Did the serpent really lie to Eve in the Garden of Eden?
Many people often refer to Satan as Father of Lies mostly because of his alleged role in the fall of man in the Garden of Eden according to the Genesis account.
Well, many haven't taken a critical look at what transpired as recorded in the bible. Let's see:
In Genesis 2:16 "the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayday freely eat".
2:17 "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eat eat thereof thou shalt surely die".
Now, take note that God only mentioned that they'll surely die. Let see how it went down.
In Genesis 3:4,5 Satan (the serpent) in response to the claim told the woman "Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day Ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil".
After Even and Adam had both eaten the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil God had this to say in Genesis 3:22 "And the Lord God said, behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil..."
Now, we see that the Lord God in his statement affirmed what the serpent said as true.
Considering this, will you say that the serpent lied to Eve ?
You have to understand that in Hebrew the word for Serpent is “Nacash”and this comes from the ancient Sanskrit word “Nagas”.... the ancient Hindu Serpent God of rebirth, resurrection and eternal life. This is why the Serpent is the symbol of Medicine. It is a very deep and mystical symbol. The original story you read in Genesis has many deeper symbolic meanings than the literal story of a Serpent telling Adam and Eve to eat the fruit from the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. There are reasons that Jesus tells his disciples You must become wise as the serpent. Ha. Nahcash..... “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents ....
Thanks so much for your insightful post. It would be nice if you highlighted the metaphorical meaning and significance of the serpent convincing Eve to eat of tree of knowledge. Since the serpent signifies eternal life like you suggested, it should have convinced Eve to eat of the tree of life?
Supposedly Adam and Eve already had Eternal Life... they did not need to eat from the Tree of Life. They did not know about good and evil and were tempted to gain this knowledge which leads to their fall and eventual Death. However.... if they had not eaten from the Tree of Knowledge then Jesus/God would not have needed to die on the cross to redeem them.
Apparently, Adam and Eve didn't have eternal life. If they did, there wouldn't be a tree of life. They chose between self awareness (knowledge) and eternal life. Perhaps God expected them to eat of the tree of life and remain in eternal servitude to him.
You think the All knowing God did not Know they would eat from the Tree of Knowledge ?
Why does God tell them they will die if they eat from the Tree of knowledge ?
Maybe he didn't want them to be like himself knowing 'good and evil'. He expected them to eat from tree of life because he didn't warn them against of it.
There are 2 Trees in the Garden since God Knows they will eat from the Tree of Knowledge, live, suffer and die and need the Tree of Life (Jesus) to redeem them. The Passion play starts at the moment of Creation
Without the Serpent's intervention in the garden we would not have the story of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus our Redeemer and Saviour.
Yes of course
The metaphorical meaning of the serpent ... ha nachash is explained in the video. The gematria (numerical symbolism) of the word Nachash =358 ... the same Gematria of the word Messiah.... the Nachash and Moshiach are linked. Without one you do not have the other. Also Jesse is called "Nachash" and Jesus is a descendent, a scion, a branch from Jesse.... the Father of King David.
Wonderful! From this, It seems to me now that the relationship here of serpent and Jesus Christ are like problem and solution.
But is the serpent Satan really? Did the serpent go really go wrong by telling Eve a truth?
Without the Character of ha Nachash -- the Serpent - you would not be here on earth learning about Good and Evil. It is a story that explains why we are here on Earth and why we need Jesus (Moshiah) to return and Redeem us - bring us back to Eternal Life.
The word "satan" does not occur in the Book of Genesis, which mentions only a talking serpent (ha nachash) and does not identify the serpent with any supernatural entity. The first occurrence of the word "satan" in the Hebrew Bible in reference to a supernatural figure comes from Numbers 22:22, which describes the Angel of Yahweh confronting Balaam on his donkey:"Balaam's departure aroused the wrath of Elohim, and the Angel of Yahweh stood in the road as a satan against him." In 2 Samuel 24, Yahweh sends the "Angel of Yahweh" to inflict a plague against Israel for three days, killing 70,000 people as punishment for David having taken a census without his approval. 1 Chronicles 21:1 repeats this story,but replaces the "Angel of Yahweh" with an entity referred to as "a satan".
Some passages clearly refer to the satan, without using the word itself. Samuel 2:12 describes the sons of Eli as "sons of Belial"; he later usage of this word makes it clearly a synonym for "satan". In 1 Samuel 16:14-23 Yahweh sends a "troubling spirit" to torment King Saul as a mechanism to ingratiate David with the king. In 1 Kings 22:19-25, the prophet Micaiah describes to King Ahab a vision of Yahweh sitting on his throne surrounded by the Host of Heaven. Yahweh asks the Host which of them will lead Ahab astray. A "spirit", whose name is not specified, but who is analogous to the satan, volunteers to be "a Lying Spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets".
This was elaborate @offgridlife. I appreciate your reply and have learnt a lot from it. I am following you right away.
The Serpent (ha Nachash) is created by God and is also used by Moses to save the Israelites who have been bitten by other serpents. Ha Satan means accuser in Hebrew. .... The original Hebrew term satan is a generic noun meaning "accuser" or "adversary", which is used throughout the Hebrew Bible to refer to ordinary human adversaries, as well as a specific supernatural entity. The word is derived from a verb meaning primarily "to obstruct, oppose". When it is used without the definite article (simply satan), the word can refer to any accuser, but when it is used with the definite article (ha-satan), it usually refers specifically to the heavenly accuser: the satan
God knows everything and he knows why he sends things to man, sometimes we do not understand at the moment like they do but for something reasonable and important God tells us things before we commit them. God bless you good publication
Thank you @hilarymedina. In that case you agree that the serpent didn't lie here?
Satan persuades, cheats, kills, steals, manipulates, he said true to the woman, but I use the aforementioned to disobey,
Can you show references in the bible where Satan did all these bad things?