But we have gotten far ahead of ourselves in the story, we must go back to the beginning of man's part for there is still much to see and discover. We must go back to where our history began --- the Garden of Eden --- where man came into being.

As we enter the story Lucifer has already rebelled against God and deceived a third of the angels in heaven causing their downfall and when the Earth is recreated and the Garden of Eden is formed as a place for man. Lucifer is no longer the covering Cherub and has had a name change, he is now known as Satan. As you can imagine he is not happy that his domain has been given to such an inferior being as innocent man and right away he sets out to deceive innocent man and reclaim his domain.
Genesis 3:1-5 1Now the serpent (Satan) was more subtile 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? 2And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3But 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. 4And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die: 5For 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.



I find it strange, yet fitting, that Satan while concocting his lie unwittingly put in a morsel of truth, but doesn't any believable lie always have a morsel of truth?

We begin to see God's perfect plan coming to fruition. He has set the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden, not in some hidden corner out of the way. Indeed why put it in the garden at all? He has allowed Satan to try and deceive Eve.

The stage has been set to bring innocent man to fallen man so that he must have a redeemer so the process can continue and the Impossible King can be brought forth.

Now believing God is omniscient and in His foreknowledge He was not caught off-guard by Eve's being deceived. I have to believe He placed the most appealing and desirable tree in the midst of the garden just for the purpose of fulfilling His perfect plan but yet still leaving the decision up to man to decide if he would obey or not. It was a plan that in an age to come would raise man to a level higher than the angels; a plan that would make redeemed man sons and daughters of God.

1John 3:2 beloved, now are we the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Romans 8:14 for as many as are led by the Spirit of God; they are the sons of God.



WOW! From innocent man taking care of the garden to sons of God who will someday judge the fallen angels, or do you take the above verses to be allegorical and not literal? Since the two apostles who wrote the above verses had been in heaven to see the things we have not been privileged to see, I choose to believe their words are literal and I choose to believe in a much more powerful God who in His great wisdom desires to see His creation become all it can be and has made a plan to assure it will be.

I have always wondered why Eve was standing in the garden and thought nothing of talking to a snake; yes I have heard the many explanations people have come up with which never quite satisfied me. Most scholars settle for Satan instead of snake and I must agree. In looking into the original Hebrew we find the translation hannachash or nakash. The NOUN spelled nachash in Hebrew can mean: snake / serpent or one who practices divination. The 'adjective' nachash in Hebrew means: bright, brazen and is itself the base word for other nouns in Hebrew, like shining brass. 2 Corinthians 11:14 and no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Isaiah 14:12 how art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!



The verse in the original Hebrew calls Lucifer Helel ben-shachar -The shining one, son of the dawn.

I do not find it surprising that Eve was not afraid or found it unusual to be talking to a shining angelic being in the Garden of Eden. What I find interesting is in verse six of chapter three Adam was with her and gave no argument against eating the fruit. However, when God came looking for them and asked if they had eaten the fruit, which He had commanded them not to, instead of repenting they both passed the buck and tried to put the blame elsewhere. Sin had arrived in all its shame.

Bob Goulding © October 2007
Go to:


Return to: