Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan in the garden. Both rejected Yahuah and brought sin into the world of humans. Prior to that, sin only existed among the fallen ones, because they disobeyed Yahuah first. Had Adam been of the Natsarim, his decisions would have been different.
This is a simple process but let’s try to think as Adam might have thought. I focus on Adam because he was the first human created, and he was created from mud by Yahuah and his life was breathed into him by Yahuah. He was also created outside of the garden. Being created outside of the garden might have played a roll in his fall, because certainly the fallen ones also existed outside the garden. Did they corrupt the earth prior to Adams creation?
If they did, a battlefield tactic would have been to surround the garden with “booby traps”, perhaps some technology in the soil to corrupt mankind should mankind ever till to the soil outside the garden. But this is only intellectual conjecture at this point. I want to focus on Adam, Eve, the Nacash and Yahuah.
Nacash –
I. נָחָשׁ noun masculine Genesis 3:1 serpent (Late Hebrew id.; Arabic serpent, viper (Lane 406anything hunted) is compare by Lag M, i, 230; BN 50, 188 Ba Es 48, but improbable; Arabic see below [נָחַשׁ below; on formation compare Lag BN 50); — absolute ׳נ Amos 5:19 +; construct נְחַשׁ Numbers 21:9 2t.; plural נְחָשִׁים Numbers 21:6; Jeremiah 8:17; —
The serpent tempted Eve by stating that “surely she would not die”. A lie, and Eve had never heard a lie before. Neither had Adam. They had only heard Truth. Every word ever spoken had been truth, both from Yahuah and to one another. They were like little children in this regard.
Adam heard the nacash speak to Eve, and Eve ate from the tree. She did not die. Adam noted this. He should have rebuked the serpent when the serpent lied, but Adam did not know what a lie was. He observed.
When Eve did not fall dead, Adam also ate. Since he did not rebuke the serpent prior to Eve eating from the tree, he should have waited until the cool of the day when he and Yahuah walked in the garden together to talk. Adam could have asked Yahuah about the serpent, Eve and the tree. Yahuah would have instructed Adam as to the serpents lie, and explained what a lie was.
Adam did not wait. He did not ask for clarification. He ate from the tree and experienced whatever Eve experienced. She experienced something, certainly. Her eyes were opened to rebellion. She knew more than Adam and Adam had to take that step, too.
Not from pride, as that would have been a sin the preceded eating from the tree. He just wanted to experience what Eve experienced as her eyes were opened to see what disobedience offered.
A Natsarim would have rebuked the serpent from the beginning. Natsarim are guardians of Truth. We stand for Truth no matter what. We seek truth and we live according to it. A Natsarim would have warned Eve to obey Yahuah no matter what, and then the Natsarim would have asked Yahuah about this nacash when he walked with Yahuah in the cool of the day.
We stand for the Truth and we ask questions when we do not know. We seek the wise counsel of one who does know, and if the answer is slow in coming, we are patient. We wait. There is no need to hurry.
Note – Cain was not the offspring of Satan, as some teach. Cain was no giant, as were the eventual offspring of the fallen ones and human women. Cain was simply the first-born of sin, and he bore the fruit of that ignoble position.
When you are tempted by some glittering snake, turn away. Remember the
promises of Yahuah to all who keep His commands. Our Way is difficult. The gate is tight and the path is narrow. There is no wandering from side to side. Being narrow, we must directly encounter snares and not go around them. Direct encounter means we must deal with temptation as true guardians of the Truth. Every time.
The Beast
I have to share this with you before closing.
Just erected at the United Nations (U.N.)- teeth like a lion, wings like an eagle, the tail of a serpent and feet like a bear. “The Guardian of International Peace and Security” they call it. World peace, guaranteed by the organization that erected this thing.
Peace and safety. When they proclaim it, sudden destruction will come upon them.
Hello Jerry, I love the story of the Fall and it never ceases to impress me with it’s depth and relevance. Here are a few beliefs I have about the Fall that you may not have heard before. My perspective is that of a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (though I research material from many religions including philosophies of the ancients), hopefully you find my thoughts interesting and thought provoking. For context, I believe that God is the Father of the spirits of all mankind and that we lived with God before this life. Symbolically, Eve partaking of the fruit first is beautiful. There were two main trees in the garden of Eden, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life. After they partook of the forbidden fruit God “drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” Only Israelite men… Read more »
I appreciate your hard work in creating this interesting comment. In the Way, “transgression” is specifically sin. Morality does not play any part in sin, as sin only exists when a command of Yahuah is broken. It is considered immoral to do anything which is sin as defined by the instructions Yahuah gave Moses. So eating the forbidden food was in fact sin, breaking the covenant. Eve and Adam had been perfect up until that moment. Their imperfection separated them from Yahuah, as it separates all of us from Him. Therefore, the only way we could be redeemed is through the mercy of Yahuah and one perfect sacrifice whose blood would wash away our sins. Yahuah made it easy. Salvation through faith and the proof of our worship through obedience to His commands. Yahusha states plainly that His Heavenly Father will only love us if we obey His commands “If you obey my commands, my Father in Heaven will love you”. Obedience is our proof of relationship. It is our worship, and the only worship… Read more »
I appreciate your response. I understand what you’re saying. I agree that obedience is necessary, and that Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s commandment. I really appreciate the focus on obedience in your posts, it’s something most Christians ignore but is made quite clear in the Bible. I hope that as my life progresses I am more obedient over time, not less, because that will indicate to me that my relationship with Christ and my discipleship have improved. Do you view some sins as worse than others? I understand that all disobedience separates me from God, but are there some commandments that are worse to break than others? Curious on your thoughts on this. It’s true, the Bible doesn’t expressly state that the Fall was necessary in order to have children. But consider how there is opposition in all things. We see today the world trying to eliminate opposition and it’s part of the Big Lie. With that being the case, how can new life be born if one cannot die? How can there be pleasure… Read more »
JV, not desiring to offend you, I must state plainly that the Mormon doctrine is not the doctrine of Yahuah. Yahuah is who He says He is. His authority is absolute. When you say that He “chooses to do good”, I say that He does whatsoever he chooses and it is good. We are not the judges of what is “good” or “evil”. He is that judge and we either follow Him or deny Him. He is the definition of perfect. He is the definition of good. He is the definition of love. The false doctrine that man had to sin in order to bear children is blasphemous. That statement implies that Yahuah made us with the intent of failure. He knew we would fail, but that was never His intention. We chose to disobey our Master and sucked up the convenient lie that we could be Masters, too. Satan knows how to tell a great lie. Man had to have sex in order to have children. Sex between Adam and his wife was not… Read more »
I think this is a good post.
It is important to remember the Father YHWH is the
Alpha and the Omega
He knows The Beginning from The End and is outside of time.
Defenetly part of our consideration as we walk with YHWH Elohim.
Peace and Shalom
Yes, the beginning from the end. I visualize time for Yahuah as a sphere in which time is an infinite number of points filling that sphere, and Yahuah is present at every point of time simultaneously. What we humans perceive as a straight line of time is in fact a limitless and random array of data points in anything BUT a straight line, and our physical death does not end the line, but it continues, all with Yahuah present at every one, for every human who ever lived, and ever will live.
Jerry, I respectfully have to disagree with you, from the plain text of Genesis 3:6-7 alone. Part of your Dec 9th article indicates the woman fell first, then Adam. No, they fell SIMULTANEOUSLY. While the New Testament says the woman being DECEIVED was in the transgression, (1 Tim 2:14), she wasn’t UNDECEIVED (realize the consequences) until AFTER the fall (Adam’s sin). 3:6 And when the woman saw …, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. Husband eats AFTER woman – so far, correct. 3:7 And the eyes of them BOTH were opened, and they knew …. ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Adam was the federal head of mankind, his sin caused us all to be fallen. Romans 5:19 — For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. No mention of WOMAN in Rom. 5:19, though of course Adam & Eve were “one flesh.” Numbers 30, esp. vs. 13-15, also relates to… Read more »
Joe, thank you for commenting. I am looking for your disagreement, and the only part I can find disagreement is the “simultaneously” and “undeceived”. They might have eaten quickly, one after the other, but not simultaneously. And it seems her eyes were opened immediately, not after some kind of delay. I believe that Adam had time to observe her reaction. He no doubt had time to reconsider. The “And the eyes of both of them were opened…” is simply a statement of fact, not implying that their eyes were opened to sin at the same moment. Not that it matters at all. They fell.
I agree with most of what you wrote. The disagreement concerns just whether there were SEPARATE FALLS of Eve and Adam, vs. a JOINT FALL. Our readings of the English are at odds on this one point, but lead to VASTLY different conclusions. You’re conflating the separate “eatings” of the fruit with the fall, as if Eve and Adam were separate moral entities. If the assumption of separable responsibility is granted, your views are correct. I do not agree, based on the KJV text – though perhaps a Hebrew expert (rabbi?) could be consulted on the original meaning “And the EYES OF them BOTH were opened” – whether it means distinctly SEQUENTIAL events or a SIMULTANEOUS event. Interestingly, no word in text prior to this indicates a change in Eve, before a change in Adam. Nothing significant seems to happen UNTIL Adam eats. I similarly think that Satan did not fall, then his angels. He was (and is) the federal head of the lizard / snake order of creation – when he fell, they fell… Read more »
Yours is well said Joseph. So the question is this: Eve was made from Adam. Was she therefore personally responsible for her act of rebellion? The two became one flesh. If they are one flesh, and if Adam is held to a position of authority over her, did Adam also fall when his flesh called Eve rebelled? Talmud – I consider all of Talmud to be blasphemous with no place beside and particularly not superior to Torah. Talmud was written by men who rejected the Messiah, therefore the Holy Spirit of Yahuah could not manifest itself within them. Without the Holy Spirit, it is impossible to rightly divide the Words. It is correctly called the “Babylonian Talmud”. Your observations are well taken and they are well reasoned. I am not sure we can find a certain answer to this question. The “and both their eyes were opened” might simply be a statement of fact that each gained open eyes, and not a simultaneous opening. Remember that she saw the tree was good for food. Food.… Read more »