Hey there, today on Naptime Theology we are continuing in our series of Bible study through the book of Genesis with chapter 3, verses 1-7. We are going to cover three things: Snakes, Deception, and Loincloths.. Sounds like an interesting mix, right? Let’s find out together!
Well, John Calvin opens his commentary on Genesis 3 like this: “In this chapter, Moses explains, that man, after he had been deceived by Satan, revolted from his Maker, became entirely changed, and so degenerate, that the image of God, in which he had been formed, was obliterated. He then declares that the whole world, which had been created for the sake of man, fell together with him from its primary original; and that, in this way, much of its native excellence was destroyed.”
We will not get to unpack all of that quote today since that would take a long time. But we will go through the first seven verses of this chapter and talk about three things: snakes, deception, and loincloths.
First, I’m going to read through the passage so that we know what we’re talking about. I’m reading from the New American Standard Version. Here is Genesis 3:1-7:
Now the serpent was more crafter than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
But from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”
The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
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 desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin covering.
Why does Satan use the Serpent?
The first character mentioned in this passage is none other than the serpent. The text says, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.
Maybe this seems like a small question, but I had never thought about this before. Why did Satan use the serpent instead of any other animal that God had created? The Bible clearly states that the snake or serpent was already cunning and crafty on its own, that’s how God made it.
In John Calvin’s commentary on this verse, he points out that Jesus actually tells the disciples to be “prudent as serpents” in Matthew 10:16. So, we shouldn’t read this first verse of chapter 3 with a negative tone. Rather, Moses is highlighting an aspect of God’s creation in describing the serpent or snake as crafty. And even though it’s Satan who is using the snake in this passage, remember that Moses is actually pretty familiar with God using snakes for His own purposes. We have the first reference to this later in this chapter to God sending someone to “crush the head” of the serpent in Genesis 3:15.
Why Does God Use Serpents?
Then in Moses’ personal life God used snakes as well. In Exodus 4 Moses’ staff is turned into a snake to show God’s power to Pharaoh. Then, in Numbers 21, snakes attack the Israelites in judgment from God and Moses is told to make the bronze snake that’s lifted up and when the people look to the bronze snake, they are healed. So, Moses knew from personal experience what snakes were like and it makes sense for him to include this note at the beginning of Genesis 3 about snakes being crafty.
This shows us an important truth: Satan is constantly taking something God made and twisting it for evil. The qualities God had given to the snake were twisted to make it into a force for evil. Satan does this with all sin and lies that he tells.
The fact that he has to twist things shows us right away that Satan is not God. He cannot create things from nothing or even come up with his own material. He has only the power to twist and damage what God has already created. One of my college professors said that when Satan later talks with Eve through the serpent he “sells a demotion as a promotion [to Eve]. What [Satan] says is not totally wrong, he just twists it.” This should be a comfort to us. It tells us that God is ruler and sovereign over the universe, not Satan. And God is ruler even over Satan, for Satan cannot do what God has done or what God does now. Satan is not like God who can do whatever He pleases as Psalm 115, verse 3 says. That means that whatever happens in our lives is in God’s control, it’s part of His plan and we have no need to worry or wonder if Satan is doing something God doesn’t know about. He knows and He is sovereign over it.
That bronze serpent that Moses made is actually in the Bible two more times, once during the time of the kings and it’s referred to in the New Testament by John. In 2 Kings 18, Hezekiah has just come onto the throne as king of Judah and it says in verse 4 that “he removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan.” So the Israelites apparently saved the bronze snake that Moses had made and started worshiping it alongside the other gods they made. Of course it wasn’t the bronze snake itself that saved the people from the fiery serpents’ bites in the wilderness, it was God.
But Jesus, God Himself, refers to this picture of Moses lifting up the snake in the wilderness when He is speaking with Nicodmeus in John chapter 3. In fact, the most famous verse in the world, John 3:16, immediately follows verses about snakes! John 3, verses 14 and 15 say, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.” Jesus crushed the head of the serpent and healed His people from sin by being lifted up on the cross to die just as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness to heal the Israelites. Wow!
Finally from Revelation 12:9 we know that God will ultimately keep His promise from Genesis 3:15 by crushing the serpent, Satan, forever. John is describing his vision from the Lord and he says, “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world…” Then Satan’s final doom is in Revelation 20 verse 10, which says, “And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
Do you see how God redeems the evil that Satan does through the snake? God can use whatever He wills for His purposes, both in our personal lives and in the redemption of the whole world. Satan merely twists the things that God has made and done.
As we move on in this chapter, we see that Satan also twists the good things that God has said.
Eve’s Conversation with the Serpent: “Did God Really Say?”
The next few verses of this chapter cover the conversation that Eve had with the serpent. And it is in her conversation with the serpent that Eve is deceived and convinced to eat the fruit that she was commanded not to eat. Here’s how it went from verses 1 through 5:
And he [the serpent] said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
But from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”
The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Let’s first establish something important in this conversation, Adam says nothing! Now, you may think that Eve was just here in the garden all alone chatting with the serpent. But that’s not actually the case. The Hebrew word for “you” in this conversation actually means “you all.” The serpent was not only addressing Eve, but also addressing her husband, Adam. We also know this from the verse following the conversation which says that her husband was with her. He was there the whole time! This is also how Paul can say in Romans 5:12 that sin came through Adam and not Eve. Adam was there with her and did not lead her in righteousness or really lead her at all, she was deceived and then they both sinned.
Now we can learn a lot from Eve’s conversation with the serpent. First of note is that the serpent knew to go through Eve to get to her husband. That in and of itself is an important lesson for wives.
We know from the later consequences of her sin that Eve is told that her “desire will be for her husband, and he will rule over her.” That’s in Genesis 3, verse 16. It means that because of sin there will be strife between husbands and wives. The wife will long for more control and have to submit herself in Christ first and then to her husband. And remember that Satan is still the crafty serpent today that he was then. Isn’t that fallenness of the wife and the longing for control the perfect opportunity for Satan to come in to twist and deceive further? So, wives, we have an important role to play in preventing Satan getting through to our husbands via us. Don’t be easily deceived by Satan’s lies. Lies that tempt you to think Satan’s ways are the good ways and God’s are not.
That’s exactly what the serpent did with Eve. He first just gave her a hint by planting that seed of doubt: “Did God really say you shall not eat from any tree of the garden?” That’s exactly what the serpent does with us today. “Did God really say you have to put others before yourself or is a little more ‘me time’ exactly what you need?” “Did God really say you have to submit yourself to your husband even when you don’t feel like it?” “Did God really say you need to discipline your children with humility and kindness or is your raised voice understandable because you’re upset?”
All it took was that one little question for Eve’s heart to decline from faith, as Calvin puts it. Actually, let me read you the entire quote. Calvin is describing the fall and how that small seed of doubt planted by the serpent grew into sin. He says, “Eve could previously behold the tree with such sincerity, that no desire to eat of it affected her mind; for the faith she had in the word of God was the best guardian of her heart, and of all her senses. But now, after the heart had declined from faith, and from obedience to the word, she corrupted both herself and all her senses, and depravity was diffused through all parts of her soul as well as her body. It is, therefore, a sign of impious defection, that the woman now judges the tree to be good for food, eagerly delights herself in beholding it, and persuades herself that it is desirable for the sake of acquiring wisdom; whereas before she had passed by it a hundred times with an unmoved and tranquil look.”
Eve went quickly from looking at the tree without a second thought, to desiring it for herself. We see that in her first response where she has already changed what God originally told them not to do in chapter 2. She added that they were not to touch the tree, God never said anything about touching the tree. Do you see how quickly we can be deceived into thinking that God’s ways are not best?
One of my daughter’s Bible books describes God’s command to not eat the fruit as “good words for Adam and Eve to obey.” I love that description because it is so true and so helpful for our own lives. God has given us “good words to obey” just as He gave to Adam and Eve. Most of our good words from God can be found in the New Testament. Words like the one anothers: Love one another, care for one another, esteem others higher than yourself, be devoted to one another. And words like the direct commands to rejoice, pray, walk worthy, throw out sin, and live our lives for Christ. How quickly we turn from these things at the slightest opportunity. We can be easily deceived like Eve, so we must hold on tightly to God’s good words for us. Know them, practice them, and have faith in them. Then we will stand firm in God’s power when we are tempted. I’m sure this is why Paul tells us to comfort each other with these words in 1 Thessalonians 4:18. He knew that one little seed of doubt planted by Satan could grow into massive sin.
But Satan didn’t stop with one question to Eve. He went on. He told Eve that she would be like God if she were to eat the fruit, knowing good and evil. Part of that is actually true, she would know good and evil. But she would not become God. Again, we learn more about how Satan works from this verse. He tells us half-truths that sound good, and we believe them, falling deeper into sin.
Sin Enters the World
Then comes verse 6, perhaps the saddest verse in the whole Bible. It says, “When the woman saw that the tree was food for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”
Satan’s deception worked. He convinced Adam and Eve to disobey God’s good words and they ate the fruit. This brought sin into the human heart for the first time and since then every human being has been filled with sin from birth. David tells us this in Psalm 51, verse 5 which says, “Behold I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” And Paul tells us this plainly in Romans 5:12: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” But Paul doesn’t leave us there, he points us to the One, the man who came to reverse the fall into sin: Jesus. Romans 5:18-19 says, “So then as through one transgression there resulted in condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”
Their Eyes Were Opened, They Needed Clothes!
Immediately following their act of eating the fruit, of disobeying God, Adam and Eve’s lives changed forever. We see this clearly in the next verse. Genesis 3, verse 7 says, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.” They went from living in the garden together as husband and wife unashamed, to living in the garden as husband and wife full of shame. They could not be in front of their most loved one without some sort of covering.
And their covering they made was not at all sufficient as we will see later in this chapter. Have you ever tried to make a skirt out of leaves? They’re flimsy, they rip apart, and they get dry, crackled, and crumbled after a while. This was not a sufficient covering for their bodies. But their thinking is not far from ours. Don’t we also try to cover up our sins before the Lord? We try to hide under the flimsy leaves, convincing ourselves that we are covered and the Lord can’t see. But He can, He knows our sin and He’s already taken care of it in Jesus. We have no reason to hide and should instead run to Him when we’ve done wrong, He’s ready to forgive us because Jesus has already paid for all our sin.
But Adam and Eve immediately covering themselves also teaches us about our own need for clothing. Every human being now knows right and wrong, that’s what Paul says in Romans 2:15. And, like Adam and Eve, we want to cover our own nakedness before God and before others. Now it may not seem like that is the truth in culture today, you don’t have to look far to find immodesty in abundance. But that is an outworking of what Paul says in Romans 1:18, that unbelievers suppress the truth that is inside of them. Our culture has suppressed modesty and allowed Satan to twist God’s narrative into something evil. If you’d like to hear more about God’s narrative for modesty from the Scriptures, listen to the next episode of the podcast where I dig into that fully. But in a nutshell, we see the effects of the fall all around us, most directly we see it in Adam and Eve needing to cover their own nakedness.
Well, that brings us to the end of this passage for today’s episode. We will leave Adam and Eve here in the garden with their leafy clothing and come back to find them just as God does on the next Genesis episode in the podcast.
We’ve learned a lot, at least I have, about not being deceived by Satan’s twisted tactics in the section of Scripture and I pray that each of you women listening will not be deceived by his words but will instead follow God’s good words that He’s given us to obey.
Thanks for listening to Naptime Theologian, a transcript of this podcast is available at NaptimeTheologian.com along with other resources and Christian encouragement for moms and women who want to know more about the God of the Bible. Have a great day!
Related Posts:
How to Dress Modestly
God’s Grace on Display in Genesis 2
Overview of Genesis
