Sermon Tone Analysis

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.”

Elohim has multiple meanings

1.the supernatural being who originated and rules over the universe; the object of ancient Israelite worship

2.angels; god

3.god; idol; mighty one; judge; great; ghost; heavenly beings; majestic one; mighty

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.”

so we will study it as plural

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.

the accusation is that God didn’t want mankind to have the full potential of their abilities

this is implying that God had an ill-will towards mankind

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

rather than having a protective nature towards us

by eating the fruit, mankind DID obtain the knowledge of good and evil

He does not wish you to be like Himself

and in this respect, they became like “gods” or the fallen ones

remember, the fallen angels did know the good of God and the evil of the loss of God

By eating the fruit, man did obtain the knowledge of good and evil, and in this respect became like God

However, this knowledge is far from the wisdom that God possesses

This was the truth which covered the falsehood “ye shall not die,” and turned the whole statement into a lie

this is an experiential knowledge, not even close to touching God’s wisdom

God does not need experience to possess His knowledge

This is not the likeness of God,

the serpent seemed to be selling the knowledge as God’s wisdom

as if the angels were on an equal playing ground with God himself

for Adam and Eve the wisddom of God, in the sense of good, was already partially known

the likeness of God, in the sense of good, was already known

they knew the goodness of God, as a gift

For the knowledge of good and evil, which man obtains by going into evil, is as far removed from the true likeness of God

without having to embark into evil

This “wisdom”, sold by the serpent was truly imaginary

which he would have attained by avoiding

as it lead mankind only into sin and ended in death

whereas obedience to God’s command already came equipped with a life of fellowship with God

the imaginary liberty of a sinner, which leads into bondage to sin and ends in death

and therefore, the knowledge of true good

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

The serpent’s words were indeed decietful

and although our eyes were “opened” in a sense

we only gained a hideous experience of good and evil

we now knew for certain what good was by the loss of it

and we now knew evil from the misery of being cast into a sinful condition

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”

we now experienced the loss of paradise and our communion with the Lord

the crafty serpent hid the full truth from Eve and only offered a piece of the truth

of the happiness of a holy, and the misery of a sinful, condition

it was a deception of omission

in short.... it was a lie

he studiously concealed this result from Eve

Eve was misled by her own pride

desiring to rise to the rank and privilege of her angelic visitors

we do this today...

we let our desires to be someone else, to be something else motivate us

celebrity is desired by many

and we yearn to be like our idols on the silver screen and on the stage

not knowing the misery that they may be harboring

not knowing their pain and suffering

because we only know part of the story

we only see the good, and are sheltered from the bad

we don’t consider the potential disadvantages in the unknown

who, fired with a generous desire for knowledge, thought only of rising to the rank and privileges of her angelic visitants.

Satan suggested that disobedience would bring only advantages

and failed to disclose the miserable repercussions that accompanied this knowledge

WE know, you and I, that the devil was hiding not just a world of disadvantage

but an eternity of disadvantages

and not only an eternity of disadvantages

but an eternity of suffering

this deciever then twisted God’s motivation for issuing the command

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

he put forth this idea that God is not good and gracious

In the wisdom tradition the adversary argues the same case in Job

and instead claimed that God is selfish and deceptive

preventing man and woman from being in the position of the “elohim”

preventing them from attaining their full power and potential

I wonder if Adam and Eve had knowledge of the fall of the angels...

I would assume not considering the willingness to listen to the temptation

at this point in the narrative, satan had already been a failure in his attempt

to ascend above the throne of God

the narrative of the serpent presents a God who makes a peculiar demand

God is not good and gracious; he is selfish and deceptive, preventing the man and woman from achieving the same position as “Elohim”

and that he does it out of irrationality

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.”

Here, the enemy makes three empty promises

He lies and tells them that they will not die

Hence the serpent made three counterclaims:

He lies and presents the concept of “your eyes will be opened” as a positive thing, full of advantage

He lies and presents the concept of “knowing good and evil” as some sort of acquisition of all desired knowledge

True, they did not immediately perish,

but they brought upon themselves the inevitability of mortal death