We don’t know if Adam was present when the serpent spoke to her. However, we do know that Adam was present when Eve took the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil:
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. [Gen. 3:6]
Perhaps we can make some possible suggestions (maybe Adam was curious to see what would happen; maybe he didn’t want to annoy Eve by telling her to stop; etc.), but we aren’t told why Adam didn’t say anything to stop Eve. What is clear, though, is that Adam should have said something to try to stop Eve. That would have been the loving thing to do.
Paul seems to pick up on this in his first letter to Timothy when he says the following:
Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. {12} I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. {13} For Adam was formed first, then Eve; {14} and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. [1 Timothy 2:11-14]
Adam should have said something to help his wife, but he did not.
Further investigation
In the Bible, Adam and Eve are like a picture of Jesus and the Church (Eph. 5:31-32). However, the difference is that, whereas Adam failed his wife (Gen. 3:6), Jesus succeeded in caring for the Church (Eph. 5:25-27): Adam didn’t saying anything to help his wife overcome temptation, but Jesus teaches the Church and leads her away from temptation, if the members of the Church listen to his instructions (Mat. 7:24). God asks Christians to “act out” this relationship between Jesus and the Church (e.g., 1 Cor. 11:3f.; Eph. 5:22-33), with the male Christians representing Jesus and the female Christians representing the Church — hence Paul’s instructions in 1 Tim. 2:11-14: male Christians are to show what Jesus did (which Adam didn’t) — i.e., speak to lead the Church in a godly way — and female Christians show what the Church should do (which Eve didn’t) — i.e., listen to the leader, Jesus. This is like living a parable that is designed to help all Christians remember to listen to and follow Jesus.
Let me suggest that because Adam and Eve both worked in the garden of Eden ( a large delighful estate) finding themselves separated from each other at times was not uncommon; eventhough they were conscious of one another’s locality. Thus, I believe Adam was not present at the time Lucifier decieved Eve. Had he been present, both Adam and Eve would have been able to support each other and successfully withstand Satan. Further, the conversation was between Eve and Lucifer. It is only after she made the choice to accept Satan’s offering of something more than what God originally gave her did she partake of the forbidden fruit. She then found Adam and told him what she did. He, at that moment, because of his great love for her, also made the choice to partake of the forbidden fruit and share the same fate.
When Eve found herself a distance away from Adam and being addressed by a talking serpent purchased on the forbidden, I’m sure she was overwhelmed and taken by surpise by this spectacle. After all, a talking snake!!! Totally unnatural. However, at some point during the exchange, she must of had experienced a sense of need or want to call Adam. On ther other hand, she may have felt herself strong enough to handle Satan once it dawned on her who it was she was actually confronted by (or she may not have known at that time. Eve may have been simply lost in the ideal of becoming like God, know good and evil. Satan fooled her into thinking that God was trying to keep something better from her). This would imply that the first couple was forwarned of who Satan was…which is why I’m sure God told them to be aware of the adversary and to work (and stay) together – a principle that remains applicable to married couples today.
The original Hebrew does not specify that Adam was with her when Eve was deceived and picked the fruit. It just specifies that she ‘gave it and he ate it’.
However we are left in no doubt of Adams knowledge of where the fruit came from and that he should have refused it.
12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom 5:12 KJV)
Eve was guilty of sin by deceit and Adam was guilty of sin by direct choice. Both were sins of disobedience and from then on they began to ‘surely die’.
They both tried the blame game…
11 “And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.”
(Gen 3:11-13 KJV)
Adam indirectly accuses God of the mistake by saying the woman ‘you’ gave me. Eve blames the serpent for her deceit.
None of these excuses ‘hold water’ as far as God’s concerned.
Again God reminds Adam of his sin….
17 “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it” (Gen 3:17 KJV)
Adam ‘hearkened’ or listened to his wife’s voice rather than God his creator.
ED..
I don’t really know where your story stems from. The serpent was a snake given the ability to talk and reason. It reasoned wrongly and was never asked for an account of its amoral actions, it was just cursed.
Remember God also gave Baalam’s Ass/Donkey similar reasoning/speech power in Numbers 22.
There is no mention of a ‘satan’ or a ‘lucifer’ in Genesis.
The original language indeed does say ‘with her’. I’m looking right at
the Hebrew and the precise term for the Hebrew, ‘with her’ is very
clearly there. Therefore, I believe that it’s wrong to leave it out in
translation. Also, in the original words there is no indication of a
break in time at the time of the eating. Young’s translation is the
most literal and the entire scene reads as a single scene narrative,
“….and the woman seeth that the tree [is] good or food, and that it
[is] pleasant to the eyes, and the tree is desirable to make [one] wise,
and she taketh of its fruit and eateth, and giveth also to her husband
with her, and he doth eat..” The ‘and WHEN’ phrase which most
translations use to introduce this, is just not in the Hebrew. Perhaps
the ‘WHEN” gives some people a reason to think that a break in time
happened and Adam was somewhere else. But the original words give no
evidence of a break in time.
Also, it is at the very least a curious thing that all the while that
the serpent is addressing Eve, he repeatedly uses “YE”, which is plural
and means ‘Ya-all’. This fact is INVISIBLE in our language, especially
if ye/ya-all are using a translation that just translates it ‘you’.
There is not a contradiction when God said that Adam listened to the’
voice’ of his wife. The word for ‘voice’ is many times used
figuratively. One example is when God told Cain that “the ‘voice’ of
his brother’s blood crieth to Him from the ground.
In the NT we are told that sin came into the world through one MAN,
Adam. It also tells us that unlike Eve, he was not deluded/deceived and
sinned ANYWAY. This is because, unless you change the original
language, Adam was ‘with’ his wife not only physically, but also in the
sense of having the same desires as she.
Adam should have exercise his spiritual authority by rebuking his wife, and reminding her of God’s command but rather he chose to partake in the forbidden fruit. I believe the punishment would have been different if Adam had refuse to be a partaker of the forbidden fruit. He sold the authority God gave him over all things to satan for the sake of love.
Although hypothetical, if Adam hadn’t chosen to disobey God like his wife did, he probably would not have been cursed to die. They both willingly chose disobedience, therefore they both began to die.
A ‘satan’ is not mentioned in Genesis.
There were no third parties held responsible for Adam/Eve’s sin. It was entirely their choice, that is why they were judged for ‘their own’ disobedience.
We must always ‘own’ the sin’s we commit so we can recognize ‘our’ failures and repent before God’s majesty.
God in no way excepts us blaming ‘third parties’ for sins that ‘we’ choose to commit. Adam and Eve tried this and their feeble excuses were dismissed outright.
Gen. 1:25, 31 “And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle accoording to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ”
“Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good…”
All life on earth that God created was “very good” – this would include the serpent/snake. To suggest that this particular snake decided to take it upon him/her to cause man to disobey God, directly opposes and contradicts the fact that all creatures were created perfect. Actually, the expression “very good” entirely excludes the possibility that any imperfection in the creation was responsible for the weakness demonstrated by Adam and Eve during the hour of temptation.
Although Satan is not specifically mentioned in the Fall account in Gen., he is in a figurative sense called the serpent. For he used the serpent as a medium in his attempt to deceive man.
Rev. 12:9 “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”
Rev. 20:2 “He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.”
Read Gen 3:15. Is He talking to the serpent or Satan?
Thanks Ed
Actually God’s creatures were created (Hebrew) towb, meaning pleasant or agreeable. They were not made ‘perfect’. We know this anyway because Adam and Eve were given a choice to obey (not sin) or disobey (sin). That was the whole point of the test in Eden. Perfect creatures are immortal and can’t sin.
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom 6:23 KJV)
The verse above also helps in understanding the fallacy of supernatural ‘devils’.
You say: “For he used the serpent as a medium in his attempt to deceive man.”
I can’t see any allusion to your concept here in Genesis. The serpent was given the temporary ability to reason/speak just as Baalim’s Donkey was in Num22:28.
Your quotes from Rev. 12:9 and Rev. 20:2 are based on symbolic prophecies given to John in a vision/dream.
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and SIGNIFIED it by his angel unto his servant John:” (Rev 1:1 KJV)
The word ‘signified’ here means sign/symbol. These chapters are meant to be interpreted symbolically.
“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed,” (Rev 12:17 KJV)
Then the above quote helps us to answer your question about:
“Read Gen 3:15. Is He talking to the serpent or Satan?”
The answer is in the same verse: 15 “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between ‘thy seed’ and ‘her seed’; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen 3:15 KJV)
The ‘conflict’ here was between the ‘seed’ of the serpent and the ‘seed’ of the woman. The above Rev12:17 verse attests to this but there are other references to what this seed is in scripture too.
Christ being the seed of the woman slew ‘sin in the flesh’ through his crucifixion. Thus Christ allowed the ‘permanency of death’ to be overcome through redemption in him.
God does not accept us blaming anything else for sins we commit. Adam and Eve tried this and it failed.
All things that God created were perfect in their original state, which does not detract from the fact that man was given a “free will” to choose between right and wrong. Perfection is clearly seen in the original creation: Adam and Eve were created in the image and likeness of God. Gen.1: 26. Let me suggest that the image and likeness of God were reflectied in character and in outward resemblance. His nature was in harmony with the will of God. His affections were pure; his appetities and passions were under the control of reaon. He was holy and happy in bearing the image of God and in perfect obedience to His will. The environment was also perfect in its original state. There is no doubt that the environment was the best to suit the newly created humans. Their physical, emotional, and mental needs were more than met. Mental states such as uncertainty, anxiety, and worry were completely unknown, becasue there was nothing their to cause them. In this state all was perfect. Again, this does not suggest that man was not able to choose right or wrong.
The great controversy has always been between good and evil – God and Satan (not a serpent and man). Remember, Satan was cast down from heaven by God. Rev. 12:9. At one point he was an angel. Isa. 14: 12,13; Eze. 28:13-15. When he was cast down to the earth, his goal was to gain dominion over it. He accomplished this by causing the Fall of man, which, by the way, is a founding principle held by many of the Prodestant Churches. One of the reason for his exile from heaven is for wanting to be like God – the same type of deception he offered Eve: “For God know that in the day that you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will belike God, knowing good and evil.” Gen. 3:5. Satan wants to be God and have dominion over the earth. He even went so far as to represent the earth to God. Job 1:6. Adam was supposed to represent the earth, but Satan caused his fall. Satan took his place.
Remember, Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. Mat. 4:1. He was also in all points tempted as we are, yet was without sin. Heb. 3:15. Satan also entered Judas, who betrayed Jesus. Lk 22:3. Lucifer also desired to have Peter. Lk 22:31. Scriptures are filled with Satan’s attacks on man.
Jesus came to save us from sin, which entered into this world by Adam and Eve. I know this is elementary, but we need to see the “big picture.” Sin originated in heaven with Lucifer, which is why he was cast out. Do you think he is not upset about being kicked out? He took with him 1/3 of the angels, which are we call devils, demons, etc. Do you think those fallen angels are not working for our demise? Do you think something really major happened as to why Lucifer was expelled from heaven? You bet!
Satan goal is to keep and destroy man in his sins, or keep him blind to the truth. Consider the Dark Ages when the masses were not allowed to have Bibles. All throughout history Satan has been working to destroy man.
You said the conflict was between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. You referrenced Rev. 12:17 in relation to Gen. 3:15.
The woman of Rev. 12:17 represents God’s true Church. Isa. 54: 5, 6; Jer 6:2. ( When the church apostatized it was compared with a corrupt woman. Jer. 3:20; Rev 17:1-3). The Dragon is Satan who works through his seed (people) to war against the true people of God, who keep the command of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
If we agree that the conflict between Satan and his seed and the true church and her seed is what Gen 3:15 is talking about, then we can conclude that Satan is actually mentioned in the account of man’s fall in Gen. 3.
As stated, the Hebrew is ‘towb’ which is good, pleasant or agreeable. God’s creation at this stage in Eden was described as only this. The word tamiym or tawm might be closer to the meaning you’re wanting. However these few example verses use the English ‘fair’ which is also the word ‘towb’, meaning pleasant/agreeable but not the Hebrew term for ‘perfect’. (Gen 26:7 KJV), (Est 1:11 KJV),(Isa 5:9 KJV).
Gen 1:26 relates to the similitude and form of God (the Elohim). Adam and Eve’s character was as yet completely undetermined.
You say: “His nature was in harmony with the will of God. His affections were pure; his appetities and passions were under the control of reaon. He was holy and happy in bearing the image of God and in perfect obedience to His will.”
As it turned out Adam and Eve were nearer the opposite of this. This why the test occurred.
Your Isaiah quotes (Isa. 14: 12,13;) refers to ‘Lucifer’ which means ‘Morning Star’. We know this ‘Lucifer’ is the King of Babylon in Isa 14:4.
The Ezekiel quote (Eze. 28:13-15) is using ‘Eden’ as an adjective for luxury. This prophecy is against the Literal King of Tyre. See previous chapter, chapter 27.
Gen. 3:5 refers to the Snake (serpents) own reasoning. The snake concluded wrongly that Eve would take on the power of the Elohim (God) if she partook of the fruit.
Later in (Gen 3:22) the Elohim barred Adam and Eve from Eden incase they ate from the Tree of Life. Ironically because if they did they would become ‘immortal sinners’(excluding supernatural ‘Devils’).
We know this would be an unacceptable abomination to God (see Rom 6:23 KJV and Eze 18:20 KJV).
In both (Job 1:12 KJV) and (Mat. 4:1 KJV) the devil/satan has to get permission or allowance from God for his ‘tempting’. Whoever the devil/satan were, they were subservient to God’s will. Remembering of course Devil simply means ‘false accuser’ and Satan means ‘adversary’.
In Mat 16:23 Jesus rebukes Peter personally calling him a Satan for being an offence. Jesus rebukes Peter for being an ‘adversary’ because he is being a ‘trap’ to him. There was no ‘supernatural devil’ here.
Sin originated here for Adam..(Rom 5:17-19 KJV) and for us here..(Jam 1:14-15 KJV).
There is Nothing to blame but ourselves.
We must make sure we don’t pay heed to superstition and paranoia which breed in humans weak emotive state .
“Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon” (Jer 27:9 KJV)
The above verse is particularly applicable when you study the ‘History’ of the ‘Supernatural Devil’
These pagan ideas originated in ancient Persia/Babylon and became more warped as History wore on. Through Greek Mythology, Rome’s multitudinous Gods and then into the era of Roman Catholic torture and witch-hunting. Of course then Hollywood got hold of the idea!
The history is very enlightening if you feel like the study.
Hi ez,
It may not be a very important point, so I won’t pursue it much, but (as far as I can tell, and I don’t know Hebrew) the original Hebrew does specify (or at least can be read as saying) that Adam was with Eve. This web page displays the words from Gen. 3:6 in a table. The second word from the bottom is the word that’s translated ‘with’ (it’s Strong’s No. 5973) in many versions (e.g., KJV, RV, the NIVs, NET, NLT, ESV, NASB, ASV, GW, NRSV, HCSB, CEV, NCV).
To believe that some how God (who is all knowing) allow the serpent to have the ability to talk and some how it decided to tempt Adam and Eve to sin against God, would suggest that God created the situation for man to be tempted. God placed the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden not to tempted but to test obedience and loyalty. Because we know already that God does not tempt anyone. James 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”