Question
In the Garden, Satan tempts Eve with the idea of being like “gods”. This term, as you well know no doubt, has a few uses in the Word, but I think angels is what Eve would understand it to refer to. What do you understand her and Adam to think of when they hear that term and what special temptation would that then provoke as a result of their understanding of the term?
Obviously, being “wise” is part of what she understands in the temptation, I can see that, but I feel like I can’t quite put all the pieces together to really make sense of what she is seeing in the temptation. I know she is tempted to short-cut the education that God is involving her and Adam in, and that is the point of the attack, to thwart the education and cause it to cease, but again that term of “gods” has me perplexed in how it influences the subtilty of the temptation.
Response
I do not know if I can add all that much more to your understanding on the matter, but I will set before you what I understand.
When it comes to understanding and appreciating the significant impact that being “as gods, knowing good and evil” had in the temptation, my understanding is that the answer primarily lies in the particular word that is used to describe what occurred through the subtilty of the temptation, along with the exact description of the process of what went on in the woman’s mind upon hearing the temptation. That word is “beguiled” (as used not only in Genesis 3, but also by Paul in II Corinthians 11:3), and the description of the process is related in Genesis 3:6.
Briefly and simply put, when someone does something “through subtilty” he operates in a way that does not ‘tip his hand’, and that, thereby allows for him to more readily produce whatever kind of misleading, misdirecting, or less-than-obvious objective he may have. In particular, however, “through subtilty” the provision is made, and the stage is set, for a deception to take place; a deception that not only causes one to think something that is not true, (like a falsehood or fallacy or hoax), but often causes one to think something he should not think, (like an improper desire or estimation or doubt). And when “subtilty” is employed in order to deceive to the point of producing such an improper thinking process, this is when subtilty’s aim is to “beguile”. And this is what Paul says in II Corinthians 11:3 was the serpent’s/Adversary’s modus operandi and aim, to which Genesis 3 also testifies.
Though the word “beguile” has broadened its application over the years, the primary type of deceptive thinking process of which it is descriptive is one in which a person is fooled/tricked/ duped into wanting something that he really should not want. There may be many reasons why he should not want a particular thing, (e.g., it may be useless to him, or dangerous to him, or superfluous for him; or it may be unfit for him; or not good for him; or it may not be made for him or belong to him; etc.); but if he is “beguiled” in connection with it, a thinking process has been successfully produced within him which has him improperly wanting it. And the improper want can then lead to a violation of some kind, like disobedience. (Which is usually exactly what someone is after if he goes about to beguile another.)
Now this is what the serpent/Adversary succeeded doing with the woman. He successfully initiated such a thinking process, with the issue of being “as gods, knowing good and evil” being the subtilty contrived ‘bait’ that would have the capacity to produce the decisive improper want or desire in her mind.
Simply put, being “as gods, knowing good and evil” was not what God designed man to be. His design was otherwise and clearly stated to Adam. What belonged to, or characterized, the “gods” was not what was given to man to belong to him, nor was it supposed to characterize him. But just as the same kind of situation existed earlier on for Satan himself, and he generated within himself an improper desire for what did not belong to him, so he subtly worked to do the same in man. And so it was that when having heard of the opportunity to possess something that was not given to man to possess, and when she chose to contemplate it and the thinking process started within her that ended with her looking upon the tree as “a tree to be desired to make one wise”, the woman was successfully “beguiled”.
So then the issue of being “as gods, knowing good and evil” was the beguiling component in the overall subtilty of the temptation. It was the ‘trigger’ so to speak, for setting the beguiling in motion; and it possessed enough influential power to successfully achieve that end.
Keith Blades
Enjoy The Bible Ministries
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