual views
and see further into things than now you do.
He speaks as if now they were but dim-sighted, and short-sighted, in comparison of what they would be then.
[2.] “You shall be as gods, as Elohim, mighty gods
A most absurd suggestion! As if it were possible for creatures of yesterday to be like their Creator that was from eternity
not only omniscient, but omnipotent too;
not only omniscient, but omnipotent too;”
or, “You shall be as God himself, equal to him, rivals with him
you shall be sovereigns and no longer subjects, self-sufficient and no longer dependent
A most absurd suggestion!
As if it were possible for creatures of yesterday to be like their Creator that was from eternity
[3.] “You shall know good and evil
that is, every thing that is desirable to be known.”
To support this part of the temptation, he abuses the name given to this tree
it was intended to teach the practical knowledge of good and evil, that is
of duty and disobedience
and it would prove the experimental knowledge of good and evil, that is, of happiness and misery
In these senses, the name of the tree was a warning to them not to eat of it
but he perverts the sense of it, and wrests it to their destruction
as if this tree would give them a speculative notional knowledge of the natures, kinds, and originals, of good and evil
[4.] All this presently: “In the day you eat thereof you will find a sudden and immediate change for the better.
Now in all these insinuations he aims to beget in them
First, Discontent with their present state
Secondly, Ambition of preferment, as if they were fit to be gods.
Satan had ruined himself by desiring to be like the Most High
and therefore seeks to infect our first parents with the same desire, that he might ruin them too.
He insinuates to them that God had no good design upon them, in forbidding them this fruit
as if he durst not let them eat of that tree because then they would know their own strength
and would not continue in an inferior state, but be able to cope with him
or as if he grudged them the honour and happiness to which their eating of that tree would prefer them
This was a great affront to God, and the highest indignity that could be done him,
a reproach to his power, as if he feared his creatures
much more a reproach to his goodness, as if he hated the work of his own hands
and would not have those whom he has made to be made happy
It was a most dangerous snare to our first parents
as it tended to alienate their affections from God, and so to withdraw them from their allegiance to him
Thus still the devil draws people into his interest by suggesting to them hard thoughts of God
and false hopes of benefit and advantage by sin.
Let us therefore, in opposition to him, always think well of God as the best good
and think ill of sin as the worst of evils
thus let us resist the devil, and he will flee from us
then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil
thus let us resist the devil, and he will flee from us
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
I am the way, the truth, and the life:
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
