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Whose Image Will Adam and Eve Reflect: God or a Snake?

 My last email ended with Adam, Eve and the snake standing in the middle of the Garden in Eden looking at the forbidden tree. The snake’s words – “the day you eat of it ya’ll’s eyes will be opened, and ya’ll will be like God – had caught Eve’s attention. Genesis 3:6 reveals what she is thinking.

 

1. The woman saw that the tree was good for food.

 

2. She saw that it pleasant to the eyes.

 

3. She saw it was a tree desirable to make one wise.

 

The first two things she saw agree with what the Bible said about trees (Genesis 2:9).

 

God made every tree grow that is

pleasant to the sight and good for food.

 

The third thing she saw is very different from what God commanded. Until the moment the snake spoke, she saw that “tree as something so dangerous that if she even touched it she would die!” She wanted to avoid it at all costs.

 

The only thing that changed was a belief in her mind.

 

When she accepted the new belief, what she saw changed. Why did she desire the wisdom of God? In the ancient world “the wisdom of a god was the most valuable information of all. In the Israelite society, wisdom was extremely valuable to women (Proverbs 19:14):

 

Houses and riches are an inheritance from fathers,
but a wise woman is from God.

 

The Hebrew word translated “wise” may also be translated “clever.” Once the woman’s beliefs changed, her actions changed too:

 

1. She took the fruit and didn’t die from touching it.

 

2. She ate it and didn’t die.

 

3. She gave it to Adam, who was standing next to her, and he touched it and didn’t die.

 

This is an amazing scene. Adam is standing next to Eve holding the forbidden fruit. He knew exactly what God commanded. He saw Eve eat it and she was still alive! Had she already become like God? Is she like God now? If he eats it will he be like God or dead? He must have felt the eyes of Eve and the snake looking directly at him, but that didn’t last very long!

 

He ate it!

The eyes of both Adam and Eve were opened.

They knew that they were AROM.

 

The author uses a wordplay to teach a powerful wisdom lesson – ARUM and AROM. ARUM was used twice in Genesis 2:25-3:1 to introduce the humans and the snake.

 

“The man and woman were both ARUMIYM and had not been shamed.

The snake was more ARUM than any beast of the field which Yahweh made.”

 

ARUMIYM (plural) and ARUM (singular) mean “subtle, shrewd, clever, crafty, and cunning.” The question the context raises is -- “Will the man and woman together be more “subtle, shrewd, clever, crafty, and cunning” than the snake?

 

To understand what comes next, we must recall two important things about humans revealed in the first story.

 

● The male and female acting together to do things like God (TOV/good) reflect the image of God.

 

● An individual acting alone may reflect the image of an animal through his or her actions. If an individual does acts that are RAH (evil), he or she reflects the image of a wild predator – an animal that preys on humans.

 

Now we are ready discuss the wordplay. The author simply changed one letter and ARUM became AROM, which means “naked.”

 

The eyes of both Adam and Eve were opened.

They knew they were naked (AROM).

 

The snake won! It was more subtle, shrewd, clever, crafty, and cunning than Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve did not work together. Now they knew they had been exposed. This was the first time they experienced “shame.” Something Adam didn’t know was – Did God know what he had done? However, before I answer that question, I need to tell you more about what “shame” meant to the ancient audience. I will do that in my next email.

 

Thanks for Exploring Biblical Heritages with us and please share our emails with others!

 

Shalom,

Jim Myers

 

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