4

Genesis 3:5 NIV

5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Down a few verses it seems actually God confirms what the serpent had told the woman

Genesis 3:22 NIV

22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

Did the serpent actually lie by saying man will become godlike after eating the fruit?

2
  • The question posted is akin to asking, "Did David say there is no God in Psalm 14:1?" Or, does being "least in the kingdom" signify hell in Matt 5:19? (David said, "the fool said there is no God," and Jesus said, "...least in the Kingdom of Heaven.") At the heart of biblical hermeneutics is the original text in its context. Also, the question may seem harmless -intended to strike up conversations - but gives the benefit of the doubt to the serpent, a liar, the father of it (Jn 8:44). Besides, when the devil speaks truth with evil intention, he no longer speaks the truth.
    – Sam
    Jan 6, 2022 at 23:32
  • The serpent said, you will not die, and that is a lie. A lie mixed in a truth statement makes the whole statement "Lie" that is worse than lie.
    – Sam
    Jul 1, 2023 at 8:07

19 Answers 19

2

Yes, the Serpent lied.

He lied about everything.

Robert Young correctly translates the crucial statement :

... the man was as one of us, as to the knowledge of good and evil. [YLT Genesis 3:22.]

Robert Young's meticulous and consistent renderings of Hebrew tenses are explained in his prefaces, particularly with regard to the controversy surrounding the WAW conversive. I recommend the reading of what he has to say about that subject.

To translate otherwise is to side with the Serpent and to be deceived as to whom God is and as to how he lives. The man, by creation, was as one of us, saith God, in Spirit.

But now, he is not. So now he must be banished from the Garden.

Otherwise, the Serpent is right : God lives by the knowledge of good and evil and since the man now, also, lives by that same rule . . .

In which case man is being banished for being as God is.

The truth is that that is not how God lives. And the truth is that that is not how humanity lives either.

Try to live that way . . . and humanity dies.

Yes, the Serpent did lie.

Lied about everything.

Misrepresented the tree by not correcting Eve's misconception. (Is that how a spirit should behave towards humanity in its inception ?)

Misrepresented the truth by saying 'Ye shall not surely die'.

And misrepresented God, slandering him by suggesting that God wished to remain aloof from his creatures, not desiring them to be as gods.

For God's true purpose (of which the first creation is but the first step) is :

For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. [Hebrews 2:10, KJV.]

God's true desire, which has not in any way been affected by all the works of the Serpent, is to bring many sons to glory.

7

There are two matters here that should be remembered:

  1. A partial or incomplete truth is still a lie. For example, to say something like, "Most dogs are dirty" is based on the incomplete truth that wild dogs carry disease; while well-kept pet dogs are clean and safe.

  2. Any lie is always based on a partial truth, else it will be ignored. For example, to say something like, "cows fly by using their tails as propellers" is simply ridiculous and would not be taken seriously. However, to say something like, "The flu vaccine does not work" is partly true and partly false (it is about 50 % effective meaning it prevents about 50% of infections)

The modern "science" of political "spin" has raised these two facts to an art-form.

In John 8, Jesus is discussing the "Father" of the Jewish people, which the OT declares was YHWH is several places (Deut 14:1, 32:6, 18, Jer 31:9, Mal 1:6) but the Jews failed to realize that this "Father" image of God was in the Character sense, not the rights of ownership sense.

In Gen 3:5, the serpent is telling a partial truth; Adam and Eve, by eating of the fruit, would become like gods knowing good and evil. What the serpent also failed to mention were the following facts:

  • "like gods" means that this was the only characteristic that they would share with God and that a whole lot of other things would be lost
  • they would lose their innocence and become sinful with a sinful human nature
  • they would lose their eternal long life and die (to be recovered by the promise of Messiah in V15)
  • they would be banished from the garden of pleasure (= "Eden")
  • life would become difficult with hard work

... and much else. Thus, the "truth" that the serpent uttered was an incomplete truth designed to deceive.

3

You should include the previous verse, Genesis 3:4

“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

The first part was a lie because this is what the woman knew (Genesis 3:2):

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 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.’

It is not clear if death was not present before the first sin but nevertheless, death was a punishment, which Satan lied about. The New Testament agrees that death was bought into this world by the first sin (Romans 5:12) (Romans 6:23) and that Eve was deceived by Satan (1 Timothy 2:14).

When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.

For the wages of sin is death,...

And it was not Adam who was deceived by Satan. The woman was deceived, and sin was the result.

The second part of Satan's statement was probably true because further below in Genesis it says

And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil...

So a half truth was used.

3
  • Welcome to Bible Hermeneutics SE and thank you for your contribution. When you get a chance, please take the tour to understand how the site works and how it is different than others.
    – agarza
    Aug 9, 2021 at 1:23
  • @agarza Thank you.
    – MoonBrew
    Aug 9, 2021 at 1:29
  • 1
    The unabridged form is likely: "You won't die!" the serpent replied to the woman. Then quietly added, "Well, not right away". "What was that?" asked the woman. "Oh, nothing to worry about". Aug 9, 2021 at 21:10
2

As you said, God confirmed that what the serpent had claimed was true.

One trick to lying is to tell the truth almost all the time.

… And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? … 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.
— Genesis 3:1,4–5

In this case the serpent always told the truth, except of course for one small word, "not".

1

I like Dottard's answer that Satan tells a half-truth because all-out lies would be unconvincing.

I may be digressing a bit from your original question but perhaps some context is in order to understand what Satan is really doing here.

The function of his half-truth is temptation. Who would not want to be god-like? It is noteworthy that this — true! — piece of information complements what God told Adam: You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die. That is also only a half truth: God doesn't mention that with knowledge comes power; and the second part — you will certainly die — must be understood in the context as an immediate consequence, which it was not. Adam and Eve became mortals and did eventually die, but that was not the direct consequence of eating the fruit as much as a punishment.

Perhaps they died in a metaphorical way as well, the way the child within us dies when we become adults: Adam and Eve became adults by knowing good and evil, and by being expelled from Paradise. Like all adults they were now self-responsible for their actions because they had been imbued with an internal moral compass: They now knew good and evil. In Paradise they had lived like children; on Earth not any more. They had to care for themselves and make their own decisions. Like all children who had grown up, they had to leave the home of their childhood. The child in Adam and Eve "died" when they passed on to this new phase.

Mankind had grown up.

It is part of the human condition that we struggle to reconcile our temptations and ambitions with being good. This is what we are. We know good from evil and we can do both. Being only good or only bad would be stale and stationary. It is the struggle from which development comes. Heraclitus knew that.

Satan was only telling a half-truth, but so was God. The synthesis is what constitutes us.

1
1

Satan always lies, even when he tells the truth. It's his defining characteristic. It is true that, as a result of his lie, humanity would unlock infinite knowledge of good and evil, everything from life-saving medical knowledge to the atomic bomb, and everything between that we have accomplished. But the lie was an omission of truth; Adam and Eve could have lived forever in harmony with God, but this act of rebellion caused their eventual death. It's worth noting 2 Peter 3:8, which offers us insight into how an omnipotent, omniscient Creator might view the passage of time.

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing: that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Note that this passage is a simile. It's not meant to state that Earth is literally 6,000-7,000 years old, or that each phase of creation took literally a day (approximately 24 hours each), but simply that there were six units of time (measuring in the eons) from which life eventually sprang from God's Word. Once you understand that God's "day" is vastly longer than our own use of the word, you can see that God stated that Adam and Eve's time on Earth would be drastically shortened, not that they would die within 24 hours of Earth time from consuming all knowledge.

From God's perspective, Adam and Eve did die on the same day they ate the fruit, even at the estimated ages of somewhere between 900-1000 years old in Earth time. It's also true that He observed that humanity had become as gods, able to restore life to the dead, curing all manner of illnesses, and so on. By selling his lie convincingly, Satan had done what he set out to do: break God's perfect creation and cause Him infinite grief at the loss.

1
  • This is such a good answer. As far as God was concerned, they died and the world that was then, and the earth started spiraling down to untold and unimaginable evil and suffering. Things got really really bad leading up to Noah's ark. So bad were things it's hard to explain. Aug 9, 2021 at 14:40
1

The big question is 'How does God live ? By the knowledge of good and evil ? '

This is answered by Young's Literal Translation (see his prefaces regarding the Waw conversive controversy)

Lo, the man was as one of Us, as to the knowledge of good and evil Gen 3:22. [YLT}

If the statement is rendered 'the man 'was' as one of us' then now he is no longer as one of us, he must be banished from the garden lends credence to the lie of the Serpent.

But God does not live by the knowledge of good and evil. Therefore, man should not do so, either.

Otherwise the lie of the serpent is truth.


EDIT after COMMENT :

Robert Young comments in detail, in the prefaces to his literal translation, his position with regard to the 'Waw Conversive' controversy.

That particular matter is better answered (in his prefaces) by Robert Young's lifelong dedication to the Hebrew language, than by myself.

11
  • 1
    @sara Please see Robert Young's prefaces to his literal translation in which he lays out his attitude to the Waw conversive controversy and explains his own position in regard to it.
    – Nigel J
    Aug 9, 2021 at 7:07
  • 1
    @sara I am following Robert Young, here, and I trust his lifelong dedication to the Hebrew language. Besides, it is the only logical translation. Anything else, as I point out, supports the lie of the serpent. Why banish the man if, by assimilating the knowledge of good and evil he has 'become as one of us'. ? ? ? Surely he is to be applauded and surely he must stay in the garden ?
    – Nigel J
    Aug 9, 2021 at 7:11
  • 1
    @Robert We look to the knowledge of good and evil for our living existence. Then we warn the man not to do as we do. When he does as we do, we banish him from our garden. As the serpent says - we know the man will be as we are, if he partakes of the same knowledge as we. And we do not want the man to be as we are. We want to be at a distance from him. We do not want to join in union with him. Or ---> the true God's purpose is to bring many sons to glory in a union of Spirit, in the Father, and under the Headship of Jesus Christ.
    – Nigel J
    Aug 9, 2021 at 17:57
  • 1
    @FaithMendel The man was as one of us, as to the knowledge of good and evil. For neither do we live by that knowledge. For God is righteous with a divine and everlasting rightness that requires no knowledge. God is. And God, himself is rightness.
    – Nigel J
    Nov 30, 2022 at 22:02
  • 1
    @DanFefferman You just don't see it, do you ? Humanity has no rightness for God alone is right . Out of the heart, man believeth . . . . . unto righteousness. That is to say the righteousness of God. Romans 10:10.
    – Nigel J
    Dec 1, 2022 at 23:47
0

Peace.

Yes, the serpent lied as he said to the woman “you shall not surely die” when God stated “you shall surely die”…or literally translated it should read “dying you shall die”.

It could be said (and probably is) that it means “to kill, you shall die”.

Genesis 2:16-17 KJV (16) And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: (17) But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

The serpent was saying “to kill, you shall not die”. This is about judging others (being judge, jury and executioner of another). Being “gods” is about being a judge supposedly for God (For God does know…).

Elohim = judges, gods. A “judge” knows what or who is “good and evil”. Yet, there is only One Judge.

Genesis 3:4-5 KJV (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.

To “kill” another is to judge another brother as an “evil doer” using an added carnal commandment as a basis for. The woman added a carnal commandment to God’s commandment (“neither shall you touch it”) to God’s and presented it as though God had commanded it. Death and life are in the power (hand) of the tongue.

Genesis 3:2-3 KJV (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.

Those who “kill” another think that they are doing God “service” ( For God does know…).

John 16:1-3 KJV (1) These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. (2) They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. (3) And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.

But there is only One Judge….One Lawgiver.

If we speak evil of another (“killing” them with the tongue so to speak ), we then become a “judge” ….putting ourselves above the law.

Many (wanting to be seen as wise….that is, desirous of their own vain glory) condemn others to “hell” because they do not keep a particular carnal commandment rather than practice the commandment to have love for one another. This is eating from the wrong tree and the fruit of that is death....the law of sin and death.

James 4:11-12 KJV (11) Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. (12) There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

0

The two questions you asked are:

Did the serpent lie in Genesis 3:5?
Did the serpent actually lie by saying man will become godlike after eating the fruit?

Unless the original question is edited to include other verses, my answer will only address Gen. 3:5. The answer to both questions is “no.” What the serpent said in Gen. 3:5 was the truth, as confirmed by God Himself in Gen. 3:22.

In Gen. 3:5, it is written (the serpent is the speaker),

5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall become like God, knowing good and evil.

ה כִּי יֹדֵעַ אֱלֹהִים כִּי בְּיוֹם אֲכָלְכֶם מִמֶּנּוּ וְנִפְקְחוּ עֵינֵיכֶם וִהְיִיתֶם כֵּאלֹהִים יֹדְעֵי טוֹב וָרָע

Later in the narrative in Gen. 3:22, it is written (God is the speaker),

22 And Yahveh God said, “Behold! The man became like one of us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he reaches his hand out and also takes from the tree of life, and eats, and lives for ever—

כב וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים הֵן הָאָדָם הָיָה כְּאַחַד מִמֶּנּוּ לָדַעַת טוֹב וָרָע וְעַתָּה פֶּן יִשְׁלַח יָדוֹ וְלָקַח גַּם מֵעֵץ הַחַיִּים וְאָכַל וָחַי לְעֹלָם

Keil commented on Gen. 3:5,

Keil, Carl Friedrich. Biblischer Commentar über das alte Testament. Erster Teil: die Bucher Mose’s. Erster Band: Genesis und Exodus. p. 68

By the eating of the fruit, the man becomes acquainted with good and evil, and in this respect, he became like God (v. 3:7, 3:22). This is the truth, by which the lie “You shall not die” is obscured, and the entire speech turns into untruth, which identifies its author as the father of the lie, who does not remain in the truth (John 8:44).

While Keil does discuss the assertion “You shall not die,” which I will not, he does state that the assertion, “You shall be like God, knowing good and evil” is the truth („Das ist die Warheit“). Did the serpent, at some other point in the narrative, lie?2 Yes. Did it lie in Gen. 3:5? Clearly not.


Footnotes

1 Keil, p. 68
2 This (i.e., mixing falsehood with truth) is a testament to the subtlety and cunning (עָרְמָה) of the serpent; cf. Gen. 3:1.

References

Keil, Carl Friedrich. Biblischer Commentar über das alte Testament. Erster Teil: die Bucher Mose’s. Erster Band: Genesis und Exodus. 3rd ed. Leipzig: Dörffling and Franke, 1878.

0

The issue with this question is the definition of ‘a lie’. And the answer differs depending on which definition you use.

According to the dictionaries definitions, the serpent did not lie. Everything he said was ‘right’. Eve did not die the ‘day she ate’. And she did become like a god.

GEN 3:22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, [snip]

However if you use the biblical definition of ‘a lie’, then the serpent did indeed lie. Eve did die as God said they would, instantly. As soon as they ‘ate’. According to God, anything that is not Truth, or more specifically, anything that is not God Word - is a Lie.

The issue theologians have is they either use our ‘western’ [dictionary] definition of ‘a lie’ or keep skipping between definitions. However biblically the answer to your Q is very clear. The serpent did indeed ‘lie’.

In fact, Satan can not do anything other than ‘lie’. He can not speak Truth (Biblically defined ‘truth’). Impossible. Although everything he says is ‘right’ if using a western dictionary definition of ‘lie’.

2
  • What do you mean when you say "Eve did die as God said they would, instantly"? At face value she did not, after all, certainly not instantly. Aug 9, 2021 at 11:22
  • @Peter - Reinstate Monica Eve ‘died’ spiritually. Instantly, as soon as she ‘ate’. She did not die ‘Physically’ for over 100 yrs.
    – Dave
    Aug 10, 2021 at 3:48
0

Yes, but that truth does not make him trustworthy. His lie was that "you will surely not die", which they did as the consequence of sin, and the separation from God. Satan is the personification of lie, disobedience or transgression of God's word. The lies contrary to the Holy nature of the truth. John 4:24 "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” and God is love; whereas whatever is hateful, from fleshly nature, is from the devil.

[1John 3:3-10 NHEB] 3Everyone who has this hope set on him purifies himself, even as he is pure. 4Everyone who sins also commits lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. 5You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him is no sin. 6Whoever remains in him does not sin. Whoever sins hasn't seen him, neither knows him. 7Children, let no one lead you astray. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil. 9Whoever is born of God does not commit sin, because his seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10In this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the devil. Whoever does not do righteousness is not of God, neither is he who does not love his brother.

0

Let's see the context, Genesis 3:4

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.

This directly contradicts Genesis 2:17

but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Satan directly and formally contradicts the words of God in Genesis 3:4. So Jesus was correct when he said in John 8:44:

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Now what about Genesis 3:5

For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

I'd interpret this according to the words of Jesus. According to Jesus, a lie was not just the outward words that Satan uttered. It included Satan's intention from the inside of him, from his heart if you will. His intention was to get Eve to disobey God's words and rebel. It is his natural practice to lie because he is by character a liar. Liar is who he is and lying is what he does naturally.

Does Satan tell the truth in Genesis 3:5?

No, he did not tell the whole truth. A better and deeper question is this: Was Satan a liar when he talked to Eve in Genesis 3?

Indeed, whatever partial truths Satan says at any time, his intention is to deceive. He is a liar from the beginning to the end, through and through.

0

I kind of get the feeling that you would expect every single thing to come out of Satan's mouth to be a lie because he is given the title "Liar" and "the father of lies".

But surely that isn't what the title implies. Satan says many things in the Bible, e.g. he discusses Job with God (Job 1:7-11) and he speaks to Jesus in the desert when he tempts him (Matthew 4:6).

Some of the statements out of Satan's mouth are true. That could be taken as proof that not everything he says is a lie. However, the meaning of what Satan says is deceptive. Eating the fruit would certainly cause a change and open Adam and Eve's eyes. But the knowledge of good and evil in this context was not better than living in obediance to God's will, because (as has been pointed out above) they would in fact become mortal, contrary to Satas

1
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    – agarza
    Aug 9, 2021 at 17:48
0

The nature of mankind's original sin is essentially the same as the reason for Satan's fall: - substituting our own judgement of 'good' and 'evil' in place of God's. Satan was cast from heaven for thinking he knew better than God what was good. And the sin he tempted Eve with was his own: to judge, without the wisdom and knowledge needed to judge rightly. Hence the very first consequence of eating the fruit - that they realised they were naked and that this was 'wrong'. But obviously if it had been truly wrong God would not have left them naked, any more than it is 'wrong' for the beasts of the field to be naked. This is a false judgement, a case of Adam and Eve putting their own judgement of what is 'right' and 'wrong' ahead of God's, and is thereby both the origin of human sin and also the cause of mankind's separation from God's guidance.

Thus we read in Matthew 7:

1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.

2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Humans are not capable of judging rightly between absolute right and wrong, but we have an irresistable urge to do so nevertheless, as if we were Gods ourselves, setting ourselves or our rules up in his place. This urge is what the fruit of the tree gave us. Every war, every atrocity, has been caused by one group of people acting under the absolute unshakeable belief that their own beliefs and practices represent 'good' and the other group's represent 'evil', and that any evil is justified in the name of stamping 'evil' out. Those who are with sin are always the first to cast stones.

Thus the message of salvation from original sin is "Do not judge". Forgive others their trespasses, so that we may be forgiven. Don't impose your ideas of 'good' on others by force. Don't set up material idols and ideologies as false sources of moral authority. Don't divide God's world with your own definitions of 'good' and 'evil' and then try to wipe half of it out. Stop arguing, and fighting to hang on to your intolerant, Manichean worldview. Throw away the fruit of the tree, for it is a deceiver.

Instead, accept that your own judgement of 'good' and 'evil' will always be flawed and fallible, and humbly offer yourself, flaws and all, to God's judgement. And you may find that what you was told was irredeemable sin is not so in the eyes of God, and that a heart filled with unconditional love - even for 'sinners', even for those you had judged 'evil' - has no room for sin as God sees it. Matthew 5:

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?

47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?

48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Satan may even have spoken sincerely as he believed it to be in his own state of sin, but he was in error. False judgement is worse than no judgement.

1
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    – agarza
    Aug 9, 2021 at 20:37
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Jesus says something very profound about Satan being a murder first before he calls him a liar. Generally speaking, we think it was God who brought death to Adam and Eve but it was Satan who killed them by lying to them. Jesus is the one who says that he was a man-slayer from the beginning

he was a man-slayer from the beginning. John 8:44

God warns Adam and Eve to not eat from the tree of good and evil and to dying they would die. Who was it that brought about their death? Jesus tells us that the devil was a manslayer from the beginning. Were Adam and Eve the first people that were killed? Yes! He did it by very, cunningly deceiving and twisting God’s word and saying you will not die. They took the words from the liar instead of God’s word and just like God said what would happen if they ate from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. Satan was calling God a liar when he says this in

And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die. Genesis 3:4

It was out of his heart that came murder. (Matt: 15:19) Their eyes were opened to their nakedness and they became afraid of the Lord. Shame and fear must have been the first thing felt and so they made aprons to cover themselves. They then hid from the Lord. The Lord was not hiding from them but wanted them to speak the truth back to Him. When they did, It was the kindness of the Lord to clothe them because they felt ashamed. He also asked them really a good question in

Who told you that you were naked? Genesis 3:11

They never did answer that question but we see the slander was already at work in their minds. Here is a definition of diablos where we the name of the devil.

1228 diábolos (from 1225 /diabállō, "to slander, accuse, defame") – properly, a slanderer; a false accuser; unjustly criticizing to hurt (malign) and condemn to sever a relationship. Jesus also give us more insight into the thief’s purpose.

The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. John 10:10

His lies were a false accusation against God by making them think God was hostile towards them by holding out eating from the tree because it would make them wise. It is interesting that Jesus first temptation that the in the wilderness with the devil was right after he had been fasting for 40 days and was hungry. Here we go with food again being the source of the temptation.

Devil said to him, 'If Son thou art of God, speak to this stone that it may become bread. Luke 4:3

The devil is tempting the Son of God to use his power of speaking to turn the stone into bread.

He wants Jesus to revert back to being the Son of God on earth instead of living as the Son of Man. Jesus responds back not as the Son of God but as Man.

Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'" Luke 4:3

Jesus once again is revealing that He alone was able to resist the cunning ways of the serpent through not giving in to the temptation to prove he was the Son of God on earth. He remained as a son of man overcoming the temptation by relying on God’s written word from Deuteronomy 8:3

We are always learning to know the truth that sets us free from the lies that have been embedded in our minds told by who?

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It appears that Adam and Eve were created with a susceptibility to deception. We have to admit that the serepent did not induce that. Secondly, the consequences of Satan's intervention alone suggest that he was up to no good and he knew that. Did he lie? In the sense that his effect was to subvert the creation, yes he did. When he tempted Jesus, it appears he was just on a reconnoitering trip. Because Jesus had two advanteges over Adam: He knew what had happened to Adam and Eve and He knew Satan well. The only strange thing is that Jesus actually allowed him to take him up that height. He was able to dismiss Satan because in any case, he was aware of Satan's agenda. It seems to me that the essence of Satan's lie was twofold: a) he introduced distrust into the world of man. Suddenly, the God who created man was not to be trusted - according to Satan and b) he disturbed God's timetable. It is clear that the tree of life was intended for man so that he could live forever and it was in the garden until it was removed by God as a consequence of the fall. (It shows up again in Rev 22). Satan has managed to erect a tissue of lies and induce a well-developed culture of deception into mankind's world. The hardest thing for man to do is to tell the difference between truth and falsehood. His interaction with Eve was his nuclear weapon against mankind. We are still living with the fallout.

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    – Community Bot
    Jun 28, 2023 at 13:30
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"Good and evil" is an idiom here, meaning "everything." The story is of humans wanting to become like gods, and being humbled for it. It's a common trope in writings of the time.

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  • There is no basis for this interpretation in the scripture. Deuteronomy 1:39 says that only the children who do not know good and bad (same words as the tree) may enter. Does that mean that those children didn't know "anything?" I think it's clear that that is not the case. Especially when Christ comes to say that entry into paradise is from a perspective of non-judgmental love (e.g. value judgments of good and bad moral measurements). Christ seems to be talking about avoiding the specific knowledge of good and bad, but also calls his disciples to be wise as serpent (Matthew 10:16).
    – Gus L.
    Jun 3, 2020 at 13:54
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Beside the well documented answers at this question, I will come with what I understand of this verse.

If we look at the whole argument of satan we realize that he lied:

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3: 4-5)

They did not died right when they ate the fruit (but they died in the future, like God said). And yes, their eyes did "opened" to the knowledge of good end evil. This means that since then, they became like God, with the capacity of knowing "good and evil". But with their own human limited understanding, but not the whole and the true meaning of good end evil. This implicates that they could corrupt more or less this meaning (like looking trough a broken mirror - that in time becomes more and more broken).

The best lie is telling the half truth. And satan was good at telling lies. He deceived humans in becoming separated by God.

I hope this helps you.

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Ok, I've seen all your replies, and... here's what I got to say:

Q1: What was the purpose for God to Create A Man? (Which we identify as Adam.)

A1: To Till the soil. (Gen 2:5, last part "and there was not a man to till the ground.")


BIG QUESTIONS:

If the Purpose for creating A Man, (this Man Adam) was to "till the ground," how is this man that God created, going to do that, inside a garden ALREADY TILLED AND PLANTED BY GOD, AND YIELDING FRUIT?! (He's not fulfilling the original purpose, yet, is he?.)

(Here's a question for you "Empty Nesters" out there longing for the bliss of a Florida Retirement, only to have it dashed, because the kids came back home to "slum it" with you.)

If God's purpose was to have this man Adam till the ground, and the ground to be tilled is OUTSIDE the GARDEN of EDEN, how you going to have him keep at it, and not 'run back home' giving up when the going gets rough?

(If there ain't no 'home' to run back to...guess you got to keep at it, right?)

The LORD set this WHOLE THING UP FROM THE VERY START!

Who else BUT GOD let the serpent in to ask any questions of the Helpmeet? (later to be named 'Eve' by Adam in Gen 3:20)

WHO was the Helpmeet referring to when SHE said "God hath said...." in Gen 3:3 to the serpent? (Hint: God never said to Adam, "Neither shall ye touch it..." Right?)

(Oh, and for those of you saying: "But but... when Moses drew that circle around God's Circle, saying anything crossing Moses' LARGER circle shall surely DIE! And doesn't THAT venerate ADAM telling EVE about not touching the TREE, SURELY, GOD WOULD HAVE APPROVED.....")

(And what did Jesus say to Peter, when Peter said "Surely Not!"? "Get the behind me, Satan: for your mind is not on the things of God, but of Man!")

Go ahead: Juxtapose Gen 2:17, with Gen 3:3, you'll see the difference.

Oh! For those of you "short-circuiting" now...and, saying "Well.....SHE MADE IT UP!"

(Kind of sounds like former DC Mayor MARION BERRY, when he stated "The B---- set me up!" when he got caught with the crack and the hooker, Doesn't it?)

Where did the Helpmeet get ANY information, (let alone, 'make up' any information) to TELL the serpent, about THAT "TREE (of knowledge of Good and Evil)" unless either Adam, or God, told it to her?

Oh, and here's an idea: All that fruit-eating causes the digestive systems to ... err ... function in certain ways....What happens if the "nakedness" that Adam and his Helpmeet were aghast over WAS NOT THE GENETALIA that they covered with fig leaves? but what was in the BACK of them?

(Remember...there was no toilet paper in the Garden of Eden...just as much as there was no toilet paper to be had in the stores LAST YEAR, either, for a while, was it? Thanks, WuFlu!)

And Just be honest. Mortality is a method to control overpopulation, right?

(Why do you think BillG, Klaus, and all the other elites want this "great Reset" when their work hitting US with the Chinese COOF isn't yielding enough fruit, for them?)

Like I said, LORD set it all up!

Who ELSE BUT GOD, was going to tell the serpent "you shall crawl on your belly and eat DUST..." and two verses later tell Adam, "GUESS WHAT YOU ARE, BUDDY?!"

(OH, and one more thing, folks: Before you go downvoting this reply to wild abandon like Caiaphas "renting" his clothes off, calling Jesus a "Blasphemer!" and sending me over to the SE folks, like the Sanahedrin did Jesus, to Pilate.... PRAY on this reply first! Ask the Lord to help you test the spirits. See whether or not what I'm saying is right, or bupkus...)

(Maybe....JUST MAYBE.... you'll find the scales lifted from your eyes... whether you LIKE what you see or not, is a completely DIFFERENT MATTER entirely.)

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  • @user48152, the serpent didn't Lie FIRST: It was Adam the Man, trying to control EVE, lying about what God Said to HIM about what to do, and NOT DO, and what would happen if he DID what he wasn't supposed to do, regarding the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil.... All God said was: Don't Eat the Fruit from it. When you ADD MORE to the Word, you add to the plagues mentioned, when you SUBTRACT from the Word, you subtract yourself from the Book of Life. Apr 29, 2021 at 12:24
  • @user48152, Further, by Adam adding MORE to the Word to control his former RIB....perhaps the HelpMeet was referring to Adam, when she replied to the serpent, "God Hath Said...." Apr 29, 2021 at 12:27
  • @user48152, so....ask yourself THIS Question: Did the serpent reply to a LIE, with a LIE of his OWN? --- Did the HelpMeet KNOW it she was repeating a LIE? You see....God set it all up. It was GOD that blocked access to the Tree of Life, and had God not, Adam and his former rib, the Helpmeet, would have lived forever! So...God didn't Lie. Serpent didn't know that God would block access to it! Apr 29, 2021 at 12:30
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    Please see the Tour and the Help (below, bottom left) as to the functioning and purpose of the site. There is no need to use capitals for emphasis (some regard it as 'shouting') or prolonged bold type. What we seek is logical argument supported by substantiation and referenced citation. Aggressive assertion takes less study and research but is nowhere near as effective in persuasion as is cogent logic.
    – Nigel J
    Apr 29, 2021 at 13:40

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