Cosmetic Surgery
“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.” Genesis 3:5
Like God – The serpent doesn’t tell Havvah that she will be God. He doesn’t even tell her that she will be like God. He only says that she will have one faculty that he ascribes to God – knowing good and evil. Havvah isn’t going to become omniscient or omnipotent. All she is supposedly going to gain is the knowledge of good and evil. Apparently, this must be very, very important since it was by itself enough to entice Havvah. But is this really what the serpent says? Let’s take another look.
Maimonides points out that the Hebrew word here is elohim. In most contexts, this is a plural noun used to describe the singular God (like Genesis 1:1). But elohim also means gods (like the false gods of idol worship), judges and princes. Yeshua uses this homonym when he quotes the Psalms, “You are gods” (John 10:34). Perhaps the serpent only suggests that Havvah will be elevated. It is not that she will become God but rather that she will be better than she currently is. She will be royalty, the Queen of the cosmos. The appeal implies a subtle discontent with the way things are. God made her a little less than the best and now Eve can rectify that situation by improving on God’s design.
The subtlety of sin is found in our discontent with the way things are. We don’t really believe that God is completely in control. From our perspective, He didn’t do things quite right. There is room for improvement. I just need a little spiritual plastic surgery to make my world (and me) a better place. I just need to help God out by rearranging His design.
Everything about the creation of Havvah announces God’s careful and deliberate handiwork. The verb implies a purposeful design, executed according to plan. The fact that she is taken from the man underscores her uniqueness. Her designation as ‘ezer kenegdo tells us that God had a very specific role in mind for her. That she is the last of creation speaks to her place as the crowning achievement. But Havvah is not content.
It isn’t that she is restlessly searching for the “new” Havvah. She hasn’t read the latest book on hard bodies or fashion make-overs. She isn’t chasing the best life now prosperity nonsense. She just wants to be all that she can be – and that’s why the serpent only needs to suggest one small addition to her capabilities. If she could just add this, then she would really be the best at what she does.
Have you ever heard this offer made to you? All you need is just this one small addition and then you will be complete. It is an offer that offends in two ways. First, it rejects the sovereignty of God. It calls into question His design and purpose. Secondly, it offends His omniscience. It assumes that God didn’t quite know exactly what He was doing and, consequently, things need a bit of improvement. Furthermore, the suggestion places Eve (and you and me) in the role of the Creator. Now we determine what is best. We decide what is good – for us.
Don’t object that contentment leads to stagnation. If no one ever attempted to improve things, we would still be living in caves, but that is not the issue here. The serpent does not appeal to improving the world around me. This is an appeal to improve God’s design in me. It is an assumption that God has not equipped me to accomplish what God has called me to do and to be. This is about a personal design flaw, not an improvement in my environment.
Maybe you’ve heard the serpent hissing in your ear. If you have, it’s time to remember that when God rested, nothing more needed to be added.
Topical Index: gods, elohim, Havvah, serpent, improvement, design, Genesis 3:5
Skip,
It has been suggested by some scholars that “knowing good and evil” is a merism which would then suggest “all knowledge”. Same might apply also to “the heavens and earth” which would be that God created everything. I originally heard this in an Old Testament Survey lecture and that it was a common practice in Semitic culture. If that is the case then the snake could have been suggesting that she would become one with all knowledge?
Thoughts?
Robert
I am aware of this interpretation of the phrase, but then the command doesn’t make sense. If “all knowledge” is contained within the Tree, then how did Adam know before eating of the Tree that it was wrong to do so? This theory makes the Tree equivalent to enlightenment and knowing, but those are clearly good things. If the suggestion is that Havvah would be omniscient, how would she have any idea what that means and why would she care? What is the motivation behind her observation of the Tree as desirable? That is the real question.
If she being the “Ezer-K neged” but her eyes were turning away from God then in verse 6 of the passage when it says that she saw it was good for food, pleasing to the sight, and able to make one wise. How would one seek to be wise apart from God?
The dictionary of Biblical Language with Semetic domains defines wise as (śā∙ḵǎl): v.; ≡ Str 7919; TWOT 2263, 2264—1. (hif) have insight, get wisdom, gain understanding, be prudent, be skilled, i.e., have a capacity for understanding, implying this state is a result of proper teaching.
So if she could have all these things instantly would she then be able to be the best she could be for her role as the Ezer? So in that sense would not the ability to have all knowledge and thus understand all things make sense?
Just a thought here…..Serpent===modern day advertising===buy this and be ===
wear this and be==drive this and be==Seems to me the serpent continues to tempt all of us in one way or the other…
Thank Skip for your insiigts and the insights of others who post their responses.
Yeah, the serpent speaks our language, doesn’t he? Just improve on the image of God in us and things will be so much better. Do you think that we even recognize who is speaking these days? I think we have learned “snake” speak so well that it seems like a native tongue.
Dear Skip,
I was listening to your Genesis study, and in it you say that the serpent is not Lucifer, or Satan as we have always understood. Can you explain why it is not Satan, and how you came to this conclusion. The Milton’s Paradise Lost version is pretty hard to shake without an in depth look at that statement. Thanks, Antoinette
On the serpent. First, the text doesn’t indicate anywhere that our version of Satan is really involved here. There simply is NO explanation – which is probably why many theologians were so quick to convert the passage into a conflict with Satan.
Second, Ha-satan is the Hebrew for “the accuser” who is not really very much like our contemporary devil with horns and superhuman powers and etc. Most of what we think of as Satan is the result of a lot of pagan mythology. Go back to Job where ha-satan comes before God and notice that ha-satan suggests that it is God who must bring calamity upon Job. He can’t do it until God assigns him the authority to do so.
Then spend some time looking through the Hebrew Scriptures for information about “Satan” and you will find very little indeed. Not until after the Scriptures were written and the rabbinic traditions were very active do we see the development of anything like our view of Satan. Of course, that raises the question about where all this extra-biblical information came from. I am NOT suggesting that ha-satan doesn’t exist. Of course he does. The word is used 21 times in the OT (but it isn’t always about Satan either). I just think that there is a lot of accumulated dis-information about him that we have incorporated into our present view, and if we separated truth from fiction, we might find that he isn’t nearly the being we give him credit for being.
Take a run through some reference works like The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology Vol 3, pp. 486 ff and you will see a lot of how we got here.