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4“You will not surely die,” the serpent told her. 5“For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
7And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed together fig leaves and made coverings for themselves.
8Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the breezeb of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9So the LORD God called out to the man, “Where are you?”
10“I heard Your voice in the garden,” he replied, “and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
11“Who told you that you were naked?” asked the LORD God. “Have you eaten of the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?”
12And the man answered, “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
“The serpent deceived me,” she replied, “and I ate.”
14So the LORD God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and every beast of the field!
On your belly will you go,
and dust you will eat,
all the days of your life.
15And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed.
He will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
16To the woman He said:
“I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth;
in pain you will bring forth children.
You will desire your husband,c
and he will rule over you.”
I think I just realized that these are very pre-recorded. I had to stop and think what time of year it was when you were talking Easter for a second. 🙂
I wonder if the reason Eve was the target of the serpent is related to the arc where you mentioend that she is the last created, and that there seems to be a progression in the creation order towards more holy? If you want to topple the intended order of things, or at least cause havoc as a pride-wounded serpent might, you have to go for the prize, the last creation of creation. Doesn’t do the serpent much good to target Adam since there is still this later, more refined creation around.
Related to the concept of the serpent being cursed above all animals and cursing for all time issue; I might suggest that if we look at this act as something that fundamentally changes the world these problems might be easily resolved together. In the violation of God’s commandment not to eat of this tree, we exercise our free will and, in a sense, create a world or outcome different from the one God specifically creates if that makes sense. This is the first time the outcome of actions involves more will than just God’s and result in a state of affairs that, perhaps, isn’t fully God’s intent for us (ie he subsumes His intent in favor of our free will).
I don’t think it would be too far to suggest that us using our will has led to a whole host of unhappy outcomes, perhaps even called curses. Those curses aren’t just on us alone as animals also suffer from our cruelty. But it is because of this act, this changing of the world from the intended to one where we get a vote that our lives aren’t as idyllic as, perhaps, they could be (though there would be a heck of a cost which is why, I imagine God actualized a world where we do fall/rise). And that act will have consequences throughout time to all of their descendents. It isn’t so much that God is actively punishing us for their specific transgression as it is that that transgression has consequences and we suffer those consequences as well.
Sorry to go on, that was a very thought-provoking aside you had towards the end.
And I knew I should have let the podcast finish before I hit submit. 🙂
HA!
I love it! You are engaged, thoughtful, and curious. My kind of person 🙂
I know how much those words mean for you, I appreciate the high praise. Thank you. 🙂