The story of Adam and Eve is familiar to us all; we know the basics. They were the first man and woman to walk the earth, privileged to live in the presence of God. But after disobeying His command not to eat from a specific tree, they were banished from the Garden of Eden. It’s a story that both believers and non-believers know well: how Eve, the disobedient wife, was seduced by the devil disguised as a serpent and brought doom upon humanity. But is that really how the story goes, or is it simply what we’ve come to accept as truth?
The story of Adam and Eve begins from the book of Genesis chapter 2
First of all, the Bible never calls Eden a garden. It’s described as a place, or rather a region, and God planted a garden in the east of that region. So all the images and greenery we see when we google ‘Eden’ aren’t actually the entire region but rather a very specific part of Eden: the garden where the trees were planted and where God placed Adam and Eve to take care of it (Genesis 2:15).
8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Another important detail to note is that there wasn’t just one tree towering in the middle of the garden. The Bible actually mentions two trees in the center of the garden: the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the second one being the one from which they were forbidden to eat.
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” 18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
So this means Eve wasn’t created yet when God commanded Adam and warned him of the dangers from eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis chapter 3
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Adam clearly did a good job informing his wife about the instruction given to him by God: do not eat from a certain tree.
But in my opinion, he failed in his primary duty as a husband. He clearly loves her, respects her, is understanding and gentle, BUT he forgot to lead as the head of his household.
From verse 6, we can see that Adam was present during the conversation between Eve and the serpent. Not once did he butt in (which can be interpreted as him being respectful), not once did he try to convince her (which can be interpreted as him being supportive), and to top it off, he ate the fruit with her (I guess you could call this loving).
He knew the instruction given to him by God, but even then, he allowed for a meaningless and ongoing discussion between the serpent and his wife. He never cautioned her, tried to dissuade her, or even cast away the serpent. He let it all happen and then went ahead to eat the fruit. To me, it seems like he wanted to taste the fruit too but was looking for a justifiable reason to do so.
Let’s put it in today’s context: as a woman, you’re out with your husband, and you’ve both been told you’re allergic to chocolate, so you’ve avoided it all your life. Then you go to a fancy restaurant where the waiter tells you their chocolate doesn’t trigger any allergies and is completely safe and delicious. Your husband, who is sitting right there with you, doesn’t say a word; he watches you order it, taste it, and then he himself has a bite. He then acts shocked when your allergies kick in and he blames you for it…It’s ridiculous, isn’t it?
Now, there’s no doubt that they were both foolish, and I’m not making excuses for Eve. However, Adam denied accountability for his own part in the sin. He didn’t take responsibility for his actions and shifted the blame to Eve, which ultimately led to their downfall.
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
As the head of the household, the sins of your household are your responsibility because it’s your duty to maintain order in your home. If you’re the man—the leader, the priest—then act like one. Even God was frustrated by this situation: He gave a clear instruction to Adam, but Adam chose to listen to his wife instead (love can really be blind).
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’.
Now I’m not saying men shouldn’t listen to their wives! In this situation God spoke directly to Adam, no other person or thing should be able to persuade him to do otherwise.
There are some other misconceptions we believers have of the story of Adam and Eve:
- The forbidden apple: Nowhere in their story is an apple mentioned. So why did we all globally decide that the forbidden fruit was an apple? It could have been a mango, a grape, or maybe even a fruit that has gone extinct because of the damage it caused.
- Eve brought sin upon us: Given the punishment they were all given, God held them equally accountable. The serpent was deceitful, Eve was ignorant, and Adam was silent. There was no single sinner in this story; all of them are guilty.
- Adam is the superior creation: This misconception is amusing. Yes, Adam was created before Eve, and she was made from his rib with the goal of helping him. But how does this make her inferior? My eyes aren’t inferior to my legs, even though they ‘help’ me see where I’m going. Do we view the Holy Spirit as inferior, since He is also known as our helper? Nowhere in the Bible do we find a scripture that refers to women as inferior to men. Both were made in the image of God and have different goals and purposes.
- The serpent is the devil: The story literally starts with ‘Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.‘
And throughout the story the serpent is called serpent. If I were to assume, I would think the association with Satan comes from Revelation 12:9:
The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
However, in Genesis, God never calls the serpent Satan; He merely describes it as a crafty creature.
We need to be careful when reading the Scripture. Too often, we add to, remove from, or misinterpret the Word of God, passing down dubious information from one generation to the next.
Imagine instilling fear in children by making them think snakes are the devil or a sinister creation, ignoring the truth that the devil can appear in any form. Consider how Bible stories perpetuate the image of a red apple as the forbidden fruit or how the entire world places the blame on Eve for introducing sin into humanity.
Stay Blessed x
