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GENESIS Chapter 3 (KJV)

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

The tree of knowledge of good and evil, being the only tree they were not permitted to eat from, having its position in the centre of the garden seems significant.

4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

5 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.

Again, gods is used as plural here. It seems it ought to be asked whether a god, is the same as a Creator, or whether they're something entirely different.

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Click here for a theory on the tree of knowledge and good and evil being a metaphor for private property.

This is the first use of the word wise. Is it a coincidence that the word wise sounds like "whys?" It certainly seems that a wise person has much curiosity, and asks why far more often than assuming they know the answer already.

7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

Eye's sounds like I's, with the notion of I being something that results from the ego - just like shame. Could the eyes opening be another metaphor for the creation of the ego and the first look at onesself as an I and a story rather than a being?

8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.

9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

Rather disappointed in Adam dropping his woman into the shit so easily..

13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

It needs to be pondered why an all-knowing God would create the serpent if this was the type of thing he was going to, or was likely to pull. If God is as most would say, and if this is not a metaphor, though I still believe it is at this point, then it suggests one of two things. That the Lord God int he garden of Eden is not the all knowing Creator God. Or, that the Lord God wanted the serpent to tempt Eve and for Adam to consequently eat from the tree.

14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

Interesting to note that dust is what man was said to be created from. Hopefully man is not the dust the serpent was cursed to eat.

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

The bruising of the head and the heel brings to mind the image of the ouroboros, the serpent devouring its own tail. As of yet there has been no clarification on what seed the Lord God is referring to. I know that many interpret this as the serpent having had sex with Eve, and Cain being the seed of the serpent with Abel being her seed, and Adam's. But at the moment I also wonder if the two seeds are not contained within the same offspring. The tree was named of knowledge of good and evil, and we all know we have the capacity to commit both within us. This verse could speak to the internal battle between light and dark that dwells with man, rather than the popular theory of two opposing blood lines, but this is mere speculation at the moment and further on I hope to have a clearer picture.

16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

These verses certainly imply to me that the Lord God portrayed in this chapter believes that they are bringing death and danger into the world for the purpose of protecting Adam, or man, in some way.

19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

This will explain why we have the word every, and why it means what it does. But, it doesn't quite explain why the name Eve was chosen to represent the mother of all living. Nor does is explain why eve in English refers to the precursor to something significant, like christmas eve or the eve of battle. However, Eve's creation certainly was a precursor to the eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

*As a sidenote, I know I am not the only one to wonder what the 322 of the skull and bones secret society represents. Chances are, it has more than one meaning, but this verse, Genesis 3:22, does seem a very interesting one that may hold meaning to such a secret order.

23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Unless I am misunderstanding this, it seems to be saying that the Lord God drove them out of the garden, but left somewhat of a guide for them to find their way back?