Overview of chapter
This chapter contains the tale of the tempting of Eve and the fall into temptation. This chapter continues the story from chapter 2 and ignores the creation story from chapter 1.
Examined literally, as I am doing here due to claims of this being literally true, causes things to fall apart. Like the chapters before this, this chapter has references to outdated ideas about how the world works. See the additional notes for further details. This further reinforces the idea that this was not written with any divine insights and is more likely a myth.
Additional thoughts
I thought I disliked the first 2 chapters, but chapter 3 is quickly becoming my most disliked because it sets up a justification to blame, dominate, and discriminate against women. Oh, and serpents. Serpents have feelings too!
Does the Serpent really represent Satan?
Despite the common interpretation that the serpent represents Satan in this myth, there is no indication that the serpent is anything other than a serpent. Some make the case that the serpent represents a female figure (Satan is traditionally male). For example, many early artist renditions of the garden scene show a snake with a female head. These artists’s weren’t small, unknown artists either. Michelangelo’s paintings on the Sistine chapel, the relevant part which is shown below, shows a female serpent lady (also known as a Naga) handing the fruit to Eve.
Given that Satan is male throughout the bible, the presence of female serpent figures is curious and raises some questions to today’s audience. If the serpent doesn’t represent Satan, then who does it represent?
If it’s the case that the the serpent DOES represent Satan, God’s punishment of the snake is overblown and completely misses the actual perpetrator. This is like having someone hand you a bag of money and having the police tackle and beat you a few moments later for robbing a bank while you watch the criminal walk down the street away from you.
Also, if the serpent represents Satan, then why, in all places of the bible, is he not moving around on his belly and eating dirt? God was very explicit in how long the curse would last: all the days of it’s life. Clearly all the days of Satan’s life haven’t happened yet (if Christians are to be believed), so why, in the book of Job, is Satan not on his belly? Why is there no instance of Satan eating dirt?
Finally, if the serpent here IS Satan, and Satan can’t tempt someone without god’s consent (see the book of Job), this was a huge setup for our first man and woman. What was the thought process? As the literal creator of humanity, does God not understand human nature and curiosity? Did God not realize that setting 2 humans loose in his garden who have the critical thinking skills of a toddler would end any differently?
The Scientific/logic/sequence mistakes in this chapter
- Serpents don’t talk[citation NOT needed] (Genesis 3:1)
- Fruit does not confer knowledge (Genesis 3:7)
- Eating the fruit did not kill them like God said (Genesis 3:7)
- God, commonly held to be omniscient, isn’t (Genesis 3:8-9, 3:11)
- Cruel and unusual punishment (God’s favorite kind) (Genesis 3:14-24)
- Incorrect ideas about pregnancy (Genesis 3:15)
- Anachronism: Swords weren’t a thing yet (Genesis 3:24)
- Magic (Genesis 3:1-24)
Chapter 3: Biblical Justification for Sexism.
AKA: It’s All Woman’s Fault
AKA: Cruel and Unusual Punishments
- 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?
- And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
- 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.
- And the serpent said unto 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
- And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
- 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?
- And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
- 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.
- 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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;
- Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
- 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.
- And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
- Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
- 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:
- Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
- 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.
- Weren’t all animals created equally and perfect by god? Why would a serpent by more anything? I suspect the original author just hated snakes for some reason. This is speciests!
- aka: Yes….
I like how she doesn’t care that a snake is talking. #DisneyPrincessConfirmed. - But actually no. Also, she has literally no concept of what death is. She can’t make an informed choice here! She has no knowledge to draw on.
- How is this considered tempting? Eve has no critical thinking skills.
- Sounds like this would be a good thing in the end. Teach some critical thinking and reasoning skills to Eve so she can make informed choices.
- And this starts the moment of “It’s all woman’s fault”. You’d think an omniscient god would have known all this would happen and thus not made the woman or the serpent. Or put the tree or serpent in the garden.
- Because nudity is bad? Seriously… why is this writer so ashamed of nudity? This sounds like someone projection: “I’m not ashamed, you’re ashamed!”
- Mr. Omniscient should know where they are anyways, right?
- Apparently not. Maybe he didn’t want to give away the fact that he’s omniscient?
- Afraid, sure, but why because of nudity specifically? Nudity is no big deal NOR anything to be ashamed of.
- Not acting very omniscient if you ask me.
- AKA: “It’s not me, it’s your fault for giving me someone so wonderful that she wanted to feed me.”
- AKA: “It’s not my fault either! It’s really the serpent that you created! It’s smarter than I am because you didn’t give us any critical thinking skills!”
- Yeah… this author really doesn’t like snakes. They are well adapted to their lifestyle. Their ancestors had legs as evidenced by fossil records. Their lack of legs makes them a more effective predator in undergrowth. Also: They don’t eat dust.
- Everyone is supposed to hate snakes. This seed concept references an outdated idea of how impregnation works. See the notes below.
- This god fellow really isn’t very nice. He already “punished” the snake, now he’s causing untold pain and suffering unto billions of women. Probably accounts for deaths during childbirth too.
- It really doesn’t seem like the punishments are fitting the crime here. An omniscient and omnipotent god should be able to find a better way to punish everything here without causing suffering to untold billions of creatures.
- Cruel and Unusual Punishments, part 5. If you believe this verse, it appears that humans are supposed to be vegan.
- References the second creation story in the bible… does this mean the first is inconsequential or wrong? Also… did god create human death as a punishment here? Why do other animals still die if they never sinned?
- Weird name, but sure. Might make sense in the original language.
- AKA: God kills animals to make clothes
- Again, see rationalwiki for an explanation on the “us” mentioned here. God apparently doesn’t want people living forever and thinks death is the way to go. Good job causing even more suffering.
- So we are all supposed to be farmers now? Also note: No mentions of afterlife or punishments/rewards after death
- Is this “flaming sword” somehow sentient? Also, man and woman would have no idea what a sword is. Further reinforcing the idea that this is a myth intended for people of the time, not an actual account of what happened.
Additional Notes on Chapter 3
The “seed” referenced in verse 15 references an outdated concept of how women become pregnant. The idea is more akin to how plants are grown than humans. Men have seed that they carry around, and they drop that seed into a woman. The woman is viewed as having a field in which the seeds are planted and children begin growing.
For information on fossils showing shakes with legs: https://web.archive.org/web/20200618154613/http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Snakes/Wild-Snakes/Snake-Leg-Origins-Legless/
It seems weird that god would also put a tree of life in the garden. Why was it there if everything was immortal already? Was he just looking for an excuse to toss them out of the garden?
As always, check out the rationalwiki’s annotated version of Genesis for more points. These are just the points I feel are important to point out when I read through this.